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Thread: CODE GEASS: Dirge of Daedalus (edited version)

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    Turn Ten: A World at War


    "Who can say why it all happened the way it did? One minute the world was in a festive mood while preparing for the Olympiad of the International KnightMare Competition, the next minute we were in the midst of a full fledged world at war. It was all a hurricane of events swirling towards an unknown destination where everything we thought we knew for sure about the world...about life and death...reality and fantasy...was turned upside down in a matter of weeks because of the power of Geass. I must say I wish I had never heard that accursed word or been a part of what, at the time, seemed liked the end of the rational and scientific world I once knew." —Excerpt from an interview with Empress Jiang Lihua [The Tianzi] from the Kyoto Telegraph online newspaper, dated March 2nd, 2025 a.t.b.

    "You do realize they're going to shoot us down at the first sight of us, don't you, Cecile?" Lloyd said standing at the front of the bridge with a cup of tea in his hand.
    "It's been six hours since we left the principality, and no one has even come after us yet," Cecile smirked. "I'd say we've made a clean getaway."
    “That is a bit troubling,” Nina remarked.
    “What makes you say that, Nina?” Kannon asked while he helped himself to a second cup of tea.
    “The principality has to know we’re gone by now,” Nina Einstein said. “It seems odd that Cornelia didn’t even bother to contact us to ask us why we left. She’s got to know the only place we can be headed is Japan.”
    “I’d assume this is part of some scheme Cornelia and Guilford have cooked up against Schneizel,” Lloyd said as he finished his tea. “Cornelia has let us go so we’ll warn the UFN of the impending threat of these gods of Olympus. No doubt to either throw General Tohdoh off balance, or to ensure that if Schneizel tries to betray her, Cornelia can be certain the UFN will shift its focus from Britannia and the principality to Schneizel and his new found allies.”
    “So, we’re now Cornelia’s insurance policy in all of this?” Cecile asked with a befuddled expression.
    “It would certainly seem so,” Professor Asplund smiled.

    * * *

    “How far have they gotten?” Cornelia inquired of Guilford from her command chair on the bridge of the Avenger.
    “The tracking beacon our Azul agents planted on the UFN Type-21s indicates they are nearly at the Island of Haiti,” he replied obediently.
    “Good.” She smiled as she stood up. “Did you send out the false patrol report through the UFN balloon relays the way I asked?”
    Guilford gave her a hurt look. “Of course, General. I transmitted it via an older encryption so the UFN should have no trouble deciphering it at all, while the Avalon isn’t even likely to pick up the signal.”
    “Excellent. Li Xingke’s fleet should be able to intercept them at Haiti shortly and the cargo on the Avalon will safely be in Tohdoh’s hands.” Cornelia let out a laugh.
    “Is it wise for us to hand Nina Einstein, Lloyd Asplund, and three potentially useful hostages over to the UFN? Doesn’t it effectively nullify your plan of using them to have Nunnally and Zero returned to us?” Guilford inquired.
    “It’s risky I’ll admit, but I’ve thought this through, and I believe it is necessary if my hunch about Schneizel’s intentions are correct,” Cornelia said. “Besides, we don’t have a ship fast enough to catch the Avalon, so I’ve had to revise my strategy to compensate for this unforeseen development. On top of that, we don’t know how far Schneizel’s influence goes into the royal families of Britannia nor the UFN. If we’re not careful, we could find ourselves under attack by them as soon as the UFN is defeated.”
    “You think Britannia can defeat the UFN alone?” Guilford asked.
    “No, not alone, but Schneizel must have some kind of backing from someone,” Cornelia said with a troubled look. “He can’t possibly have destroyed the UFN fleet on his own. Some country is supporting his cause, and with FLEIJA weaponry no less. The only countries that have the technical capability to build a FLEIJA are India, China, Australia, and Japan. One or more of them must be supporting Schneizel, no doubt to gain control of the sakuradite deposit in Antarctica. If the goal of his supporters is world domination, or at the very least a reshuffling of the geopolitical map, then we are a target in their crosshairs.”
    “All of those countries are founding members of the UFN. Do you believe the UFN would come to our aid if one or more of these countries are backing Schneizel?” Guilford was skeptical.
    “After handing the UFN Nina Einstein and Lloyd Asplund…yes, I think Nunnally could convince the UFN council that we’re no longer a threat, and that Schneizel and his backers are the real danger in all of this, not us,” Cornelia told him with a grin. “And when the UFN chooses to strike at Schneizel, we’ll solidify our power within Britannia by calling for a cease-fire in the name of peace, and demanding the return of Nunnally and Zero in exchange for military support of the UFN cause.”
    Guilford nodded with a smile, but inside he frowned with disapproval. He didn’t like when Cornelia got locked into a real world game of chess with her brother. She had done it for years, always trying to prove her equality to Schneizel’s military mind, and it often got her into trouble. Now was no different in Guilford’s mind; he knew Cornelia was no fool, but he saw this plan as reckless.

    * * *

    The Gorgon and its flight of Harpy Automatos zipped along the peaks of the Owen Stanley Mountains unopposed as they sped towards the Black Knight base at Port Moresby.
    “You know we’re disobeying orders, Euryale?” Medusa asked her sister from the navigator/pilot’s seat of the Gorgon that was directly below Euryale who sat in the co-pilot/gunner’s position.
    Euryale currently flew the Gorgon over the peaks with the ease of an expert pilot. “I love our sister dearly, but she’s too slow when it comes to military tactics. The enemy has already compensated for the loss of the Australian continent and has mobilized their forces. We can’t sit around and wait for Prince Schneizel’s brainwashed fools to fail at taking these Papua New Guinea islands. They make good shields, but little else.”
    “So you intend on attacking when Schneizel’s forces try to destroy the ones that Jason allowed to escape?” Medusa asked with a vicious grin as she plotted the best course of attack for them as they came through to the edge of the sierra of the Owen Stanley Mountains.
    “Yes,” Euryale hissed.
    “Good, I was getting bored just sitting around the Philippine Islands,” Medusa smiled. “Their defenders were too easy to wipe out. I hope the warriors of this fleet are more of a challenge.”
    “We’ll find out shortly,” Euryale said as the flight of Automatos made their way through the mountain hogbacks. In the distant plain beyond the mountain range, the silhouettes of the Ikaruga and its fleet of airships hung over the UFN base.

    * * *

    “All hands to battlestations!” Chiba shouted the order as the squadrons of KMFs flew out from the Australian airships that had penetrated New Guinea airspace.
    “Captain, enemy air-fortress now in range of our weapons.” The female tactical officer spout off the information as new data flowed in.
    “Fire Hadrons!” Nagisa bellowed.
    The Hadron Cannons of the Ikaruga opened up and spewed forth a shower of the deadly black and red energy towards the large Longres class air-fortress. Its shields collapsed allowing the streams of death to disintegrate the airship under the onslaught of the beam weapons.
    Schneizel’s fleet of brainwashed troops rained down volley after volley of cannon fire at the Ikaruga and its fleet.
    “Captain Chiba, get your fleet out of here!” Colonel Masters’ bearded visage appeared on the viewscreen of the bridge of the Ikaruga.
    “But, Colonel, your base needs our support,” she protested.
    “You need to think of the safety of the civilians you’re carrying, Captain. Get them to Japan, and don’t worry about us, we can handle these upstarts,” he smiled.
    “I understand, sir,” Nagisa said with a salute. “Good luck, Colonel.”
    “We’ve got more than luck,” he chuckled as twenty Type-21Os screamed past the viewports of the Ikaruga towards the invaders.
    The Papua New Guinea fighters transformed into KnightMare mode as soon as they came within range of the enemy KnightMare Frames. The Type-21Os tore through the Gareth, Vincent Ward, and Gloucesters with impunity using their rapid-fire sakuradite-tipped Gatling gunpods and Blade-Luminous swords.

    * * *

    The sounds of explosions thundered through the KnightMare hangar of the Ikaruga as the Japan Jaguars sat waiting for the order to launch.
    “I can’t believe that Major Nu is allowing Li Jiang Fong to pilot the Guren after what he has done,” Mika said to Akira over a private channel.
    “I don’t think she had a choice, Mika,” Nobunaga said. “We need every Devicer we have, and no matter how bad Fong may be as a person he’s a damn good pilot.”
    “Yeah, but he’s dangerous, Akira,” she warned. “Fong has proven that he is revenge-minded to the extreme. You especially should know this.”
    “Right now his ire is focused on Sayoko, not me,” Akira told her. “Fong is a jerk, but he’s also selfish. He’ll fight like a professional out there without any nonsense so long as it suits his needs.”
    “I really wish I knew what the two of you find so special about Lena,” Mika grumbled. “You two have practically killed each other over her…why?”
    Akira huffed. “I guess it won’t hurt to tell you, Mika. Lena, Fong, and I were all in a Taiwanese orphanage together after Charles zi Britannia’s armies invaded Japan, and refugees of that war flooded the coast of the Chinese Federation. Lena and I were the only Japanese kids there, as both of our parents were officers in the military advising the Chinese Federation forces in the Ryukyu Islands. Fong was from the Ryukyu Islands, as his family had been Chinese who had immigrated to Japan. His father was a physician who went to Ryukyu to help with the wounded from the war. Both of his folks were killed when Britannia invaded the Ryukyu Islands, but he made it to Taiwan on a refugee boat where he ended up in the orphanage with us.”
    “I had no idea,” Mika said a bit embarrassed.
    Akira thought back to that time. “The orphanage was a hard place to live. There were too many kids there of various ages and backgrounds all living in tight quarters. Li Jiang and I fought to keep the older boys away from Lena…a lot of horrible things went on in that place, but we kept her safe from it all.”
    “So when Lelouch vi Britannia freed Taiwan from China, you guys came back to Japan?” Mika asked cautiously.
    “Lena and I did. Since our parents had been military officials, we were entitled to go to Ashford on a military scholarship. Li Jiang Fong stayed behind in China because an uncle of his had finally found him. Fong’s uncle owned an energy filler company and was filthy rich. The next time I saw Li Jiang after that was in my sophomore year when he came to Ashford to try and take Lena back with him to a life of luxury. She was taken with the idea at first, but…Li had changed. He quickly became used to getting what he wanted, and he wanted Lena.”
    “I take it she didn’t want him?” Mika surmised.
    Akira spoke to her in a distant tone. “If he had been kind and gentle, like he was in the orphanage, I think he could have had her heart, but like I said, he became selfish and greedy, drunk on his uncle’s wealth. Lena told me that Jiang tried to force himself on her and that she didn’t want to go back with him to China.”
    “And he didn’t take no for an answer?” Mika asked.
    Nobunaga sighed, “No, he didn’t.”
    “Who won?” Mika inquired even though the answer was obvious.
    “Kallen Kozuki,” he said softly.
    “You met Captain Kozuki?” Mika was astonished.
    “Yep, she was visiting the school to give a commencement speech to the graduating class when she came upon Fong and me fighting. Li Jiang was winning. Kallen Kozuki tried to stop the fight, but Fong took a swing at her, and, well…” Akira sounded embarrassed, “she finished the fight.”
    “Geez, Fong really knows how to pick his enemies, huh?” Mika laughed.
    “Yah, he’s a bit over the top,” Akira snickered. “Which is probably why he wants to pilot Guren. If he can use it like Kallen did in battle, he probably thinks he’s beating her in some way. The guy has revenge on the brain.”
    “Attention, Jaguars, this is Captain Chiba; we have a squadron of forty unidentified KnightMare Frames heading towards our position from the Owen Stanley Mountains. We need air support in case they are hostiles. Therefore, I’m clearing you to launch immediately.”
    Villetta’s voice came over the radio. “You heard her, people. We launch now!”

    * * *

    “Euryale, I’m picking up twenty enemy Automatos breaking through Schneizel’s fleet of puppets,” Medusa told her sister as she monitored her control screens.
    “What kind of Automatos are they?” Euryale asked.
    “According to the information Hephaestus inputted into our attack computer, they’re Type-21 variable KnightMare Frames,” Medusa said.
    “Which means?” Euryale inquired in a bored tone.
    “They are tenth-generation KnightMare Frames as opposed to the seventh- and eighth-generation frames that Jason and his men have encountered thus far,” Medusa said.
    “Well, well, a real challenge.” A half-smile crossed Euryale’s face as she touched the holographic controls in front of her and opened up a channel to their legion of Harpies. “Attention all units, let our slaves deal with the lesser machines. We will deal with the transformable ones.”
    The flight of Greek warmachines flew high up into the air above the UFN base towards the squadron of Type-21Os that were engaged with the Australian Defense Force fleet that was under Schneizel’s Geass.

    * * *

    “Hey, where the heck are they going?” Gregor asked aloud over the radio as he watched the Gorgon and its legion of Harpies fly up away from them with considerable speed.
    “It would seem we’re viewed as not being a worthy opponent,” Jeremiah said as they flew escort for the airship fleet around the Ikaruga.
    “Jaguars, you are clear to pursue the enemy and help the Port Moresby defense forces,” Nagisa said over their radios. “Looks like those enemy units aren’t interested in us for the moment, but the New Guinea forces need every KnightMare they can get, and we might just stop this enemy here and now if we defeat them.”
    “That's our cue, Jaguars,” Villetta said. “We will proceed to the enemy fleet at maximum speed.”
    With that, the Japan Jaguars broke off from their guard formation around the fleet of six UFN airships and headed towards the battle that was now behind the fleet.
    “You think you can free this many at once, Major Gottwald?” C2 asked Jeremiah as the Japan Jaguars sped towards the battle.
    “You mean with my Geass-canceller?” Jeremiah inquired with intrigue in his voice. “I hadn’t even thought of that.”
    “You can cancel out Geass, and you only thought of using it now?” Mika was shocked.
    “I don’t like using it,” Jeremiah balked. “It takes a lot out of me mentally.”
    “Assuming the Australian forces are under Schneizel's Geass power, nullifying it could give us the advantage we need here, Jeremiah,” C2 said as their KnightMare Frames closed in on the battlespace around the enemy fleet.
    “It’s not a bad idea if you’re up to it, Jeremiah,” Villetta said.
    “We’ll have to get to the center of their fleet for maximum effect,” Jeremiah replied enthusiastically. “I may get only one chance at this during the battle.”
    “Understood,” Villetta said. “Okay, people, you heard the man, we need to break through their defenses and get to the center of this fleet. Don’t let me down.”
    “Are you ready for this, Li Jiang?” Akira asked him over the general frequency as the first enemy KnightMare units headed in their direction. Fong had been silent the whole time.
    “I’m always ready, Akira,” he said sternly as he flew up to the head of the formation next to the Zangetsu.
    “That’s good enough for me,” Nobunaga said concerned about what Fong would do during such a cluttered melee of KnightMare Frames. He worried that Li Jiang might take advantage of the situation and try to take down Sayoko.
    “Cut the chatter,” Major Nu said over the comm. “Here they come.”
    The Gareth and Vincent Ward KMFs launched a massive barrage of Hadron and autocannon fire towards the Jaguars as they maneuvered their way through the swarms of KnightMares towards the second Longres class sky-fortress.

    * * *

    The Harpies did battle with the Type-21Os, their swords clashed and projectile weapons exchanged fire as the battle raged all around them.
    “Very heavy resistance,” Euryale said as she watched an Outbacker cut down another of her Harpy legion.
    “Ten new enemy Automatos have entered the fray, Euryale,” Medusa said as she now flew the Gorgon through Schneizel’s air fleet of brainwashed minions. “However, they don’t appear to be putting much effort into attacking our forces.”
    “Oh?” Euryale smirked. “I wonder what they’re up to.”
    “Shall we go and find out?” Medusa tittered.
    “Let’s,” Euryale told her younger sister as she powered up the Gorgon’s weapons. The twenty tentacle-like head-mounted Hades Cannons came to life like a mass of snakes. The female-looking machine spread its large metallic wings and pulled a mecha-sized bow from off its back, which unfolded into the representation of a typical Greek bow with a thread of energy where the string would be on a man-sized version of the archaic weapon.
    “Keep us steady, Medusa,” Euryale said as she aimed the great bow weapon. “I’ll take down the black machine with the red tassels first.” Euryale let a golden bolt of energy loose from the bow of the Gorgon.

    * * *

    “AIKRA, LOOK OUT!” Lena shouted over the radio as she tried to block the energy arrow with the Katen Yaibatou revolving blade sword of her Gekka to no avail.
    Nobunaga dodged the golden energy bolt, which grazed the shoulder of Zangetsu. “That was close,” he said as he whipped his KMF around to face where the attack had come from.
    “There’s the real enemy,” Li Jiang said over the comm. as he flew the Guren towards the Gorgon with all the speed he could muster out of the flight unit of the KnightMare.
    “Li Jiang, wait,” Akira said as he sped off after Fong.
    “Should we go after them, Major Nu?” Mika asked with concern.
    “No, let them go, Mika,” Villetta said. “We need them to keep that enemy custom unit busy while we get Jeremiah into position.”
    “Well, I hope we don’t have much farther to go,” Gregor said as his Gekka cut down another Vincent Ward. “Our KnightMares won’t last long if this combat is prolonged.”
    “Stop whining, you big baby,” Mika scolded him as she riddled a Gareth with autocannon rounds from the forearm gun of her Gekka causing the enemy machine to explode in midair. “I could take on these morons blindfolded.”
    A Gloucester fired a salvo of missiles from its shoulder-mounted pods at Mika’s Gekka.
    She flew her machine backwards trying to dodge the warheads when Gregor shot down the volley with the machine gun of his Gekka.
    “You were saying?” Gregor teased.
    “Okay, maybe not blindfolded, but these jokers are still no match for us,” Mika retorted as she cut the Gloucester in two with her Katen Yaibatou revolving blade.
    “They’re still dangerous,” C.C. interjected as she blasted an Avalon class frigate out of the air with the Zero Beam of Shinkirou.

    * * *

    “This group must be some kind of elite unit,” Medusa told Euryale as she dodged the Katen Yaibatou blade the Guren unsheathed from its flight unit pack.
    “What makes you say that,” Euryale replied as she used the snake-like Hades guns mounted on the head of the Gorgon to unleash a hail of energy bolts at both the Guren and Zangetsu, forcing both machines back.
    “They fight better than the transformable pilots do, yet their machines seem of inferior quality.” Medusa dodged a slash harken attack by Zangetsu, which grazed the left knee of the Gorgon.
    “Perhaps it is more of a challenge for their heroes to fight in lesser Automata in order to prove their quality.” Euryale fired the bow weapon at the Guren.
    “Whoa,” Medusa said as she watched Shinkirou destroy the Avalon class frigate in the distance. “That one is impressive.”
    “Don’t let it distract you, Medusa,” Euryale told her as she fired another hail of Hades beams from the snake-like cannons.
    “I wonder why they’re moving towards the center of the fleet,” Medusa said to her sister with concern as she rolled the Gorgon out of the way of another of the sword swipes from Guren.
    “That’s a good question, my sister,” Euryale said. “I don’t like it either; we better shake off these two pests and proceed to intercept this new force and stop whatever it is they are up to.”

    * * *

    “Oh, no you don’t,” Akira said aloud as he moved Zangetsu to block the Gorgon’s path. “You’re not getting away so easily.”
    Li Jiang flew the Guren up and over the large Greek machine and reached out with the claw hand of the Guren. The Gorgon spun around and pointed its bow directly at the red KnightMare Frame.
    “I’ve got you now,” Li Jiang said over the comm. as the golden arrow bolt singed the front armor of the Guren while it flew past the arrow sideways. Li Jiang slipped the Guren in close to the large Greek machine and grabbed the bow of the Gorgon with the oversized hand of his KnightMare.
    "Let's see what you're really made of," Fong spat over the radio as he set the Fukusha Hadou Kikou radiation wave unit to maximum power. In seconds, the bow of the Gorgon bubbled and melted under the massive heat of the Guren's claw.
    "Not bad, Li," Akira said as he came up under the bottom of the Gorgon. Nobunaga dodged the Greek machine's adamantine sword as the mecha unsheathed it and slashed at him in one fluid motion. Akira spun Zangetsu into a summersault and drove the Seidotou brake blade down hard into the left shoulder armor of the Gorgon causing the limb to go limp.
    “We make a good team, don’t we, Nobunaga?” Li Jiang Fong asked in a soft tone as he made Guren flip underneath and behind the Gorgon. He slashed at the head of metallic snakes and cut three of the twelve tendrils off the head of the Greek metal monster.

    * * *

    "Destroy them, Euryale!" Medusa yelled at her sister.
    "I would be able to if you'd fly this thing with a little more finesse," Euryale shot back as she fired a salvo of Hades bolts from the snake-guns of the machine. She managed to drive Zangetsu and Guren away as a flight of six Gareth KnightMares dove down from above them.
    "Let those six idiots deal with these two," Euryale told Medusa. "We need to find out why it is so important for this elite unit to make it to the center of the fleet."
    “Are you sure you want to do that, my sister?” Medusa looked down at the damage control windows on her station’s monitor. “We were damaged pretty badly.”
    “Don’t worry, Medusa, the Gorgon can still fight,” Euryale smiled.
    “Perhaps we should call for a pair of Harpies to act as our guard?” Medusa inquired.
    “We can’t.” Euryale checked her controls. “They’re still engaged in intense combat with those variable Automatos.”
    Medusa sighed. “I guess we’ll have to make due,” Medusa said as she accelerated the Gorgon towards the Jaguars.
    “It’s not a problem, Medusa; those variable machines have been reduced in number by half, and Prince Schneizel’s fleet is still vast compared to the defenders of this place. It won’t be long before we crush it.”

    * * *

    “Will this spot do, Jeremiah?” C.C. asked as she felled a flight of four Vincent Wards with the Shinkirou’s slash harkens as they tried to outflank her.
    “It should do fine,” he said while his Jikisan Akatsuki cut through a Gareth that fired in vain at him with its Hadron Cannons.
    “Then might I suggest we hurry,” Tetsuo said blasting another Gloucester with the bazooka mounted on his Gekka’s left forearm. “I’m almost out of ammunition.”
    “Me too,” Sayoko added. She cut down another Vincent Ward. “Our energy fillers aren’t going to last forever, and these guys just keep coming.”
    “I can take care of that,” Jeremiah snickered. In an instant, the inverted blue sigil of Geass appeared in his left eye, and a blue halo of energy spread out from his KnightMare throughout the fleet.

    * * *

    “A DISPELLER!!” Medusa yelled. “Euryale, they’re freeing Prince Schneizel’s legions!”
    Euryale activated her communicator. “All Harpy units, withdraw at once!”
    “What are you doing?” Medusa asked.
    Euryale looked down at her sister. “Using the Gorgon’s Gaze.”
    Medusa looked at her in shock. “But that will drain the rest of her energy, my sister. We won’t be able to fight after we use it.”
    “I know, but we have no choice,” Euryale said with a stern look at her sister as she activated the weapon and fired.

    * * *

    “They’re retreating!” Mika said triumphantly over the radio.
    “I wouldn’t be so sure about that, Mika,” Villetta said as she watched the enemy units flee the battlespace.
    “Hey, what’s that custom KnightMare doing?” Gregor asked.
    “We need to get out of here now!” Jeremiah blurted out. He didn’t know what kind of weapon the Gorgon was preparing to fire; all he knew was that it was clear whatever kind of weapon it was, it was an area effect type capable of destroying the other Greek mecha that were nearly a quarter of a mile away. “They’re pulling back their forces to use some kind of mass destruction weapon.”
    “How can you be sure, Jeremiah?” Sayoko asked.
    “The Britannian forces did the same thing when the Lancelot fired the FLEIJA at Tokyo; they pulled back as fast as they could. I suggest we do the same,” he said as he flew his Jikisan as far from the Gorgon as possible.
    All the other Jaguars followed his lead, all that is except for C.C. who flew the Shinkirou towards where the Zangetsu and Guren were. Akira and Li Jiang Fong were clearly aware of the danger the Gorgon posed and had begun flying away from the Greek machine as fast as their float units would take them.
    “C2, where are you going?” Villetta was frantic.
    “Those two aren’t going to make it,” C.C. said as the eyes of the Gorgon glowed green. “I’ve got to try and save them.”
    “Good luck,” was all Villetta could get out before a blue-green radiance flooded the area around the Gorgon.

    * * *

    “What the hell is that thing doing?” Fong asked Akira.
    “I don’t know, but the flight of KnightMares which came here with it have stared clearing out of this area quickly. I think we should do the same,” Akira said as he pushed the accelerator to maximum speed.
    A green-blue glow began to engulf them.
    “We’re not moving fast enough!” Akira called out as Zangetsu kept pace with Guren.
    “You two, grab hold of Shinkirou at his waist, NOW!” C.C.’s voice boomed over the radio as she brought her KnightMare Frame up next to them and had Shinkirou make a crucified pose with its arms outstretched and legs together with toes pointed down.
    The Guren and Zangetsu grabbed hold of the black KnightMare as C.C. put up the ultimate-defense shield system of Shinkirou just in time for the green-blue light to pass over them.
    All around the three of them, the KnightMares of the Australian invasion fleet turned white as stone and fell to the ground like rocks as soon as the green-blue light touched them. An airship above Shinkirou nearly crashed into them as its stone form fell out of the sky and shattered into thousands of pieces on the Earth below.
    “Hang on,” C.C. told her companions as the shield around Shinkirou crystallized into a hard red shell around them. The three KnightMare Frames fell together within the ruby-red crystal sphere that surrounded them.
    “What do we do now?” Akira asked as he tried to use his Seidotou brake blade to cut through the shell. The mighty sword of Zangetsu bounced off the surface harmlessly.
    “I don’t know, but Guren’s radiant-heat wave is no use,” Li Jiang said as he tried to burn through the red wall.
    “Watch out!” C.C. said as she fired the Zero Beam while simultaneously flipping Shinkirou in a full 360-degree summersault. The two halves of the shell fell away from each other freeing the three KnightMares only a few yards from the ground below them.
    “They’re getting away!” Li Jiang exclaimed as he began to give chase to the remnants of the Harpy legion that were speeding away with two of them carrying the Gorgon in their arms.
    “Let them go, Li Jiang Fong; this battle is over,” Villetta said as the Jaguars and eight of the Type-21O Outbackers eased down to their position over the Port Moresby UFN base.

    * * *

    “What do you mean you have to return to the Kraken for repairs?” Sthenno asked Euryale over the communicator of the Gorgon.
    Euryale hung her head. “I’m sorry, Sthenno…I took it upon myself to act on my own and attack the rogue fleet at Port Moresby with Schneizel’s forces.”
    “You dared to disobey my orders!” Sthenno hissed.
    “Wait,” Euryale pleaded. “Hear me out before you let your anger cloud your mind. I acquired valuable information during the battle.”
    “Did you conquer Papua New Guinea?” Sthenno glared at her.
    “We were not able to…” Euryale stared to say.
    “YOU FAILED?!” Sthenno’s expression twisted as a fury rose within her.
    “They would have failed anyway, Sthenno. Your prince’s charm was DISPELLED!” Medusa yelled in defense of Euryale.
    “Dispelled?” Sthenno asked rhetorically as her ire waned. “How?”
    “We don’t know exactly.” Medusa treaded carefully. “But we do know that it was one of the warriors that Jason allowed to escape that possesses this power.”
    “Jason.” Sthenno spit out his name with hatred. “Once again his foolish sense of honor has robbed us of victory.” Her expression changed back to its calm form. “You did well, my sisters, even if you did disobey me. This new information makes up for your insubordination.”
    “What are your orders now, Sthenno,” Euryale asked.
    “Proceed to Japan.” Sthenno’s eyes showed that she was taking in the implications of the events at Port Moresby very seriously. “Conduct a raid on the city of Kyoto when Jason’s forces attack, and capture the Empress Nunnally unharmed.”
    “The Empress Nunnally?” Medusa was perplexed. “May I ask why?”
    Euryale spoke before Sthenno could respond to Medusa. “You do not trust Schneizel anymore, that’s it, isn’t it?”
    Sthenno gave her a cold look in reply.

    * * *

    The light of the setting sun over Kyoto drenched Suzaku in hues of gold as he sat at the desk in his room reading Sun Tzu’s The Art of War. A knock on his door interrupted him.
    “Who is it?” he asked.
    “It’s me,” Nunnally said from the other side.
    “Oh, please come in,” he said closing the book.
    The door opened up to reveal Nunnally vi Britannia standing on her cybernetic-enhanced legs. She walked in slowly with measured steps. “I need to talk to you, Suzaku.”
    “What about?” he asked her with a curious look.
    She walked over to where he sat and bent down close to him. “We need to leave Japan.” Nunnally looked into his eyes. “And I’ve found a way, but it involves stealing the Lancelot of the Lake.”
    Suzaku shook his head. “No, Nunnally, we can’t do that. You know as well as I do what Kyoshiro Tohdoh would do if we stole a KnightMare armed with a pair of FLEIJA warheads.”
    "Do you trust the General with those weapons?" She looked at Suzaku sternly.
    "No." He averted his eyes from hers. "Given the right set of circumstances he would use them against Britannia."
    "Then we have to go, Suzaku," she pleaded with him.
    "How?" he asked her with a somber look. "Why do you think there are no guards outside my door? It's because I can go anywhere in Japan and still not be able to leave. There's no way the Lancelot of the Lake can fly all the way back to North America, so we have to face the fact that we're stuck here."
    "There's another way," Nunnally said.
    "What other way?" Suzaku inquired with a befuddled look.
    "The thought elevator." Nunnally gave him a mischievous grin. "Lelouch wrote in his diary that our father, Charles, used it to travel around the world like a sort of interdimensional public transit system. It's how Charles escaped C's World when Lelouch tried to trap him there in the lair of the Geass Cult."
    Suzaku frowned at the idea of going back to where he had first unmasked Zero. "But that's on Kaminejima, Nunnally...that place has a lot of…" He looked out at the setting sun. "...bad memories."
    "But it's our best chance of escaping back to Britannia." Nunnally was adamant.
    "It's also where Lelouch's mausoleum is located." His eyes grew sad. "The whole inside of that cave was remodeled to cover the ancient ruins there and conceal where Lelouch is really buried."
    "I've not been there in a long time, Suzaku," Nunnally said with a teary expression. "But the thought elevator is still there, behind Lelouch's sealed, glass, coffin. We can still access the gate."
    Suzaku turned to face her. "But we don't even know how to activate it, Nunnally. C2 could be anywhere in the world right now, and everyone else who knows anything about the thought elevator is dead."
    "That's where I come in." An old man walked into the room.
    Suzaku was surprised by the intrusion. "You're the gentlemen from the UFN council meeting...you were a part of the Russian delegation, right?"
    The man held out his hand in a handshake gesture. "Allow me to introduce myself...I am Enoch."
    Last edited by Kodai Okuda; 09-19-2010 at 05:49 AM.
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  2. #12
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    Turn Eleven: Schneizel’s Plan


    “The scale and magnitude of Charles zi Britannia’s plans were rivaled only by those of his son Schneizel. Before the reign of Emperor Lelouch, Schneizel had his father’s utmost confidence and trust and thus had at his disposal the resources of all of Britannia and much of the world. Schneizel had always plotted to unseat his father, of that I am sure. Many were the nights that I overheard Lady Marianne bickering with Charles over how lax he was with Schneizel and how Schneizel’s lust for power would someday be the 98th emperor’s undoing. Little did Lady Marianne realize how right she was or how far and wide Schneizel’s ultimate plan extended. Schneizel was a master strategist, and like his brother Lelouch, knew that the world could not be won in a single battle, conflict, or war, but rather a series of such events were required to claim a total global victory.” —Excerpt from an interview with Jeremiah Gottwald by JBS [Japan Broadcasting Station] senior special news correspondent Milly Ashford during their flight to Japan on the Ikaruga, dated July 30th, 2024 a.t.b.

    "Tahiti is quite a place," Kallen said to Gino as she lay upon a foldable beach chair on the sands of the island dressed in a white two-piece bikini. It had been two days since the Avalon arrived at the small island, and their ship was now replenished with food and supplies.
    "Don't get too comfortable," Gino smiled as he handed her a piña colada dripping with condensation in the tropical heat of the island.
    Kallen took the glass from him and drew a long draught from the straw of her cocktail. "Mmm...That is good." She smacked her lips and smiled at him. "What, nothing for you?" Kallen eyed Gino's glass of coconut juice.
    "Nah, I'm not big on alcoholic drinks," Gino laughed as he pulled up a chair next to hers. "Besides, how can I woo you if I'm drunk off my tush?"
    "Oh, is that how it is?" Kallen snickered as she eyed his tanned muscular body that was covered only at his waist and groin by his skimpy swim shorts. "Trying to get me to drink so you can have your way with me, huh?" Kozuki rolled her eyes. "Typical male...what do you think, Anya?" Kallen called out to where Lt. Alstreim was standing at the edge of the beach with her hands shading her eyes as she looked out towards the horizon.
    Anya turned to Kallen. "I think we're about to be attacked."
    No sooner had the girl said the words than the alarm claxons from the aerial frigate above them sounded off.
    "Oh, just great!" Kallen said jumping up out of her chair and discarding her drink.
    Gino grabbed her hand and pulled her along with him as he raced towards where Tamaki sat fishing off the wing of the aerial shuttle they had come there in.
    "Tamaki, start the engines!" Gino yelled as Anya caught up to him and Kallen.
    "What?" Tamaki asked as his fishing line started to pull.
    "START THE FRIGGIN’ PLANE, YOU JACKASS!!" Kallen yelled at him. "Can't you hear the sirens?"
    Tamaki gave them a befuddled look and pulled the headphones off his head. "Oh, crap!" he exclaimed. Tamaki dropped his fishing rod and ran into the craft as he heard the wail of the alarm from the Avalon.
    Kallen and the others piled into the little ship right behind Tamaki.
    The four of them were inside the aircraft in moments just as the sun's light began to glare off the silhouette of a large aerial warship coming over the horizon.

    * * *

    "The Avalon is in sight, Prince Schneizel," a female lieutenant said on the bridge of the Thor. "Shall we fire on her, sir?"
    "No," he said standing up. "Fire near her like you're trying to hit her, but don't damage the ship."
    Schneizel smiled as he watched the Avalon on the overhead monitor. His lieutenant gave the order to fire, and the cannons of the aerial-battleship spewed forth a hail of artillery shells towards the vicinity of the Avalon. The volley showered the coastal town below the air-frigate with barrage after barrage of deadly exploding rounds, leveling much of the ocean village in the process and killing many of the inhabitants.

    * * *

    "How could they?" Cecile was mortified. "These people have done nothing wrong."
    "Yes, but that's really never stopped Schneizel before." Lloyd adjusted his glasses. "I suppose if we want to stop him from killing these poor islanders, we better get out to sea."
    "But we'll be sitting ducks out there," Kannon warned.
    "No," Nina contradicted him as she analyzed the placement of the bombardment from the Thor. "They haven't used their Hadron Cannons, and their artillery rounds are falling short of hitting us."
    "Which means?" Kannon asked her.
    Cecile glared out at the large battleship. "They don't want to hit us."
    "Correct," Nina nodded. "We're being driven out away from the island."
    "Have Kallen and the others returned yet?" Lloyd asked changing the subject.
    "Yes, but what makes you ask, Lloyd?" Cecile wondered what good four Devicers could do against the Thor.
    "We've completed repairs on their Type-21s, and those machines are fully charged." Lloyd shrugged his shoulders. "Perhaps we should have them act as cover for us while we escape."
    "LLOYD!" Cecile gritted her teeth. "Are you suggesting we sacrifice them?"
    "No, no," he said putting up his arms defensively. "Those fighters are supersonic; they can outrun the Thor quite easily. I was only suggesting that we have Kallen and her team attack the Thor while we build up speed to escape, and then they can rendezvous with us later."
    Cecile smiled at him. "That's not a bad idea, Professor Asplund."
    "Really?" Lloyd said putting his arms down.
    Cecile turned to Nina and Kannon. "The deck crew of Avalon has never dealt with the Type-21 before. Nina, do you think the two of you can help prep those fighters for immediate launch?"
    "No problem," Kannon said with a smile. "I've read the manual for the Type-21S a few times over."
    "You have?" Nina looked at him with surprise. "Where?"
    Kannon gave her a devilish grin. "While lying in Kallen Kozuki's bed on the Thor."
    Nina gave him a jealous scowl. "What were you doing in Captain Kozuki's bed?"
    Kannon only smiled.
    “Oh, Nina,” Lloyd said pulling out a small box from his lab coat.
    “Yes, Professor Asplund?” she asked, curious as to what else he wanted.
    He smiled at her. “Don’t forget your contact lenses.”
    She took the small box from him. “Thank you, Lloyd.”

    * * *

    Kallen jumped into the cockpit of her Type-21S Shogun, still wearing her bikini, and pressed the touch screen console in front of her. Instantly, the machine came to life and the cockpit canopy lowered down. The smell of ionized air filled the hangar deck as the whine of the graviton-impellors came up to a roar.
    "Alright, Yamato no Orochi, you all know what to do," Kallen said as her KnightMare Frame was raised onto the launch catapult. "It's payback time!" Kozuki pushed the throttle forward and her fighter screamed away from the Avalon.
    In seconds, all four Type-21s were flying in formation together.
    "How do you want to do this, Kallen?" Gino asked.
    "Diamond formation from above," Kozuki said as she monitored the Thor. "They've already raised their shields, so we'll have to dive-bomb them with a hail of Gefjun missiles."
    "You actually think we've got enough firepower to knock their shields down for long?" Tamaki scoffed.
    "No," Kallen conceded. "But they'll be down long enough for us to do some damage to their weapons."
    "We should concentrate on the long-range heavy dorsal cannons," Anya suggested as the flight of four Type-21s flew high above the Thor.
    "Agreed," Kallen said.

    * * *

    "The Avalon is moving out over the ocean, Prince Schneizel," one of the female lieutenants informed him.
    Schneizel smiled, "Very good."
    "My Lord," a blonde-haired tactical officer blurted out, "four KnightMares have launched from the enemy vessel. I think they're Type-21s."
    Schneizel sniggered, "Excellent. Launch a squadron of our Vincent Wards, and then move us into a parallel course with the Avalon."
    The female tactical officer hesitated. "But, sir, we won't be able to use our Hadron Cannons if we fly parallel to them."
    Schneizel raised his brow. "What makes you think I plan to use the Hadron Cannons on them?"
    "If we aren't going to destroy them, Prince Schneizel, then why are we bothering with them?" the blonde-haired lieutenant asked.
    "Because we're here to pick up a package," he tittered.

    * * *

    "Looks like we're finally leaving the Polynesian Islands," Nina said as she looked out one of the viewports in the dorsal hangar.
    "Indeed, we are," Kannon said to her as he came up behind her. "We're leaving this ship as well."
    "What?" Nina turned to face him.
    Kannon stood pointing a pistol at her. "Please, Nina, I don't want to hurt you, but you must come with me now."
    Nina looked at him and gasped at the red-orange ring in his eyes. "Oh, no...Kannon, you don't know what you're doing."
    "I'm sorry, Nina." He waved the gun in the direction of the shuttle Kallen and the others had used earlier. "Get inside that aerial courier NOW!"
    Nina knew that under the power of Geass, Kannon would do whatever it was he was ordered to by the person that had control over him. "Try to fight it, Kannon...you must!"
    Kannon forced her over to the shuttle and opened the door. "Get inside."
    "Hey, you there, what do you think you're doing?" a flight technician asked coming over to where Nina and Kannon stood.
    "Run!" Nina yelled at the man but it was too late. Kannon turned and shot the man in the chest four times, killing him.
    Nina grabbed for the gun in Kannon's hand, but Maldini was too fast for her. He allowed her to lunge forward in front of him then he hit her on the back of the head with the pistol, knocking her out instantly and breaking her glasses as they hit the metal floor.
    Kannon loaded Nina onto the shuttle and started the machine's engines. The next moment, the aircraft burst out of the hangar bay of the Avalon towards the Thor.

    * * *

    "Hey, Kallen, a shuttle just launched from the Avalon," Tamaki said as they dove in for their attack run.
    "Nothing we can do about it now," she replied as a flight of twenty Vincent Wards flew out from the bottom of the ship.
    "We've got company!" Gino blurted out.
    "Ignore them," Kozuki told her team. "We need to disarm the Thor if we're to have any chance of making a clean getaway."
    "There are too many to just ignore them, Kallen," Anya said as she fired a salvo of energy discs from the nose-mounted gunpod of her fighter. The radiant-heat projectiles tore through two of the Vincent Wards, destroying them.
    "Fine," Kozuki said in irritation. "But just take down the ones you have to for a clear shot with your missiles, and make darn sure you use your Gefjun warheads on only the Thor."
    "Understood," her teammates replied in unison.

    * * *

    "Who is on that shuttle?" Cecile asked the hangar deck officer via the monitor in front of her.
    "We believe Kannon Maldini has taken Professor Einstein by force," the man replied over the viewscreen. "Yeoman Maldini killed a member of my team during his escape."
    "Well, now we know what Schneizel was after," Lloyd said matter-of-factly.
    "We can't just let him have her, Lloyd!" Cecile barked at him.
    "What do you expect us to do?" he mused. "It's not like this ship can take on the Thor. It's simply a matter of firepower."
    "No, it isn't," Cecile said with a gleam in her eye. "He doesn't have that shuttle just yet." Cecile opened up a radio channel to Kallen.

    * * *

    "You want us to what?" Kallen said as she felled another Vincent Ward with the forward-firing Hadron Cannons of her fighter.
    "We need you to capture that shuttlecraft as quickly as you can." Cecile's voice emphasized the urgency of the situation. "Nina's on that thing with Kannon."
    "Well, why the hell did they leave the ship?" Kallen asked as she dodged a hail of cannon fire from another Vincent Ward.
    "We don't know," Cecile told her over the communicator. "But I have a hunch that Geass is behind this somehow."
    "I wouldn't doubt it," Kozuki responded with a scowl. Kallen changed frequencies. "Alright, guys, listen up; we've got to intercept that courier plane and bring it back in one piece."
    Tamaki balked, "How the hell are we supposed to do that with all these KnightMares firing on us, not to mention the Thor?"
    "I've got an idea," Gino said.
    "Let's hear it." Kallen invited any suggestions at this point.
    "We should knock out the shields of the Thor and finish our run as planned, then break off as quickly as possible towards the shuttle." Gino knocked out another Vincent Ward with his gunpod then continued, "After that, we can disable the courier and fly it back to the Avalon."
    "Sounds like it could work," Anya said in her dry monotone while she finished off another of the Vincent Wards.
    "I'm in," Tamaki chimed.
    "Okay, let's do it," Kallen said as she let loose with a full salvo of Gefjun missiles at the top of the Thor. The hail of torpedoes impacted the multifaceted green shielding of the warship and dissolved a large portion of it.
    The other Black Knights rained down a volley of the anti-shield projectiles upon the battleship, knocking down the rest of the ship's energy protection.
    Kallen transformed her fighter into KnightMare mode and flew down next to the portside dorsal main cannon. She pressed the top button of the left control stick with her thumb, which caused the front half of the gunpod of her fighter to close shut and extend out like a police baton. Kallen drove the tip of her gunpod onto the side of the turret and pulled the gunpod trigger on her control stick. The tip of the gunpod unit radiated a heat wave into the large cannon just like the clawed hand of the Guren MKII would have done causing the turret to rupture and explode under the pulse of intense energy.
    Gino did likewise to the starboard turret while Anya and Tamaki felled the aft-mounted long-range dual-barrel artillery piece.
    “Let’s get that shuttle!” Kallen commanded as her Shogun flew off the top of the Thor and transformed back into fighter mode; her three companions were right behind her.

    * * *

    Schneizel gripped the side of his command chair to steady himself and keep from falling down.
    “They’ve destroyed our long-range cannons!” the blonde-haired tactical officer shouted. The woman looked perplexed as she studied the screen in front of her. “Prince Schneizel, the Type-21s have broken off their attack and are speeding away from us.”
    Schneizel held a blank expression. “Launch all of our Gareth KnightMares after them, and tell our Devicers not to attack anything in the area but the Type-21s.” He knew where the four fighters were headed.
    “All of our Gareths, sir?” the girl inquired unnerved by the intensity of his order.
    “That is what I said, my dear,” he told the lieutenant in an icy tone.
    “Aye, sir,” she replied obediently.

    * * *

    The Yamato no Orochi flew towards the courier shuttle at great speed and transformed in unison as they came to within a hundred yards of the plane.
    “Kannon, stop!” Gino ordered him over the radio as they matched the speed of the shuttle and came up alongside it.
    “I’m afraid I can’t do that,” Maldini replied as he swerved the shuttle towards the waves of the ocean below in an effort to avoid capture.
    “Why are you doing this, Kannon?” Anya asked him.
    “Because it is the will of my Prince,” Kannon responded in a mechanical tone.
    “Is that why you came here, Kannon? To kidnap your friend for Schneizel?” Kallen tried to reason with him hoping he would hesitate long enough for her to grab hold of the shuttlecraft with her Shogun.
    “No…I…” The orange glow in Kannon’s eyes flickered causing him to let go of the ship’s controls as he struggled with his deep feelings for Nina and the command Schneizel had given him. “I…I must obey Schneizel.”
    “I’ve got them, Kallen,” Tamaki said as he flew towards the shuttle with a burst of speed. His KnightMare came up and grabbed the top of the ship just as a Hadron bolt slammed into the side of his Type-21.
    “Yahhhhhhhh!” Tamaki yelled as his fighter fell from the sky.
    “Tamaki!” Kallen’s Shogun raced to grab hold of her old friend’s machine.
    “Don’t you guys have something better to do?” Gino shouted at the mass of Gareth KMFs that were rapidly closing in on them. Gino blasted two of the swarm of sixty mecha out of the sky with a salvo from his gunpod.
    “We need to give Captain Kozuki some cover,” Anya said as she cut down three Gareths and dodged a hail of Hadron bolts.
    Captain Kozuki’s Shogun caught Tamaki’s Bushido right before it hit the ocean surface.
    “You alive in there?” she asked as her KnightMare skimmed over the ocean waves causing a spray to kick up behind them.
    “It’ll take more than that to take me out,” he joked.
    “Good thing your shields were up. I don’t think your Bushido suffered any damage,” Kallen said as they dodged out of the way of a swarm of missiles. She fired a barrage of Hadron bolts from the shoulder-mounted cannons of her Shogun at the offending Gareths. “We’d better get back after Kannon.”
    “Thanks, Kallen,” he replied sheepishly.
    “Don’t mention it,” she said as they boosted up towards the battle above them.
    Gino blasted another Gareth out of the air. “There’s too many of them!” He just barely rolled out of the way of a barrage of Hadron Cannon fire only to have a swarm of missiles impact the omnidirectional absolute defense shields of his Samurai.
    Anya swerved her KnightMare out of the way of a salvo of missiles and shot them down with her Samurai’s forearm Hadron Cannons. “Our shields can’t take this punishment forever, and the shuttle is getting away from us.”
    “I can see that,” Kallen said as she tried to penetrate the screen of KnightMare units, but the Gareth pilots were getting better at avoiding their attacks while still keeping them at bay.

    * * *

    “Prince Schneizel, a small aerial shuttlecraft is approaching and hailing us,” his brunette communications officer said without emotion.
    Schneizel smiled, “Very good, Ensign; put him through.”
    Kannon’s face appeared on the main viewscreen. “I have what you ordered me to acquire, Prince Schneizel.”
    “Excellent work, my friend,” Schneizel stated warmly. “Kannon, you are to proceed to the main hangar immediately. I’ll inform the deck officer to open the primary ventral hatch and allow your courier to land.”
    “Thank you, Prince Schneizel,” Kannon spoke mechanically. “I look forward to seeing you in person again soon.”
    “And I you,” he said with a grin.
    "Kannon out." The yeoman's visage disappeared off the screen.
    Schneizel turned his attention to his tactical officer. "You may now bring the ship about and fire the Hadron Cannons at the Avalon."

    * * *

    "Kallen, the Thor is changing course and pointing in our direction," Tamaki bellowed as he riddled a Gareth with energy discs from the gunpod of his Type-21B.
    "It looks like they're preparing to fire their Hadrons!" Gino said.
    "There's no way the Avalon can survive a hit from a full barrage of the Thor's main batteries," Anya added.
    "I know, but what the hell can we do about it." Kozuki gritted her teeth in frustration. She knew they'd never get through the swarm of Gareths fast enough to stop Schneizel from obliterating the Avalon. Kallen thought as fast as she could but nothing came to mind. "Damn it!" she cursed aloud while she maneuvered her fighter through the battlespace in order to dodge another barrage of Hadron bolts from a flight of Gareths. "We can't lose here...we just can't…"
    A flash of green diving through the clouds from above them caught her eye. "What the?" Kallen blurted out in surprise as two of the Gareth KnightMare Frames that pursued her were reduced to molten slag by a pair of recoilless cannon rounds.
    "Is that you down there, Captain Kozuki?" a man's voice asked over the radio.
    "Rivalz?" Kallen asked forcing down a lump of relief in her throat.
    "Hey, that's Major Ashford to you, ma'am," he laughed as his squadron of twenty Type-21Os ripped through the Gareth KnightMares.
    "Major Ashford, you need to stop the Thor!" Anya yelled over the radio.
    "Don't sweat it, Anya," Rivalz said nonchalantly. "General Xingke has that situation in hand."
    A stream of artillery-scale Hadron energy rushed past them towards the Thor.

    * * *

    "We've been hit!" the blonde tactical officer screamed as the Thor shook under the onslaught of Hadron energy.
    Li Xingke’s image appeared on the overhead viewer. “Surrender, Schneizel, or we’ll blow you out of the sky.”
    "Cornelia," Schneizel tittered softly to himself. "Not bad, my sister." He looked up at Xingke. “I’m afraid you’re not in a position to demand my surrender.” Schneizel made a cutting motion with his hand to his communications officer, and Xingke disappeared from the screen as the transmission was shut off.
    "Sir, there is a fleet of thirty airships coming over the island of Tahiti; they appear to be in attack formation and are targeting our location with their weapons," the tactical officer stated in a worried tone.
    Schneizel smirked, "Don't worry about them. Please tell me, how badly are we damaged?"
    "We've sustained moderate damage to our portside hull armor, but that is all right now, sir," the girl said.
    Schneizel humphed at the thought of Cornelia outwitting him by luring Xingke’s UFN fleet to this area. "Order our Gareths to withdraw at once."
    "What about the Avalon, sir?" the woman inquired.
    Schneizel spoke smoothly, "Aim just to the starboard of her, and fire all Hadrons at Mont Orohena."
    "But the volcano will explode!" the woman gasped.
    "Precisely," Schneizel smiled.

    * * *

    The UFN armada cruised at five thousand feet above the island of Tahiti. The main batteries of the various types of airships began moving into position as their gunnery crews fine-tuned their barrels to fire the long-range bombardment against the Thor.
    “Kallen,” Rivalz radioed her. “We need to withdraw at once. The UFN fleet is about to fire on the Thor with everything they’ve got, and we’re in the crossfire position.”
    “Roger that, Major Ashford,” Captain Kozuki said as she and her three teammates transformed into jet mode. The Yamato no Orochi flew up into formation with Rivalz’s squadron of Outbackers.
    “The Thor just fired her main Hadron Cannons!” Gino yelled over the radio.
    Kallen turned around and looked out the canopy of her fighter just in time to see the triple-blast of Hadron energy slam into the base of Mont Orohena. In the next moment, the active volcano erupted into a massive plume of smoke and ash sending chunks of molten lava hundreds of feet into the air and causing a dense screen of debris that made it nearly impossible to see.
    “That son of a bitch!” Tamaki swore out loud.
    “Kallen, Schneizel is getting away; we should pursue him immediately,” Anya said in a frantic tone.
    “There’s no way the fleet can find them in this volcanic plume,” Rivalz said. “We’ll just have to wait until we can clear this cloud.”
    “No, we’ve got to capture the Thor now!” Kallen said frantically as the realization of Schneizel’s victory sank into her psyche.
    “What’s the rush?” Rivalz was taken aback by Kallen’s outburst. “We’ll get him eventually.”
    Kallen’s frustration caused her voice to crack. “We can’t wait, Rivalz…Schneizel has got Nina!”
    Major Ashford looked down at the large mass of volcanic smoke, unable to see the Thor but knowing that the ship was speeding away to parts unknown with a person he considered to be one of his closest friends. “Nina,” Rivalz whispered to himself.

    * * *

    “We need to move quickly and quietly,” Enoch said to Nunnally and Suzaku.
    Painful as it was to crouch on her cybernetic legs, Nunnally did her best to keep up with the two men as they slowly made their way through the dimly lit KnightMare museum. The sun had set hours ago and the museum was closed, but the security systems of the place were horribly lax for a facility which held two FLEIJA warheads. The idea had been to conceal the weapons in plain sight with obscurity being the best security against theft.
    “There are two guards at the base of the Lancelot of the Lake,” Suzaku said as he looked over at the large machine. It was basically the Lancelot Albion with the wing system removed and replaced by a pair of Cecile Croomy’s version of Rakshata’s graviton-impellor wings with a hypervelocity bazooka mounted on each impellor pod in the same manner as the Type-21O Outbacker.
    “It’s impressive,” Suzaku said in exhilaration at the thought of piloting Lancelot again.
    “Yes, it is,” Enoch said as he looked over to where a reconstructed specimen of the pink Lancelot Frontier stood. A dim blue LED light flashed twice from behind the left leg of the pink KnightMare. Enoch pulled out a small LED penlight from his coat pocket and flashed three pulses back at the light source.
    “A friend?” Nunnally whispered to Enoch.
    “Yes,” he smiled at her.
    Nunnally sensed that there was something more to his smile than he told her causing her to cock her head in curiosity. “Who is this person?”
    “The Red Dragon,” he told her. “The Lancelot of the Lake only has room for two. Thus, you and Suzaku will be going on it while she and I travel in that Lancelot Frontier.”
    Nunnally looked hard at Enoch. “Who is…she?”
    “Don’t worry about her,” Enoch said with a smile. “She’s my great-granddaughter who I nursed back to life and healed during the dark days of the Black Rebellion. You don’t have to be concerned about her loyalty; she would never betray us.”
    “Looks like those two guards are practically asleep,” Suzaku said at the front of the line. “We should move now.”
    “No, Suzaku, wait!” Enoch called out to him but it was too late.
    Suzaku leapt up at the first guard and did his signature dual spin kick at the man. The lithe male guard bent over backwards in a martial arts flip and kicked at Suzaku, his foot landing squarely in Suzaku’s groin.
    Suzaku landed hard and held onto his manhood.
    The second guard went to hit Suzaku with his police baton but was surprised by a figure wearing a red-colored mirror-visor helmet (very similar to the one worn by Zero) with a plume of fiery-red hair streaming from the top back of it nearly down to the floor. The figure wore a bloodred-colored armored jumpsuit with pink highlights that held tightly to a figure that was clearly that of a woman’s by the shape of her voluptuous body. The woman launched a snap kick at the guard with the baton, which landed on the man’s chin sending him reeling backwards to the floor knocked out cold.
    The first guard came at her with a spin kick, but the woman blocked it with her gauntleted forearm and knocked the man unconscious with a roundhouse kick to the head.
    “Are you alright?” the modulated electronic voice of the woman asked Suzaku as she extended her hand down to him.
    “I’m okay.” He winced taking her delicate hand in his.
    “Red Dragon, we need to get out of here,” Enoch told her.
    She nodded in reply as she helped Suzaku to his feet.
    Suzaku gave her a bewildered look as they made their way to the energy filler storage containers behind the two mecha. “You fight well.”
    “Thank you,” the electronic voice replied. “Grandfather taught me for years.”
    “May I ask why you wear a mask?” Suzaku couldn’t help but be curious of this female Zero who stood before him.
    “She was injured deeply during the Black Rebellion…and…scared horribly,” Enoch said as he manned the automatic loaders and powered up both KnightMares.
    Nunnally grinned at Enoch over some private thought not known to Suzaku who could only look at her with a confused expression.
    “They’re ready,” Enoch said as he and the Red Dragon climbed onto the lift that led to the Lancelot Frontier cockpit hatch.
    Suzaku helped Nunnally onto the other lift and steadied her as it rose to the open cockpit of the Lancelot of the Lake.
    Both couples entered their respective KnightMare Frames and inserted the keys to the machines.
    “You two ready over there?” Suzaku asked as Nunnally found a comfortable spot to sit down behind his Devicer seat.
    “As we’ll ever be,” Enoch replied.
    “Then let’s do this,” Suzaku said with renewed confidence despite the pain between his legs.

    * * *

    “I can’t believe we are almost to Japan,” Lena said excitedly as she held onto Akira’s arm. The two of them were standing on the observation promenade of the Ikaruga looking out over the island of Okinawa.
    “We should be in Tokyo in a few hours,” Tetsuo said as he leaned on the railing near them.
    “Can you believe it’s only been a little over a month since we left?” Mika mused.
    “Seems like years,” Gregor added as he rested next to Mika on the rail.
    “Do you guys think there’ll be a battle here?” Tetsuo asked his companions.
    “I’d say it’s a guarantee, Tetsuo,” Villetta said as she walked out onto the deck to join them. “The UFN long-range scouts we’ve been in contact with say that there’s been a major battle near the Society Islands. There have also been reports of a large air-fleet heading towards Japan from New Zealand.”
    “Schneizel,” Akira said bluntly.
    “Probably,” Villetta said to him with indifference. “According to Captain Chiba, the UFN is now at war with Britannia and the Principality of Brazil. No doubt this is all a part of some elaborate plan by Schneizel now that he’s allied with this new force of Geass users.”
    “Japan is going to be the decisive battle again, isn’t it?” Lena lamented.
    “It sure looks that way,” Villetta answered her with a sad expression.
    “What happened to your pride?” Li Jiang Fong said walking onto the deck. “You all act like we’ve been defeated already. So long as we’re alive we have a chance to beat this enemy. Geass or not, we have to fight them with everything we have and never give up.”
    The others looked at him in awe of his change in demeanor.
    Fong nodded at Akira who smiled in return. “Together, we’re unstoppable.”

    * * *

    “Where are you taking me?” Nina yelled at Schneizel in defiance as a contingent of four soldiers brought her to the bridge of the Thor.
    “Funny you should ask that question.” He smiled upon seeing her enter the room. “I’ve brought you to my personal palace on Pitcairn Island.” He gestured for the guards to release her so she could look out the viewports.
    Nina gave him a smug look. “I can’t see anything without my contacts.”
    Schneizel waved his hand dismissively. “By all means, Nina, put them on. You’re a guest here now.”
    Nina took out the box that Lloyd had given her from her lab coat and put the contact lenses in. Nina looked out the viewport. To Nina’s amazement, the center of the forty-seven-square-mile island was a massive military citadel comprised of what looked like refineries, power stations, manufacturing centers, and heavy battlements armed with various types of weaponry.
    “Where did all this come from?” Nina knew that there was no way Schneizel could construct such a facility without a large number of workers and over a considerable period of time.
    “I had it built when you were only seven years old.” He gave her a wide grin. “Back during my haughty days of dreaming about usurping my father through a grand and quite covert plan. I even created my own personal knighthood: the Order of the Silver Cross with which I planned on conquering the world. Like all imperial teenagers, it was a foolish, wasteful, and childish pursuit at the time. However, when I first met Zero face-to-face in China, I began contemplating the possibility of him being my brother Lelouch and thus a powerful rival for the throne of Britannia. Therefore, I immediately set to rebuilding my Order of the Silver Cross and reactivating this facility.”
    “But how could you keep this place a secret?” Nina wasn’t buying his explanation. “Surely the UFN knows of this place.”
    Schneizel laughed, “Forgive me, Nina, but you must understand that this island is in the middle of the South Pacific Ocean. The UFN doesn’t know of or care about this place, nor is it likely they would think it to be anything but a remote, insignificant isle inhabited by Polynesians or pirates even if they did know of it.”
    “I see.” Nina looked down at the ocean below. “What is it you want of me, Prince Schneizel?”
    “I need you to build me something,” he said softly while walking up behind her.
    She clenched her fists. “I will never build you another FLEIJA!”
    Schneizel gently put his hand on her shoulder and whispered in her ear, “I would never ask you to, Nina.”
    Nina turned towards him, their faces only an inch apart. “Then what am I to build for you?”
    He looked into her eyes through his wire-rimmed sunglasses. “The FORGE I’ve heard so much about.”
    She eyed him cautiously. “Why do you need me to build a FORGE here? There are obviously power plants on this island. Why is a FORGE so important?”
    He touched noses with her. “Because, my dear Nina, your new reactor can generate all the power I require to implement my plan.”
    “What is your plan?” Nina was shaking slightly as he leaned in towards her.
    He kissed her gently on the lips. “An end to war.”
    All things in moderation...

  3. #13
    Super Moderator rank = Hod (acknowledged Novice) Kodai Okuda's Avatar
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    Turn Twelve: Battle for Kyoto


    “Japan had to become a battleground again before I realized the only true path to peace. It didn’t lay in government halls or the Zero Requiem. It didn’t require the people to be conned into hating some dictator or weapon symbolizing war. It required only one very simple concept, a concept that the world had left behind with philosophy, morality, and religion. All that the world’s people really needed to obtain a lasting peace was the power to forgive.” —Excerpt from the diary of Suzaku Kururugi, dated August 22nd, 2024 a.t.b.

    "Euryale, I'm picking up a pair of Automatos leaving the coastline of Japan and heading for a string of islands near Ō-Shima Island in Sagami Bay," a beautiful woman with pale blue eyes, like those of a gray wolf, said staring at the goddess from within her machine's cockpit.
    "Oh? What kind are they, Scylla?" Euryale asked the gaunt white-skinned woman from within the cockpit of the Gorgon.
    "The information from Hephaestus shows them to be of the Lancelot class of Britannian Automatos." Scylla's cold, elf-like features changed slightly as she attempted a smile, causing locks of her silver hair to fall down over the front of her eyes. "Shall I destroy them?"
    Medusa looked up at Euryale from her pilot's seat below and frowned.
    "No, Scylla," Euryale answered upon seeing her sister's grimace. "Leave these two machines to us for the moment. They may have someone we are looking for within them."
    "As you wish, Euryale." Scylla raised an eyebrow as she brushed her hair back. "However, I should warn you that Charybdis' sensors have detected a gateway to the river Styx on the farthest isle of that chain. The one the Japanese call Kaminejima. This pair of Automatos may be heading there to use the gateway."
    "How soon will they arrive at the island?" Euryale asked.
    "Three quarters of an hour," Scylla answered.
    "We can be there in nearly that time," Medusa told Euryale knowing that her sister would ask.
    Euryale regarded Scylla sternly, "You are to proceed to Osaka Bay and prepare for Jason's arrival. He should be in that area within the hour for his assault on the UFN capital in Kyoto. Once he has launched his attack, you are to destroy the city and Jason with it. Is that understood, Scylla?"
    The woman gave her a venomous grin. "Perfectly, Euryale."

    * * *

    "Attention, Ikaruga, this is Kyoto air defense control," a male voice said over the radio. "Hold your position at twenty kilometers from Kyoto and await further orders."
    “Twenty kilometers?” Chiba asked aloud as Villetta, Jeremiah, and C.C. entered the bridge.
    “Something must be wrong,” Jeremiah said.
    “What makes you say that, Jeremiah?” C.C. asked him.
    Jeremiah gave her a concerned look. “They’re holding us at a position that is just outside of the blast diameter of a FLEIJA.”
    “You think so?” Villetta blurted out.
    “Are we in danger?” Nagisa asked the operator over the radio. “I need to know because we have civilians on this ship, and they’ve waited long enough to disembark. If I don’t unload them soon, they may cause trouble. Is there a port available that I can release them at?”
    “One moment, Ikaruga,” the air control officer told her. “I’m patching General Tohdoh to you now.”
    “Tohdoh?” Nagisa was surprised as his image came up on the bridge big screen.
    “Captain,” he said with a nod.
    “Hi, Kyo…I mean, greetings, General Tohdoh.” She was so happy to see his face she nearly forgot proper military protocol.
    “It’s nice to see you again too, Chiba.” He was being unusually informal.
    “What’s going on?” she ventured to ask.
    He cleared his throat. “It would seem the Lancelot of the Lake has been stolen.”
    “Stolen!” Jeremiah blurted out, mortified by the possibility of Schneizel gaining two FLEIJA weapons. “By whom?”
    Kyoshiro turned to look at Jeremiah Gottwald and furled his brow. “Yes, the FLEIJA-armed KnightMare was taken in the early morning hours last night. We know who the perpetrators are, but I’d rather not say in Britannian company.”
    C.C.’s eyes widened as she knew there was probably only one person on Earth who had the means to steal the Lancelot of the Lake. “It’s Zero, isn’t it, General?”
    “If by Zero you mean Suzaku Kururugi, then yes.” Kyoshiro didn’t hide his disdain for what Suzaku had done, and he showed it by exposing his identity.
    He knows? C.C. wasn’t sure how Tohdoh knew Zero’s identity, but she didn’t need to be told the implications of the situation to realize the total failure of the Zero Requiem. “Is he by himself, Tohdoh?”
    He addressed C.C. with a scowl, “Not that this is any of your concern, witch, but no, he’s not alone.”
    “Who is with him, Kyoshiro?” Chiba asked forgetting proper decorum due to the gravity of the situation.
    Tohdoh sighed. “Empress Nunnally of Britannia, a man from the UFN Russian delegation identified as Enoch Apsu, and an unidentified woman.”
    “Enoch,” C.C. whispered to herself as she looked down at the floor to hide her involuntary expression of surprise from those around her.
    Villetta saw C.C. mutter something to herself before the immortal woman looked up at Tohdoh. “We have to go after them, Kyoshiro!”
    “You?” he scoffed. “Why would I let you go after four fugitives armed with a pair of FLEIJA weapons? You’re not exactly trustworthy, witch.”
    “You’ll let me go because I’m expendable.” She eyed him carefully. “And Suzaku will listen to me.”
    “She’s right.” Jeremiah stepped forward. “I’ll volunteer to go as well. My Geass-canceller may be useful if we encounter any of Schneizel’s allies.”
    “Why would your Geass-canceller be useful against Schneizel’s allies?” Tohdoh asked in a befuddled tone.
    “I’ll fill you in later, General.” Chiba winked at him with a coy smile.
    Kyoshiro suddenly had the feeling he was no longer in control of the situation. “I see. Very well, the two of you can go and try to stop Kururugi, but I must warn you that the UFN will not tolerate anything less then the return of the Lancelot of the Lake. The rest of you must proceed to Kobe and unload the civilians off of Ikaruga, then return here immediately. There is an enemy fleet headed for Japan from Australia, and we need every aerial-battleship we have.”
    “Understood, General.” Chiba saluted him. “We’ll proceed to Kobe and return here as soon as we can.”
    He nodded as his image vanished from the screen.
    Chiba turned to C.C. and Jeremiah. “I can’t say I’m comfortable about you two going either, but we don’t seem to have any choice in the matter. You better take your KnightMares in case you encounter any enemy units. Good luck,” she added as C.C. and Jeremiah Gottwald each gave her a nod and then left for the KnightMare hangar.

    * * *

    “Here is my greatest ambition, Nina.” Schneizel waved his hand before the massive machinery that was spread over a room the size of a football stadium.
    “It looks like a Gefjun generator,” Professor Einstein said as she examined the mechanisms.
    “That’s exactly what it is,” he smiled.
    “But what good is a Gefjun generator of this size, Prince Schneizel?” Nina knew the large device would be effective only within the area of the island and perhaps some of the surrounding ocean, a diameter of no more than sixty or seventy miles.
    “It is not just a Gefjun generator, Nina,” he snickered. “It is in fact a Gefjun pulse energy transmitter.”
    She gasped at the implications of such a device. “A transmitter? But that means you could broadcast a Gefjun beam.”
    “Exactly.” He walked over to a screen nearby and activated it. A digital representation of the Pitcairn Island base was shown as a red dot on a 3D global atlas. “With this device and the Global Transmission Array of the Thor, we can transmit a Gefjun pulse of intense magnitude to any place on Earth via the satellite network that surrounds the planet.” A green line shot out from the red dot to multiple blue dots representing satellites which in turn shot forth rays of yellow onto the 3D globe in various places.
    She gave him a dark look. “You could disable every KnightMare on the planet.”
    “And end war forever,” he told her softly.
    “So this is why you need my FORGE? To compensate for the immense power requirements of such a large Gefjun device.” Professor Einstein glared at him.
    “It’s the reason I hadn’t used this device before and the reason my father thought of it as a foolish hobby of mine rather than a real threat. And he was right; that’s all it really was until you came into my life. Your FORGE has the power to produce all the energy I need to make my dream come true.”
    Nina shook her head slightly. “It’s a pleasant dream, Prince Schneizel, but you know that even without KnightMare Frames or sakuradite-powered airships, the nations of the world will still go back to warring with each other in other ways. Your brother, Lelouch, proved that when he tried to focus all of the world’s hate upon him, and for a time they did, but it lasted less time than it took to create such a sentiment. How would your world be different?”
    “My dear brother assumed that men’s hearts had a propensity for good and that if they were shown the horror of war, they would never wage it again. It was a nice sentiment but idealistically foolish. I’m a far more practical man then that. I understand that the have-nots always want what the haves possess, and in turn the haves seek to protect themselves from the have-nots. It is this lack of mediation of resources…a lack of a planned society that causes such wars.”
    Schneizel’s scheme intrigued her. “And you plan on creating such a planned society with this machine, yet you have no way of enforcing such a plan should countries not go along with your vision.”
    “I have a contingency for that as well,” he smirked.

    * * *

    “I fail to see the point of us attacking this island nation,” Heracles complained from within the cockpit of Helios. “We’re already spread out pretty thin, and this invasion will thin our forces out even further. What is so damn important about this place?”
    “We need the Golden Apple deposits at Mount Fuji to finish powering Tartarus. Once we have that, we won’t have to continue this bloody campaign,” Jason told him as Talos and four legions of Hoplite Spartans flew in formation towards the coastline of Japan.
    “Why don’t we just ask Akira to get it for us?” Heracles joked.
    “You think we’ll meet him here in this battle?” Jason asked his friend.
    “Of course,” Heracles bellowed. “Don’t you want a rematch with the whelp?”
    “I’m not so sure I do.” Jason hesitated. “This isn’t going to be like last time. This time we’ll have to fight for real and he may get hurt.”
    “I understand your fondness for the young warrior, Jason, but this is war and there are certainly worse ways to die than in battle,” Heracles reassured him as their mecha crossed over the shoreline towards Kyoto.
    “I know, my old friend, but I think we should try and minimize the casualties in this assault if we can. We’re not here to conquer this land,” Jason said.
    “Ha!” Heracles burst out jovially. “I thought you just said this wasn’t going to be like last time and here you are already ordering restraint.”
    Jason sighed, “I suppose I did say that, didn’t I?”
    “That’s okay, Jason.” Heracles laughed heartily. “It’ll be more of a challenge if we just try to disable them rather them slay them, especially when they’ll certainly be trying to kill all of us.”
    “I’m not sure I share you enthusiasm over such a contest, my friend,” Jason sniggered. “Their machines nearly destroyed the Gorgon and its flight of Harpies. We may find ourselves in a similar situation.”
    “Nonsense!” Heracles scoffed. “As if Euryale and her monkey-brained sister could match the likes of us in battle. Those two are better at spreading vile rumors and wooing men to their bed chambers than engaging in a real fight.”
    Jason tittered, “They’re accomplished soldiers, Heracles…” He laughed. “They are skilled in combat.”
    “Jason,” Orpheus’ voice cut into the channel.
    “Yes, Orpheus? What is it?” Jason’s tone became serious.
    “Sixty-five enemy Automatos and twelve airships are inbound and closing fast,” Orpheus said.
    “What kind of Automatos are they?” Heracles asked.
    “Mixed…however, there are twenty of the transformable types,” Orpheus replied.
    “Order our Spartans to engage them but to exercise restraint.” Jason heard Orpheus sigh over the radio before he continued, “I don’t care how many of their machines you cripple or destroy, Orpheus, just try not to injure their pilots.”
    “But, Jason…” Orpheus started to say before Heracles cut him off.
    “You heard the captain!” Heracles boomed. “We’re here to acquire the Golden Apple from Mount Fuji not slaughter a bunch of mortals.”
    “Aye, sirs,” Orpheus said obediently.

    * * *

    "I've got a bad feeling about this, Mika," Lena told her over a private channel as the Japan Jaguars flew their KnightMares towards the coordinates given them by Captain Chiba just on the outskirts of Kobe.
    "Why, is it because we're the last line of defense?" Mika asked her.
    "Maybe." Lena looked out at the Zangetsu and the Guren MK II as they flew side by side. "I just worry about those two," she said.
    "You mean Akira and Fong?" Mika inquired as they came to their guard position and stopped.
    "Yes," Lena answered her in a meek tone. "I don't trust Li Jiang. I know he understands the situation, and he'd never do anything to forfeit a victory, but I remember what he said to me in the mess hall..."
    Lena had confided in Mika what really happened between her and Fong. "You mean about killing Akira?" Mika ventured to raise the question knowing it bothered Lena.
    "Yah, that's what I mean," she bemoaned. "I think that if we win this battle, Fong will try to hurt Akira."
    "No way, Lena," Mika stated with confidence. "Fong would be shot out of the sky by me personally if he even tries it."
    The discs of explosions lit up the sky over Osaka in the distance in front of them. “Looks like it has started, Mika,” Lena said.
    “Get ready, everyone,” Villetta said over the general radio frequency. “The enemy has broken through the first line of defense and has split into three groups. The center group is currently engaged with our second line and may be here soon.”
    “Don’t worry, Lena,” Mika said. “If you want, we can stick by Akira during the battle.”
    “No, we’d only get in his way,” Lena huffed. “Mika…can I ask you something?”
    Mika giggled, “Sure, Lena, you can ask me anything.”
    Lena hesitated for a moment before posing the question that had been bugging her since the KnightMare Competition at Sydney. “Are you in love with Akira?”
    Mika thought about it for a moment. “Honestly…“

    * * *

    “Here they come, Akira!” Fong exclaimed as the first few Hoplite Spartans broke through Kyoto’s second line of defense.
    The Greek machines tore through a pair of Vincent Wards at the rear of the second line of JDF KnightMares.
    “Permission to engage the enemy, Major Nu,” Akira radioed the Jaguars’ commander.
    “Permission granted, Lieutenant Nobunaga…good hunting,” she replied quickly as several more of the Greek KMFs got past the Osaka defenders.
    “Thank you, Major.” Akira dodged a blast from the Hades Cannon of a Hoplite lance and cut off one of the wings of the mecha’s Icarus units, sending it spiraling to the ground below.
    “You’re not taking this city!” Fong yelled at one of the Spartans as Guren dodged a Hades bolt and grabbed the arm of the Greek KMF. In the next instant, the Automatos’ arm was molten slag. The Hoplite followed up with a Chaos beam attack, but Fong rolled Guren out of the way and used the Katen Yaibatou blade to cut the Spartan in half at the waist.
    “Don’t get too far ahead of us, Fong!” Villetta yelled at him as she used the lance of her Jikisan Akatsuki to penetrate a Hoplite’s Aegis shield and run it through at the waist. The Automatos exploded after she withdrew her weapon.
    Li Jiang flew the Guren as fast as the machine’s Glide Unit would take it, zipping through the mass of Hoplites looking for a target of opportunity. He found one and dove for it.
    “You’re mine!” Fong said as he reached out with the Fukusha Hadou Kikou radiation wave claw of Guren. The oversized KMF hand bounced off a golden radiance in front of the Hoplite.
    “We meet again,” Heracles said over the general radio channel to Fong as Helios swung its club at Guren.
    “YOU!” Fong spat over the comm. as Guren barely moved out of the way of the great adamantine weapon.
    “Li Jiang, you can’t take him alone.” Akira flew towards Fong, but the Talos flew up in front of him.
    “Have you forgotten what I taught you already, Akira?” Jason scolded him over the radio. “I could have cut you in half just now. Don’t let yourself get distracted in battle. It’s how you managed to defeat me last time, remember?”
    “Jason,” Nobunaga said unsure of the Greek’s intensions.
    “You ready for a rematch?” Jason asked in a mild tone.
    “Always,” Akira replied.
    “Good.” Jason had Talos raise its sword in salute.
    Zangetsu did the same.

    * * *

    “We need to get out of here, Kaguya!” Jiang Lihua said as she pulled Sumeragi towards an aerial shuttle in the hangar of the UFN building.
    “No, Lihua, we have to stay here and provide leadership during this crisis,” Kaguya protested. “It is our duty.”
    “General Tohdoh has already given the evacuation order, and most of the UFN council has fled the building, Kaguya. Even General Tohdoh is moving his command to the Ikaruga. We need to get there too if we’re to have any hope of getting out of this alive.” The Tianzi dragged her friend up the ramp into the shuttle with the help of two of the ship’s crew.
    “NO, DAMN IT! I will not run from this enemy!” Kaguya struggled to break free.
    “They have two FLEIJA warheads, Kaguya. We have to get to safety.” The Tianzi pulled with all her might on Sumeragi.
    “Nunnally and Suzaku would never use those weapons against us, Lihua, and you know it,” Kaguya shot back as she lost her footing.
    The four of them fell into the shuttle. A lady-crewman inside the egress pressed the hatch door button and closed the ramp; in an instant, the shuttle was in flight.

    * * *

    Gregor spun out of the way of a Hades blast and fired a burst of autocannon rounds at the offending Hoplite; his rounds bounced off the Aegis shield of the mecha as it closed in towards his Gekka.
    "You okay, Gregor?" Tetsuo asked as he was engaged by another of the Greek machines.
    "Don't worry, Tetsuo; I've got this one," Gregor said to his wingmen as he fired a burst of autocannon rounds at the Hoplite.
    “You’re pretty good,” Orpheus called to Gregor over the radio as he had his Hoplite flip the Thunder Lance over and thrust the adamantine spear towards the Gekka.
    Gregor parried the spear with the Katen Yaibatou revolving blade. “You’re not bad yourself. It’s a good thing for me that your shield lowers when you attack.”
    Orpheus laughed. “You noticed that, did you?”
    “I did,” Gregor said as he waited for Orpheus’ next attack.
    Orpheus had his Hoplite stow its spear and shield onto its back. The Spartan then drew its sword and saluted Gregor. “Your friend, Akira, is an honorable man. Are you?”
    Gregor had his Gekka salute Orpheus’ Spartan. “I am.”
    Orpheus laughed, “Jason was right about all of you. It’s a pity we have to fight.”
    “I agree,” Gregor said as he waited for Orpheus to make the first move. “What’s your name?”
    “Orpheus,” the Greek said proudly.
    “I’m Gregor,” he said with confidence. “Since you’re a guest in my country, allow me to offer you the first move in this duel of swords, Orpheus.”
    “Thank you, Gregor,” Orpheus said as his Spartan lunged at the Gekka.
    Gregor barely dodged the sword thrust. “No problem.” He spun the Gekka around and slashed at the Hoplite.
    The swords of their machines crossed.

    * * *

    “Wow, I haven’t been here since they finished this place,” Suzaku said as they walked through the large archway with their Lancelots. The ancient hall was lit by a series of six large brass cauldrons on each side of the tomb that burned an odorless, smokeless substance that Suzaku figured must have been a natural gas-fed system of some kind. The entire chamber had been redecorated from its former state of disrepair, though the ancient pillars and walls were unchanged. All along the center of the chamber were representative marble statues in full military regalia and actual weaponry of every emperor of Britannia before Lelouch. Forty-nine statues lined each side of the eight-foot-wide red marble runway that led to the dais at the far end of the chamber. There upon the dais laid the crystal vacuum-sealed coffin of Lelouch vi Britannia.
    Nunnally was leaning over Suzaku’s shoulder looking at the viewscreens as the two mecha came to a stop at the foot of the runway. A flood of emotions coursed through her as the shape of the crystal coffin came into view. Tears filled her eyes.
    “Are you okay with this?” Suzaku asked her.
    She turned and smiled at him. “Of course I am...it was my idea, remember?”
    He let out a soft laugh, happy to see her smiling despite how painful it must have been for her to see Lelouch again. His own feelings were getting to him. “Yah, I guess it was. I’m sorry.”
    “There’s no need to be sorry, Suzaku…” She paused to wipe the moisture from her eyes. “Those of us who really knew Lelouch all loved him.”

    * * *

    “The island is in sight, Euryale,” Medusa said as they approached Kaminejima.
    “I don’t see the enemy Automatos on my scope, Medusa.” Euryale was annoyed as she scanned over the whole of the island with the Gorgon’s instruments.
    “They must be at the gate inside whatever temple it is hidden in,” Medusa told her.
    “The Kingdom of Mu hid their gates well,” Euryale lamented. “I’m not picking up anything on our sensors. We’ll have to spread out our forces and scour the island visually for the gate.”
    “That could take too much time, Euryale. Jason has already begun his attack on Kyoto and—” Medusa started to say.
    “Wait, my sister; I’m picking up two more enemy Automatos closing in on the island.” Euryale activated her comm. “Attention, all Harpies, proceed underwater immediately and await further orders.”
    The whole legion obeyed without question and plunged into the waters outside of Kaminejima just as a pair of KnightMares came into view over the far side of the isle.

    * * *

    “I tell you, C2, my scope was reading a large number of KnightMares just to the east of Kamine Island,” Jeremiah protested.
    “If they were actually there, they must have dove into the sea, and there's nothing we can do about them right now,” C.C. said as they flew towards their destination. "We have to get Suzaku and Nunnally out of here as quickly as we can."
    The Shinkirou and the Jikisan Akatsuki flew in a staggered line formation towards the northeast side of the island. Within moments, they were in sight of the concealed gateway to Lelouch’s tomb.
    “I don’t see either of the Lancelot units on my scope, Jeremiah. They’ve probably gone into the chamber with them.”
    “That was smart thinking on their part,” he said. “That way they’re totally concealed.”
    “It’s a good thing we know where the Thought Elevator is, or else we’d never find them,” C.C. said as she flew her KnightMare down to the mouth of the Geass Ruins’ entrance.
    Jeremiah followed suit and landed his KMF next to hers. “Should we go inside with the possibility of an enemy force so close?” he asked.
    “We have to,” C.C. said. “Let’s go in with our KnightMares just in case there really is a force of enemy KnightMares out here and we need ours fast.”
    “Do you intend on forcing Suzaku to return the Lancelot of the Lake?” Gottwald wondered if she’d actually follow Tohdoh’s orders.
    “Yes, but I’m not doing it because of what the UFN wants,” she answered with defiance in her voice. “I’m going to force him to return the FLEIJA warheads to Kyoto because we may need them to defeat this enemy we’re fighting.”
    “I see,” he said impressed by her strategic line of thinking.

    * * *

    “There!” Medusa remarked with excitement. “They’ve shown us the location of the temple.”
    “Excellent,” Euryale stated with pleasure as she opened up a channel to her legion of Harpies. “Units three through twelve will join up with us to take the empress and kill Zero and his allies. All other units will proceed to Kyoto and attack the city from the rear now that Jason has begun his assault.”
    The Harpy units broke into two groups with nine of them forming up around the Gorgon and the other thirty-one speeding off towards the city of Kyoto.

    * * *

    “The gate to the Thought Elevator is just behind the velum screen at the far end of the chamber,” Nunnally said as she and Enoch walked towards the dais while Suzaku and the Red Dragon secured their mecha.
    Nunnally started down the long red marble pathway.
    “Wait!” C.C.’s voice called out to them over the loudspeaker of Shinkirou. “You must stop!”
    “C2?” Suzaku said as the Shinkirou and the Jikisan Akatsuki entered the chamber.
    “Yes, Suzaku,” she replied as she opened up the hatch of her KnightMare and stood up. “You can’t take the Lancelot of the Lake from here. You have to return to Kyoto at once. The city is under attack, and those FLEIJA may be our only hope of winning against this enemy.”
    “C2, we need to get Nunnally back to Britannia to stop this conflict,” Suzaku said to her.
    “Britannia is not the real enemy here,” Jeremiah said as he opened his own hatch and got up from his seat. "Bringing her to Britannia is not going to stop this conflict; in fact, it could make things even worse."
    “What?” Nunnally said in confusion. She knew that what they spoke was the truth, but she was confused as to how it could be possible since Britannia had declared war against the UFN.
    "If Britannia is not responsible, then who is?" Suzaku asked with a skeptical tone.
    "A force of Geass users who claim to be the ancient Olympian gods of the antediluvian world and their conspirator who awoke them...Schneizel," C.C. said to them. "We don't know how Schneizel revived them, but we do know they are helping him, and their weapons are superior to most of what the UFN and Britannia possess. A fleet of their warships may be laying siege to Kyoto even as we speak."
    "The gods of Olympus?" Enoch frowned. "I thought they all departed Earth millennia ago."
    C.C. looked down at the gray-bearded old man and snickered, "You look ridiculous, Enoch."
    He smiled up at her. "It suits me for the moment. It's nice to see you again, Eli..."
    "C2!" she told him with a cautious smirk.
    "Oh? It's C2 now, is it?" He laughed.
    "I hate to interrupt, but we may all be in danger here," Jeremiah stated firmly. "We should be leaving here immediately."
    "Agreed," the Red Dragon said in her modulated voice from atop the Lancelot Frontier. "If what you say is true, then we may be in danger here."
    C.C. looked at her in surprise. "Who might you be?"
    "She's the Red Dragon," Enoch smiled at C.C. "My great-granddaughter."
    "WHAT?" she said in shock. "Then that means she's..." An explosion rocked the interior of the chamber as small rocks and debris fell from the ceiling.
    "Looks like they're here!" Jeremiah exclaimed.

    * * *

    The Gorgon sped over the tops of the trees of the island with its entourage of Automatos in tow. In moments, the spot where the two KnightMares had been came into view.
    “They’ve gone inside,” Medusa said.
    “The fates have smiled on us.” Euryale made a wicked grin as the Gorgon settled down on the surface of the island over what was certainly the roof of the temple. The great wings of the Kolossos Automatos folded up onto its back as the machine removed its newly acquired Golden Toxin bow from where the weapon rested on its hip armor.
    "Let's flush them out," Euryale added as the Gorgon pulled back on the energy string and formed a large gold energy arrow. In the next moment, the great Kolossos let loose the missile into the roof of the underground structure.
    "Be careful, Euryale," Medusa warned. "We don't want to bring down the whole cavern upon them."
    "I know, Medusa..." she started to scold her sister when an energy beam raced towards them. "MOVE!" was all Euryale could get out.
    Medusa tried to roll the Gorgon out of the path of the deadly beam of light, but its left wing was grazed at the shoulder.
    "Our Icarus unit has been hit!" Medusa yelled.
    Euryale didn't respond to her sister; she had the black- and gold-colored enemy Automatos in her sights. "Take this!" she spat at the machine as she let loose with a barrage of Hades Cannon fire from the tubular head guns and corralled the Shinkirou into a bolt she let fly from the Gorgon's bow.

    * * *

    C.C. ejected from the doomed KnightMare as the golden missile of the Kolossos tore through the midsection of her machine. Shinkirou fell from the sky and impacted into the head of the Gorgon, exploding in a ball of fire as it did so.
    "C2!" Suzaku called out as he unsheathed the pair of enhanced MVS blades from the sides of the Lancelot of the Lake. Two Harpies attempted to intercept his KnightMare, but Suzaku's skill was too great. He easily slipped through the first Harpy's sword thrust and cut the head of the machine off with his first Maser Vibration Sword. With a sweep of the second blade, he ran the enemy KnightMare unit through, killing the pilot and destroying the machine.
    Suzaku went at the next Harpy with a fury and did a double-bladed twist and spin towards the Greek Hoplite mecha; his first blade cut the arms of the Harpy off whilst the second cut it in half at the waist.
    Kururugi searched around for another Harpy unit when he caught sight of the pink Lancelot Frontier cutting down its third Greek Automatos with short, crisp, sword parries and blocks that ended with the MVS of the pink machine going up through the center of the doomed Harpy's main body.
    "Suzaku, leave this battle to us," Jeremiah ordered over the radio. "You have a duty to the UFN and to Britannia. Get that KnightMare of yours to Kyoto and stop this invasion. They're depending on you over there," Gottwald said as his Jikisan cut through its second Harpy. "And don't worry about us; we can handle this motley crew."
    "But I can't just leave Nunnally," he started to protest.
    "We'll protect her, Suzaku," the Red Dragon told him as she skillfully knocked the sword from her fourth Harpy and stabbed the metal beast in its midsection. The Lancelot withdrew its weapon and the Automatos exploded.
    Seeing Jeremiah's Jikisan Akatsuki slice through the last Harpy finalized Kururugi's decision. "Alright, I'll take my leave of you and go help Kyoto, but promise me, Jeremiah, that you'll get Nunnally to safety."
    "I will," Gottwald said as he joined up with the Lancelot Frontier to take on the damaged Gorgon on the island below them.
    The Lancelot of the Lake sped off towards Kyoto as the Red Dragon asked, "Let's take this one together?"
    "Agreed," Jeremiah said as their two machines came down in front of the Gorgon.

    * * *

    "The Gorgon's Gaze unit has been disabled," Euryale told Medusa, "and our guard detail is gone."
    "My controls are sluggish, Euryale." Medusa moved the control sticks as quickly as she could to dodge an MVS attack by the Lancelot Frontier. One of the blades clipped the shoulder armor of the Kolossos.
    "I'll deactivate the battle computer," Euryale said as she touched a button on one of the screens in front of her. "You'll have to fly her completely on your own, and we won't be synchronized. Can you do that?"
    Medusa let out a laugh. "Against these two fools...are you kidding?" With full control in her hands, Medusa easily swerved out of the way of an attack by Jeremiah's Jikisan.
    "Good, then we can still take these two," Euryale said regaining her composure as she used the adamantine claw of the Gorgon to grab one of the Akatsuki's MVS blades and snap it in half.

    * * *

    "It's still too powerful for us!" the Red Dragon blurted out as she watched a hail of energy bolts tear through Jeremiah's Jikisan from the tubular head guns of the machine. She dodged a shower of blasts that came at her machine as it swerved in behind the large mecha.
    The bolts blew off the left arm and leg, and the head of Gottwald's KnightMare Frame, but its float unit still allowed it to move. "Damn it!" Jeremiah cursed as he fired a barrage of autocannon rounds at the Gorgon from his machine's arm-mounted gun and used the assault to give the Red Dragon an opening.
    The Lancelot Frontier leapt up over the Gorgon as Jeremiah plunged his Jikisan into the Kolossos and ejected. "NOW! Cut down through the damaged armor of its head!"
    The Lancelot Frontier dropped from the sky in a dive with both of its MVS swords and drove the blades into the top of the Gorgon all the way down to the hilts through its neck.
    The Red Dragon ejected from her machine as the snake-like head cannons of the Gorgon blazed long enough to blast off the legs, arms, and chest armor of the Lancelot Frontier before going dead.

    * * *

    "We've lost all power!" Medusa exclaimed.
    Euryale grabbed her sword from the side of her pilot's seat. "That pink machine pierced our energy cells. The Gorgon is shutting down."
    Medusa wasn't sure what Euryale was up to until her sister opened the rear hatch. The young pilot grabbed her own sword belt. "So now what?"
    Euryale smiled. "Contact Scylla with the emergency communicator and tell her to begin her attack." Euryale gave her sister an evil grin. "This battle is not over."
    Last edited by Kodai Okuda; 09-19-2010 at 05:54 AM.
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  4. #14
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    Turn Thirteen: Every Demon Has His Day


    “Whilst Mephistopheles looked down upon Faust he said to him: Thankst thou that I who saw the face of God, And tasted the eternal joys of heaven, Am not tormented with ten thousand hells, In being deprived of everlasting bliss! Such is the destiny of all champions whose power in Geass has grown to the point of immortality, and such is the fate of those who obtain Code Geass in which there is no hope of the release of death and the return to heaven without passing the curse to some other poor soul. So we who are cursed with the immortality of a Code and the blight of Geass upon our souls roam the Earth in secret forever. Hiding that which we are and mourning for who we once were. Having loves and lovers only to watch them fade away into dust while we continue on for eternity or leave us when another immortal’s passion grows cold. Oh, how I wept for the loss of the one friend I wished I could have shared in all this eternal life. The one person for whom I could hold and be one with through the endless ages as they pass. How I wish for you…my Lelouch” —Excerpt from a letter written by C.C. just before the Zero Requiem [never given to Lelouch], dated 2018 a.t.b.

    “What do you mean the Avalon has escaped?” Evita Ernst barked at Cornelia as the young teenage duchess waltzed onto the flight deck of the Avenger from the small aerial shuttle-plane that had ferried her there.
    Cornelia came up to the left side of the duchess as they immediately proceeded towards the elevator that led to the bridge of the vessel. “The Avalon fled our airspace almost as soon as we ordered them to rendezvous with us,” General Caesaro said in a calm, uninterested tone.
    “We’ve tracked them to Tahiti,” Cornelia added. “But it would seem they’ve met with a UFN fleet there that may have captured them.”
    Evita threw a fit. “BUT MY GINO IS ON THAT SHIP!!”
    “I’m afraid so.” Cornelia smiled at her sympathetically. “And heading for Japan as we speak,” she told her with concern.
    “We have to stop that ship…” Evita whined. “We have to get back my Gino.”
    “So, do we have an accord then, Duchess?” Cornelia inquired as to the verdict of her request made privately via coded transmission prior to the arrival of the duchess.
    “Yes,” the young girl stated flatly. “So long as you bring me back Gino alive.”
    “I promise you I will bring all of them back alive,” Cornelia reassured her. “Gino, Nunnally, Anya, and Zero.”
    “Then so be it.” Evita turned to her. “Kneel before me, Generalissimo Caesaro.”
    Cornelia knelt.
    Evita composed herself and drew her sword. She placed the flat on the blade on each of Cornelia’s shoulders as she said, “I, Duchess Evita Ernst of Britannia, hereby dub thee Princess Cornelia li Britannia and as acting regent of the empire reinstate thee as the rightful head of state and heir to the throne as per the customs and laws of the Holy Britannian Empire.”
    Cornelia stood up and smiled as the elevator door opened. “Thank you, Duchess.”
    Evita knelt before Cornelia. “What is thy bidding, Princess Cornelia li Britannia?”
    “My first order is for you to…” Cornelia was interrupted by Guilford rushing out of the elevator with a frantic look on his face.
    His expression startled her. “What is it, Guilford?”
    His eyes were wild with fear as he let out only one word, “FLEIJA!”

    * * *

    “How much longer before we reach Japan?” Kallen asked Cecile as she and the other Yamato no Orochi members stood staring out at the ocean in front of them on the bridge of the Avalon.
    “Twenty minutes at most,” Cecile smiled at her.
    Kallen watched as the sun began setting in the western horizon and then sighed. “I hate that we left Nina behind.”
    “Don’t worry, Kallen,” Gino said leaning over her shoulder. “General Xingke’s armada is scouring the south Pacific for her. I’m sure they’ll find her. Besides, we don’t know what kind of forces Schneizel has with him. The UFN fleet is much better equipped to deal with that situation than we are.”
    “I hope you’re right, Gino.” Kallen looked at him. “Even after all Nina’s done, I don’t want her to end up being Schneizel’s pawn in all of this.”
    “Well, I wouldn’t worry too much about our Nina,” Lloyd said from where he stood at the navigator’s station on the bridge. “I’m sure she’s fine, Captain Kozuki, and I wouldn’t underestimate her; she can be very resourceful.”
    “Yah, well, I hope you’re right there, doc,” Tamaki griped. “I’d hate to think what she might be building for Prince Charming right now.”
    Kallen gave him a weak smile. “She’s changed, Tamaki; there’s no way she’d repeat that same mistake twice.”
    “Even under the influence of Schneizel’s gay-assss?” Tamaki inquired with a huff.
    Anya, who hadn’t been paying much attention to the conversation, broke into the discussion as she pointed out the window. “What’s that pink light over Japan?”
    “What?” the others blurted out as Lloyd checked the instruments of the navigational console.
    “My God!” Cecile exclaimed in horror.
    “It can’t be.” Kallen looked on in fear of what the light meant.
    “That’s not what I think it is…is it?” Tamaki stammered.
    “It is,” Gino added somberly.
    Lloyd jumped up and cried out, “It’s my Lancelot!!”

    * * *

    “That was a good one, Fong!” Heracles laughed out loud as Li Jiang scored a hit on the left shoulder of Helios; the damage was only superficial.
    “This is not some kind of contest, you Greek buffoon!” Fong used the radiant-heat wave of Guren against Helios, but the Aegis shield of the Automatos blocked the attack completely.
    “You’re cheating again,” Heracles scolded him as he swung the great adamantine club of Helios at the Guren.
    “Stop treating me like a child!” Fong twirled his KnightMare out of the way of the swing and used the Katen Yaibatou revolving blade to thrust at the head of Helios.
    “Well, then stop fighting like one,” Heracles chuckled as he deflected the thrust with his club and crashed the Aegis shield into the side of Guren, doing only minor damage.
    “Why you!” Li Jiang had the Guren lunge towards the Helios.
    Heracles went to move out of the way when the Guren stopped and the tip of a sword came through the front of the red KnightMare.
    “Fong!” Heracles shouted desperately as the blade withdrew and Guren fell towards the Earth below, revealing the Harpy Automatos that had stabbed the Guren from behind with its sword.
    “YOU WENCH!” Heracles yelled in a fury as he incinerated the Harpy with the Chaos Gun of Helios. The Greek warrior flew the Helios like a comet to catch Guren before it crashed into the Earth.

    * * *

    “You’ve improved a great deal since last we met, Akira!” Jason said as their swords crossed continuously. With each attack Jason made towards Nobunaga, the Zangetsu countered with skill and precision that impressed the captain of the Argonauts.
    “I’ve had a lot of practice lately,” Akira told him as he blocked another of the captain’s attacks. “You’ve given me a lot to think…” Akira was cut short as a sword nearly cleaved Zangetsu in half from above. Nobunaga looked to see Talos’ great adamantine blade blocking the bronze-colored sword that tried to cut down Zangetsu.
    Akira heard Jason yell something in Greek over the radio to the female KnightMare Frame that tried to smite him. The woman piloting the machine spat something back at Jason as another of the Harpies flew in behind the Talos.
    “Jason, look out!” Akira yelled as he flew Zangetsu up under the Talos’ left wing and blocked the Harpy from stabbing Talos in the back.
    The Talos and Zangetsu now were back-to-back facing off against both of the Harpies.
    “Care to help me deal with these vile interlopers, Akira?” Jason asked him.
    “Just give the word, Captain!” Nobunaga answered with pride.
    “The word is given, my friend.” Talos and Zangetsu fought against the Harpies together.

    * * *

    “What the hell?” Gregor said in a distracted tone as Orpheus attempted another swipe at his Akatsuki.
    “You’ve been doing well thus far,” Orpheus spoke as a teacher to a student. “Don’t disappoint me now by getting distracted.”
    “Orpheus, behind you!” Gregor said pushing past the Spartan and blocking a Harpy right before it cut down the Hoplite.
    “Harpies!” Orpheus blurted out as he watched Gregor fire a burst of autocannon rounds into the head of the female Automatos. “If she tried to attack me…then that means we are betrayed!”
    Gregor followed up his burst of cannon rounds with a thrust to the center of the Harpy. The Katen Yaibatou revolving blade pierced through the center of the machine, destroying it.
    Gregor flew up next to Orpheus’ Spartan as a flight of four more Harpies dove down towards them from above. “Orpheus, are you familiar with the phrase the enemy of my enemy…
    …is my friend,” Orpheus finished the saying as he fired the chest-mounted Chaos Gun of his Spartan at the flight of Harpies, destroying one of them. “Let’s go, my friend Gregor. It would seem that the fates have decided we should be comrades.”

    * * *

    “We need to leave as quickly as possible, Nunnally,” Enoch told her as he carried her up the stairs that led to the dais. “The Thought Elevator is just ahead of us.”
    “He looks so peaceful,” she said as she caught sight of Lelouch’s body through the crystal lid of his coffin. Lelouch looked as though he were merely sleeping with a content expression on his face and his eyes closed. He was dressed as Zero, with a replica of the helmet of Zero at his feet and the sword of the emperor laying on his body in his hands, like an ancient Knight of Honor.
    “Nunnally, are you listening to what I’m saying?” Enoch sounded hurt as he set her down on her feet.
    “Hmm,” she asked as she came out of her sorrowful thoughts. “I’m sorry, Enoch, I was just thinking about him.”
    “I understand…” Enoch began.
    “Oh, how touching,” Euryale said snidely as she stepped out in front of the two of them from the stair at the other side of the dais with her sword drawn. She held the weapon up towards them.
    “Give the girl to us, old man, and you won’t be harmed,” Medusa said as she came up behind them, her blade in her hands at the ready.
    “Well, well, if it isn’t the daughters of Phorcys and Ceto,” Enoch said with a snicker. “To think that you two were left behind by Zeus and the others…tisk, tisk, such a pity.”
    “You dare to mock us?” Medusa queried him with a vicious scowl. “You’ll pay for that, old one.” Medusa leapt up with her blade high above her head and slashed down at Enoch. The man moved only a few inches to the side, but it was enough for the sword to miss him completely.
    Medusa’s blade struck the crystal lid of the coffin, shattering it into millions of tiny shards and causing her to cover her eyes. Enoch used the screen of shattered pieces to put some distance between them.
    Euryale slid in behind Enoch and thrust with her sword at him but managed to only pierce open air as Enoch once again made a quick but small move to the side allowing the blade to pass by harmlessly.
    Nunnally tried to move away from them as fast as she could on her cybernetic legs while Medusa ran towards Enoch again. The Greek Devicer swung at the old man, but her blade was stopped by another.
    “Don’t you know you should respect your elders?” C.C. said with an impish grin as she brandished a sword taken from the statue of Charles zi Britannia.
    “Oh? Do you aim to school me then?” Medusa answered C.C. as she went into a combat pose.
    “I do,” C.C. told her confidently as she stepped sideways and put her two-handed bastard sword above her head in an arch with her other arm forward, palm outward like a claw in a martial arts stance.
    “You think that you can take us both?” Euryale said as she went at C.C.
    “She doesn’t need to.” Jeremiah leapt up onto the dais and bowed to Euryale. “I’ll be you dancing partner for this waltz.” His blade extended from its recess in his left forearm.
    “How charming,” Euryale smiled. “I’ll enjoy playing the lead in this dance of death.”
    “You won’t succeed, Euryale,” the Red Dragon said as she walked up the stair with a sword in her hand.
    Upon seeing the Red Dragon, C.C. called out to the old man, “Enoch, take the Red Dragon and Nunnally and get out of here.”
    “Still giving me honey-do-lists, eh, C2,” Enoch snickered.
    C.C. blushed slightly as she paced off with Medusa. “Just do it.”
    “You think you can hide her in the River Styx?” Medusa scoffed. “We know its secret places as well, and we know how to find your friends there. Once we finish you two off, we’ll go there and obtain the empress.”
    “She’s right, Red Dragon,” Enoch told the woman. “If these two pass into the River Styx, I’ll need you to help me against them.
    “Damn it,” the modulated voice cursed as she came to stand by Enoch and Nunnally with her sword at the ready.
    “Yes,Enoch.” Euryale laughed manically. “Do be a good boy and take off that stupid façade, and await us in your secret place. Once my sister and I are done with these two, I want to be sure to see you as you really are before I slay you.”
    Jeremiah looked at Enoch with wonder. “How is it you know him?” he asked Euryale.
    “We go way back,” she tittered. “But that needn’t concern you, my handsome warrior. All that should concern you is Euryale.” She lunged towards him with her sword.

    * * *

    Suzaku flew the Lancelot of the Lake as fast the graviton-impellors could take him to the Kyoto area. He arrived over Osaka Bay just in time to see the massive bulk of an airship moving in over the Hyogo Prefecture. All around the large cylindrical vessel was a swarm of KnightMare Frames of a type he had never seen before. Their colors matched those of the winged machines he had just fought over Kaminejima.
    “The Ikaruga,” he said aloud to himself as he scanned over the chaos of the battlespace and caught sight of the aerial warship surrounded by its flotilla of support vessels.
    Lancelot of the Lake,” Tohdoh’s voice boomed over Suzaku’s radio.
    “What is it, General,” he replied.
    “You are to land on the deck of Ikaruga and surrender at once!” Tohdoh commanded.
    “You know I can’t do that, Kyoshiro.” Kururugi scanned over the battlefield seeing that despite their valiant efforts, the Kyoto defense forces were being overrun by the Harpies. “You need every KnightMare you’ve got right now, General.”
    “Don’t argue with me, Suzaku!” Tohdoh shouted. “You had your chance to redeem yourself and you threw it away! You are dead to me!”
    “If I’m dead, then you can’t give me orders, General,” Suzaku sped towards the battle. Within him, the old emotional wounds from his past were reopened. I am dead, he thought to himself, and yet I’m compelled to live. No more, Lelouch.
    “Suzaku!” Kyoshiro called over the radio. “SUZAKU!”
    Suzaku ignored Tohdoh as he cut down four Harpies that tried to intercept him. He had reached the limit of his sorrow; he could no longer bear his burden, and his resolve was made as hard and strong as tempered steel. The Lancelot looked like a ballet dancer as it spun, twisted, rolled, and dodged its way through the legion of Harpies cutting down over a dozen of them in a few moments.
    He would defeat this enemy.

    * * *

    “Get me Villetta,” Tohdoh said to Chiba.
    “General, you aren’t thinking of having her take on Suzaku, are you?” Nagisa asked with concern. She had become fond of Villetta during their jaunt from Australia.
    “Why? Is there something wrong?” he grimaced.
    “No, Kyoshiro, but you may be sending her and her students to their deaths,” Nagisa reminded him that Akira and the others were only teenagers.
    “They’re Black Knights now, are they not?” he growled.
    “Yes, Tohdoh, they are,” she answered him knowing he was determined to win this battle. Chiba knew he was scared that Suzaku, the first man to ever fire a FLEIJA weapon, would do so again.
    His angry mask broke upon seeing the hurt look on her face, and he took her hand in his. “I don’t want to see Tokyo repeated, Nagisa.”
    She smiled at him in understanding. “I know…”

    * * *

    “I’m sorry, Villetta, but you’re going to have to take down the Lancelot of the Lake without destroying it,” Tohdoh told Major Nu in a polite tone. “Suzaku Kururugi is the pilot of the machine, so I’ll not try to lessen the gravity of this situation. It’s a very dangerous mission.”
    Villetta thought of Ohgi and her children for a moment before answering, “Of course I’ll do it, General. I’ll not let the people of Japan suffer from a FLEIJA again.”
    “Good. How many of your people can assist you?” Tohdoh asked.
    “I can,” Sayoko butted in. “These Greek machines seem to be fighting each other all of a sudden, so I’ve been freed up.”
    “Fighting each other?” Villetta asked her in a confused tone.
    “Yes, Major Nu,” Lena came in over the line. “And it looks like Akira and Gregor are helping them fight the female machines.”
    “Typical boys,” Mika added. “As soon as they bond, they start ganging up on the girls.”
    Tohdoh wasn’t laughing. “Are you telling me you’ve got members of your team assisting the enemy!”
    “They’re not the enemy, General Tohdoh,” Akira’s voice came in over the channel. He had picked up on the conversation over the general Black Knight radio frequency. “In fact, their leader would like to speak to you.”
    “Do you actually expect me to believe that, Lieutenant?” Kyoshiro was furious.
    “He speaks the truth.” This time it was Jason’s voice on the line.
    “Who the hell are you?” Tohdoh demanded.
    The Greek spoke in a military monotone, “I am Jason, Captain of the Argonauts and the only person capable of saving you.”
    “Saving us?” Villetta blurted out. “From what?”
    Charybdis,” was all Jason could say as the waters of Osaka bay boiled in a tumultuous fury. Within moments, the form of a great metallic beast broke the surface of the water and moved towards the edge of the coastline.
    “It’s a turtle!” Tetsuo gasped as he felled another Harpy.
    “More like the Daiei movie monster Gamera,” Kaguya said in awe of the giant metal beast as she entered onto the mezzanine of the bridge.
    Chiba giggled at Kaguya’s observation, but Kyoshiro only sighed at the presence of the UFN lady-chairman.
    “You see, General Tohdoh,” Jason said. “Scylla and her Charybdis have no doubt come here to destroy your nation and us with it. The attack of the Harpies on my men clearly shows that. Time is short. Therefore, I propose a truce until this common foe is vanquished.”
    Kyoshiro didn’t like the idea of allying with this man. He quickly considered his options. Upon seeing Kaguya give him a stern look with her hands on her hips and the beast move into the bay area around Kobe, destroying the piers of the city shipyards, he quickly made up his mind. “Very well,” he said to Jason. “For the time being, we will be allies.”
    Kaguya gave him an approving nod and smiled.
    Kyoshiro wasn’t sure which he feared more, the giant mechanical turtle or Sumeragi’s wrath.
    “Excellent,” Jason stated warmly. “Akira was right; you are a man of honor.”
    Nagisa smiled at Tohdoh as he raised an eyebrow but said nothing.

    * * *

    Suzaku cut down two more Harpies in a blaze of fury that was cut short by the waters of Osaka bay below him erupting into a tempest that spewed forth a giant metal turtle-like KnightMare that was larger than the Ikaruga.
    “What the hell is that thing?” he called out over the radio.
    “It’s called Charybdis,” Kaguya informed him over the communicator. “And according to newly acquired information we have from our new friends, it has come here to destroy Kyoto and all of Japan as well. Listen carefully to me, my cousin. There are millions of innocent people who will die here unless that thing is stopped. As head of the UFN council and arbitrator with our new allies, Jason and his Argonauts, I, Kaguya Sumeragi, hereby pardon you of all past crimes and misdeeds…on one condition.”
    “Go ahead, Lady Kaguya.” Suzaku would not be part and parcel to watching innocent civilians die at the hands of this monster if he could stop it.
    “You must use any and all means at your disposal to either delay or destroy that giant KnightMare. I’ve already ordered a complete evacuation of the metropolitan area some time ago; however, there are still a few stragglers. Civil defense says they can have the city of Kobe cleared in ten minutes. Do you think you can slow this thing down until our forces can make it to you?”
    Suzaku hesitated; he knew what she was asking him to do would involve the FLEIJA warheads his Lancelot carried. “I don’t know, Lady Kaguya. I don’t want to be responsible for killing innocent people with these dreadful weapons…not again.”
    Kaguya spoke to him softly, “I know how you must feel, but now is your chance, Suzaku.” Her voice trembled slightly at what she was about to say. “You can redeem yourself…you can make amends. Suzaku Kururugi, you can help save Japan, and in doing so, you will be forgiven by her and…and for what it’s worth…I’ve already forgiven you, my cousin. You could have fled with Lancelot, and yet you came back of your own accord…that shows me that you truly do have honor.”
    “I understand, Kaguya.” He was pleased at the thought of her forgiveness and smiled. “I thank you.” He flew Lancelot towards the Charybdis.
    “Good luck, my cousin,” she said with concern. “Remember, you only have to keep it at bay until reinforcements arrive.”
    “Don’t worry, Lady Kaguya.” His mind was already made up. “I’ll stop it.”

    * * *

    “Hurry, get through the gate!” C.C. told Enoch as she forced Medusa down the stairs of the dais.
    Enoch hesitated. He wanted to help C.C. and her companion defeat the sisters, but he realized that someone else would need him very soon. “She’s right; we need to leave now. Red Dragon, please clear the gateway.”
    “As you wish, Enoch.” The Red Dragon cut through the velum screen revealing the ancient stone doors behind it.
    “Shouldn’t we help them, Enoch?” Nunnally was apprehensive about simply leaving C.C. and Jeremiah to fight these two warrior women.
    “I wish we could, Nunnally, but there is someone who needs me.” Enoch put his hand on the doorway and activated it.
    “Who?” she asked with a perplexed look.
    “Suzaku,” he said bluntly.

    * * *

    “It would seem that coward Enoch has fled,” Medusa said to C.C. as she deflected another swift strike by the green-haired woman.
    “He knows what he has to do,” C.C. retorted as she knocked Medusa back onto the red marble pathway with a kick to her midsection.
    “Your skill as a warrior is impressive,” Medusa said with a vile smirk as she recovered and launched another assault.
    “Thank you.” C.C. blocked her sword strike. “It’s too bad your character as a person isn’t.”
    "Aw, and I thought we might become friends," Medusa tittered with venom as she slashed at C.C. again.
    "Stop this madness, and withdraw back to wherever you came from, and I might consider it," C.C. retorted with a snide grin as their swords clashed again.
    "Not before we retrieve the empress and the Golden Apple from this place," Medusa boasted. "Once we have them, you can have this pathetic island and its entire people. Once Tartarus is repowered, we will have the ultimate weapon, the Apollyon, and nothing will stop us."
    C.C. flipped her sword to one side in a feint. "Not if I have anything to say about it."
    "There's nothing that words will do to stand between us and our destiny!" Medusa's eyes glowed with the sigils of Geass as she deflected the feint and swung at superhuman speed towards C.C.'s unprotected side, her reflexes augmented by her power of Geass. "Now you die!"
    Medusa's sword plunged into C.C.'s stomach, the blade piercing all the way through her body causing her to double over and crumple to the ground.
    "Stupid fool," Medusa gloated as she removed her weapon and rested for a few moments, her mortal body momentarily weakened by the burst of speed from her Geass. Medusa watched Euryale skillfully deflect and parry every attack made by Jeremiah. She said to C.C.’s still form, "Now to deal with your friends."
    "It's a good thing I don't die so easily!" C.C. said from behind Medusa as she spun around in disbelief.
    "You're an immortal!" Medusa exclaimed in shock as she tried to raise her sword. But it was too late. C.C. thrust her sword through the woman's heart.
    "Too bad you're not," she said as Medusa fell to the floor. The life left her eyes before she hit the red marble below her.

    * * *

    The Lancelot of the Lake slashed at the mighty Charybdis with its twin MVS swords, but the blades simply bounced off the armored shell.
    "You will not pass here!" Kururugi yelled over the general radio channel at the Charybdis.
    "Do you think you stand a chance against me?" Scylla asked Suzaku over the radio in her bored tone. She maneuvered the Charybdis onto the shore and taunted him, "You are little more than an annoyance who will have the honor of seeing my Charybdis in his true form before you die."
    Scylla touched a digital button on her display and the turtle-like machine's body underwent a series of mechanical changes. The plated shell lifted up on both the ventral and dorsal sides of the monster folding together and twisting laterally to form two large wings that protruded from the shoulders of a central body. The front hubs of the turtle swung forward and flipped up to form shoulders from which a pair of small man-like arms emerged. At the rear of the machine the two aft hubs opened up, and a pair of large heavy legs extended downward providing support for the new form of the beast. Instead of the water-bound turtle form that had rested at the edge of the beach of Osaka Bay's shoreline, a dragon now stood.
    Suzaku fired a full salvo of missiles at the giant mecha only to watch them explode harmlessly on the surface on the beast's body. He followed up the attack with all four of Lancelot's MVS harkens and both MVS swords; he managed to damage only the armor of the head of Charybdis at its nape where is met the long neck of the beast.
    "Is that all you can do?" Scylla cackled with maniacal glee.
    "Suzaku, get out of the way!" Kaguya called out over the radio.
    The Lancelot moved just in time to dodge a hail of heavy Hadron Cannon fire from the Ikaruga and her armada of aerial warships.
    The beams engulfed the Charybdis in a radiance of red-black energy.
    The blast subsided revealing the undamaged Charybdis, its wings glowing a brilliant white.
    "Hahahahaha!" Scylla laughed in a frenzy. "Fools! Now you shall learn the folly of your mistake." The maw of Charybdis opened up as balls of energy coalesced within it, building up into a brilliant glow inside the beast's mouth. In the next instant, a massive beam of blue-white energy spewed out of the metallic creature's mouth towards the UFN fleet.
    The beam disintegrated numerous airships of the Black Knight fleet as it swept through the flotilla of vessels towards Ikaruga.
    The deadly blue-white shower of energy passed over the Ikaruga harmlessly as a golden radiance protected the ship. From just behind the Black Knight's flagship the Argos flew up above the Ikaruga.
    "How dare you interfere, Jason!" Scylla yelled over the comm.
    "Stand down, Scylla," Jason ordered her. "We do not need to destroy this nation. We can gain the Golden Apple peacefully."
    "You are weak, Jason," Scylla spat back at him, "like these mortal fools you protect. If you stand aside and let me destroy them, I may consider sparing your life."
    "Suzaku," Kaguya radioed him on a coded channel. "The Argos can't deflect another blast from Charybdis' Transdimensional Energy Cannon."
    "I know what you're going to ask me," Kururugi cut her off as he flew the Lancelot high above Charybdis, "but I cannot do it, Kaguya."
    "You need to use the FLEIJA!" she pleaded with him. "The city is now deserted; there's no reason for you to hold back."
    The maw of Charybdis began to glow again as the Argos and Ikaruga continued to pummel the giant Automatos with autocannon and energy weapon fire.
    Suzaku heard Jason and Scylla continue to argue over the radio. Jason was getting nowhere fast, as Scylla was determined to kill all of them. Kururugi closed his eyes and armed one of his FLEIJA warheads. In the next instant, he fired it directly onto the top of Charybdis.
    The warhead exploded into a pink-white sphere of destructive energy that destroyed half the city of Kobe. The destructive sphere collapsed back in on itself towards ground zero in a swirl of energy that didn't seem right to Suzaku.
    "It can't be!" Kururugi exclaimed in horror as the FLEIJA subsided and he saw Charybdis still standing amidst the ruins of the city. Its wings glowed a brilliant pink color from absorbing the FLEIJA energy.
    Scylla laughed in a psychotic orgasm of murderous bloodlust. "NOTHING CAN STOP ME!" She giggled insanely as Charybdis let loose a fifty-mile-long beam of FLEIJA destruction that tore a mile-wide path from Kobe to Kyoto. The energy beam exploded in the center of the city of Kyoto where it stopped and collapsed everything within twenty miles around its epicenter, destroying the city and perhaps millions of its inhabitants.
    "NOOOOO!" Suzaku screamed as he fought back the urge to flee. The orange-red glow in his eyes flickered as he drove Lancelot down towards the metal dragon in a blind fury. "YOU WILL NOT STOP ME...DO YOU HEAR ME, LELOUCH!" Suzaku screamed out loud as Lancelot landed on the nape of the neck of Charybdis where its armor had been damaged and pried the metal plates back with the Maser Vibration Swords of his machine.
    "What are you doing?" Scylla cried out to him in fear as she tried to grab the Lancelot with the tiny arms of Charybdis to no avail.
    Every muscle in Suzaku's body tensed up as he fought back against the Geass charm that ordered him to live. "I WILL NOT RUN...NOT AFTER SO MANY HAVE DIED!" He aimed his second FLEIJA at the hole in the neck of the beast and armed it.
    "YOU'LL KILL US BOTH!" Scylla screamed at him as she tried to shake off his KnightMare.
    Tears of pain ran down Suzaku's cheeks as he forced his body to obey and pull the trigger sending the FLEIJA into the body of Charybdis.
    A pink-white light erupted from the body of the giant Automatos as it was consumed by the blast and completely destroyed.
    "Suzaku..." Kaguya cried softly on the bridge of the Ikaruga.
    Chiba hung her head in silence.
    "Recall all KnightMares," Tohdoh said in a controlled voice with his eyes closed. His lids hid the moisture under them as he willed himself not to cry, save for one tear that no one saw.

    * * *

    "MEDUSA!" Euryale cried out as she saw her sister fall. Without thinking, she used her power of Geass. The orange-red radiance filled the whole of the temple reaching out to her sister's lifeless body.
    Jeremiah was stunned by the intensity of the woman's power but recovered just soon enough to block a sword thrust by her.
    "I will kill you!" Euryale said through gritted teeth as her sister rose up from the ground and attacked C.C.
    Jeremiah tried to block her attacks, but Euryale deflected his blade and stabbed towards his throat. He grabbed the blade with his cybernetic hand but fell backwards onto the stairs.
    She pinned his right arm with her leg and pushed down on her sword with the weight of her body. "Your time has come, my handsome warrior," she hissed at him as the adamantine blade cut along his metallic fingers towards his neck.
    Jeremiah struggled to free his right arm, but his position on the stair prevented him from gaining the leverage he needed to throw her off.
    Euryale's blade slipped to within a hair's breadth of his Adam's apple.
    "It's futile to resist," she cooed to him. "Just embrace your doom..." Shock covered her face as a blade penetrated through her from behind; the tip of the sword glowed an orange-gold color.
    "I cannot...die,” Euryale gasped as the glow of the blade subsided and she took her last breath.
    "I thought you had all gone," Jeremiah said as he pushed Euryale's lifeless body off of him. "But I'm happy you came back when you did, Red Dra..." He stopped when he saw who had slain Euryale and now stood before him.
    A look of shocked elation crossed Jeremiah's face.

    * * *

    "That looks like all of them accept for Fong's unit," Villetta said as the Jaguars stood on the flight deck of Ikaruga as it hovered over the ruins of Kobe.
    "Where could he be?" Akira paced back and forth on the flight deck.
    "Maybe the Guren was disabled and he found a safe place to land," Mika tried to comfort Akira, but she knew Fong's absence wasn't a good sign.
    The Jaguars were startled by the Helios flying up onto the flight deck; in its arms was the battered form of Guren.
    "I tried to save him," was all Heracles could get out over his loudspeaker as Helios laid the red KnightMare down on the deck. "I am sorry," the Greek warrior stated somberly.
    Villetta walked up to the machine. She didn't need to open the hatch of Guren to know that Li Jiang Fong was dead. The blood-soaked gaping hole from the sword thrust of the Harpy Automatos told her all she needed to know. Still, Major Nu looked inside the Devicer cockpit through the hole.
    Sayoko followed behind her in case Villetta needed help removing Fong immediately; though her gut told her that such services would not be needed.
    Major Nu put her hand to her mouth and fought back the urge to wretch as she turned away from the hole in the cockpit.
    "What is it, coach?" Lena said as tears welled up in her eyes.
    Villetta looked at Sayoko and shook her head.
    "He's dead," Lena said in a whisper as tears flowed down her cheeks.
    Mika hugged Lena and cried with her.
    Akira closed his eyes and said a silent prayer to his friend as Gregor and Tetsuo followed suit.

    * * *

    Medusa lunged at C.C. and kicked the sword out of her hands, knocking the immortal witch off balance.
    C.C. was taken by surprise and tried to regain her balance, but Medusa swiped her legs with a swift kick that brought C.C. down hard onto her knees on the red marble.
    "Now I'll take your immortality for myself!" Medusa spat at C.C. as she grabbed her by the neck and squeezed with all her might.
    C.C. tried to breathe while she groped at the ground for her sword, but the woman's grip was too strong and her weapon had fallen out of reach. She could feel the power of Medusa's Geass drawing her Code from her body. C.C. fought back with all the will she could muster.
    "Stop trying to resist," Medusa said as she tightened her grip. "Soon you'll die for the last time."
    "RELEASE HER!" a male voice boomed through the hall towards Medusa.
    Medusa turned towards the direction of the voice. "Why should I?" she asked sarcastically.
    A male figure moved from the shadows of the stairwell into the light of the cauldrons that surrounded the edge of the temple. The twin sigils of Geass glowed in his eyes. C.C. looked at him in awe as he replied to Medusa, "Because I, Lelouch vi Britannia, COMMAND YOU!"
    Last edited by Kodai Okuda; 09-26-2010 at 03:53 AM.
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  5. #15
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    Turn Fourteen: Aftermath


    “Our birth is but a sleep and a forgetting;
    The Soul that rises with us, our life’s star,
    Hath had elsewhere its setting,
    And cometh from afar;
    Not in entire forgetfulness,
    And not in utter nakedness,
    But trailing clouds of glory do we come
    From God, who is our home;
    Heaven lies about us in our infancy!
    Shades of the prison-house begin to close
    Upon the growing boy,
    But he beholds the light, and whence it flows,
    He sees it in his joy;
    The youth, who daily farther from the east
    Must travel, still is Nature’s priest,
    And by the vision splendid
    Is on his way attended;
    At length the man perceives it die away,
    And fade into the light of common day.”
    —From William Wordsworth’s Ode. Intimations of Immortality.

    “You can see the remains of the once great city of Kyoto behind me,” Milly said into the televisions of millions of homes around the planet. “The giant KnightMare Fortress that destroyed this once great metropolis only a few days ago is now nothing more than a lump of molten slag some forty miles away in the ruins of Kobe.”
    Her cameraman, Mr. Seiji, panned the camera-eye over to the wreckage that was once Kobe and then along the path of destruction that led to the crater of Kyoto.
    “We can all thank the quick thinking and bravery of the Black Knights and our very own Olympic KnightMare team, the Japan Jaguars, for our victory over the armies of Schneizel here in Japan.”
    The camera went back to Milly. “Due to the advanced warning of the impending FLEIJA attack by Schneizel’s forces from General Li Xingke’s fleet in the South Pacific, General Kyoshiro Tohdoh was able to order the complete evacuation of the entire Hyogo Prefecture population to the underground anti-FLEIJA shelters, thus averting massive casualties.”
    The image of Milly was replaced by a video clip of Kaguya, Lihua, Tohdoh, and Villetta Nu seated at a conference table on the Ikaruga as Milly’s voice spoke, “Lady-Chairman Kaguya Sumeragi, Empress Jiang Lihua, and General Tohdoh are currently engaged in talks with the Japanese civil defense corps to finalize the permanent addition of the Japan Jaguars into the Black Knight forces.”
    Mrs. Ashford came back with a grave look on her face. “These additions to the strength of the Black Knight forces come none too soon as reports from Europe have flooded in over the wire about the Britannian invasion of that continent. It would seem that the former Brazilian commander-in-chief, Generalissimo Caesaro, has been reinstated as Princess Cornelia li Britannia and is now acting in her sister’s stead until their empress is returned to them.” Milly’s image was again cut to show a clip of Cornelia demanding the UFN return Nunnally and Zero.
    Milly’s image came back on the screen. “Tensions are high as people everywhere wonder where the Knight of Justice is? Where is Zero in all of this?”

    * * *

    “We have crushed their forces,” Medusa told Sthenno over the communicator of the Kraken, “and are currently transmitting a false report to the rest of the world in order to maintain an air of secrecy while we extract the Golden Apple from Mount Fuji.”
    Sthenno smiled at her sister. “Well done, Medusa. And what of Jason and his Argonauts?” she asked with a narrow-eyed look.
    “Dead,” Medusa said with a somber expression, “but at great cost to us, my sister.”
    “Oh? How badly were our casualties?” Sthenno didn’t like Medusa’s depressed demeanor. It told her something was wrong.
    “The Charybdis was destroyed by a FLEIJA, and…” Medusa hung her head.
    “Euryale?” Sthenno asked with more emotion than she had intended.
    Medusa shook her head and cried, “Killed!”
    Sthenno closed her eyes and clenched her fists. “How? She is an immortal.”
    “Enoch.” Medusa spat out his name.
    Sthenno opened her eyes, a fury burned within them as she asked, “Where is that meddling world-walker now?”
    “Escaped through the River Styx to parts unknown with the Empress Nunnally and Zero,” Medusa said with a look of shame on her face.
    Sthenno regarded Medusa with a warm smile, “Don’t be ashamed, my sister; you are no match for the likes of that Hebrew devil. I’m just glad you didn’t suffer the same fate.”
    “Thank you, Sthenno.” Medusa lifted her head. “What of your prince…what of Schneizel?”
    The question seemed out of place to Sthenno. “What makes you ask about him?”
    “Our forces were drained considerably,” Medusa told her. “We may need reinforcements to maintain control of Japan.”
    Sthenno was unsure if she should accept this weak explanation. “I’ve not heard from Schneizel for some time now. I suspect he has his own plan in all of this.”
    “I see,” Medusa said with concern. “So we’ll have to make do on our own for now.”
    “How many Harpies do you still have?” Sthenno asked.
    “A legion and a half,” Medusa lied. “Plus the Gorgon.”
    “That should suffice until you load the Kraken with the Golden Apple and leave Japan,” Sthenno told her with a raised brow.
    “Very well then, my sister.” Medusa seemed strained. “We will remain in Japan until we finish mining the ore we need.” Medusa’s image vanished from the screen in front of Sthenno.
    Sthenno looked out the window of the control tower of Tartarus and wondered; she could feel that the winds of fate had changed and something was wrong.

    * * *

    Medusa walked from the bridge of the Kraken out to the gangway of the Greek submersible. She briskly made her way down along the shoreline of the coast that the ship was anchored at and strode up towards the Tomb of the Britannian Emperors and the Stygian Gate it concealed.
    The Greek warrior woman slipped in through the entrance of the large cavern and made her way past the statues of Britannian emperors, long since gone, towards where a pair of figures stood next to one another upon the dais at the far end of the chamber.
    One of the pair was a young man, no more than 18 years old, who wore a black cape and fine black clothing highlighted with exquisite purple silks: the burial clothes of an emperor. By his side stood a beautiful woman of nearly the same age in appearance, with flowing green hair and golden eyes. She wore a black uniform similar in style to the man at her side.
    Medusa could hear them speaking as she approached stealthily.
    “That’s the situation as it stands now, Lelouch,” C.C. told him coming closer to his side.
    “So, Schneizel somehow awoke these Greek Geass users and freed himself?” Lelouch inquired of her.
    “It would seem so.” C.C. titled her head to one side and looked up at him. “You okay?”
    Lelouch looked down at his hand. The pink sigil of Geass stared back up at him from the center of his palm where he had held the sword that slew Euryale. “I didn’t mean to kill her…I only wanted to stop her from slaying Jeremiah.”
    Medusa listened intently. Could it be that this Lelouch speaks the truth? Did he kill Euryale by accident?
    “Don’t fret over it.” C.C. caressed his cheek with her hand. “What’s done is done.”
    “I know.” He looked down into her eyes. “But the last thing I expected when I awoke was to have to kill someone. I’ve enough blood on my hands, C2. I don’t want anymore if I can help it.”
    She smiled at him. “You haven’t slept in three days, Lelouch. You must be tired.”
    “I suppose,” Lelouch said as he leaned in and kissed her on the lips.
    C.C. was shocked by his gesture of affection and pulled away. “What?” she gasped. “That was a first for you!”
    “Huh,” he said embarrassed by the emotions that welled up inside him. “I’m…I’m sorry…I just…”
    She put her index finger over his lips. “It’s okay, silly. I’m pleasantly surprised by it. It’s about time you started showing an interest in women.” C.C. giggled and kissed him back, hard.
    Lelouch didn’t remember feeling sexually attracted to C.C. at any time prior to his death, but after he absorbed Euryale’s Code, something had changed within him. He felt aroused with a passion towards C.C. that seemed to squelch the pure innocent love he had had for other women in his past and his body reacted in kind.
    C.C. noticed as she looked down at the bulge below his beltline and said with a mischievous grin, “Gee, you’re full of surprises today.” She pressed her lips against his again and wrapped her arms around him.
    Lelouch searched his mind for the reasons why he desired this woman so much at this moment. Was it because she was the only woman here that he suddenly realized how beautiful she was? Was it because Euryale had held some deviant lust for her that he now possessed?
    He broke their kiss and shook his head slightly. NO…it was because it was she that had made him her champion so many years ago to help him with his rebellion and fulfill her wish. Her love for him flowed through the power of Geass she had given him, and the Code within him picked up on that love and allowed him to feel it through a sort of shared empathy.
    C.C. stared into his eyes. “What is it?” A hurt look crossed her face. “Is something wrong? Do you not want me…?”
    He kissed her and then smiled at her. “No, C2, it’s just that I’ve never…you know.”
    “Oh.” C.C. was giddy. “Don’t worry.” She unzipped his fly. “Just leave the driving to me.”
    Medusa took a twisted pleasure in listening to their passionate lovemaking as she sat within the recess of the stairwell waiting for them to finish.
    An hour passed before they were done.

    * * *

    When the lustful moans subsided and Lelouch and C.C. began talking normally again about what to do next in their plans against Schneizel, Medusa climbed up the stair and got their attention.
    “I’m sorry, Master Lelouch,” Medusa said with a smile. “Am I interrupting something?”
    C.C. ignored Medusa’s smirk.
    “You did well,” Lelouch said to Medusa as she walked over to where they were standing beside a table and chairs that had been taken from the Kraken’s furnishings the day before.
    “You monitored my conversation?” Medusa scowled.
    “Of course.” He smiled at her and poured her a cup of iced tea from a pitcher on the table. “Please join us,” he told her in a congenial tone.
    “Why would I sup with the man who murdered my beloved sister?” she asked.
    “Because you are a warrior and understand that in war all is fair.” Lelouch gave her a sad look. “I once had to kill my own sister to win in battle; do not think I slew Euryale with malice in my heart. I did it to save my Knight of Orange.”
    His words did not match the facial expression he wore. What she had heard him say before about not wishing to slay Euryale must have been true, which is why this mask he put forward now made sense to Medusa.
    The Greek woman smiled at him. “Do not worry, my Lord Lelouch; I am well aware that all is fair in love and in war. Therefore, I shall choose to forgive you for her death.”
    “He doesn’t need your forgiveness,” C.C. said snidely.
    Ignoring C.C., Medusa walked over and sat down in one of the wicker chairs next to Lelouch. “May I ask, my Lord Lelouch…this woman you seem so fond of…is she your concubine?”
    “Concubine?” C.C. blurted out in shock.
    “Well…not exactly.” Lelouch blushed.
    “But she kissed you passionately and made love to you in this very temple,” Medusa said with an innocent look. “You may have me under your power, Lelouch vi Britannia, but I’m not blind nor deaf; I could hear the two of you from the entrance and see your forms intertwined in the rhythmic dance of love for some time.”
    C.C. turned multiple shades of red at the thought of the sound of their love reverberating throughout the Geass Temple and out onto the wilds of Kaminejima for any and all to hear. The emotions that had overtaken them led to that pleasantly unexpected and somewhat exhibitionist event.
    Lelouch’s tongue stumbled for the right words to say to Medusa as the feeling of C.C.’s body and the love they had shared together coursed through his psyche, confounding his normally disciplined manner of speech. “We…well…it’s just that we’ve not seen in each in over six years.”
    “And you needed her. I completely understand, my Lord. She is your concubine, and as such, you desired her.” Medusa smiled at Lelouch. Something about the dark aura of this immortal man began to interest her. “And now I to belong to you.”
    “Just wait a damn minute!” C.C. exclaimed at the insinuation of Medusa’s comment and seductive look at Lelouch.
    Lelouch’s eyes narrowed at her though he spoke in a kind, soft tone, “I used Geass on you because I needed to save C2 before you killed her, and you are necessary for my plans. I did not use my power on you to appease some erotic fantasy.”
    “Which is precisely why I am inclined to serve you willingly, my Lord.” Medusa wasn’t sure if it was his Geass influence on her mind or if she truly was becoming quickly enamored with this resurrected immortal prince. “Your brother has betrayed us, and you are the only one who can help us against him.”
    Lelouch looked deep into her eyes but could find no physical indication that she was lying. “Then we’ve much to plan if we are to stop him.”
    C.C. looked at Lelouch and rolled her eyes. “What, you get your first taste of a woman and now you think the world is a buffet?”
    Medusa snickered wickedly. “Oh, my, Lord Lelouch…I have such sights I could show you.”
    C.C. was speechless at her comment while Lelouch turned beet red.

    * * *

    “See anything yet, Kallen?” Gino asked as the Yamato no Orochi flew around the vicinity of Mount Fuji.
    “No, not yet,” Captain Kozuki replied as she looked out the cockpit of her Type-21S trying to pinpoint a spot on the mountain.
    “I don’t know what those sakuradite miners are talking about, Kallen,” Tamaki griped. “I don’t see any KnightMare Frame around here. There’s nothing but snow and trees on this side of Fuji.”
    “The report comes from a reliable source,” Anya said as they flew around the summit of the mountain. “A KnightMare Frame allegedly crash-landed somewhere around here right after the FLEIJA destroyed Kobe and Kyoto a few days ago.”
    “I think they’re just giving us this duty to keep us from seeing what is really going on near Kobe,” Gino sighed. “It’s like they don’t trust us or something.”
    “They don’t,” Kallen said as she flew up along the southern ridge of the peak. “We came here on the Avalon as guests among her crew. Considering we’re at war with Britannia right now, I’m surprised Tohdoh is actually using the Avalon in this salvage operation.”
    “Do you think having Rakshata and her team being in charge of this operation is going to sit well with Lloyd and Cecile?” Gino asked with a chuckle.
    “I’m not sure about Cecile,” Kallen laughed, “but I know Lloyd wasn’t happy about it.”
    “Hey, I like Rakshata,” Tamaki said with a huff. “She was always kinda cool and collected, even in some of the toughest battles against Britannia.”
    “That’s true,” Kallen agreed.
    “Professor Lloyd is the same way,” Anya stated matter-of-factly as a glint of something in the snow caught her attention. “Hey, you guys, I think there’s a metallic object down there.”
    “Yah, Anya, we know,” Tamaki snickered. “We just can’t find it.”
    “No, Tamaki,” the girl said in an irritated tone, “I think I may have found it.” Anya made her Type-21J Samurai swoop down towards the point of reflected sunlight and transformed her fighter into KnightMare Mode.
    A few moments went by before Tamaki piped up. “Well?” Tamaki asked. “Did you find anything, Anya?”
    “Yes.” The girl’s voice sounded unusually emotional.
    “What did you find?” Kallen asked.
    “You guys need to come down here and see this,” Anya replied.
    In seconds, the other three variable frames flew down to the surface and transformed.
    All four Frames stood before the remains of what was once a KnightMare. The head, arms, and lower portion of its legs were totally sheered off; obviously by some tremendous force. The back half of the machine was buried in the snow, and the long trench leading up the mountainside told the story of how the machine must have slammed into the side of the great peak and slid up hundreds of feet before finally stopping in a pile of snow and ice created by its impact.
    Kallen opened up a radio channel to the Avalon. “Attention, Avalon, this is Captain Kallen Kozuki. I think we’ve found what you’re looking for.”
    The aerial-frigate glided in over the spot slowly as a salvage team and recovery unit was dispatched from the craft.

    * * *

    “I’m so glad you’re okay,” Sayoko said running up to Jeremiah Gottwald as he walked off the aerial shuttle that had just arrived on Ikaruga.
    Jeremiah took her hand in his and kissed it lightly as they stood together. “Forgive me for taking so long to return.”
    “Where is C2?” Villetta inquired. “I imagine she must have made it.”
    “She’ll be along as soon as she is able,” he smiled at Major Nu. “C2 is currently tending to…an old friend.”
    “Old friend?” Sayoko tilted her head to one side and gave him a puzzled smile.
    “Anyone I know?” Villetta asked him with an equally perplexed look.
    Jeremiah only gave the women a mischievous grin in reply.
    “Hey, you three!” a male voice called from the rampart of the shuttle.
    “OHGI!” Villetta cried out as she rushed up and kissed him. “Oh, how I’ve missed you.”
    Ohgi blushed. “I was really worried about you too.”
    “Is it true?” Villetta asked in anticipation.
    “Yes,” he replied with a grim smile.
    “So, you’re okay with this, Sayoko?” Villetta asked her in an apprehensive tone.
    “Of course.” She let go of Jeremiah’s hands and tittered, “I’d love to watch over your children while you two are off saving the world. I’ve had enough KnightMare combat to last me a lifetime.”
    “Pardon me,” Jeremiah politely interjected, “but what exactly is going on?”
    Villetta was gleaming as she replied to Gottwald’s question, “Ohgi’s been reinstated as captain of the Ikaruga since Nagisa has been promoted to commodore and will be taking command of the UFN surface navy now that the threat of Charybdis is over.”
    Ohgi sighed. “Personally, I think she just wants to be closer to Tohdoh since he’s leading the naval armada that’s going to try and retake Australia in a few days.”
    “They wanted someone who had experience in aerial warfare to command the Ikaruga since so many of the UFN commanders were killed at Kerguelen Island,” Villetta stated proudly, “so when I heard they needed people, I dropped Ohgi’s name to Tohdoh. He agreed almost immediately.”
    “Of course he did.” Ohgi didn’t sound pleased. “Kyoshiro’s been trying to get me back into politics or the military since I resigned my post as prime minister.”
    “It’s because he likes you and thinks you’re a capable leader. You proved yourself during the war,” Villetta cooed at him.
    Kanime didn’t share her optimism. “Zero was the one who called the shots during the Black Rebellion, not me. I was there as an adviser and for support, that’s all…I really wish he was here now; we could use his talent.”
    Jeremiah smiled but said nothing.

    * * *

    “Well, I’m afraid you won’t be able to continue to pilot your Gekka KnightMares or the Zangetsu,” Rakshata told the Japan Jaguars with a polite smile as she strode along the line of battle-damaged machines within the KnightMare hangar of the Ikaruga. “Their superstructures are just too badly fractured and too old for me to certify them for continued use in combat.”
    “What are we supposed to use if we can’t use these Frames?” Tetsuo complained.
    Doctor Chawla waved her ever present long-pipe around and smiled at them. “I suppose I’ll just have to let you use my new designs.”
    “Does that mean you finished the Type-24 Goro?” Akira asked.
    “It does,” she snickered.
    Mika looked perplexed. “How are we supposed to learn to fly a brand-new type of KnightMare Frame fast enough for our new assignments? The Ikaruga is due to leave Japan for Hawaii in three days.”
    Rakshata laughed. “The Goro is simply an updated Akatsuki/Gekka design, so you should have no problem learning how to pilot the new machine. This new general-purpose tenth-generation KnightMare Frame replaces all Akatsuki and Akatsuki Jikisan mecha for the UFN Asiatic forces. I’ve even built an officer model just for the Jaguars called the Type-24O Okouchi and a custom model for you, Akira, the Type-24Z Susano-O.”
    “When will we get to see them?” Gregor asked with excitement.
    “They’ll arrive here in Japan from India in a day or two,” Rakshata chortled at their worried looks. “Don’t worry; we’re not leaving until you get them.”
    “Who’ll be assigned the Okouchi units?” Mika asked with a snide smile.
    “I’m not sure yet; that’s up to Major Nu to decide,” Rakshata stated. “Though I imagine she’ll probably assign both you and Lena to the Okouchi models…that is, until I finish with a new project that’s suddenly come to my attention.”
    “New project?” Lena asked. “Is it another new KnightMare Frame?”
    “I can’t tell any of you the details right now,” Rakshata stated with a grin. “But I’ll need two female Devicers when it’s ready, and the two of you are perfect.”
    “Is it that Automatos-KnightMare Frame the UFN found on Kamine Island?” Lena pressed her anxiously.
    “I really can’t…” Rakshata was interrupted by the ship’s intercom.
    “Doctor Chawla, please report to the bridge,” a female voice called over the overhead speaker.
    Rakshata turned with a wink at the Jaguars. “I’ll have your new machines to you as soon as they arrive.” She waved at them as she made it to the elevator. “Until then…chow!”

    * * *

    “Alright, everybody, be careful…be careful!” Lloyd said in a frantic tone as the salvage team lowered the remains of the battered KnightMare onto the hangar deck of the Avalon.
    “What do you think, Lloyd?” Cecile asked him as she watched the engineers move the badly charred machine into the metal clamps of the work-gantry.
    “I think we’ve just found my Lancelot!” he said with a boyish grin as she activated the gantry clamps and secured the KnightMare into an upright position.
    “I’m surprised you’re so happy considering how badly damaged Lancelot is,” Cecile smiled. “Assuming it is the Lancelot of the Lake, I highly doubt the Devicer survived,” Cecile Croomy said sadly. She had no idea that her former comrade and friend, Suzaku Kururugi, had been the pilot of the machine, but she still felt for the man or woman she thought had perished.
    “The limb modules may have been destroyed, but the core of the unit is still intact.” Professor Asplund adjusted his glasses as he looked down at Cecile. “That means that my FLEIJA Wave Rider units work.”
    Cecile gave him a befuddled smirk, “Are you implying that this unit is a success?”
    Lloyd chuckled, “Absolutely. Just look at what was lost: the lower legs, the arms, head, and portions of the wings.” He opened his arms up wide and shrugged. “All parts that are gone are easily replaceable. Thus, the concentrated ultimate-protection shields in the knees fulfilled their purpose and protected the main body of the machine.”
    Cecile looked at him with disbelief. “That still doesn’t explain how the Lancelot ended up over two hundred miles from Kobe to Mount Fuji.”
    Lloyd threw up his arms. “Oh, my dear Cecile, the explanation is in the name.” He made a wave movement with his left arm. “It’s a wave rider. In other words, at the moment the internal FLEIJA monitors detect a FLEIJA reaction within a specific radius of Lancelot, the knee-mounted ultimate-protection shields are activated.”
    Professor Asplund made an outward cup with his hands towards Cecile. “These shields generate a bowl-shaped sort of upside-down parachute that acts like a catch. This catch captures the force of the FLEIJA explosion’s shock wave. The tremendous energy of such a wave provides incredible amounts of inertia force which allows Lancelot to ride the wave away from the danger of the FLEIJA as fast as the blast wave of the FLEIJA is traveling. Therefore, Lancelot is moving ahead of the explosion and beyond due to the speed at which the KnightMare Frame is traveling.”
    “And you came up with this all by yourself?” she snickered knowing how much Lloyd loved his creation.
    Lloyd paused. “Well…no…Nina helped with the mathematical calculations for the FLEIJA detonation detection system software, but the design of the KnightMare was my own. Though I have to admit she didn’t think it would work, so she forced me to add a system of her making.”
    Cecile was surprised. “Nina added a system?”
    Lloyd put his hands on his hips. “Yes, she did. She does have some nerve sometimes…”
    Cecile cut him short. “What system, Lloyd?”
    “Huh?” Lloyd lost the train of his rant. “Oh…an emergency system for the pilot.”
    “WHAT?” Cecile shot up from her control station. “What kind of system was it, Lloyd.”
    He scratched his head. “Oh, some kind of FLEIJA Wave Rider system for the cockpit module.”
    Cecile grabbed him and brought his face down to hers as she yelled at him, “AND YOU ONLY THOUGHT TO MENTION THIS NOW?!”
    “What?” he whined. “I didn’t think it was important.”
    “Not important!” She pushed him away and rushed down to the KnightMare gantry.
    “What is it, Cecile?” Professor Asplund raced after her to see what had caught the woman’s attention.
    Cecile got onto the gantry lift and waited a moment for Lloyd to jump on before activating the open elevator and riding it up next to the shoulders of the Lancelot.
    “Did it ever occur to you that someone might still be alive in this thing, you twit?” Cecile scolded him.
    He looked up at the ceiling and put his hand to his chin. “Well…actually…no.”
    She let out a sarcastic laugh. “No.” Cecile closed her eyes in frustration as she held back the urge to punch him out. “Because you were only thinking of your precious Lancelot.”
    “But, Cecile…” he started to protest.
    Cecile opened her eyes and glared at him. “No buts, Lloyd! You need to be more concerned about people and stop being so damned mechanical.”
    “Yes, but, Cecile…” Lloyd tried to say.
    Anger welled up within her and she slapped him across the face. “Stop trying to make excuses, Lloyd.” She put her hands on her hips. “Really…sometimes you’re unbelievable.”
    “Yes, I know, Cecile,” Lloyd said holding his stinging cheek, “but you’re not listening to me.”
    “What?” she asked thinking that maybe she should give him a good fist to the face to make her sentiment sink in.
    Seeing her hand clench into a ball, Lloyd simply pointed to the back of the Lancelot.
    Cecile Croomy turned to see that where the Devicer’s cockpit should have been between the graviton-impellors of Lancelot there was only open air.
    “Oh…” She blushed in embarrassment. “Heh…So, the pilot ejected.”
    He gave her a smug grin. “That’s what I was trying to tell you. Nina’s system was an ejection system that used a FLEIJA Wave Rider to ensure the survival of the pilot should the Lancelot suffer too much damage to be of any use.”
    “Well, then that means the pilot might have survived,” Cecile stated bluntly.
    “I’ll admit it is a strong possibility,” he smiled, “but we don’t know where the ejection module landed, so we have no idea what happened to the Devicer.”
    “We need to find that module,” Cecile told him.
    “Why? We have Lancelot…” Lloyd recoiled in horror at Cecile’s dark glare.
    “LLOYD!”
    He sighed in defeat. “Right…so, we’ll go find the module now.”
    Cecile smiled and gave him a nod.

    * * *

    Nunnally stood upon her cybernetic legs looking out the large picture frame windows of the lavishly decorated room she was in at the vast futuristic cityscape which surrounded Mount Fuji. In the distance, she could see the large fleets of what the Red Dragon had told her were starships. She watched as the vessels of various sizes and shapes seemed to float effortlessly towards the deep blue sky above and then vanished out of sight.
    The bright cobalt blue sky and puffy white clouds of this Japan seemed much happier than the ones she had left behind in her own world. The Red Dragon told her that, according to Enoch, this world had gone through hundreds of thousands of years of war and turmoil, and even now, war raged throughout this version of the Milky Way. The Red Dragon stated that this place was an alternate universe to her own, and that they were now in a different dimension and time than the world they had left behind.
    Parallel universes, universal-scale membranes, the multiverse, and interdimensional travel—they were concepts Nunnally was having trouble coping with.
    She may have been an empress back in the world she knew, but here she was just another common person on this one tiny little planet that existed as a part of a much greater whole. Nunnally gazed down at the coffee table to her right and looked again in disbelief at the paper that lay there: The Galactic Tribune, Issue #3357, dated 5.0301 of the Galactic Standard calendar. She had read through the journal from cover to cover while she waited for the Red Dragon to return. The headline of the newspaper read of the latest incursion by the Kan’Jour alien superpower as it attempted yet another invasion of the Alpha Quadrant and the territory of the Galactic Free Republic. Nunnally shook her head in awe of the implications of where she was and the indisputable reality of her situation; it made her head spin.
    She, empress of Britannia, a country which had never even existed in this world, was now nothing more than a guest within the vast and strange castle of Enoch Apsu and the secrets it held. Here she waited like some fairy tale princess awaiting her Prince Charming to come and rescue her from a long lost tower.
    After their trek across C’s World, the three of them had emerged into this place, or at least Nunnally thought it was this new world. Enoch’s palace defied logic as she understood it, so she wasn’t exactly sure.
    She wanted to ask the man many questions, but Enoch disappeared almost as soon as she and the Red Dragon had arrived in the large circular Room of Many Worlds, as Enoch called it. This chamber was at the center of his bizarre palace. As he was heading across the room, Enoch had simply stated that he was needed back in the world of Geass and disappeared through another of the many doors that lined the large circular room.
    After that, the Red Dragon ushered her to a staircase at the side of the chamber which led up to a balcony on the second level. The upper level was little more than a walkway that ran the full circumference of the chamber to various archways leading to parts unknown.
    Nunnally had followed the Red Dragon through one of the archways to the “Nexus” wing of what she called Enoch’s Quantum Castle. Here the two of them toured the treasure chamber, weapons rooms, armories, and exquisite kitchen of the palace, which defied reason, as it was simply far too large on the inside to match its appearance on the outside; or at least its outside from the balconies of the “Nexus” wing.
    During her stay here, which had seemed like weeks, Nunnally found that not only was Enoch not the Red Dragon’s actual great-grandfather, but the “old” man had been wearing a disguise to hide his appearance. The Red Dragon said he wore such costumes and facades to ensure no one would see him as being out of place while he conducted his “work”, whatever that was.
    The Red Dragon recanted how the “elderly” man had giggled incessantly upon her first arrival in this place. She said he had taken pleasure in seeing her expression when he removed the mask from his face that revealed his true appearance. The mirthful man seemed giddy at showing her his pair of amber-colored eyes, raven-black hair, and skin that had a golden hue to it. Clearly he was not human, or at least not any kind of human the Red Dragon had seen before. According to the Red Dragon, the man beneath the mask appeared to be no more than 25 years of age, but his eyes betrayed an intelligence that showed he was vastly older.
    Nunnally contemplated the reasons why such an individual as Enoch would involve himself in the affairs of her world, the World of Geass. She looked around the observation study at the walls of bookshelves that held numerous volumes from various worlds and formulated an idea as to what his purpose might be. She had been surprised to find that some of the tombs in Enoch’s study were history books from Ashford. If this strange man was indeed some kind of custodian of the multiverse, as she surmised, then it would make sense for him to have detailed histories of all the worlds he traveled.
    Nunnally wondered what was keeping Enoch and the Red Dragon as she contemplated the whole of her situation. The Red Dragon had left her less than an hour after she and Nunnally entered the observation study that the empress now patiently stood within watching the starships come and go from Kobe spaceport. Nunnally had heard Enoch call for the woman while she read through the Galactic Tribune and sipped tea with the Red Dragon.
    No sooner had Nunnally begun to think that perhaps she was now more of a prisoner than a guest within this palace than the Red Dragon came into the room.
    “Empress Nunnally, come with me please.” Her modulated voice sounded strained.
    Nunnally wasted no time and followed after the woman as quickly as her cybernetic legs would take her through the marble halls of the finely furnished castle.
    The two women wove their way past room after room until they finally came to a door that opened up into a chamber that looked suspiciously like one of the private AV library rooms at Ashford.
    Enoch was standing over a couch within the room trying to rouse someone. The “old” man turned to face her and smiled. “He’s coming ‘round now.”
    “Who?” Nunnally said as she walked over to see who lay upon the couch in front of Enoch. Her eyes grew wide with relief as soon as she recognized him.
    “Suzaku!”
    All things in moderation...

  6. #16
    Super Moderator rank = Hod (acknowledged Novice) Kodai Okuda's Avatar
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    Turn Fifteen: The Goddess of Battle


    "No one, in good conscience, should ever accuse Cornelia li Britannia of being cold or corrupt; in fact, she was probably one of the least understood members of the Royal Britannian Family. Princess Cornelia never really intended to usurp or overthrow Nunnally, but the Royal Britannian houses were loath to allow Cornelia to step down once she had taken the throne. It was only her pure and unconquerable will that gave her the strength to resist the vile whisperings of the Britannian nobles that beckoned her to seize the crown for herself forever. In many ways, the world owes Cornelia a debt of gratitude, because without her efforts to rout the corrupt movers and shakers out of this world, it would still be under their power today.” —Excerpt from an interview with Colonel Guilford by Milly Ashford for the Japan Broadcasting Station, dated March 12th, 2026 a.t.b.

    "Keep firing!" Cornelia boomed as she stood up from her command chair on the bridge of the Avenger. The EU airships in the distance were moving away from the Eifel Tower in order to avoid damaging the French relic.
    "Princess, our forward KnightMare units have overrun the Parisian defenses," Guilford said triumphantly as another of the EU airships exploded in midair. "President Gerard LeBlanc wishes to discuss terms of surrender."
    "Which ship is his?" Cornelia asked Guilford with a scowl.
    "The Longres class just to the north of the Eifel Tower," he told her.
    "Target that ship and give him our answer, Guilford," she commanded in an icy tone.
    "Yes, milady." Guilford turned to the gunner and nodded.
    A full barrage of cannon fire from the Avenger cut through LeBlanc's ship with pinpoint accuracy and blew the French president's aerial warship to smithereens.
    "Direct hit!" Guilford blurted out.
    "Excellent work." Cornelia smiled as the last of the French aerial defense fleet succumbed to her armada of warships. "First England, then Spain, and now France; soon all of Europe will be purged of these impudent weaklings, and we will bring peace to this continent."
    "Princess Cornelia, Lord Byron of our 115th Mechanized Unit would like your permission to liquidate the remaining forces," Guilford said.
    "No..." Cornelia said softly. "Disarm them, and give them three hot meals and a cot while in our care. Inform Byron to spread the word that any European commoners who wish to surrender to us may do so, and they will be unharmed. We have no ill will towards the population here, only their actual leadership. Tell Lord Byron that this is my command, and that there will be severe consequences to any within our forces who disobey my orders." She turned to her Knight. "Is that understood, Guilford?"
    Guilford was shocked at her generosity to the enemy prisoners but did not question her. "Yes, milady, it is."
    Cornelia saw the uncertainty in his eyes. "I'm not going to repeat the mistakes of my father and brothers, Guilford. I don't want to be seen as anything other than a liberator. I'm here to win the hearts and minds of these people, not terrorize them into submission like some totalitarian tyrant...I've been down that road before. Peace isn't going to be won at the end of a gun or the lash of a political whip. It's time we learned that war is a result of tyrannical governments not people, and that those of us in charge of government must learn to give power back to those who do not have it. Our exile in South America taught me that there is nothing more precious in this life than being master of your own destiny. That is what I want to bring to the world, Guilford. I want to conquer it to give it back to the common people...I want to free it."
    Guilford only smiled in response.

    * * *

    "What happened to C2?" Suzaku barked at Enoch.
    "Well...I...uh...I don't know just yet," Enoch stuttered.
    "Are we really at Ashford?" Nunnally was still in awe of how they got from Enoch's castle to the library of her former school by simply walking through a doorway.
    "Yes," Enoch told her for the umpteenth time as he checked the back of Suzaku’s head, "we're really at Ashford."
    "We need to go find out if C2 is okay, Enoch...or whoever you are!" Suzaku snapped at him and sat up. "I owe her a debt...and I can't just abandon her."
    "Okay, okay!" Enoch put up his hands. "We'll go hunt down the Green Goddess of Gorgeous just as soon as I make sure you’re alright!"
    The Red Dragon snickered, "You better not let Isadora hear you say that."
    "Ah...heh," Enoch sniggered as he put his hand on the back of Suzaku’s head. "Yah...she'd kill me."
    "I'm fine!" Suzaku bellowed recoiling from Enoch’s hand.
    "Shhhh," Nunnally scolded him. "We don't want anyone to hear us, and if you yell like that, Suzaku, we'll be discovered."
    "The empress is right," Enoch told Suzaku. "We need to get to the old Britannian Special Intelligence’s secret underground facilities through the library passage as quickly as we can."
    "How do you know about those?" Suzaku inquired.
    "Best not to ask," Enoch tittered as he helped Suzaku to his feet.
    "Ouch!" Suzaku put his hand on a sore spot at the back of his neck.
    Enoch put his arm around Kururugi to help him walk. "Let me help you. You suffered a minor concussion. Considering you were at ground zero of a FLEIJA detonation, I'd say you're lucky to still be in one piece."
    "I'm alright." Suzaku tried to remove Enoch's arm but couldn't budge it.
    Enoch removed his arm slowly to see if Kururugi could support himself and walk. "You sure you're okay?"
    "I told you I'm fine," he grumbled.
    "Very well then, we should get to the underground facilities immediately." Enoch led the way with the others right behind him.
    They wove through the tall bookshelves towards the staircase that led to the bank of bookshelves that contained the concealed elevator door.
    "Can you believe Kyoto was completely destroyed?" a young girl's voice echoed a few aisles away from Enoch and his troop.
    "I'm so glad everybody got out okay," her female companion replied with a sigh of relief. "The casualties would have been massive if the Black Knights hadn't stopped Schneizel."
    "WHAT!" Suzaku blurted out in surprise upon discovering that the first FLIEJA he had fired at Charybdis, which the metal beast then redirected, did not kill the millions he thought it had.
    The Red Dragon grabbed him and put her hand over his mouth. "Please, Suzaku," she whispered to him at too low a frequency for her voice modulator to compensate.
    His eyes grew wide as her soft voice penetrated his ears and sank into psyche, but he didn't dare say anything.
    "Did you hear something?" the first female student asked her friend.
    "Yah," the other girl said in a nervous tone.
    "Is anybody in here?" the first girl asked in a loud voice.
    Enoch peeked around the bookshelf at the opposite end of the row and motioned for the others to move towards the stair.
    The Red Dragon led the way as Nunnally and Suzaku followed. Enoch watched them make their way towards the lower level. As soon as their attention was turned away from him, he outstretched his right hand towards a bookshelf he could see on the far end of the library and made a grasping motion; a row of books fell from the shelf.
    "WHO'S OVER THERE?" the first girl yelled.
    "You'd better have a hall pass!" the other girl said as they ran over to the fallen books in the opposite direction of Enoch and his companions.
    The pair of students came upon the pile of books that Enoch had "pulled" off the shelf as he and his companions entered the elevator.
    "That was close," Nunnally said as soon as the doors closed.
    "Yes, it was," the Red Dragon agreed. "Are you alright, Suzaku?" she asked noticing his distraught expression.
    Suzaku was shaking slightly as his mind contemplated the revelation of what the Red Dragon's real voice meant.
    “Hey.” Enoch put his hand on Kururugi’s shoulder. “You’re not having a seizure on me, are you?”
    Suzaku looked up at him and shook his head slowly. “No…I…it’s nothing, just a mild relapse of my concussion; it’ll pass quickly," he lied.
    Enoch gave him a knowing smile. “I know; relapses can have heartrending results.” Enoch slapped his hands together and rubbed them. “Speaking of passing quickly…we need to get you two to Britannia as fast as we can.”
    “Why don’t we go back to Kaminejima and use the Thought Elevator to transport ourselves to Neo-Pendragon like we had planned?” Nunnally asked Enoch.
    “That’s an excellent idea, Nunnally,” Enoch smiled.
    “If it’s such an excellent idea, then why are we going to the sublevels of Ashford?” the Red Dragon asked in a dull tone.
    Enoch gave her a boyish grin. “We need to pick up a few things first.”
    “What things?” Nunnally asked as the elevator doors opened up into the underground chambers.
    Memories of Rolo and Villetta keeping a watchful eye on Zero flooded through Suzaku’s head as he looked over at the door that led to the surveillance room he once used to monitor Lelouch Lamperouge. His attention turned to the Red Dragon. If she’s who I think she is…then all of that was for nothing. The hatred that drove me to betray my best friend and force him to live a lie under the spell of his father just to try and satisfy my anger over him having murdered her would have been all wrong. If she had been alive that whole time…that would make me a monster.
    He remembered what he had asked Lelouch while he had his head under his heel at the Kururugi Shrine: Can you bring Euphie back?
    Anger burned in Suzaku; he hated himself at that moment. What an idiot I’ve been. How could I have held onto such hatred when I knew that Lelouch had lied to me about her death? I knew he must have killed her by accident. Euphemia would have forgiven Lelouch if he had accidentally killed me. Why didn’t I do the same?
    “Earth calling Suzaku.” Enoch was staring at him from the far end of the hall they had walked out into.
    “Huh? Oh, sorry…what were you saying?” Suzaku snapped out of his private thoughts and sprinted up to where they were patiently waiting for him. Kururugi stopped at the large double doors that his companions stood before.
    Enoch put his hand over a touchpad on the wall. “I was saying that what we’ve come here for is behind these doors.”
    “When was this added?” Suzaku asked upon seeing the unfamiliar egress open into a vast chamber underneath Ashford.
    “I put it here when I attended Ashford,” Enoch snickered.
    “How could an old man like you attend Ashford?” Suzaku asked the gray-haired bearded man in disbelief.
    Enoch pulled at his beard and flipped off the skintight mask he wore with a single fluid motion. Beneath the façade was the face of a twenty-five-year-old man with amber eyes and dark black hair. His complexion shone a faint gold in the overhead fluorescent lights of the large chamber they entered.
    “Who the hell are you?” Suzaku inquired in an awestruck tone.
    Enoch gave him a devilish grin. “No one of consequence.”

    * * *

    “Are you sure this is a good idea, Lelouch?” C.C. asked him as he picked up the mask of Zero from within his former coffin.
    “If Medusa is correct, then Suzaku is dead, and from what you’ve told me, Tohdoh and the others knew that Suzaku was Zero. That circumstance is of great advantage to me.” He put on the mask. “No one will suspect who I really am.”
    “Sure…” She frowned sarcastically and folded her arms. “They’re all so stupid that as soon as you start using that strategic mind of yours they’re just going to assume that Suzaku was a closet genius or maybe he took some crash correspondence courses in military warfare. Not to mention your voice.”
    “Ha, ha,” he said in a dry sarcastic tone. Lelouch used his Zero voice, “How do I sound?”
    C.C. gave him a narrow-eyed look. “Like Zero…Lelouch’s Zero.”
    “You’re not helping,” he mumbled.
    “I told you I think this is a bad idea, Lelouch,” C.C. pouted. “Why do you need to do this?”
    “Because I’m responsible for letting Schneizel live and thus causing this whole mess,” he said firmly. “Now it’s my burden to correct that mistake.”
    C.C. was not so easily swayed. “Someone else could have just as easily stumbled upon the Olympians and released them. How is it your fault that they were awakened?”
    “It’s not,” he told her firmly. “But the fact that Schneizel, who knew the inner workings of both Britannia and the Black Knights, was still alive to find them is my fault. These Greeks have the advantage over the UFN because of me! The world I created came to an end because of my arrogant assumption that nothing would derail what I set in place. I gambled with fate and fate won.”
    He had successfully countered her objection. “So, you think that it was Schneizel’s destiny to find them and for you to spare him, is that it?”
    “The events of the world aren’t predestined to happen, nor are they the random result of man’s choices in life.” Lelouch started down the stairs of the dais. “It is a combination of both forces intermixed. Like two poles of an electrical motor. The chaotic pole is eternally at odds with the ordered pole thus causing motion in the world. There are ebbs and flows to the currents of chaos and order, what we perceive as good and evil. It’s just a matter of seizing upon the right moment in order to make a change, but that change cannot be at odds with the order of the world or else it is rejected and crumbles into chaos. That’s what was wrong with my world. It was a world created by hate in order to bring about peace instead of a world created by love in order to wage war with honor. Peace isn’t something that men were meant to live in for long periods of time. We’re creatures of action not stagnant rocks upon the ground. We are like the whole of the living universe around us and thus violent by nature. I failed to see the value of diversity and hardship before, but now I see that lasting peace, even for a short time, brings with it evils of its own.”
    “Does that mean you’re not going to sue for peace this time?” C.C. was concerned about where he was going with this new revelation.
    “Not after what Medusa told me.” He stopped and turned. The mask of Zero looked at her. “This time the Demon is going to act like an angel and become the sword of God.”
    “I had a feeling you would saying something like that.” C.C. came up next to him and took hold of his arm. “Very well,” she sighed. “Once more unto the breech, my love.”
    He caressed her chin. “I don’t deserve you.”
    “I know,” she snickered as they made their way towards the entrance of the tomb.
    Medusa met them at the egress with a distraught look.
    “What is it, Medusa?” Zero asked.
    “We have visitors,” she replied as the Red Dragon walked up behind her.

    * * *

    “How soon will you be ready to return?” Sthenno asked the image of Medea on the viewscreen in front of her.
    “We shall have completed loading the Ithaca with Golden Apple within the hour,” Medea told her with a grin.
    “Good.” Sthenno’s expression remained stone. “We need to consolidate our forces quickly. The UFN has already begun its counteroffensive, and our forces are too depleted to maintain control of Asia or Australia for much longer.” She wondered where Schneizel could be. “We must assume that our enemy now knows of our plans and is moving to thwart us even as we speak.”
    “What of our Cyclops forces? They could help us maintain control of our current territories,” Medea suggested, knowing that the Cyclops Automatos were among the most powerful weapons within the Tartarian arsenal.
    “They will remain here for now,” Sthenno smiled wickedly. “I suspect that when the UFN makes its move on us we’ll need them.”
    Medea laughed, “You’re leading them into a trap.”
    “I never actually trusted my champion, Prince Schneizel. I knew that there was the strong possibility that he’d betray me the first chance that he got.” She raised a brow. “I gave him that opportunity by sending him to South America on his own. I used the planetary surveyor system of Tartarus to find his location.”
    “Oh?” Medea snickered. “So, where is your champion now?”
    “His ship is hovering over a small island in the South Pacific Ocean. I can only assume it is some secret base of his.” Sthenno seemed irritated. “Fortunately, I’ve placed spies among his crew who’ve kept me informed of his plot.”
    Medea saw that Sthenno was hiding something. “I understand your annoyance at this champion betraying you, milady, but you seem far more troubled than the situation merits.”
    “I am,” Sthenno told her somberly. “My sister, Medusa, has succumbed to the power of another sorcerer.”
    “WHAT?” Medea was shocked. “How can you be certain?”
    “I spoke to her yesterday about her so-called success in Japan, but something about her demeanor bothered me. She was strained in her speech and unlike her normal self. Therefore, I used the planetary surveyor to scan the Japan region.”
    “And?” Medea was anxious to hear what troubled her superior so.
    “The Argos is there above the remains of the Japanese city of Kyoto. Jason’s men are bound to him by honor, friendship, and a loyalty that is not easily matched even by the bonds of love.” Sthenno sighed in frustration. “They would have sacrificed themselves rather than see their captain killed. Since the Argos lives, Jason in turn must be alive, and my sister Medusa must have succumbed to the power of another for she would never lie to me of her own accord.”
    “I see,” Medea said with a sinister smile. “Shall I take care of Jason and retrieve your dear sister?”
    “No,” Sthenno answered with a distraught look in her eyes. “With the Golden Apple you have acquired, it is now possible for us to power up Tartarus and use it.”
    “But I thought we still needed the Golden Apple from Japan?” Medea was confused.
    “No,” Sthenno stated with a glint in her eyes. “That was a lie I told to ensure that we’d acquire the element from Africa, as that store was much less than the mines of Mount Fuji but more than sufficient for our needs. In reality, we’ve enough with the shipment you’re bringing to have Tartarus brought up to full power and restore all of its systems.” Her eyes narrowed as her grin widened. “Including the Apollyon.”

    * * *

    “Wow!” Lloyd exclaimed in awe of the large Greek Kolossos-Automatos Gorgon as his team lifted it up towards the Avalon. He and Cecile stood at the spot where the machine had run out of power on Kamine Island.
    “It’s quite a machine, isn’t it?” Cecile remarked to Professor Asplund as they watched the large mecha get loaded into the lower hangar bay.
    “Yes, it is.” Lloyd put his hands on his hips. “It’s a pity we have to share this technological marvel with Rakshata.”
    “Don’t you mean the UFN?” Cecile tittered.
    Lloyd adjusted his glasses. “No, I mean Rakshata.”
    Major Croomy giggled, “Oh, I suppose to you that’s much worse.”
    “OF COURSE IT IS!” Lloyd bellowed. “The woman’s acting like I’M HER ASSISTANT in all of this. As if she knows more about KnightMare Frame mechanisms than I do! Ohhhhhh, the audacity of that woman!”
    Cecile thought back to the ejected pilot’s compartment they had found here on Kaminejima. “What do you think happened to the pilot of the Lancelot of the Lake, Lloyd?”
    Lloyd threw his arms up in the air. “Oh, Ms. Croomy! Is that all you can think about at a time like this? My whole life is being ruined by that awful woman, and all you can rattle on about is the fate of a pilot who was obviously well enough to open the hatch and walk out of the cockpit. He’s probably at a sushi bar with geishas on each side of him in Neo-Tokyo living it up right now while I’m here positively dying of humiliation at the hands of that Indian tigress!”
    “You think he’s okay?” Cecile inquired again.
    “YES!” Lloyd said. “Why do you want to know if this pilot is okay so badly?”
    Cecile held up the key to the Lancelot of the Lake; on its ring was the white-winged pin that Euphemia had given Suzaku as a symbol of his being her personal Knight.
    Lloyd took the pin from Cecile and examined it closely. He sighed, “It’s his alright.”
    “I thought he was dead, Lloyd.” Cecile sounded hurt. She had been very fond of Suzaku…maybe even in love with him, though even she wasn’t sure of her feelings for the former Britannian Devicer.
    “Perhaps he gave it to someone else…” Lloyd started to say.
    Cecile’s eyes narrowed. “Lloyd,” she grouched.
    Lloyd stuttered defensively, “Yes…well, I suppose he’d never part with it…it being Euphemia’s gift to him and all.”
    “Exactly.” Cecile took the pin back from Professor Asplund and twirled it slowly. “Which means he’s alive out there someplace.”
    “That’s odd,” Lloyd stated absentmindedly as a line of metallic dots came into view in the distance over the ocean.
    “What’s odd, Lloyd?” Cecile asked him before she also noticed the specks of reflected light on the horizon.
    “Professor Asplund,” a male voice called frantically over the radio Lloyd had on his utility belt.
    “Mmm…yes?” Lloyd asked nonchalantly.
    “We’re under attack!” the man shouted. “It’s the Britannian air force!”
    “Oh…well, is the enemy KnightMare secure?” Lloyd inquired.
    “WHAT?” the man asked.
    Cecile grabbed the radio from Lloyd. “Don’t mind him, Lieutenant; just have Kallen and her Black Knights launch immediately and get someone down here to pick us up.”
    “Yes, Major,” the lieutenant replied obediently and cut off the channel.
    “What should we do?” Lloyd asked Cecile with a worried look as the dots became a discernable fleet of warships. “I haven’t the foggiest idea how fast those vessels are, but I doubt we have much time.”
    “You don’t,” a male voice said from behind them.
    Lloyd and Cecile were stunned upon seeing C.C., Nunnally, and Zero standing before them.

    * * *

    “Kallen, we’ve got six bogeys incoming at three-o’clock!” Gino said as the Yamato no Orochi moved in to intercept any KnightMare Frames that attempted to assault the Avalon.
    “They look like Vincent Wards,” Tamaki blurted out as he fired a salvo of energy discs at the leader of the Britannian machines.
    The baby-blue Vincent with pink highlights spun out of the way of Tamaki’s volley easily and unloaded a hail of autocannon rounds at him from the four-barrel gunpod of the machine.
    “That’s not a typical Vincent!” Anya said as she dodged a salvo of missiles from another of the modified Vincent Wards.
    “It must be a new model because they’re flying without any wings or visible propulsion units!” Kallen said as the six enemy machines closed into melee range. Kozuki transformed her Type-21S into KnightMare mode and had her machine unsheathe its pair of Blade-Luminous katanas. The blades glowed with an eerie green energy as she swerved in to engage the lead Vincent.
    The baby-blue KnightMare drew an elegant rapier blade from the scabbard at its side. The thin blade glowed with a red-black light.
    “If you surrender Gino to me now, I’ll spare your life,” Evita Ernst said over the com.
    “Evita?” Gino blurted out in surprise as he parried the red-black glowing blade of another of the Vincent Wards.
    “GINO!” the duchess exclaimed. “I’ve come to rescue you, my love.”
    “He doesn’t need rescuing, you idiot.” Kallen locked swords with Evita’s baby-blue KnightMare.
    “You dare to challenge my KMF Victoria?” Evita scoffed as her machine easily blocked the swings from each of Kallen’s katanas. “Fool! You shall taste the bite of my Hadron Saber!”
    “Kallen, be careful,” Gino warned. “Even as a young child, Evita Ernst was a gifted Devicer; she’s as good if not better than Suzaku was.”
    “Oh, that’s just great,” Kallen grumbled as Evita’s KnightMare twisted to one side and brought its rapier up under the left arm of her Type-21S. Kallen lifted her machine’s arm just in time to save it from the Hadron Saber of the KMF Victoria.
    “Perfect!” Evita laughed as her Victoria did a high kick that knocked one of the Blade-Luminous katanas from the left hand of Kallen’s Shogun. The duchess whipped her machine around and thrust its rapier at the belly of the Type-21S.
    “OH, NO YOU DON’T!” Kallen fired a burst from the pair of shoulder Hadrons of her Shogun.
    “Pathetic,” Evita scoffed using the large Blaze Luminous shield on her machine’s right arm to deflect the volley of Hadron blasts. The KMF Victoria reached over to its left hip with its right arm and grabbed a discus which opened up revealing an MVS blade along its rim. The Victoria let the disc fly at Kallen’s mecha.
    Kallen activated the ultimate-invulnerability field of her KnightMare. “Isn’t that cheating?”
    “Not when you’re firing Hadrons at me,” Evita sniggered. “You can’t keep that shield up for long. It draws an enormous amount of power from your energy fillers, and when it goes down…you go down!”
    Kallen looked around to assess how her teammates were doing while she tried to formulate a plan to save her own behind. Tamaki’s Bushido had lost an arm, but he managed to take down one of the Victorias. Now he was fighting a second machine and doing his best to parry and block the discus that the KMF had shot at him. Anya was holding her own against two machines simultaneously by shooting the discuses of the two KMFs with the energy discs from her gunpod. However, her Samurai had bullet holes and slash marks all over it, and she hadn’t done much damage to the two KnightMares she was fighting. Gino wasn’t fairing much better than Anya.
    Kozuki watched as the MVS discus continued to strike her shield and the energy filler meter on her console continued to drop. Damn it! I can’t lower my shield or transform. If I do that, her disc will cut me to ribbons, or Evita will shoot me down with her machine’s gunpod. What do I do?
    “Q-1,” a male voice called over the radio.
    Kallen looked at the grilled radio speaker as if a cobra had just leapt from it. “Oh, my GOD!”
    “Not quite, but thanks for the vote of confidence,” Zero replied. “Q-1, I need you to listen to me carefully and pull back from that KnightMare Frame. Understood?”
    Am I hearing things? It sounds like…no, it can’t be. It must be Suzaku. “I hear you, Zero; go ahead,” Kallen responded thinking how amazing it was that the voice modulator of the Zero helmet made Suzaku sound like the real Zero.
    “Professor Asplund has informed me that you’re fighting a new version of the Lancelot Club. It was an experimental model of the Z-01 built during Viceroy Cornelia’s reign over Japan. This machine is known as the Z-02 Victoria and is an eleventh-generation KnightMare Frame unit that was only in its prototype phases when Professor Asplund left.”
    “Get to the damn point, Zero!” Kallen snapped at him in irritation as her energy filler meter dropped another notch. “I don’t have time for a technical readout!”
    “Just like at Narita, you are as impatient as ever, Kallen,” Zero retorted with a snicker.
    Narita? How would Suzaku know I was even at Narita? Kallen’s thoughts distracted her momentarily before Zero’s words broke through.
    “The point is you can’t win against this KMF at close range. It was designed for urban assault and pacification not aerial dogfighting. It uses four null-gravity impellers. Knocking those out is your best bet in defeating this opponent. They are the dome-shaped structures on the KMF. There is one impeller behind each calf of the machine and one on each side of the Devicer cockpit. Knock out any two of them, and the machine will lose its maneuverability and thereby allow you to take it out easily.”
    “That’s great, Zero, but what the hell am I supposed to do about this discus that’s assaulting me?” Kallen grouched at him.
    He sighed slightly as if the answer should have been obvious to her. “Move out beyond fifty meters from the Victoria, and you’ll be outside the electromagnetic tether wire that holds the MVS disc to the KMF. Think of it as an invisible slash harken cable; you should be able to see the electromagnetic line on your EMS sensors.”
    Kallen turned to see the blue line whipping along her active EMS scope. “Yah, I see the damn EM line.” Geez, I wonder if Lelouch schooled Suzaku in being a jerk? He’s just as smug and annoying as Lelouch was...unless? She drove out the thoughts that were trying to invade her mind. “Alright, Zero, I’m past the fifty-meter mark,” she told him as she flew her KnightMare out of range of the discus.
    Evita tried to keep pace with Kallen. “Running away so soon?” the duchess taunted Kallen as her Victoria fell behind the Shogun.
    “What, you can’t keep up?” Kallen shot back. “Too bad!” Kozuki unloaded a barrage of energy discs from the gunpod of her Type-21 aiming at the pair of domes that flanked the pilot’s compartment on either side.
    Evita deflected the discs with the Blaze Luminous shield of her KMF and simultaneously fired a hail of autocannon rounds at the left graviton-impeller of Kallen’s Shogun. The graviton-impeller pod was riddled with sakuradite-tipped shells causing the nacelle to erupt in a burst of electrical bolts that blew off its armored cover.
    “DAMN IT!” Kallen cursed as her speed was halved by the loss of one of her engines.
    “That’s better,” the duchess chortled as her Victoria caught up to the Type-21S. “Now you’re mine,” Evita snickered as she let the discus of her KnightMare fly at the Shogun.
    Kallen barely had time to react and used the forearm MVS harken of her KMF to deflect the MVS Disc. “I’m not defeated so easily, you little bitch!”
    “Such insolence,” Evita scolded her as the discus of the Victoria flipped under the MVS harken and cut through its cable, sending the large triangular harken tumbling to the island below. Evita followed up with a burst of autocannon rounds that tore through the sensor head of Kallen’s Shogun. Her Victoria unsheathed its Hadron Saber and closed into melee range with the Type-21S easily.
    “Kallen, use the radiant-heat wave of your gunpod!” Zero called out to her over the radio. Kozuki didn’t spare a moment; she twisted her machine so that her KMF’s left shoulder Hadron deflector met the blade of Evita’s Hadron Saber while she shoved the tip of her radiant-heat wave gunpod into the null-gravity dome on the right side of the pilot compartment of the Victoria. The dome melted under the intense heat of the wave and exploded.
    Evita’s Hadron Saber cut through the deflector of the Shogun and chopped off the left arm of Kallen’s machine. “Not bad, Captain Kozuki, but not good enough!” The duchess laughed as she used the momentum of the exploding null-gravity dome to spin her Victoria around and bring her Hadron Saber up to cut the other arm of Kallen’s Shogun completely off in one fluid motion.
    “KALLEN, GET OUT OF THERE!” Zero yelled at her over the radio as Evita used the MVS discus of her machine to chop off the legs of the Shogun.
    The duchess giggled like a fiend drunk on power. “All too easy!” Evita brought down her Hadron Saber to cleave the Type-21S in two.
    A brilliant red blade of pure energy blocked her weapon.
    “WHAT! WHO DARES!” Evita pulled the Victoria back to see a machine that was larger than a KnightMare Frame, and certainly of no KMF design she had ever seen before, hovering via its green energy wings above her.
    “I am the Knight of Zero!” Suzaku answered Evita.
    “Knight of Zero…” the duchess said astounded. “That’s impossible!”
    The battlerobot Suzaku flew was a deep violet in color with gold highlights. It had a human-shaped faceplate with no nose or mouth, only a pair of radiant blue eyes and a crown-like helmet structure that comprised its head. Broad shoulders held a peculiar housing at each front, one of which held a handle within it like some sort of knife sheath. The arms where plain, save for unusual symbols on the forearms near the wrists of the machine. The legs were long and slender with an armored skirt around the waist. The back of the mecha had only a small backpack-like structure with a pair of appendages from which the green energy wings emanated.
    “Su...za…ku?” Kallen asked in awe of both the machine he flew and the implications of him using the old title of Knight of Zero. She snapped out of her initial shock. “Wait a damn minute! If you’re in that KMF, then who the hell is giving me orders as Zero?”
    “That’s not important right now,” the Red Dragon said as she flew up in a similar battlerobot to the one Suzaku now piloted; its form was more feminine and its color scheme was mauve with pink highlights.
    “Oh, how cute,” Evita said in a sarcastic tone. “You have matching KnightMares.” The duchess moved her Victoria in to attack Suzaku.
    Nunnally’s image came up on Evita’s screen in front of her. “Duchess Evita Ernst, as empress of Britannia, I order you to stop this attack at once!”
    Nunnally glared at the young girl with an intensity that shook Evita’s resolve. “As you wish, Empress.” The duchess stopped her advance. “Please accept my sincere apology; I had no idea you were on the Avalon.”
    “I’ll accept your apology in person when you land on the Avalon.” Nunnally knew that having Evita in their company would deter any further violence.
    “As you wish, Empress,” the duchess stated again obediently.
    Suzaku and the Red Dragon joined the remnant of the Yamato no Orochi as they escorted the Victoria and its escort of four remaining KMFs to the Avalon.

    * * *

    Kallen jumped out of the cockpit of her badly damaged Type-21S and briskly made her way towards the elevator lift. I’m going to get to the bottom of this right now! she thought to herself as she rode the elevator down to the bridge of the Avalon.
    The doors opened to reveal Lloyd Asplund and Cecile Croomy speaking with Zero and Nunnally.
    Kozuki stormed onto the command deck and interrupted them. “Hey, would someone kindly tell me what is going on here?”
    “Oh, hi, Kallen,” C.C. said as she came out of an adjacent elevator with an open box of pizza, a half-eaten slice already in her left hand.
    “PIZZA GIRL!” Kallen’s brow furrowed in anger as she put her hands on her hips and barked at Zero, “What the HELL is going on here!”
    “Is this how you normally address your superiors?” Zero asked her.
    Superior? Kallen’s fury boiled over. She looked directly into Zero’s visor. “Could I please talk to you in private for a minute?” Kozuki grabbed Zero’s arm and dragged him to one of the small strategy rooms at the rear of the bridge and shut the door behind them.
    “That was rather rude of you, Captain Kozuki,” Zero said as Kallen spun around to face him.
    “TAKE IT OFF!” she commanded him.
    Zero put up his hands defensively. “Pardon me?”
    Her eyes welled up in frustration. “Stop with the asinine voice, and TAKE THAT DAMN MASK OFF, LELOUCH!”
    “I think you’ve made a mis…” Zero started to say.
    Kallen pulled out her sidearm and pointed it at him. “Lelouch, take that stupid mask off right now, or else I’ll blow it off your thick skull!”
    “Well, there’s no need to get violent about this,” Zero told her nonchalantly. “If you must see my face, then so be it.” Zero reached up behind his head and unfastened his helmet.
    “I can’t believe that you thought you could live it up with that green-haired skank while I believed you were dead all these years.”
    Kallen looked at the floor and ceiling as she started pacing the room in anger. “I heard all the rumors about people sighting a cart driver that looked like you with that immortal tramp someplace in Australia, but OH, NO, I chose not to believe them. I heard the theories about you taking Charles’ immortality, or Pizza girl’s, and I just brushed it all off as conspiracy theories. BOY, was I WRONG!”
    Tears started to trickle down her cheeks. “How could you do this to me? After everything we went through together…after I…I kissed you and told you how I felt about you.”
    “Ahem,” Zero interrupted her rant.
    Kallen stopped and turned to chew Lelouch out. A pair of amber eyes stared at her innocently from under a mop of raven-black hair.
    “Huh?...Who the heck are you?” Kallen asked meekly.
    He gave her a fragile smile. “Enoch.”
    Last edited by Kodai Okuda; 09-26-2010 at 03:51 AM.
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  7. #17
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    Turn Sixteen: Reflections


    “The sea; how I love to watch the light of morning shimmer off of its waves and form a myriad of different shapes and shadows. Each playing in a dance of light and darkness filtered through the water like the lives of so many of us who shine and darken with the movement of the sea of time. I was sure it was him that day over Kaminejima, so sure that I couldn’t let it go, and yet in my haste, I never thought to reflect upon the light that shimmered right beside me through the whole of that affair. I loved Lelouch, there is no doubt of that, but had I simply left that love behind me, buried with him, and accepted the love of another willingly instead of being so stubborn, then perhaps I could have found solace in the arms of another and saved myself the pain that was to come. As I reflect on this, I don’t regret the love I once had for Lelouch nor the love I lost after he was gone.” —Excerpt from the diary of Captain Kallen Kozuki, dated March 12th, 2025 a.t.b.

    “I demand his hand in marriage!” Evita stated defiantly to Nunnally as they sat with Kaguya Sumeragi and Jiang Lihua at a conference table on the Ikaruga. The rays of the mid-morning sun shone brightly through the large viewport to the left of them. A pot of hot tea was in the center of the table flanked on each side by scones and cookies.
    “His hand is not mine to give,” the empress countered. “Besides, he’s now a member of the Black Knights and one of its elite fighting units, the Yamato no Orochi. I don’t have any authority over him, Duchess Ernst.”
    “Then you will have to take authority over him, Empress!” Evita had been squabbling with Nunnally for three days since Evita and her aerial fleet had come to Japan. Nunnally had requested the aid of her two friends, UFN Lady-Chairman Kaguya Sumeragi, and Empress Jiang Lihua, to assist her in the negotiations with Duchess Evita Ernst as it concerned a member of the UFN Black Knights.
    "We cannot afford to relinquish one of our most trusted and valued pilots into your hands for the purpose of a political marriage, Duchess." Kaguya eyed Evita with a scowl.
    Evita stared Kaguya down. "What you cannot afford, Lady-Chairman, is to prolong this conflict for much longer," the duchess smirked. "While I certainly will not go against the will of Empress Nunnally...she is not currently in command of our forces. Her older sister, acting Regent Princess Cornelia li Britannia, is now in control of our military might by the will of the royal houses of the empire."
    "How is that possible?" Jiang Lihua inquired of the duchess. "Didn't the 99th emperor do away with the feudal system in Britannia?"
    "Indeed he did," Zero stated as he walked into the room uninvited. "But it would seem that he didn't do enough." He walked over to the table at which the four women sat.
    Nunnally's eyes grew wide as she realized this man was not Enoch, nor Suzaku. "And what do you propose we do about it, Zero?" She didn't like the familiar feeling she got when he spoke. Nunnally had felt the same way when C.C. and Enoch left with him into the ruins on Kaminejima three days before. C.C. had explained that this man's identity needed to remain a secret if Suzaku were to be free of being Zero, and if the empress of Britannia wanted to have any hope of stopping Schneizel. Nunnally had her suspicious about this Zero, but she kept them to herself.
    "What is the meaning of this?" Kaguya stood up, clearly shocked at the presence of Zero. "How could you still be alive? I saw the Lancelot of the Lake get consumed by the FLEIJA that destroyed Kobe."
    "How is not important," Zero cut her off. "What is important is that Cornelia is purging the corrupt leaders of Europe and abroad, and that will aide us in our endeavor provided she can control her subordinates."
    "What?" Lihua exclaimed in disgust, unsure of exactly who was behind the mask. "How can you say that?"
    "Easily, it's the truth." He waved his hand in a grandiose gesture unlike the melancholy Kururugi. His mannerism did not go unnoticed by Kaguya.
    "The truth?" Sumeragi regarded him with a skeptical eye and chose to test a theory that reverberated through her mind no matter how unlikely or insane she thought it to be. "Somehow I find it hard to believe that you've ever put value in the truth."
    "Oh?" Zero tittered mischievously. "I put value into truths that have value."
    Sumeragi grinned. "That's the kind of circular answer I’d expect from you." Unlike Nunnally, Kaguya couldn't be sure if this Zero was Suzaku or not. If it was him, then Kururugi was pretending to be dead and thus trying to regain his anonymity. If it wasn't him, then the repercussions of who this Zero could in fact be were dizzying to the lady-chairman.
    "What about my Gino?" The duchess was growing impatient.
    "You can't have him," Zero stated bluntly. "I need him where he is."
    "You?" Evita was mortified by how Zero addressed her like she was a mere child. "Why would you need Gino?"
    "He provides a level of stability within the Yamato no Orochi that I require for the plan I'm formulating against Schneizel." Zero's mask looked down directly at Evita. "Schneizel will not be defeated by a grand army or large military force. It will require a crack team of elite fighters to deal with him this time."
    “Why should I help you defeat a hero like Schneizel?” Evita grumbled.
    Zero cackled, “Your hero would turn on you the first chance he got, Duchess. You gravely underestimate Schneizel’s intentions, Evita. If you value your life, then you’ll help me.”
    “How would you know what his intentions are?” the duchess scoffed.
    Zero bent down close to her face; she recoiled from him as he did so. “Because it’s my business to know,” he told her arrogantly
    "Enough of this!” Nunnally barked at them both. “Evita, you are to leave for the Avalon at once and await my return there.”
    The duchess flipped her head and humphed as she stood up and left the conference room.
    Nunnally turned towards Zero. “Do you know where Schneizel is?"
    The mask of Zero turned to face her. "Not exactly, but I've got a pretty good idea of the possible places he could be, and they're few in number."
    "And do you expect to just take one of our elite units under your wing to go after Schneizel without so much as consulting with the UFN?" Kaguya scoffed.
    Zero extended his hand out to her. "I'm consulting you now even though you must realize that to refuse me is futile. Surely, Lady Kaguya, you know there is no chance for you to counter an assault by Schneizel with your fleet spread out over the South Pacific. While I admit that it is imperative that we find whichever island Schneizel is using as a base of operations, it is foolish for the UFN to use nearly a third of its forces to do so."
    He's treating this like a game of chess, Sumeragi thought to herself while she watched with keen interest the movements and gestures of Zero as he continued illustrating his grandiose plan for dealing with Schneizel.
    "The fundamental problems with this situation rest within the slow and clumsy response of the UFN council and its member nations," Zero went on. "The lack of Schneizel's presence over the last week indicates that the destruction of the machine known as Charybdis must have been a far greater blow then we first surmised. This machine must have been responsible for the destruction of the UFN fleet at Kerguelen Island and the beast that plagued the ocean and aerial vessels throughout the Asian Pacific region during this conflict. Its destruction means more than just freedom of movement for the UFN; it means that a major piece in Schneizel's plan has been taken by us. Thus, the attack on Australia by Tohdoh is foolish and plays directly into Schneizel’s strategy. He doesn’t expect us to try and consolidate our forces for an assault on their base of operations in Antarctica; he expects us to try and regain the territories the UFN has lost to him."
    Sumeragi choose this moment to implement another test upon Zero. "Zero, would you care for some eggs and sausage?" Kaguya's question would have meaning to only Suzaku, who would fumble over himself due to the embarrassment of having Lihua in the room right in front of him.
    Although irritated by her interruption of his spiel, Zero was not fazed by her remark. "Thank you, Lady Kaguya, but I'm not hungry at the moment.”
    Kaguya looked at Lihua and shook her head slightly. The Tianzi nodded at her in understanding.
    Zero continued to relay his plan. “In order for us to counter Schneizel’s current strategy, we must withdraw our forces and regroup. In addition to this, we must allow Cornelia to continue her progress throughout Europe to get her as far away from the Britannian homeland as possible while at the same time forcing her to minimize civilian casualties."
    “So you intend on destroying both the UFN and Britannia in one fell swoop, is that it?” Sumeragi asked.
    Zero was stunned by her remark. “No, I simply intend to maintain the façade of the conflict between the UFN and Britannia in order to keep Schneizel from guessing our intentions.”
    “While innocent people die in the process?” Nunnally eyed him. “I don’t think so. Those kinds of tactics are outmoded and seem more like the kind of strategy that my father would use, not the Knight of Justice.”
    Her words clearly stung Zero as he stepped backward. “You’ve a better plan?”
    “I do,” Nunnally told him as she stood up on her cybernetic legs to face him. Her action caused Zero to look her up and down as if surprised by her standing. Zero’s reaction told Nunnally all she needed to know about who this man was. The cold look in her eyes matched the icy tone she spoke to him in. “Things have changed in the last six years, Zero. The tactics and strategies of the Black Rebellion won’t work now…my brother saw to that when he remade the world. My plan is simple and direct. Lady Kaguya, Lihua, and I have been discussing the whole of this situation at length. Thanks to Kaguya not trusting Tohdoh after the Black Knights were reformed and thus placing surveillance devices in Tohdoh’s office, we know that the good general plans on using this conflict to overthrow the UFN and take down Britannia.”
    “That’s because he understands this situation!” Zero interjected.
    “No,” Nunnally scolded him, “it’s because he got the idea from MY BROTHER!”
    “We’ve had plenty of time to reflect on this, Zero,” Lihua added to try and break the tension that was building between Nunnally and Zero. “And we agree with both of them in so far as the creation of a worldwide constitutional republic. Such unification, with guaranteed inalienable human rights set within the framework of an actual document, would help sweep away the last vestiges of the obsolete feudal and socialist systems that still plague our world.”
    “And Schneizel has provided the perfect vehicle for achieving this goal without the continuation of a conflict between the UFN and Britannia.” Kaguya enjoyed being able to best Zero, especially if this Zero was who she was quickly beginning to suspect he was. Sumeragi gave him a smile. “Don’t worry, Zero; we have every intention of using your brilliant mind to our mutual advantage in reaching the world you and Kyoshiro envision.”
    Zero was taken aback by how skillful the three of these women had become in his absence. He chuckled aloud. “I see I’m no match for your triumvirate.” He bowed graciously before them. “How may I be of service, ladies.”
    Nunnally had to hold back a laugh as she smirked; she liked the idea of being one step ahead of him for once. “You shall do as you are told when we send for you, Zero. For now, you are to assemble suitable replacements for the missing members of the Yamato no Orochi. There should be at least eight members within that Special Forces unit. Currently there are only four.”
    “But, Empress Nunnally—“ Zero began.
    “No buts!” She raised her chin towards him. “You are my vassal and as such you shall do as I command. Now leave us and assemble the forces you require to locate and deal with Schneizel.”
    “As you wish, milady.” Zero bowed and walked out of the conference chamber.

    * * *

    “How’d it go?” C.C. asked Zero as he entered their private room on the Ikaruga.
    “Better than I expected,” he said as he removed his mask. Lelouch ran his hand through his hair and sighed. “I got them to hand control of the Yamato no Orochi over to me in order for us to pursue Schneizel.”
    “Is that wise?” Enoch asked as he walked in from an adjacent part of the large room wearing only a bath robe.
    “You disapprove?” Lelouch asked snidely.
    Enoch snickered, “No, but should that fiery redheaded captain of theirs find out you’re still alive, I’d say there’ll be hell to pay for it.”
    Lelouch frowned. “I can handle her, don’t you worry about it.”
    “If you say so, champ,” Enoch laughed. “She was mighty pissed-off while she thought I was you.”
    “Well, she thinks you’re me now, so that solves the problem,” Lelouch told him with an irritated look.
    Enoch teased Lelouch with a wink at C.C. “Gee, how gentlemanly of you; does that mean you don’t mind if I choose to woo Kallen to ease some of her heartache?”
    “Enoch!” C.C. blurted out in wide-eyed surprise as she took a slice of pizza from the box in front of her.
    “What?” Enoch shrugged. “The poor girl is madly in love with this guy, and he acts like he doesn’t even care. She could use some real man lov’n for her troubles.”
    “Have you no sense of decency?” C.C. tittered as she took a bite of the slice, though Lelouch was not amused.
    Enoch put his hands on his hips. “Lookey here, gorgeous, I may be immortal but I’m not dead, yah know…that Kallen is hawwwwt!”
    C.C. nearly choked on the pizza as she held back a laugh and smiled at him.
    “Enough of this!” Lelouch barked at Enoch. “I didn’t order you to join me so you could entertain your wanton appetites.”
    Enoch raised an eyebrow. “You don’t give me orders, boy.”
    “Is that so?” The twin sigils of Geass formed in Lelouch’s eyes.
    “No, Lelouch, wait!” C.C. warned but it was too late.
    Lelouch spoke with a wave of his hand, “I, Lelouch vi Britannia, command you to obey my orders without question.”
    “Oh, boy.” C.C. put her face in her palm.
    Enoch walked up to Lelouch and put his middle finger under his left ocular orb, flipping off Lelouch as he spoke in a sarcastic tone, “Lelouch, looook into my eye.” Enoch slapped Lelouch on the forehead gently with his palm and chuckled, “As if your feeble power could affect me? Who do you think I am?”
    Lelouch was stunned at the man’s brazen act.
    Enoch smiled at him. “I mean really? If I was susceptible to the charms, spells, or powers of every Tom, Dick, and Harry sorcerer that came my way, I’d have given this up eons ago.”
    Lelouch pulled his gun out from within his Zero garment and pointed it at Enoch. “I can’t afford to have anyone knowing who I am that’s not willing to follow my orders.” He pulled the trigger and fired eight rounds into Enoch’s robe.
    The amber-eyed man didn’t even flinch. He simply opened up his robe and allowed the mushroomed rounds to fall from under the garment onto the floor.
    “What the?” Lelouch gasped.
    Enoch outstretched his hand causing the pistol to fly from Lelouch’s grip into his own. As soon as he had the weapon, he crushed it effortlessly and sighed as he let loose of the mangled weapon. “Are you finished?”
    “Stop it, the both of you!” C.C. stood up.
    Enoch stared at Lelouch intensely. “I’m helping you because I want to, Lelouch vi Britannia. Upon reflection, I see much of who I once was in you and thus a great potential to do what very few are able to. But you have no concept of the hell that is eternal life. Few have the stamina for it. In short, my young friend, I’m here to help, but if my help is not appreciated…lots of luck, Lulu.”
    The buzzer of the door prevented Lelouch from responding as Suzaku’s voice called from behind the locked entrance, “Is everything alright in there? I thought I heard shots fired.”
    “Just a minute, Suzaku!” C.C. called out to him. “I’m not dressed yet!” C.C. grabbed Lelouch and started taking his clothes off.
    “Enoch, put his Zero costume on and give him your robe,” C.C. whispered to the two of them.
    “Whoa, you had me worried there for a minute.” Enoch grinned at C.C.
    “Will you shut up and do as I tell you!” C.C. snapped at him.
    “Yes, ma’am,” Enoch replied timidly and started dressing into Lelouch’s Zero outfit. He took a whiff of the suit as he put it on. “Damn, boy, what kind of perfume is this…Ode de Tapette?”
    “At least I don’t smell like an oily leather saddle,” Lelouch retorted as he put on the robe.
    C.C. fumed at both of them. “Would it be possible for you two to grow up some time in the near future? Now you get into the closet.” C.C. motioned for Lelouch to hide behind one of the long bank of closet doors at the far end of the room. “And you,” she pointed at Enoch as he donned the Zero helmet and flinched, “get into character.”
    Both men were so surprised at her taking charge that they found themselves compelled to obey.

    * * *

    “Hi, Suzaku,” C.C. smiled at him as she unlocked the door allowing him to walk into the room with the Red Dragon in tow behind him.
    Suzaku looked around the room as he walked in. “What the heck is going on in here?” he queried her.
    "Oh, nothing," C.C. giggled. "We were just having a bit of a tiff, that's all."
    The Red Dragon stepped on something hard and round on the floor. She looked down to see eight mushroomed bullets at her feet. "That's was one heck of a tiff," her electronic voice said with a snicker.
    Suzaku caught sight of the crushed pistol on the floor. Immediately, he walked over to it and picked it up. He examined the filigree grip which had attracted his attention. "This is Lelouch's gun." Kururugi eyed C.C. and Zero.
    "It was in his tomb," C.C. said quickly as Lelouch cracked open the louvers of the closet door that he hid behind. He peered through the slits at Suzaku.
    "I took it with me when I borrowed his outfit and mask," Enoch told a half-truth.
    "Did you?" Suzaku said in disbelief.
    "Great," Lelouch mumbled softly to himself as Suzaku looked around the room. "This is definitely not my day."
    Suzaku walked over to the far end of the room where the bank of closet doors started at the left and opened the first door.
    "Wha...what are you doing, Suzaku?" C.C. asked in a panic.
    "Checking for demons," he said bluntly.
    I don't need this right now! Lelouch thought to himself as he backed up into the closet.
    "Suzaku, we really don't have time for this," Enoch told him. "Zero has to assemble his strike team to hunt down Schneizel as soon as possible. I'd like your help with that if you don't mind."
    Kururugi stopped and turned towards Zero. "I know, Nunnally just told me about it which is why I was on my way down here. She said that she wants me and the Red Dragon to accompany her on the Avalon for her return to Britannia. Kaguya has given you the use of the Ikaruga. Sumeragi and Lihua wish to accompany you on your journey to find Schneizel’s lair. The Empress Nunnally also wanted me to ask you if we could use the Hakodeshim Frames you lent us for the trip to Britannia, as she doesn’t trust Evita."
    "The Archangels are my gifts to you two, so of course you can use them," Enoch told him politely.
    "Thank you, Enoch; you are very generous in such a gift." Suzaku smiled.
    Lelouch backed into the coat hangar bar and hit his head. "OUCH!"
    "What was that?" Suzaku spun on his heel towards the door where the sound had come from.
    "What was what?" Enoch asked innocently.
    Suzaku frowned at him. "You know what I'm talking about." He looked at C.C. who only shrugged with a weak smile.
    Kururugi marched over to the door and opened it. "AH, HAH!" He grabbed Lelouch and threw him out of the closet onto the floor.
    Enoch turned to C.C. and grinned. “Looks like Suzaku got him to finally come out of the closet.”
    C.C. rolled her eyes while the Red Dragon snickered.
    "Suzaku, wait!" Lelouch put up his hands instinctively to try and calm his friend.
    Kururugi stared at the pink sigil of Geass on Lelouch's palm. "I knew it, you BASTARD! YOU LIED TO ME! YOU SAID YOU DIDN'T TAKE CHARLES' CODE!"
    "No, wait, Suzaku, I didn't! I swear! It's not what you think!" Lelouch scurried away from Suzaku on the floor as Kururugi drew his sidearm.
    “Suzaku, he didn’t deceive you,” C.C. told him as she came between the two of them with her arms outstretched.
    The Red Dragon came up behind Kururugi and gently put her hand on Suzaku’s shoulder. “Let’s hear what he has to say.”
    “Kururugi dropped his sidearm to his side but glared with menace at Lelouch.
    “He didn’t lie to you, Suzaku,” C.C. went on. The Greek Geass user named Euryale had the power to resurrect the dead.”
    "Not exactly," Enoch interrupted. "Her power was actually to extend her Code over an area, thus allowing any person with full Geass to be revived from death as though that person had a Code."
    "Thanks, Enoch," C.C. sniggered. "Anyway, Euryale used her power in Lelouch's tomb to revive her sister Medusa and accidentally revived Lelouch as well."
    "And his Code?" Suzaku grumbled.
    "I got it from Euryale when I killed her." Lelouch composed himself and stood up.
    “How convenient,” Kururugi spat.
    “I told you I’d find a way back here and I did,” Lelouch reminded Suzaku.
    “That wasn’t a dream?” Kururugi was shocked.
    “No,” Lelouch told him. “Although I don’t really understand how we were able to communicate…I do know that we did.”
    “Geass gives the user and the recipient an unintentional telepathic bond due to the nature of its metaphysical properties,” Enoch informed them.
    C.C. looked at him bewildered. “How do you know that?”
    Enoch put his hand on the back of his head and chuckled, “Oh, I read it in the Geass Order’s files when I broke into their lair and copied their records a little over a decade ago.”
    “You copied their records?” Lelouch inquired with an elated expression.
    “Well, yah…it’s part of what I do,” Enoch told him matter-of-factly. “Why? Are they important to you, Lelouch?”
    “Quite possibly now more then ever,” Lelouch answered him with a grin.
    Enoch took off the Zero helmet and smiled at him devilishly. “You mean because it contains descriptions of all of the known Geass users, both past and present, and their powers?”
    Suzaku glanced from Enoch to Lelouch. “Did I miss something?”
    “Don’t worry. We’ll fill you in on the details,” C.C. said as she sat down at the table. “We’ve much to discuss…pizza anyone?” She held up a slice as they all sat down.

    * * *

    “We’ve covered only a fraction of the islands out here, Tohdoh,” Xingke said over the viewscreen, “and still nothing.”
    “I see,” Kyoshiro said with a frown from the bridge of his ocean surface-warship, the Musashi, as the vessel sat in Humboldt Bay off the shores of the city of Jayapura, the capitol city of Papua New Guinea. Tohdoh looked out towards the rising pillars of smoke in the distance. “We’ve only just started our conquest of New Guinea, and in only a week we have nearly crushed Schneizel’s forces here. They’re not putting up any kind of real fight…I wonder.”
    “Do you think it’s a ploy?” Xingke inquired.
    “Perhaps.” Tohdoh pondered the situation for a moment before continuing, “It’s possible Schneizel intends for us to lay siege to the territory he’s claimed while he plans something else.”
    “What else could he be planning?” Xingke asked in a befuddled tone. “If conquest of the world is indeed his goal, then he has to acquire and maintain territory. It’s not like he has another Damocles to threaten us all with.”
    “I wouldn’t be so sure about that, General Xingke. His Greek allies are spread pretty thin…” Kyoshiro rubbed his chin absentmindedly. He spoke more to himself than to Li Xingke, “And while we pursue them and his brainwashed troops, we are also spreading ourselves thinner. The UFN is bogged down in Europe and Africa with the Britannian forces.”
    “Meaning?” Li asked impatient with Tohdoh’s murmuring thoughts.
    “He’s fighting a holding action,” Kyoshiro stated bluntly.
    Xingke frowned; he had an idea of where Tohdoh was going with this line of thinking. “And you’re concerned as to why Schneizel is only trying to hold us rather than continue to engage?”
    “Yes, it doesn’t make any sense for Schneizel to sabotage his own momentum unless he has good reason. Even with the destruction of the Charybdis, his forces could have continued to overwhelm our sparse units in Africa and the Middle East. There’s something more to all of this, I can feel it.” Kyoshiro put his hand down and looked directly at Xingke. “Lady Kaguya has informed me that the Ikaruga, under the command of Zero, is going to replace your forces shortly in the search for Schneizel.”
    “Zero?” Xingke almost laughed. “I thought Kururugi was dead.”
    “I thought he was also,” Tohdoh frowned. “Apparently, the Lancelot of the Lake was equipped with an emergency escape system that allowed him to survive the explosion. However, that isn’t the problem.”
    “Oh?” Li remarked with curiosity. “We know who Zero is, so what’s the problem?”
    “The problem is that Suzaku is no longer Zero. He has been reinstated as the Knight of Zero by Empress Nunnally and is now one of her personal Knights. The other Knight is called the Knight of Draconis. This person is another masked figure, a woman this time, who calls herself the Red Dragon. The joint UFN/Britannian media blitz cover story is that Suzaku was in a coma for six years under the care of the UFN and has now pledged his loyalty to Zero. The other Knight is supposedly a former rebel against Britannia who Nunnally trusts implicitly. I must admit that Milly Ashford made the presentation very believable, and both Knights appeared very personable in her interviews with them.”
    “Then who is Zero?” Xingke hated this game of charades the Britannians were playing with this collage of masked heroes.
    “I honestly don’t know.” Tohdoh was troubled by the appearance of this new Zero. “What I do know is that if Kaguya is backing him, then nothing good will come of it. The lady-chairman has her own designs on how best to use this crisis, of that I am sure, and I hate to have to say this to you, my friend, but your Jiang Lihua may be assisting them as well.”
    Xingke scowled at Kyoshiro. “If the Tianzi is helping Kaguya and Empress Nunnally, then it is for the good of the Chinese people, General Tohdoh, of that you can be rest assured.”
    “Be that as it may, it could still be problematic,” Tohdoh told him in a firm tone. “I need you and her on board for this operation to be a success, which leads me to what I want you to do, General Xingke. Now that your fleet is freed up from searching for Schneizel, I need you to proceed to Hawaii as soon as possible.”
    “Hawaii? Why there?” Li was confused; he had expected Tohdoh to send him to Antarctica.
    “I strongly suspect that Schneizel will attempt to capture his sister Nunnally during her flight from Japan to Britannia. Zero and the Ikaruga will be flying as escort for her during the jaunt from Japan to the Hawaiian Islands, so I don’t think Schneizel will attempt to take her at that time. However, the Ikaruga will be heading for the South Pacific and leaving the Avalon behind once it reaches Hawaii. Therefore, to ensure that her ship makes it to Britannia safely, I want you to rendezvous with the Avalon.”
    “I will leave for Hawaii at once; Xingke out.” Li’s image vanished off the screen.
    Kyoshiro Tohdoh looked out at the sun as it set over the Cyclops Mountains with one thought burning in his mind: Who is this Zero? I wonder…could he still be alive?

    * * *

    “Oh, my God!” Lena came rushing into the Devicer lounge of the Ikaruga, out of breath.
    “What is it, Lena?” Mika asked her as she sipped her tea.
    “You guys aren’t gonna believe this!” The girl leaned on the threshold of the doorway and took another draw of air. “We’ve just been reassigned.”
    “Really? What unit?” Tetsuo asked in an exited tone.
    Lena was ecstatic. “The Yamato no Orochi!”
    Gregor spat out a swallow of his tea as he exclaimed, “NO WAY!”
    Mika jumped up from the table and spun around. “Whoopee! We’re in Captain Kozuki’s unit!”
    Akira sat at the bar of the lounge alone holding a dark expression on his face. He hadn’t been the same since Li Jiang Fong died.
    Lena looked at him with concern. “Did you hear that, Akira? We’re going to be with Kallen Kozuki.”
    He turned to her and gave her a thin smile. “Yah, I heard, Lena.”
    “Hey, c’mon, Akira, that’s gotta cheer you up a little bit, man.” Gregor pat him on the back.
    Akira sighed. “Yah, sure, Gregor. All it means is that our missions are going to get more dangerous and more of us might end up…” He couldn’t finish his sentence.
    “Don’t you think we all know that, you jerk?” Mika snapped at him. “Reflect on it all you want on your own time, Akira, but it won’t change the fact that what happened is in the past. We can’t change it, so deal with it, and stop moping around here like a zombie!”
    Akira said nothing.
    “Mika, stop,” Lena told her softly. “You’re ruining the mood.”
    “No, Lena.” Mika glared at Akira. “We need you, Nobunaga. We’re not a team without you…”
    “Is there something wrong in here?” Lt. Commander Anya Alstreim said as she walked into the lounge.
    “Uh…no…no, ma’am,” Mika stuttered.
    “That’s Lt. Alstreim,” Tetsuo whispered to Gregor.
    “I know,” he tittered. “Damn, she’s cute.”
    “Can we help you, Commander Alstreim?” Akira asked her in his monotone.
    Anya looked at them all with indifference. “I came here to fetch the five of you. Captain Kozuki would like to meet you all informally before she permits you into her unit.”
    “Didn’t she ask for us personally?” Mika inquired of Anya. “I mean, that is the usually military protocol, isn’t it?”
    Anya considered her question for a moment. “I suppose it is under normal circumstances, but these are not normal circumstances. It was Zero who requested that you be assigned to the Yamato no Orochi.”
    “Zero!” the former Jaguars said together in awe.
    “Will we be meeting him too?” Gregor pressed Anya with an excited look.
    “Probably. Now, if you’ll all follow me please.” Commander Alstreim turned on her heel and waited for them to fall in behind her.

    * * *

    “What's this? Dining on darkness this evening, are you, Jason?” Heracles inquired as he walked into the observation promenade of the Argos. The last vestiges of sunlight were flowing onto the hardwood floor of the rapidly darkening room. Jason stood at the edge of the large curved glass windows that ran the full length of three walls and the ceiling of the chamber.
    The Greek captain of the Argonauts wore a troubled look.
    “I’m waiting to hear from Hephaestus,” Jason said in a somber tone.
    “Oh.” Heracles pulled at his beard. “So, it’s done then, is it?”
    “Yes,” Jason told him.
    “You worried about what she’ll say?” Heracles asked.
    Jason only nodded.
    “How soon will we know if we will be ordered to continue to wage war against these people?” Heracles didn’t like the thought of what she might order them to do.
    “I should receive word any time now.” Jason stared out at the remains of Kyoto far below his aerial warship. "Don't be surprised if we’re ordered to continue with our original mission."
    “I hope not.” Heracles looked out at the city lights in the distance as twilight fell over Japan. "Once you fill her in on the details, she should understand, don't you think?"
    Jason sighed. "It's not whether or not she understands the situation, my old friend. It's whether or not she deems it more important to follow the original plan and subjugate these mortals, or if she chooses a different path."
    "I wager she'll choose a different path," Heracles boasted. "She's no fool."
    "That's what concerns me so much," Jason stated with a dark look. "If she does change course, then I can only surmise one path she'll choose."
    "And once again you’re worried about Akira and his comrades?" Heracles knew the answer before he even asked the question.
    Jason looked at him and smiled, “Does it show that much?”
    “Like the full moon on a clear summer night, my friend.” Heracles patted Jason on the shoulder.
    “Heracles, do you think I’ve become too fond of the boy?” Jason asked.
    Heracles chuckled, “I suppose that depends on what you mean by fond. If you mean that you look at Akira as a father to a son, then I see nothing wrong with it.”
    Jason laughed, “Do I look Etruscan to you?”
    Heracles was pleased with himself for putting a smile on his friend’s face. “Well, you do fancy olive wine quite a bit…”
    Jason laughed, “Only with fine women, my friend!”
    “Captain,” Orpheus said as he entered the promenade.
    “Yes, Orpheus?” Jason asked.
    “Hephaestus is on the comm. with news and patiently awaits you on the bridge,” the lieutenant said with a grave look.
    Jason’s mood was sobered immediately. “Tell him I’ll be there in a moment.”
    Heracles sighed. “Looks like I’ll be dining on darkness tonight also,” he said begrudgingly of whatever message Hephaestus would relay, knowing that it would almost certainly pit Jason against Akira once more.
    All things in moderation...

  8. #18
    Super Moderator rank = Hod (acknowledged Novice) Kodai Okuda's Avatar
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    Turn Seventeen: Ambush


    "Sometimes I wonder why the hell anybody ever followed Zero in the first place. Sure, he had his power of Geass, but he never would have had that if not for C.C. There's no doubt that his wit and strategic knowledge helped during the Black Rebellion and his second Revolution which gained him his revenge against his father and control of Britannia. However, during that time, he robbed something from all those around him. Those who knew and loved him, those that put their lives on the line for him and asked for nothing in return, those who put their hopes and dreams in him. You'd think that the least Zero could have done was repay them with the friendship he owed them. It was as though Zero was just that...a plain Zero...nothing. It took the ambush of emotion and experience of an amber-eyed man's teachings to show Zero that, and I'm eternally grateful to him for it.” —Excerpt from a letter to Mrs. Milly Ashford from Lelouch vi Britannia, dated April 23rd, 2025 a.t.b.

    "Damn it!" Lelouch cursed as Enoch took his king from off the chessboard. "How the hell...that’s the third game I’ve lost to you in as many days."
    Enoch gave Lelouch a gentle smile as he spoke softly, "Stop trying to win so badly, and feel rather than think what your opponent is about to do."
    "What the heck is that supposed to mean?" he asked as they sat within their private quarters on the Ikaruga. "Are you some kind of mind reader in addition to all your other oddities?"
    C.C. giggled as she sipped at a cup of tea watching them from the couch at the opposite end of the carpeted center of the room. "No, silly, what he's trying to tell you is that you're too impulsive. You need to give your adversary enough rope to hang himself instead of trying to win the conflict quickly. You're too used to going against Britannian royals who viewed you as a mere teenager and thought you easy game. Your experience with your brother Schneizel, whom you were already familiar with, didn’t really teach you anything new either. That’s partially why Li Xingke was able to outmaneuver you during the incident in China back during that time. I think that Enoch sees you as capable of being far more than Zero or just Lelouch vi Britannia. Am I right, Enoch?"
    “Spot on as always, gorgeous,” Enoch chortled at her.
    C.C. gave him a warm smile in return. “You know you’re making him jealous by calling me that.”
    Lelouch scowled at her, “No, he is not!”
    “Oh, contraire, monsieur.” Enoch made a grandiose gesture with his right hand. “You should be jealous of the affections I lavish on her. That is what I’m trying to engrain into you: a measure of caring for someone on an idealistic-romantic level rather than a carnal or obligatory one; in other words, I’m trying to get you to truly love her, Lelouch. Not in a sexual sense, though those feels ought to be there, but rather I’d like to see you focus your personal love upon her as you would the level of love you gave your highest ideal. Put another way, I’m trying to get you to make C2 the emotional equivalent to your failed Zero Requiem in so far as the drive to achieve and obtain that goal was concerned.”
    Lelouch was puzzled. “Why? That kind of emotion will only be a burden and give me a weakness others can exploit. I already went through this with my sister, Nunnally, and it nearly destroyed me. If C2 were to be captured or killed…”
    “Then you will have failed,” Enoch cut him off. “You’re only looking at one edge of that double-edged sword, my friend,” Enoch said. “The other side is a blade sharper than anything else which you can call upon when you need it most. The emotional and spiritual power you can garner from truly being in love with C2 will grant you the ability to push yourself far beyond the limits of what you think you can do now.”
    C.C. blushed. “You make it sound so academic. Love isn’t A+B=C; it’s a great deal more than that, Enoch, and you know it.”
    Enoch grinned at her and shrugged. “Which, alas, is why it didn’t work out between us.”
    Lelouch gave him surprised look. “You two had a thing together?”
    “It was over two hundred years before you were born, Lelouch,” C.C. reassured him. “You see, Enoch absolutely loves women, and not necessarily in a sexual way, mind you. He lacks the drive to reproduce because he is not, and never was, human. He has a tendency to fall for them emotionally, and at the time, I was head of the Geass Order. I thought he wanted me because he was trying to infiltrate the Order. I had no idea he was sincerely interested.”
    Enoch gave her a look of mock surprise. “Aw, don’t give away all my secrets, beautiful. That information could be dangerous in the wrong hands.”
    “Well, it’s true. You spent years trying to woo me,” she snickered. “I’ll admit you were charming at the time.”
    Enoch leaned in close to Lelouch. “The secret to her heart is to pretend you’re not interested, then give her a passionate kiss when she least expects it.”
    “Shoosh, you!” C.C. threw a pillow at Enoch, which hit him dead in the face.
    “Yahhhh!” Enoch fell back in his chair onto the floor.
    Lelouch let out a laugh.
    C.C. rolled her eyes. “I didn’t throw it that hard, you dweeb.” She grinned at Lelouch. “I should warn you, Lelouch, he can be a real clown when he wants to be.”
    Enoch picked himself up off the floor. “Clowning around is good for the soul.” He righted his chair as he addressed C.C., “The boy here is too serious all the time. Such melancholy will only hinder him in the long run. He needs a good strong sense of humor to help get him through the years…otherwise, he’ll become cold, uncaring, and dangerous.”
    Lelouch smirked, “So, all of this is my training, is it?”
    “Yes, Lelouch,” Enoch told him. “I want you to laugh and be merry so you gain a mental arsenal of so-called good times to draw upon in times of need. You’ve gone through too much pain and suffering in your life; now it’s time to undo some of that damage.”
    “But those experiences are what give me strength,” Lelouch told him.
    “Only a villain draws from pain and suffering for strength,” Enoch said in a cold tone. “Either his own or what he inflicts on others. A hero draws upon what is good in life in order to gain the fortitude to defend it with every ounce of his being.”
    “And you intend on molding me into a hero, is that it?” Lelouch was skeptical.
    Enoch gave him a wicked grin. “Even if it kills you.”

    * * *

    “What have you done to my Lancelot?” Lloyd demanded from Rakshata as the two of them stood in front of the skeletal remains of the stripped-down KnightMare Frame that lay upon the floor of the KMF hangar bay of the Ikaruga.
    Rakshata laughed hysterically. “Oh, you mean that old scrap heap that was sitting here?” She waved her long-pipe around. “I used what was left of it to build something much better.”
    To Cecile’s surprise, Lloyd actually clenched his fists. “You vile woman!”
    “Calm down, Lloyd,” Cecile said to him softly.
    Lloyd turned to Cecile and pouted, “She’s killed my masterpiece! She’s molested my only child!”
    “Oh, stop being such a big baby,” Rakshata tittered. “It’s not like you could have repaired that junk pile.”
    “Where is it?” Professor Asplund demanded.
    “Where’s what?” Doctor Chawla asked with a smirk.
    Lloyd pulled at his hair in frustration. “This Frankenstein monster that you built using the perfect parts of my Lancelot.”
    “Oh, you mean the Type-25?” Rakshata snickered. “It’s in the next hangar.”
    “Type-25?” Cecile inquired.
    Rakshata regarded Cecile with a smile as Lloyd continued to wail, “Yes, Captain Ohgi demanded that I have a new KnightMare Frame ready for Captain Kallen Kozuki by the time we reach Hawaii. That gave me only a week to have something prepared for her. Since her Type-21 was wrecked beyond repair in her fight with the KMF Victoria, I couldn’t use that, and I didn’t have time to construct an entirely new KnightMare given the short amount of time. Therefore, I chose to use the KnightMare Frames we had on hand to rebuild another, somewhat older, design into an eleventh-generation KnightMare using the components of Lloyd’s Lancelot of the Lake.”
    “Oh, how could you?” Lloyd bellowed.
    The two women ignored him as they walked over to the next hangar bay.
    Rakshata led the way as Cecile followed with Lloyd trailing behind her.
    The three of them entered the hangar.
    Cecile’s eyes grew wide. “Oh, my!”
    “It’s a masterpiece,” Rakshata snickered.
    “I can’t believe it,” Cecile remarked in amazement. “What do you think, Lloyd?” Cecile asked as he stared at the machine with wide eyes and a gaping mouth.
    “Ahhhhhhhhhh!” Lloyd screamed in horror before fainting to the floor.

    * * *

    “Are you sure you’re okay with the title Knight of Orange, Jeremiah?” Nunnally asked a bit unsure of Gottwald’s affection for the name.
    Kaguya Sumeragi and Jiang Lihua stood silently as he replied to her question, “Absolutely, milady.” He bowed before her in the main observation room of the Avalon. The Ikaruga and Duchess Evita Ernst’s flotilla of warships shown just outside the grand windows of the room flying around the aerial-frigate as escort in the diminishing light of the late afternoon sun.
    “Well then,” Nunnally said with a brief look at Kaguya and Lihua, “kneel before me.” Nunnally placed her hand upon his head as he did so and smiled at him. “I dub thee Sir Jeremiah Gottwald, Knight of Orange and personal Knight of Empress Nunnally vi Britannia.”
    Lihua and Kaguya clapped respectfully.
    Jeremiah took her hand in his and kissed it. “Thank you, your Highness.”
    Nunnally blushed. "You deserve it for all of your years of loyal service to my family, Jeremiah."
    Jeremiah stood up and bowed before her. “Thank you, Empress Nunnally, and to you, Lady Chairman Sumeragi and Empress Jiang Lihua for acting as witnesses. I promise on my life that I will serve you with every ounce of my being.”
    “I know, my brave Knight of Orange,” Nunnally giggled.
    Alarm klaxons sounded throughout the ship as one of Evita’s warships fired on the Ikaruga.
    “What the?” Kaguya blurted out as KnightMare Frames began pouring out of the duchess’ aerial vessels.
    Nunnally touched a button on a control panel next to her. “Where is Evita?” she demanded of the bridge officer.
    “The duchess left a few moments ago, Empress,” a young man’s voice replied.
    “Damn it!” Nunnally blurted out in frustration.
    “We are betrayed!” Lihua exclaimed in horror.

    * * *

    “Get to your KnightMares now!” Villetta roared over the intercom of the Ikaruga into the Devicer lounge of the Yamato no Orochi.
    “She doesn’t have to tell us twice!” Kallen jumped up from where she and Gino had been sitting together with Akira talking at the bar of the lounge.
    Akira and the five former Jaguars jumped up with the four veteran Black Knights and started racing down towards the hangar deck of the ship.
    The nine of them moved as fast as their feet would take them towards the KMFs that awaited them on the flight deck; the Ikaruga shook as its shields were hit by enemy fire.
    The doors of the hangar opened up to reveal Rakshata, Lloyd, and Cecile standing in front of eight KnightMares: four Type-24G Goro, three Type-24O Okouchi, and one Type-24Z Susano-O mecha.
    “All of you get to your respective Type-24s,” Rakshata said calmly as Cecile directed all but Kallen to the eight KnightMare Frames that were on the deck.
    Anya, Tamaki, and Gino were directed to the three Okouchi Type-24Os that sat in front of four Goro Type-24Gs which Tetsuo, Mika, Lena, and Gregor were directed to enter.
    Akira ran for the black KMF that he knew was the Type-24Z Susano-O; it was the last KMF present.
    Kozuki looked around frantically. “Rakshata, where the heck is my machine?”
    “I’ve got something special in mind for you, Captain Kozuki,” Zero said as he walked up from behind her.
    Kallen turned around to see him glaring at her with the mirrored mask as the other Devicers climbed into their respective machines. She looked at him with a queer expression; his voice was the same as the one on the radio that had startled her at Kaminejima, and he seemed shorter than the man she had met under the mask a little over two weeks ago (Enoch), but this Zero was the right height to be him.
    “Something special, huh?” she said putting her hands on her hips. “Like what?”
    “I want you to meet someone,” he replied motioning her to follow him.
    Meet someone? she thought in confusion as the Ikaruga shuddered under another impact. At a time like this? Unless…Lelouch? Kallen followed behind Zero as he led her into an adjacent hangar; the room was pitch-black save for the small overhead light above the door to the chamber.
    “Who am I meeting in here?” Kallen asked with a meek grin at him.
    “An old friend,” he said as the door to the hangar closed behind them.
    Her heart leapt at the possibility of his innuendo. Kallen hoped with all her heart that this Zero would remove his mask and show her that he was, in fact, Lelouch.
    To her shock, Zero called out to the darkness, “Okay, Professor Asplund!” The internal lights of the hangar flooded the room with bright light exposing its contents.
    Zero waved his hand in the direction of the KnightMare Frame that stood at the far end of the hangar. “I believe you two have met?”
    Kallen’s disappoint was immediately replaced with elation at the sight of the machine. “GUREN!”
    “But not just any Guren,” Rakshata stated as she and Cecile entered the room.
    “It’s got the Lancelot of the Lake’s graviton-impeller wings, anti-FLEIJA systems, and high-maneuverability null-gravity gyroscopic system!” Cecile exclaimed with excitement.
    “I had to make a few adjustments due to the incompetence of the rush job done on it,” Lloyd bellowed from the top of the gantry that held the Guren in place.
    Rakshata frowned. “Yes, Lloyd did help fine-tune this new Type-25 Guren Phoenix, since Zero wanted it done as quickly as possible.”
    Kallen looked at him and smiled brightly.
    “I knew you’d like it,” he chuckled. “I had no doubt in my mind that Duchess Ernst would betray us, and I was certain you’d want a rematch with her when she made her move.”
    Kallen closed her eyes for a moment then gave him a wicked smile. “You bet your sweet ass I do.”

    * * *

    “Don’t let them get through to the Ikaruga,” Akira commanded as they formed a defensive perimeter around the ship. Kallen and Gino had agreed that Akira would make a fine second in command of the Yamato no Orochi, and thus he was now in control of the KMF team in her absence.
    “Remind me again as to how a snot-nosed brat got put in charge instead of me?” Tamaki grumbled as a flight of twelve black and gray KMF Victorias closed in on them.
    “He’s in charge because Kallen said so!” Anya scolded Tamaki as she tore through one of the twelve Victorias with the pair of MVS harkens mounted on the front of the shoulders of the Type-24O. The duo of oval-shaped harkens were similar to the MVS harken disc of the Victoria in that they didn’t use a cable but rather were tethered to the Okouchi via an electromagnetic line. The twin MVS harken weapons flew back into the their respective recesses within the shoulder armor of the Okouchi as Anya unleashed a trio of energy discs from the Fukusha Hadou Kikou-enhanced radiant-energy wave rifle mounted on the left forearm of her mecha.
    “Wow, Anya is pretty fierce,” Tetsuo joked with Gregor as one of the Victorias fired its four-barrel gunpod at his Type-24G Goro nearly taking off his machine’s head.
    “Stay focused, Tetsuo,” Akira ordered Tetsuo as he flew Susano-O up to the offending Britannian KMF and drew his machine’s Zangetsu-Masmune Hadron sword. The Susano-O drew the weapon so fast that the Victoria clone was unable to parry the attack; the Zangetsu-Masmune cut the Britannian KMF in half at the waist.
    “Not bad, kid,” Tamaki snickered as he joined the fray, “but just watch this veteran pilot in action.” Tamaki used the 28-millimeter cannon mounted on the left forearm of his Okouchi to deflect the MVS harken disc of another Victoria while his machine drew its Hadron Katana from its left hip. He moved in and cut the legs off the Victoria with a single swipe.
    “Yeah!” Tamaki boasted. “Now that’s what I’m talking about—“
    The arms, head, and null-gravity generators of Tamaki’s Okouchi were blasted off by an assailant from above.
    “My God, you’re annoying!” Evita said snobbishly as her KMF Victoria swooped down at Tamaki’s ruined KnightMare to finish it off.
    The duchess drew her mecha’s Hadron Saber to run Tamaki’s Okouchi through but was parried by the Hadron Katana of Gino’s Type-24O.
    Lena drove her Type-24G Goro down and caught Tamaki’s crippled Okouchi. “Don’t worry, Commander Weinberg, I’ve got him.”
    “Thank you, Lena.” Gino’s Okouchi crossed swords with Evita as they dueled. “I’ll agree Tamaki’s a real pain in the butt sometimes, Duchess, but he’s still my friend, and I’ll be damned if I’ll let you kill him,” Gino scolded her as he nearly cut off her machine’s left null-gravity dome.
    “You have very poor taste in friends, my love,” Evita snickered as her Victoria slashed at the right shoulder shield of his Okouchi.
    “Look, Duchess, I appreciate your affections for me, but like I told you nine years ago…I’m too old for you. Now please stop this pointless attack.”
    Evita laughed out loud. “Oh, my darling Gino, do you really think this attack is all about you? I’m doing this for the savior of Britannia and the world, but I’ll happily take you as a prize of war.” The duchess broke through his parry with a volley of rapid-fire Hadron bolts from the forearm guns of her mecha; blasting off the shoulder armor of Gino’s Okouchi as he used it to block the barrage and was forced back.
    Gino fired a triple-shot of energy discs from the Fukusha Hadou Kikou gunpod of his Okouchi. “I’m no one’s prize, Evita!”
    Their swords locked briefly before Evita spun her Victoria around and stabbed the left null-gravity generator of Gino’s machine, slowing it down. “Don’t resist, my love,” Evita cooed at Gino. “Soon you’ll be mine forever.” Her Victoria easily dodged another swing by Gino’s Okouchi and cut off the left arm and gunpod of his Type-24O.
    “Commander Weinberg!” Akira tried to get to Gino but eight more KMF Victoria-type mecha entered the battle and he could not break through.
    “Gino!” Anya cried out as she cut through another of the gray and black Victoria-type mecha. Lt. Alstreim nearly made it to assist Gino but was cut off by another KMF Victoria.
    “This is not a game, Evita!” Gino barked at the duchess as he slashed at her KMF. His Hadron Katana bounced off her Blaze Luminous shield.
    “Oh, but it is, my darling,” Evita said softly as she fired her MVS harken at his machine. The disc cut off the other arm of his Okouchi. “And I’ve won my prize,” she swooned as her Victoria thrust at his last null-gravity engine.
    “LIKE HELL YOU HAVE!” Kallen yelled at Evita as Guren grabbed onto the Hadron Saber. “Let’s see how you like this, you spoiled rotten brat!” Kozuki pushed the button that activated the Guren-Phoenix’s oversized claw-arm. “This is Guren’s SUPERNOVA!”
    The large copper-colored circular palm of the claw-arm glowed a gold color as it discharged a yellow-white wave of super-intense heat that melted the Hadron Saber instantly and washed over the KMF Victoria like liquid mercury; the anti-Hadron and Blaze Luminous shields of the mecha gave it some measure of protection from the attack allowing Evita to eject from the doomed machine just before it exploded.
    “Thanks, Kallen,” Gino told her with a sigh of relief. “I thought she had me for a minute there.”
    “Well, I did consider letting her run off with you,” Kallen teased him.
    “What?” Commander Weinberg scoffed.
    “But then I realized that the Yamato no Orochi wouldn’t be the same without you.” Kallen giggled. "Besides, I didn't want to give that little rich-bitch the pleasure of having you in her clutches when you're under my power now."
    “Really?” Gino was surprised. “Does this mean I owe you dinner after this is over?”
    Kallen smiled as she said softly, “Yes, Gino, I’d like that.”
    “Um, Captain Kozuki,” Anya interjected, breaking the mood, “I hate to interrupt you two, but we’ve got new contacts inbound.”

    * * *

    "How many of them are there?" Zero asked Ohgi on the bridge of the Ikaruga.
    The familiar tone of Zero's voice stunned Ohgi Nu as the man's words sunk in. "Um...about one hundred unknowns diving in from four thousand meters above."
    "I see." Zero looked out at the fleet.
    "They're flying in a tight line formation that makes it hard for our main dorsal batteries to lock onto them," Ohgi informed Zero as the masked man walked up next to him.
    "Their target must be the Avalon," Zero stated flatly. "That's why they're not spreading out, and they’re coming in like dive-bombers." Zero turned to face Ohgi. "Move us into position directly above the Avalon. We can't have Schneizel capturing Empress Nunnally, or else he could gain complete control over Britannia, and this war will go on for decades to come."
    Ohgi nodded. "Understood, Zero."
    The Ikaruga moved from below the Avalon up and over it just as the legion of bronze-colored Automatos dove down into the battlespace.

    * * *

    "Hey, Akira, aren't those your Greek buddies?" Mika called out to him as she cut down another Victoria-type KMF.
    "What the hell is Jason doing?" Akira spat in anger as he watched the Talos lead the line of Spartans down towards the Ikaruga. The aerial warship launched numerous Type-21 and Type-24 KMFs to intercept the attackers, but the Greeks began tearing through them quickly.
    "We'd better finish with Evita's forces soon if we're going to get over there to help the Ikaruga," Gregor said as he blasted another Victoria out of the sky using the chest-mounted Hadron Cannon of his Goro.
    "Where's Captain Kozuki?" Tetsuo asked as he riddled a pair of Vincent Wards that had flown into their airspace with the forearm cannon of his Goro; both Britannian machines were blown into metallic confetti.
    "She's flying Lt. Commander Weinberg's damaged Okouchi back to the Ikaruga," Anya said mechanically as she deflected a KMF Victoria's MVS harken disc with her own pair of MVS harkens. Lt. Alstreim followed up her parry with a hail of Hadron blasts that blew off the left leg and arm of the Victoria.
    "I hope she doesn't take too long," Gregor said as he dodged a hail of cannon shells from another Victoria. "We're going to run out of power soon if this keeps up."
    "Well, if it's any consolation, I'm back to help!" Lena's Goro blasted the Victoria that was attacking Gregor with her machine's chest-mounted Hadron Cannon. Lena unleashed her machine's pair of MVS harkens as soon as the Victoria was within range and cut the enemy mecha into four pieces, destroying it.
    "Where's Tamaki?" Anya inquired as she homed in on another Victoria.
    Lena dodged a barrage of cannon rounds from another enemy KMF before answering, "He's waiting for the deck crew to finish prepping his Type-21 Bushido for launch; Gino's Type-21 Samurai is also being prepared if you're wondering."
    "Thanks, Lena," Anya replied as she cut through the Victoria with a simple combination MVS harken/Hadron Katana attack.

    * * *

    "They're not going to last long if we just hang here over the Avalon," the Red Dragon told Suzaku from within the cockpit of the Uriel.
    "I know," Kururugi stated impatiently in his Hakodeshim, the Gabriel. "However, we have no choice but to act as guard detail for the Avalon. All of the other KnightMare Frames of the Avalon are out fighting Evita's forces. We're Knights of the Empress, and thus we must remain here to defend her should these Greeks manage to break through our perimeter."
    "Yeah...but that doesn't change the fact that good men and women are dying up there, Suzaku," the Red Dragon lamented.
    Suzaku spoke in almost a whisper, "I know you want to save them all..."
    "Of course I do," she said. "Don't you?"
    "That's not what I meant," he replied. "There's something I've been meaning to ask you, Red Dragon."
    "It'll have to wait," she interrupted him. "Looks like they've broken through our guard forces."

    * * *

    "Those are Archangels, Jason!" Heracles said as the Helios and Talos broke through towards the Avalon.
    "I do have eyes, old friend," Jason snickered.
    "I'll take the purple one," Heracles said.
    "No, Heracles," Jason said sternly. "I need you to lead the boarding party to capture the empress. I trust your levelheaded judgment, my friend, thus I need you to command the assault team."
    "Let Orpheus handle the boarding team; my place as lieutenant is by your side, Captain!" Heracles was not comfortable with Jason taking on two Hakodeshim by himself.
    "I understand your concern, Heracles, but I've twenty Spartans with me. That should be enough to handle these two," Jason said with confidence. He knew that even a highly experienced Hakodeshim pilot would be hard-pressed against his Kolossos and twenty Hoplite Spartans. Still, there were two of the Hebrew machines and that could present a problem. Jason had no other mecha at his disposal at that moment, as the rest of his legion was embroiled in battle with the other KMF defense forces of both the Ikaruga and the Avalon.
    "I hope you're right, Jason." Heracles was not comfortable with this plan. "I'll get my ten Spartans and Helios back to assist you as soon as we have the empress."
    "Very good, Heracles," Jason said. "And may the gods smile upon you in this endeavor."
    "And you also, Captain; Heracles out." With that, the Helios and ten Spartans broke off towards the Avalon while Jason and his twenty Hoplite Spartan Automatos moved in to attack the Uriel and Gabriel.

    * * *

    "Here they come!" the Red Dragon exclaimed as the Talos led the twenty Spartans in a charge at the Hakodeshim.
    "Then let's say hello," Suzaku stated in a sarcastic tone as he pushed the trigger of his left control stick. Instantly, the swirling black energy within the blue crystal sphere on Gabriel’s left forearm became excited, and a flare of white light burst for a second like a flashbulb; a moment later, one of the Hoplite Spartans erupted from the inside out into a ball of flame.
    The Red Dragon followed suit and launched her own assault against the Spartans using Uriel’s forearm-mounted Solar Flare Cannons. She was stunned to see a radiant golden sphere shimmer around the two machines, blocking her attack.
    “They adapt quickly,” the Red Dragon told Suzaku.
    “Then we’ll have to adapt with them,” he said as he closed the gap with two of the closest Greek Automatos. Suzaku flew his Hakodeshim into a twirling spin and kicked the first Spartan, running the machine through with the shin-mounted Moon Blade of Gabriel’s left leg. Kururugi pulled Gabriel away from the doomed mecha just as the second machine fired its Chaos beam at his Archangel.
    The Chaos beam struck a faint blue radiance that surrounded the Gabriel in a globe and deflected the Spartan energy weapon.
    Suzaku had his Gabriel make a cross-armed gesture, in the manner of an Egyptian pharaoh, as it grabbed the handles of its Sun Swords. The red beam-blades of the pair of Sun Swords came to life almost as soon as the handles were removed from their shoulder-mounted sheathes.
    The Red Dragon did the same and unleashed her pair of blue beam-blades. She flew Uriel towards another pair of Spartans. She dodged their Chaos beams easily and sliced the Zeus Spear of one in two before chopping off the wings of the Automatos, sending it spiraling into the Hawaiian island below them. The Red Dragon noticed the Helios and ten Spartans landing on the Avalon below them.
    “Suzaku, they’ve breeched the Avalon’s defenses!” the Red Dragon exclaimed in a panic.
    “Nunnally,” Kururugi said aloud as he cut another Hoplite in two. “We need to get down there!” Suzaku remarked as he started towards the Avalon with Gabriel. His flight path was blocked by the Talos.
    “Going somewhere so soon?” Jason asked him over the comm. as he parried a Sun Sword attack by Suzaku with the adamantine blade of Talos.
    “Why are you helping Schneizel?” Suzaku demanded as they crossed swords numerous times.
    “Helping Schneizel?” Jason laughed. “Who told you I was helping that fool. I serve a nobler leader, and she demands that we seize this empress of Britannia to put a stop to this needless conflict.”
    “By using Nunnally as a hostage?” the Red Dragon barked over the channel as she dodged three Chaos beams from a triad of Spartans that were tag-teaming her and forcing her away from Jason and Suzaku.
    “If necessary,” Jason lamented as Talos dodged a spin kick by Gabriel. Jason spun the wings of Talos at an angle and chopped off one of Gabriel’s Moon Blades. Jason followed up the attack with a blast from his Chaos Gun, which seared into the frontal armor of Suzaku’s Hakodeshim but did not penetrate it.
    “You don’t sound convinced of you mistress’ plan of action,” Suzaku tried to reason with the Greek.
    “My personal feelings about it are none of your business,” Jason replied as he maneuvered around the Gabriel, dodging three Solar Flare attacks by Suzaku.
    “Well, if you intend on being that way about it, then I see no choice but to defeat you here and now.” Suzaku sliced off the Hermes Wing unit on the left leg of Talos as Jason tried to dodge Kururugi’s twin-blade combination attack.
    Jason used the momentum of Suzaku’s assault to his advantage and flipped Talos up over behind Gabriel. The Talos thrust its adamantine blade towards the back of the Hakodeshim.
    “You fight well, but it would seem you don’t have much experience in that machine,” Jason said to Suzaku as Kururugi tried to dodge the blade thrust. The adamantine weapon pierced the top of the right-side energy wing tube of the Gabriel causing it to shoot a jet of green energy up and backwards sending the Gabriel out of control.
    “Damn you!” Suzaku cursed as he tried to regain control of the Hakodeshim.
    “Suzaku!” the Red Dragon called out over the radio as she fought back the two remaining Spartans that doggedly pursued her while the Gabriel plummeted towards the shoreline of Hawaii.

    * * *

    "C'mon!" Tamaki yelled at the flight crew as he waited for them to finish loading the gunpod onto the nose of the KMF in its jet fighter mode. "What's taking you guys so long?"
    "We're almost finished, Lieutenant," the deck officer told him as the Ikaruga shook violently from another hit.
    "Hurry up! They need me out there!" Tamaki demanded as Gino's Type-21J was brought up into the launch position.
    "Sorry, Lt. Shinichiro, but we had to prepare Commander Weinberg's unit immediately," the deck officer informed him.
    The Type-21J flew out of the hangar with a tremendous burst of speed that caused the flight crew to rush out of the way of the back-blast and Tamaki to hold onto the railing in front of him.
    “What the hell is Gino doing?” Tamaki blurted out as the Guren-Phoenix passed by the Type-21J holding Gino’s Okouchi in its arms. Tamaki looked at the Type-24O in Guren’s arms then at the rapidly shrinking rear of the Type-21J that had rushed out of the hangar.
    Kallen landed the Guren and popped her hatch. “Gino needs another KMF immediately!” she demanded of the deck chief.
    The man stared out the hangar with a blank expression.
    “Gino just left, Kallen,” Tamaki yelled at her.
    Kallen gave him a puzzled look as the Type-24O’s hatch opened up and Gino stood up. “I’m right here, Tamaki.”
    Tamaki was dumbfounded. “If you’re here…then who the hell was that?”

    * * *

    “Somebody just stole a Type-21 out of the hangar deck!” Villetta called out from the lower level of the bridge of Ikaruga.
    Ohgi and Zero looked down at her from the mezzanine of the bridge.
    “What?” Ohgi asked flabbergasted. “Who the heck would do that in the middle of a battle?”
    “I wonder,” Zero stated flatly as C.C. came running into the bridge.
    She was out of breath as she spoke, “I’m sorry…I couldn’t stop him.”
    “Damn him,” Zero muttered.
    “Who?” Ohgi demanded from both of them in frustration.

    * * *

    “It’s a pity it has to end this way,” Jason said as he knocked one of the Sun Swords out of Uriel’s left hand. “I don’t like fighting women.”
    “But you don’t mind kidnapping them?” the Red Dragon asked spitefully as she tried to stab at the faceplate of Talos with her remaining Sun Sword.
    “I do what I must,” Jason told her as he maneuvered in and grabbed hold of Uriel’s left arm with his machine’s adamantine claw and started crushing it.
    A hail of energy discs cut through the elbow joint of Talos, severing the left limb and freeing the Uriel.
    “What the?“ Jason exclaimed as a lone Type-21J flew through the ten remaining Spartans with incredible speed and precision easily dodging their attacks and destroying two of them with a combination of Gefjun missiles and energy disc volleys as it closed in on Talos.
    “Is this a private party or can anybody join in?” Enoch called over the radio as the Type-21J transformed into KnightMare mode and drew its pair of Blade-Luminous katanas.
    “YOU!” Jason remarked in a fury as he parried six lightning fast attacks by the Blade-Luminous katanas of the Samurai.
    “Red Dragon, get to Suzaku,” Enoch said calmly as his Type-21J went into a combat stance with one katana over its head and the other at its hip both pointing towards the Talos.
    Talos moved into its own combat stance. “I know better than to fight you alone, Godakeen,” Jason sneered over the radio as his eight remaining Spartans formed up behind him, four flanking Talos on each side.
    “Nine to one, huh?” Enoch snickered. “Looks like the odds are against you…Jason.”
    All things in moderation...

  9. #19
    Super Moderator rank = Hod (acknowledged Novice) Kodai Okuda's Avatar
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    Turn Eighteen: Revelations


    “I couldn’t help but look up at the cobalt blue sky over the Britannian settlement of Japan that day as Euphemia li Britannia prepared to address the masses of Elevens that now sat within the stadium of the Japan Special Administrative Zone.
    It was 2017 a.t.b. and Lelouch had his Rebellion in full swing at this point.
    My gut told me that he’d do something stupid...his type so often does.
    I’d met him at Ashford, though we never actually talked outside of a few passing words in class. I was fully aware that he used his Geass like a kid with a shinny new BB gun, but there was nothing I could do about it at that time.
    I was keeping a low profile back then and was simply shadowing him, watching his every move, both as Lelouch Lamperouge and Zero.
    That cloak-suit that the Major lent me sure came in handy. I’ll have to thank her the next time we meet, if we do.
    ‘Are you almost ready, Princess?’ Darlton had asked Euphemia as he double-checked with his security forces around the arena via a comlink he held in his hand.
    She simply nodded as she drank down her cup of tea.
    Neither one of them knew I was there, so Euphemia didn’t see the packet of medical nanomachines I dropped into her cup of Earl Grey before she drank it down, just in case her brother got any funny ideas in that fool skull of his.
    Euphemia was too valuable to risk loosing.
    Besides, I’d hate for that voluptuous viceroy sister of hers to go on a mad rampage if worse came to worst and Euphemia took a dirt nap.
    Anyway, I slipped Euphie a Mickey to ensure that nothing happened...although in retrospect, it didn’t work out exactly as I had planned.”
    —Excerpt from Enoch’s World of Geass report to Metatron, dated October 25th, 5.00312 GS (Galactic Standard)

    “Wow, I’m impressed by how orderly your Spartans charge to their doom,” Enoch taunted Jason as he cut down the first pair of Automatos with the twin Blade-Luminous katana of his Type-21J Samurai as they flew towards him.
    “You won’t stop us, Enoch!” Jason spat at him as he flew the Talos around and thrust the great adamantine sword at the Samurai.
    “If you only knew how many times I’ve heard that,” Enoch said sarcastically as he moved the Type-21J slightly to the side allowing the blade of the Talos to slip past the chest of the Samurai. Enoch fired the left forearm MVS harken of his Type-21J at the faceplate of the Talos; the blade impacted the mirrored surface and shattered it revealing the large circular sensor-lens beneath.
    “And this shall be the last time you hear it!” Jason spun the Talos to cut the Samurai in half at the waist, but the Type-21S flipped upwards at the last moment in a summersault over the top of Talos.
    “Yah, yah, and then the world will be yours,” Enoch laughed. “Tin-plated dictators and their misguided legions of warriors are a dime a dozen…I should know, I used to be one.” The Type-21S came out of the ball it was in and slashed the wings off a Spartan that tried to come to Jason’s aid; sending the machine spiraling out of control to the island below them as two more Spartans lunged at Enoch.
    “You dare to mock me?” Jason fired the Chaos beam of the Talos at the Samurai.
    Enoch’s Type-21S kicked one of the Spartans it was dueling with into the path of the beam and used it as a shield while the Type-21S dodged out of the way. “Nice shot, old man!” Enoch guffawed.
    “BASTARD!” The Talos flew at the Samurai at high speed to cut the Type-21S with its wing blades, but the KnightMare Frame transformed into jet mode and boosted out of the way at the last moment.
    “Oh, don’t get mad, Jason.” Enoch riddled two more Spartans with a combination of Gefjun missiles and Hadron Cannon blasts as he dove down at the Talos and its two remaining Hoplites, blasting through their Aegis shields with the missiles and then cutting the Hoplite Automatos to ribbons with the Hadron beams.
    “We all make mistakes.” Enoch weaved through the hail of Hades Cannon fire that the last two Spartans sent at him and transformed his KnightMare right next to the two machines, unsheathing the Samurai’s pair of Blade-Luminous katanas almost simultaneously and cutting both Spartans in half in one fluid motion.
    “Like biting off more than we can chew,” Enoch said as only his Samurai and the Talos remained hovering over the Avalon.
    “You’re a daemon from Hades,” Jason cursed.
    “Not quite…” Enoch laughed. “I was too evil for Heaven.” He moved the Type-21S into a combat stance with one blade held in reverse by the left hand, pointing to the rear, and the other blade up in a salute in the right hand. “And hell was worried I’d take over.”

    * * *

    “Jeremiah, you need to get the empress out of there now,” Zero told the Knight of Orange over the viewscreen of the main observation deck of the Avalon. The battle between Enoch and Jason could be seen raging outside the windows.
    “I realize that, Zero, but she’s…” Jeremiah was cut short by Nunnally.
    “SHE is not going to abandon the battle like a scared little girl just because Zero says so!” Nunnally glared at him.
    “Have you gone mad?” Zero barked at her. “The Avalon has been boarded by the enemy. It’s only a matter of time before they make it to your position.”
    “Well, if you’re so worried about me, Zero, then get over here and help repel them yourself.” Nunnally was intentionally trying to stall Zero. She had her own plan in this, and the empress would not be deterred. Nunnally could feel the intentions of the Greeks as they got closer to her upon the Avalon. They were not malevolent, of that she was certain.
    “DAMN IT, NUNNALLY!” Zero lost his patience as Villetta frantically told Ohgi that Evita’s forces had wiped out their perimeter KnightMare units. “There isn’t any more time for argument!”
    “Well, then you’d better get a move on…huh?” Nunnally sneered as she thought to herself, You are wrong, Zero; Schneizel is not the force behind this attack. I know it…there is someone else and I intend to find out who.
    “This isn’t a stupid game!!” Zero lost control of his voice, causing Ohgi and Villetta to glance over at him with a puzzled look. His sister had a way of disrupting his ability to maintain self-control, and right now she was doing a fine job of bending it all out of shape.
    “Really?” Nunnally raised an eyebrow. “I believe you once said all struggles were comparable to chess, did you not?”
    “What?” Zero was taken off guard. He thought to himself, Damn it, Nunnally, what are you doing? “Fine, I’m coming over there to get you.”
    “You’d better hurry up.” Nunnally gave him a wicked smile as she cut the transmission.
    Zero spun and faced Captain Nu. “Ohgi, get me a Type-21 immediately.”
    “Zero, you can’t,” Ohgi said defiantly to him. “I won’t allow it.”
    Zero balked at Ohgi’s exercise of authority. “Ohgi, surely you understand that if Schneizel captures Nunnally, then he will have the upper hand.”
    Ohgi frowned at him. “I do, Zero, but you should realize that if you leave this ship, then Duchess Evita Ernst will no longer need to stay her hand against the Ikaruga. I cannot jeopardize this vessel on account of your feelings for the empress or your overall strategy.”
    “You don’t understand the overall strategy,” Zero barked at him.
    “Perhaps not, but I don’t have to,” Ohgi retorted. “My responsibility is to this ship and its crew, not to obey your every whim.”
    “This is not the time for a discussion; give me a KMF now!” Zero demanded.
    Ohgi walked over and grabbed Zero by the lapel, pulling his mask up to his face. “I followed you once with the hope that you’d liberate the world, and you fled the battlefield like a coward chasing after that sister of yours…” Ohgi glared at him as he spoke so only Zero could hear him over the din of the bridge. “…Lelouch. I don’t know how it is that you’re still alive, but there is no mistaking your voice. I know it’s you, and I’m telling you now that I will not allow you to abandon us again. Geass or not, I will not follow a coward.”
    Lelouch cursed himself for being so stupid. He had let Nunnally get to him and in doing so revealed his identity to a man who knew him far too well. Lelouch thought about using his Geass on Ohgi but remembered what Enoch had told him only a few hours ago: Remember, Lelouch, your true friends are your greatest assets. A hero never betrays them. Lelouch knew he had betrayed Ohgi that day over Tokyo when he fled the battlefield to rescue Nunnally, and Ohgi had in turn betrayed him to Schneizel because of it; it was time to correct that injustice.
    “You’re right, Ohgi.” Lelouch gambled on the man’s integrity. “I was wrong to abandon you and the Black Knights during the Black Rebellion. Please forgive me. I will not abandon my responsibility to my friends now”
    Ohgi was shocked by his admission. Captain Nu let go of Zero’s lapel and put his hand on Zero’s shoulder. “We’re both guilty of betrayal, my friend. Let us put the past behind us and do what we must…together.”
    “Agreed,” Zero nodded.
    Ohgi smiled at him, “What are your orders, Zero?”

    * * *

    The Uriel flew as fast as its energy wings would take it towards the point where the Gabriel had impacted the shoreline of Hawaii.
    “Suzaku…Suzaku!” the Red Dragon's electronic voice called over the radio. She looked frantically at the coastline until she saw the place where the Gabriel had crashed.
    The Hakodeshim was half in and half out of the water.
    The Red Dragon piloted Uriel down onto the sand just next to the Gabriel and opened her Archangel’s front cockpit hatch as quickly as she could. The woman jumped down from her machine and ran over to the Gabriel.
    Suzaku’s mecha was laying on its side with the cockpit hatch open revealing the pilot. Kururugi was lying limp in the seat of the Hakodeshim with his head hanging forward.
    The Red Dragon rushed over and pulled him from the machine onto the sand.
    She checked his wrist for a pulse and then put her hand above his mouth to check his vitals.
    “He’s not breathing!” she said frantically. "I don't have any choice," she lamented aloud to herself.
    The Red Dragon unfastened the back of her mask and pulled the helmet off her head; a mass of pink hair, dyed red halfway down where it came out of the helmet, spilled out over her shoulders.
    She opened Suzaku's mouth, pinched his nose shut, and filled her cheeks with air. The Red Dragon put her lips to his and blew into his lungs. She waited for his chest to swell then pushed down on it to facilitate resuscitation.
    The Red Dragon put her lips to Kururugi's to refill Suzaku's lungs again when she felt his chest move on its own. She blew air into his mouth. He coughed and then began to breathe on his own.
    Suzaku put his hands on her shoulders and moved her back off of him slowly. His eyelids lifted slightly then shot wide upon seeing the angelic face of the woman who smiled down at him.
    "Hi," she said softly as her eyes softened.
    "Am I dead?" Suzaku asked in disbelief.
    She shook her head as tears welled in her eyes. "No," she said softly.
    "But how?" Suzaku said as her tears fell on his face.
    "It's a long story," the Red Dragon answered him with a meek smile as emotion overwhelmed her and she threw her arms around him. "Oh, how I've missed you, Suzaku!"
    Kururugi hugged her tight. "My life lost its meaning when I lost you...Euphie."

    * * *

    "Anytime you feel like actually fighting, you let me know, Jason," Enoch bellowed as he blocked the adamantine blade of Talos with one of his katanas and then cut the left leg of the Kolossos off with the other of his Blade-Luminous katanas.
    "You may kill me, Enoch, but we'll still achieve our objective!" Jason sneered as he blocked another thrust by the Type-21J.
    "Kill you?" Enoch snickered. "When did I day anything about killing you? You're too much fun for me to do something rude like that." He laughed as he easily dodged another blast from the Chaos beam of Talos.
    "Stop patronizing me!" Jason attempted another spin blade attack with the wings of Talos.
    "I've done no such thing," Enoch said calmly as he used the twin katanas of his Samurai to chop through one of the wingtip blades of Talos. "I've simply bought my young apprentice the time he needs to ensure his success."
    "Apprentice? As if I'd know what you mean. How obscure of you," Jason said as he saw an opening in Enoch's defense and thrust for one of the graviton-impellers of the Type-21J.
    "Just like my fighting style," Enoch retorted as he shifted the Samurai down ever so slightly so that the adamantine blade slipped past the graviton-impeller, scratching the paint off the top of the nacelle, and allowed the Type-21J to bring both Blade-Luminous katanas up in a scissor formation under the last arm of Talos. "I keep my moves short and sweet in order to throw my opponents off balance."
    The pair of katanas cut through the elbow joint of Talos' sword arm, leaving the Kolossos without arms entirely.
    "Now to finish this and deal with your comrades." Enoch spun his Samurai out of the way of another Chaos beam attack by the Talos and cut the left wing off the Kolossos with its katana.
    "Damn you!" Jason cursed as he lost control of the Talos.
    Enoch's Type-21J did a spin kick into the back of the Kolossos that sent the Talos flying so that it crashed into the top deck of the Avalon.
    Enoch Apsu saw smoke coming from the joints of the Greek machine. "Jason, get out of there. This fight is over..." Enoch waited a moment. "Jason....Jason!"
    "Oh, son of a...." Enoch drove his KnightMare onto the deck of the Avalon and popped open its cockpit hatch. He leapt to the ground and ran over to the fallen Automatos.
    The amber-eyed man scaled the large burning machine and made his way over to the Devicer hatch; he turned the emergency lever but nothing happened.
    "Confounded Greek junk," Enoch complained as he punched his fist through the metal of the cockpit hatch at its seam and ripped back the door with brute strength revealing the interior of the cockpit.
    "Come to finish me off with your bare hands, have you?" Jason spat blood at him from the wound on the inside of his cheek. The Greek's uniform was torn at his right shoulder and his arm looked broken.
    "No, you twit, I'm here to save you from this scrap heap before it explodes." Enoch grabbed Jason and carried him in his arms away from the burning mecha.
    The machine exploded on the top deck of the Avalon sending metal shards flying in every direction.
    Enoch used his body to shield Jason as large pieces of adamantine tore through Apsu's uniform, bouncing off his skin with a distinct metallic ping, leaving the surface of his body unharmed by the shrapnel.
    "You alive?" Enoch asked Jason.
    Jason looked up at him. "I hate you."
    Enoch smiled, "I'll take that as a yes."

    * * *

    "Hold them back!" Jeremiah yelled as the party of Greek invaders shot at the last of the group of airman that comprised the Avalon's security force. The Greek warriors carried with them a short, spear-like weapon that had a hole at the end where a spear tip should be. From that hole spewed forth Hades Cannon energy that burned through flesh with ease and made for an effective assault weapon.
    The Avalon crew fired salvo after salvo of auto-rifle rounds at the boarders, but their bullets were deflected by a personal Aegis shield that each of the Greek phalanx carried with them.
    Within moments, the Greeks had finished off the Avalon defenders and left Nunnally, Jeremiah, Lihua, and Kaguya cornered within the observation room of the ship.
    "I won't let you harm the empress!" the Knight of Orange yelled as he unsheathed his swords and prepared to attack.
    Nunnally put her hand on his arm. "No, Jeremiah, they don't mean me any harm."
    "How do you know that, Empress?" Jeremiah asked her as he watched the Greek line part to allow a tall, brawny, olive-skinned, bearded man dressed in a Greek Devicer jumpsuit to walk forward.
    "That's a good question," the bearded man said. "How do you know our intent? Perhaps we're here to kill you."
    Jeremiah scowled at him but said nothing.
    Nunnally gave him a reserved smile. "You're lying. You're not here to harm me. I know because I can feel it."
    "Feel it?" the man gasped as a second, somewhat shorter, Greek Devicer came up behind him.
    The two exchanged wide-eyed looks.
    "Tell me, Empress, do you know my name?" the tall bearded man asked.
    Nunnally closed her eyes and thought hard for a moment before answering. "You are Heracles and the one beside you is Orpheus."
    To Jeremiah's surprise, the Greeks knelt down before her. "Forgive us for this crude manner in which we first meet, Empress Nunnally. We had no idea you were an Oracle."
    Nunnally was relieved inside. Zero told her the names of the Greek commanders during a mission briefing they had together prior to their departure from Japan, but she didn’t know what any of them looked like; her feelings had been right about these two.
    "You have come here to take me to your leader," Nunnally said to Heracles.
    "Yes, Empress," Heracles told her truthfully. "And you will be unharmed."
    "Very well," Nunnally told him. "I will go with you if you promise to halt this attack and withdraw."
    Heracles bowed to her. "I can only promise that our forces will withdraw, but I cannot speak for those of Schneizel."
    “The UFN can deal with Evita,” Lihua told Nunnally with a smirk. “Xingke’s fleet should be here any moment.”
    “How do you know that?” Kaguya asked the Tianzi in surprise.
    Jiang shrugged with a sheepish grin. “We’ve been planning on seeing each other when he gets here. I spoke to him only a few hours ago.”
    An explosion rocked the ship, shattering the large windows of the observation deck that were above them and showering the room with small bits of glass.
    “Empress!” Jeremiah shielded Nunnally, Lihua and Kaguya from the rain of tiny glass particles with his body.
    “It appears Evita is attacking the Avalon directly,” Sumeragi said to Nunnally.
    Nunnally shook her head and spoke in a distant voice. “No…that was the KnightMare of the one called Jason.”
    “Jason?” Heracles asked as he heard his captain’s name leave her lips. “What has become of him?”
    “He is injured,” Nunnally told him with a far-off look in her eyes.
    “Where?” Orpheus asked.
    “The top deck, near the dorsal KnightMare launch bay,” Nunnally told them.
    “Orpheus, you take the empress and her party to our Automatos and get them safely to the Argos. I’ll go and find Jason.” Heracles didn’t wait for a reply before sprinting out of the room.
    Orpheus turned to Nunnally and her companions. “Shall we go?”

    * * *

    “Kallen, I want you, Tamaki, and Gino to bypass the battle surrounding the Ikaruga and use the superior speed of your KMFs to infiltrate Duchess Ernst’s fleet,” Zero said over the radio as the Guren-Phoenix and its two Type-21B Bushido Variable KMF wingmen were loaded into position on the ventral KMF launch ramps.
    “Roger that, Zero. Does this mean we’re taking her out?” Kallen inquired as she scanned over her sensors for the best flight path to the Longres class flagship of Evita.
    “No, we need her alive,” Zero replied. “I want you to disable her ship’s graviton-impellers and force it to land in the ocean off the shore of Hawaii. That way we can board her with impunity and capture the duchess.”
    “That should be pretty easy,” Tamaki boasted.
    “I hope you’re right,” Gino tittered.
    “Don’t worry, Zero,” Kallen reassured him. “This is no different then when we Black Knights tried to capture Viceroy Nunnally while she was on her way back to Japan from Britannia.”
    “Oh, geez,” Gino laughed. “I remember that; you guys attacked the ship using KMFs without float units. You were nuts!”
    “Just think how crazy I’ll be with a flight-capable KMF,” Kallen teased Gino.
    "Ahem," Zero interjected. "Are you ready?"
    "We were born ready!" Tamaki exclaimed as his Type-21B tore off the launch ramp.
    "You gotta hand it to him," Kallen laughed, "he's got guts." Guren-Phoenix boosted off after Tamaki with Gino right behind her.

    * * *

    "Oh, stop whining!" Enoch scolded Jason who winced slightly while Enoch bandaged up his arm. The two men were at the mouth of an airlock that led into the Avalon; Enoch knelt next to Jason who sat on the metal deck.
    "Why did you save me?" Jason asked him coldly.
    Enoch gave him a grave look. "Because these hands have more blood on them than I care to think about, so I save all the ones I can. Machines are replaceable, people are not."
    "But you killed my comrades," Jason retorted.
    Enoch scowled at him. "I wouldn't have if your people had fitted those damnable Automatos with ejection devices."
    Jason turned away from him. "You have no honor."
    Enoch shook his head as he finished the tourniquet. "Perhaps not by your standards, Greek, but I've virtue aplenty by my code, and that's all I care about."
    Jason looked behind Enoch as he spoke to him, "Clearly we are from different worlds."
    Enoch stood up above him. "Indeed we are...wouldn't you agree, Heracles?" Enoch Apsu turned to face the large, bearded, Greek warrior as he approached with his sword drawn.
    "Move away from the Captain, Daemon!" Heracles spat at Enoch.
    Enoch stepped away cautiously. "Oh, come now, you should realize I wouldn't bandage him up if I intended him any harm, Heracles."
    The twin sigils of Geass formed in Heracles’ eyes. "Now you will face me!" Heracles leapt high into the air towards Enoch with his sword over his head.
    Enoch did a backwards flip out of the way of Heracles' adamantine blade. The amber-eyed man landed squarely on his feet and paced off with the Greek warrior, moving himself towards the Type-21B.
    "Why don't you face me with honor instead of running like a hyena?" Heracles lunged towards Enoch with his blade.
    Enoch dodged the attack easily and got in front of the KMF. "Because I'd rather use my brains for more than senseless fighting." Enoch jumped up into the open cockpit and shut it, powering up the machine as soon as he entered it.
    Heracles used his power of Geass and rammed the machine's leg in a rage of superhuman strength, causing the mecha to fall down on its haunches.
    Enoch snickered over the comm. as his KMF got up and lifted off the deck, "Wish I could stay and play with you, Heracles, but I've got an empress to save."
    Enoch took off from the dorsal deck of the Avalon and headed for where the squad of Greek Automatos was parked.

    * * *

    Zero watched the mass of digital KMFs on the overhead screen of the Ikaruga as Kallen and her two wingmen made their way past the defense lines of Evita's forces.
    "Ohgi, fire our Hadrons twenty degrees below Kallen’s strike team and take out that frigate and their KMF escorts."
    Captain Nu nodded to the gunnery officer, and a moment later, the main cannons of the Ikaruga blazed forth a dual stream of Hadron energy that destroyed the frigate and her group of forty KnightMares.
    "Looks like Anya and Akira have shot down another aerial-frigate of Evita's fleet," Villetta said with a proud look towards Ohgi and Zero. "That should give Captain Kozuki a clear path to the flagship now."
    "Excellent work, Villetta," Zero complimented her as he watched Evita's forces send in another group of KnightMares to contend with the Yamato no Orochi.
    "Zero." Major Nu looked at him intently. "Akira and his team are nearly out of ammunition, and their energy fillers are less then half full. They can't keep this up much longer."
    Zero turned to face her. "They don't have to." Dozens of squadrons of Type-21Os screamed past the viewports of the Ikaruga.
    Ohgi smiled at Villetta as he declared, "Zero, General Xingke's forces have arrived."
    Zero raised his head towards the viewscreen as the digital silhouettes of the newcomers were added. "Excellent, the first task at hand has been cleared."

    * * *

    "Lena, watch out!" Akira yelled as Susano-O used its Hadron Masmune to slice through the KMF Victoria that tried to cut her Goro down with its saber.
    “Thanks, Akira,” she said as she parried a hail of autocannon rounds with the shoulder shield of her Goro, “but I don’t think my machine can take any more of this; my power meter is in the red.”
    “Mine too there, boss!” Gregor announced as he dueled with another Victoria.
    “Same here,” Mika informed them.
    Anya split another Victoria in half at the waist with her Okouchi’s Hadron Katana. “Don’t worry, we won’t have much longer to wait until—” She was cut short by a hail of autocannon rounds ripping through her machine.
    “ANYA!” Tetsuo screamed as he raced his Goro to catch her falling mecha.
    The offending Victoria swooped in to finish off her Okouchi.
    Tetsuo pushed his machine to maximum speed and rammed the KMF Victoria, sending the Britannian machine flying.
    The Britannian recovered quickly and fired its autocannon at Tetsuo.
    Tetsuo rolled out of the way of the barrage and dove at the enemy mecha with his Hadron Katana. In moments, the two machines crossed swords.
    Tetsuo blocked and parried the Victoria’s blows, but the enemy pilot used his MVS harken to force Tetsuo’s Goro backwards. The Victoria knocked the Hadron Katana from the hands of Tetsuo’s Goro with its MVS harken disc and prepared to slice him in two when a blade chopped through the enemy unit at the waist.
    The pilot of the Victoria ejected right before his machine exploded.
    Lt. Alstreim’s Okouchi was floating behind the detonation.
    “Thanks for helping me, Tetsuo,” Anya’s cool voice came over the radio.
    “Uh…you’re welcome,” Tetsuo stuttered. “Hey, Lieutenant Alstreim…uh…could I buy you a drink when we get back?”
    Anya was taken off guard by his sudden offer and nearly got hit by a volley of autocannon rounds from another enemy unit. “Are you asking me out?”
    “Well…kinda,” Tetsuo said sheepishly.
    “Oh, just ask her, you IDIOT!” Mika yelled at him over the comm. as she slashed through another KMF Victoria.
    Anya giggled.
    “Yes, Lieutenant Alstreim!” Tetsuo yelled over the radio. “I’d like very much to take you out…err…to diner…or something.”
    “I’d love to go out with you, Tetsuo,” Anya replied as two squadrons of Type-21Os dove into the battlespace and hammered Evita’s forces with their weapons.
    “Hey, you guys look like you could use a hand,” Rivalz said with a chuckle. “Let us handle the rest of this from here…besides, sounds to me like somebody’s got a hot date after this.”
    “You heard that, Major Ashford?” Anya asked embarrassed.
    Rivalz laughed, “Just be thankful my wife isn’t here…she’d hound you for eternity to get the inside scoop on the love lives of the Yamato no Orochi.”
    “You heard the man,” Akira said with relief over the radio. “Let’s get back to the Ikaruga at once.”

    * * *

    “Well, hello there, Orpheus!” Enoch called out over the external speaker of his Type-21J as it cut an empty Spartan Automatos down before its pilot could reach it.
    The Greeks were running towards their machines with Nunnally, Lihua, Kaguya, and Jeremiah in tow.
    “YOU!” Orpheus yelled at Enoch as the Greek made it to his mecha and activated the machine. Orpheus shut the hatch and used the loudspeaker of his Spartan to speak to his men. “Get the empress and her companions to your machines. I’ll deal with this daemon.”
    “You Greeks keep labeling me that. What gives?” Enoch asked as he moved in to disable Orpheus’ Spartan with his Blade-Luminous katana.
    “You deserve that title, fiend,” Orpheus said with venom. “A thing which lives yet cannot be killed is certainly an evil thing…even gods can die!” Orpheus’ Spartan dodged the pair of katanas.
    “Only false gods die, Orpheus,” Enoch snickered, “and only men are fool enough to think they can ever be gods.” Apsu’s Samurai slashed at the Automatos, but Orpheus backed his machine away dodging the attack.
    “So, you think you’re a god now is that it?” Orpheus fired a volley of Hades bolts form the lance of his Spartan.
    “If you’d seen what my eyes have seen, Orpheus, you’d know I’m not even close.” Enoch fired a hail of Hadron blasts from the shoulder cannons of his Type-21J at the Spartan, but Orpheus continued to roll out of the way.
    “So, you’re not a god, nor a daemon. What, pray tell, are you then?” Orpheus demanded as he fired his Chaos beam at the Type-21J.
    “A man,” Enoch dodged the beam easily as he replied in a somber tone, “who wanted to be a god…then changed his mind.”
    “Sounds pathetic.” Orpheus moved out of the way of another burst of Hadron blasts from the Type-21J. “So, now you’re just a vagabond?”
    Enoch knew Orpheus was trying to lead him away from the Avalon to buy time for Heracles and Jason to get to the Helios. What the Greeks didn’t know was that was part of Lelouch’s plan to take all the Greeks and Evita at once.
    Enoch saw Heracles use his Geass power of strength to leap with Jason in his arms from the portside KMF launch ramp to the starboard one. Enoch had given in to the Greek’s ruse long enough. “No, Orpheus,” Enoch answered the man’s question, “I’m an enforcer now…think of me as a sort of interdimensional cop.” Apsu transformed his machine into jet mode and flipped it over away from Orpheus.
    “Where are you going, coward?” Orpheus demanded as the Type-21J zoomed back towards the Avalon.
    “You didn’t actually think I’d fall for that, did you?” Enoch laughed as his Type-21J came up over the Avalon and transformed back into a KnightMare; it landed on the deck between the Greeks and their Automatos. “I was just buying time with this little escapade.”
    A flight of forty Type-21Os in jet mode, led by a blue and red Type-21S Shogun, flew down from above the Ikaruga and surrounded the Avalon’s top deck.
    Orpheus rushed his Spartan back towards where his men were trying to load Kaguya and Lihua into a pair of Spartans.

    * * *

    “I don’t’ want to go!” Lihua yelled at the Greeks as she struggled to pull away from them.
    The blue Shogun transformed into KnightMare mode and landed next to them with a pair of Type-21Os flanking it.
    “Release your captives and I’ll spare you lives!” a male voice sounded over the blue Shogun’s loudspeaker.
    “Xingke!!” Lihua exclaimed with relief.
    “Leave them,” the current leader of the Greeks said. “We have what we came here for. We don’t need these two.”
    “As you wish, Pollux,” one of the Greek Hoplites holding onto Lihua and Kaguya said as he obeyed. The two women were let go; Lihua fell backwards and was caught by Sumeragi.
    The Greeks raced towards their machines.
    “Fools!” Xingke said as he fired the forearm-mounted rapid-fire Hadron Cannon of his machine’s left forearm; he aimed to stop the Greeks from reaching their machines, not gun them down.
    A large adamantine disc flew at the blue Shogun, nearly cutting Xingke’s KMF in half before he dodged at the last moment.
    “Get out of here, Argonauts!” Heracles bellowed over the external speaker of the Helios as he fired his Chaos beam at Xingke and his escort; one of the Type-21Os was hit by the energy blast and destroyed.
    The Helios swung its mighty adamantine club at the blue Shogun, but a pair of Blade-Luminous katanas stopped it from hitting its mark.
    “You guys still here?” Enoch snickered. “I thought you’d have left by now.”
    Orpheus landed his machine next to the Helios. “Not without the empress, Nunnally.”
    Type-21Os landed on all sides of the small party of Greek machines with their gunpods aimed at them.
    “You’re not going anywhere,” Xingke said over the radio.
    “Don’t be so sure about that, General Xingke,” Heracles tittered over the radio as a green wave of energy washed over the top of the Avalon.
    “This can’t be good,” Enoch said aloud as all the systems of his KnightMare shut down. He could see the other Type-21s all around him falling to their knees and shutting down.
    “Until we meet again, Enoch Apsu,” Jason said over the comm. of the Helios. “Argonauts, back to the ship at once!”
    “You win this round, Jason, but I’ll be sure to catch up to you soon,” Enoch said in a snide tone as he watched the small troop of Greek Automatos fly off the Avalon unopposed with Nunnally and Jeremiah in their clutches.

    * * *

    “Zero, we’re almost to Evita’s flagship,” Kallen said as her Guren-Phoenix blasted through three KMF Victorias with its disc rifle gunpod. The Longres class aerial-dreadnaught was moving away from the battlefield.
    “Looks like she’s gotten scared of us and is running away!” Tamaki laughed.
    “Don’t be so sure about that,” Gino cautioned as the wave of green energy washed over their KMFs; the flagship of the duchess was outside the wave.
    As soon as the green light touched the Type-21 KnightMares, their systems began to shut down.
    “Kallen, I’ve lost power!” Tamaki yelled as his KMF plummeted for the ocean below him.
    “My power’s gone too!” Gino called over the radio.
    The Guren-Phoenix was unaffected by the wave of energy. “You two, eject and I’ll pick you up!” Kallen told them as she flew her twelfth-generation KMF down towards them. Her machine was not responding correctly, making flying a bit difficult, but she still had power.
    Tamaki and Gino each pulled on the ejection levers below their seats. Instantly, the cockpit canopies of both fighters blew off and the Devicer chairs were shot out of the doomed KnightMares. A few moments later, a parachute deployed on the top of each chair, allowing the ejection device to float down slowly towards the ocean.
    Kallen swooped down towards Tamaki’s ejected Devicer seat and scooped him up. “You okay, Tamaki?” she asked over the exterior speaker of Guren.
    Tamaki responded with a raised arm and a thumbs-up.
    Kallen panned around just in time to see a pair of KMF Victorias pick up Gino in his ejection seat. “GINO!” she yelled out loud but knew she couldn’t go into battle with Guren holding onto Tamaki; it was too dangerous.
    The pair of KnightMare frames flew up to Evita’s flagship unopposed.

    * * *

    “What the hell is happening?” Zero demanded.
    Ohgi and Villetta were dumbfounded as they looked over their control stations frantically.
    “It’s some kind of Gefjun field,” Rakshata said as she rushed onto the bridge. “It’s coming from space. We saw it while monitoring the performance of our new KMF units. You’ve got to get them back here immediately.”
    “Captain Nu,” the female communications officer of the Ikaruga called out, “we’re receiving a transmission from the enemy.”
    “Put it on the big screen,” Ohgi ordered the girl.
    The visage of the caller came on the viewscreen.
    “Schneizel!” Zero growled through clenched teeth.
    “Greetings, Zero,” Schneizel smiled.
    All things in moderation...

  10. #20
    Super Moderator rank = Hod (acknowledged Novice) Kodai Okuda's Avatar
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    Turn Nineteen: Everybody Wants to Rule the World


    “Conquest is easy, control is not. Those were the words of a wise commander who saw the difficulties in maintaining power over territory taken in conflict. Conquest of the whole of the world presented an even greater challenge than simply putting down the resistance or insurrection in one area once conquered. Control requires more finesse and tolerance if the conqueror is to ensure obedience or at the very least cooperation with the indigenous populous of his newly acquired fiefdom. When Schneizel made his bid for global domination, he did so with the cunning and skill of the Devil himself in the manner that all evil men seduce the masses…with a promise of peace.” —Excerpt from the diary of Euphemia li Britannia, dated November 16th, 2024 a.t.b.

    “Greetings, Zero,” Schneizel smiled on the big-screen of the Avenger, “and the people of the world.”
    “Damn him,” Cornelia cursed under her breath as she and Guilford watched Prince Schneizel continue on with his speech.
    Outside Princess Cornelia’s warship, the Avenger, a battle raged between her KnightMare forces and those of the Russian Confederation.
    “I hold in my hand the power to bring peace to the whole world.” Schneizel lifted up a metallic, ball-shaped device the size of an orange. Upon the top of this device was a red-colored switch. Schneizel ran his finger over the top of the switch.
    “Now what deviltry has my elder brother concocted?” Cornelia scoffed as she watched the worldwide transmission with disdain.
    Guilford said nothing.
    “Behold the power of peace,” Schneizel smiled on the screen.
    In an instant, a green light washed over the Britannian and Russian KMF units in front of Cornelia’s aerial armada; the machines dropped to the ground like lead as their power was drained from them.
    “A Gefjun disturber!” Guilford exclaimed in awe.
    “So, Schneizel, I see the acorn does not fall that far from the tree,” Cornelia sneered.
    “Milady?” Guilford inquired with a befuddled look.
    “Schneizel is no different than my father was.” She looked out at the mass of fallen KnightMares. “He’s not interested in how he wins the world, so long as he wins. Just like Charles, he fails to see the bigger picture. That was how the Black Rebellion gained its impetus and why so many countries flocked to the UFN. The people hated us for crushing them and then persecuting them afterwards. Schneizel clearly thinks he can con people into believing him a man of peace by shutting down the military forces of warring states as if weapons are the reason people kill one another. His thinking is simplistic and childish. KnightMares don’t kill people of their own accord; it takes the will of the person inside it to pull the trigger, and that desire to kill will remain if we don’t prove ourselves worthy of ruling this planet. The trappings of the old world order, where an elite few rule over the masses, is over! Lelouch ended it, but he failed to fully implement what must come afterwards due to his foolish arrogance.”
    Guilford looked outside to see the flashing light of small arms fire amongst the fallen KMFs. “I see what you mean, Princess. Even without their Frames, our men are still fighting the Russians.”
    “Not just our men, Guilford. Both groups of warriors understand why people go to war.” Cornelia stared out at the melee as Schneizel rattled on over the viewscreen about his New World Order of peace. “They war for freedom, wealth, status, power, and for a chance at something more in life; they war to be masters of their own destinies. Peace may be a beneficial side effect of war and conquest for the elite few who govern and gain power because of war, but it is hardly the natural state of things when peace is nothing more than the lack of all resistance to tyranny.”
    “If his goal is world domination, then what is Prince Schneizel playing at by pushing a message of peace?” Guilford enjoyed it when Cornelia expressed herself and her newly acquired ideals.
    “He obviously has an inferior number of forces at his disposal, otherwise he wouldn’t need to expend the enormous power required to create such a massive Gefjun field. I suspect he’s systematically knocking out the power systems of all of the KMFs on the planet in order to give him the upper hand when he launches his attack against the homelands of the leading world powers.”
    “You think he intends to attack them all at once?” Guilford was awestruck.
    “Yes, and we’ve paved the way for him by crushing all of Europe and the Mediterranean powers,” Cornelia lamented.
    “What shall we do, my Princess?” Guilford asked, distraught by the implications of Schneizel’s plan.
    Cornelia assessed the battle below them. “Send out recovery teams to collect our men and their KMFs. This battle is pointless now.”
    “Are we withdrawing?” Guilford queried her.
    “Yes,” she answered, “and order the fleet to set course for Japan.
    “Japan?” Guilford was confused by her order. “May I ask why, Princess Cornelia?”
    Cornelia smiled at him, “Because Japan still holds fifty-five percent of the world’s supply of sakuradite, and we need it to repair our KMFs.”
    Guilford gave her a perplexed look. “But why would the UFN help us?”
    Cornelia tittered at his expression, “Because the only person Tohdoh hates more than me is Schneizel.”

    * * *

    “Is this war really necessary?” Nunnally asked Jason as they sat together in the large observation room of the Argos sipping tea together.
    Jason gave her a weak smile. “I’m afraid there have been political problems within our own governmental structure that have caused this unpleasant situation.”
    Nunnally eyed him cautiously. “You’re not happy with this whole thing, are you, Captain?”
    “Please, Empress, call me Jason.” He gave her a warm grin. “And, no, I do not like any of this. It seems to me that we could have negotiated with the world for the resources we needed rather than ally with Schneizel and indulge his desires for world domination.”
    “Something has been troubling me about Schneizel that perhaps you can answer, Jason.” Nunnally looked directly into his deep-blue eyes.
    Jason softened his expression as she did so. “You may ask me anything you like, Empress, and I will answer to the best of my knowledge.”
    Nunnally asked her question more impatiently than she had wanted to. “Do you know how Schneizel was able to break the Geass my brother put upon him?”
    “A device we possess called a dispeller,” Jason told her as he pointed to his headband. “All champions and gods wear one.”
    “Gods?” Nunnally asked.
    Jason chuckled, “Yes…well…not actual gods I suppose, but it’s what we call champions, which I believe you call Geass users who’ve achieved immortality by obtaining a Code.”
    “I wasn’t aware that a person could have both a Code and Geass.” Nunnally was sure that someone had once told her a person lost their Geass power when they obtained a Code.
    “A person looses their power of Geass only if they take their Code from the one who gave them their power in the first place,” said Jason. “People who take their Code from an enemy or are given it by an immortal who is not the one that gave them their power are able to obtain a Code. The other way one gains both is to be of a particular bloodline, and thus once Geass is given to them, they automatically acquire a Code by natural means.”
    “I see,” Nunnally said. “Where did the Code and Geass originate?”
    “A noble question, milady, certainly worthy of an Oracle of this age,” Jason answered. “Originally, the Codes were made in order to give mankind the means to travel the vast distances of space without being limited by the mortal restraint of a life span, food, water, and the like. Sadly, the experiment was not a complete success.”
    Nunnally was perplexed. “How did it fail?”
    Jason took a sip of tea to wet his throat before replying, “Food, water, and the basic necessities of life are still needed for the body to endure without dying repeatedly. Thus, even with a Code the immortal must have the normal sustenance that mortals require.”
    “And Geass?” she ventured.
    “Geass is a side-effect of the genetic alteration of man. It, like the Code, changes the vibrational frequency that our atomic structure vibrates at and allows the person to connect with the very fabric of reality. The ancients called it the Eden Vital. Each person manifests their Geass differently as each individual connects to the fabric of reality in a variety of ways, usually based on some strong emotion or need that helps mold the creation of their power.”
    Nunnally was intrigued. “You mentioned that the Code was made for space travel. Does that mean there are Geass users in space?”
    Jason’s expression became grave. “Yes, milady.”

    * * *

    “You have done very well, Medea,” Sthenno said as she embraced the dark-haired woman that walked off the gangway of the Ithaca.
    Medea hugged her back. “Thank you, Sthenno.”
    “We now have the means to fully power Tartarus,” Sthenno smiled.
    “And crush all those who oppose us,” Medea snickered. “We shall be invincible.”
    Sthenno raised an eyebrow. “Indeed. Why should we leave this world when we can keep it for ourselves?”
    “Does this mean you plan on using the Apollyon?” Medea inquired. The woman was visibly apprehensive about the device.
    “I do,” Sthenno told her with a cold expression. “We lack the troops to properly conquer this world by any other means. Once we’ve leveled a few of their cities, these mortals will bow before us willingly.”
    “What of Schneizel?” Medea was curious as to what would become of this man Sthenno had put her faith in.
    “I shall have my revenge upon him,” Sthenno hissed.

    * * *

    “So, your Hakodeshim were totally unaffected by the Gefjun field?” Rakshata asked the Red Dragon and Suzaku as they stood within the hangar of the Ikaruga at the feet of the large battlerobots.
    “Apparently,” the modulated voice of the Red Dragon answered through her mask.
    “Do you think you can figure out why they’re immune, Professor Chawla,” Suzaku asked.
    “Well, in all honesty, I already know why.” She waved her pipe towards the Gabriel. “The simple answer is that they’re not powered by sakuradite; exactly what powers them is a mystery in and of itself. Whatever the power source of these machines may be, it gives them the ability to self-repair, which is nothing short of incredible. Where did you say you got them again?”
    “From a friend of ours who’s…how should we say…a bit eccentric?” The Red Dragon shrugged and turned her mirrored mask towards Suzaku.
    Suzaku smiled at her, “Yeah, he’s a weird guy, but his heart is in the right place.”
    “Huh?” Rakshata was confused. “Did I miss something?”
    Suzaku was staring at the Red Dragon with a dreamy-eyed expression when the Red Dragon responded to Rakshata. “No, Professor,” she giggled, “Suzaku’s still a bit light-headed from his experience on Hawaii.”
    Kururugi snapped out of his daze. “So, Professor Chawla, do you think you can find a way to insulate the other KnightMare Frames from Schneizel’s Gefjun disturber by examining the Uriel and Gabriel?”
    “I’m afraid not,” Rakshata lamented. “Their design is too advanced for me to even begin to tinker with them. However, I may be able to garner something from the Greek machine we recovered on Kaminejima. I noticed that the casing for their energy filler is lined with a lead alloy. Lead is a dense material that might be able to repel Gefjun particles.”
    “How soon do you think you can duplicate the lead alloy?” the Red Dragon asked. She was anxious to get the UFN forces back up and running again so they could rescue Nunnally.
    “I’m afraid I’m not much of an alloy expert,” Rakshata sighed. “I’ll need Lloyd’s help on this one, which is why I asked you here, Suzaku.” She smiled. “You know Lloyd as well as anyone does. He won’t listen to me on this. Could you ask him to analyze this material for me?”
    “Sure,” Suzaku replied with a smile. “I’ll ask him when we return to the Avalon.”
    “That reminds me,” the Red Dragon said. “How soon do you think we’ll get the okay to go back?”
    “As soon as Zero clears you, I think,” Rakshata said with a tip of her pipe. “In fact, I believe he’d like to see you two as soon as I’m finished with you....which I am.”
    “Then we should probably be on our way down to see him,” Suzaku said with a wave to Rakshata.
    He and the Red Dragon made their way our of the hangar deck leaving Professor Chawla to stare in wonder at the two machines before her.

    * * *

    “We need to get out after Gino NOW!” Kallen barked at Zero and Ohgi. “Who knows what that little wench is doing to him?”
    “We don’t have the ability to do so, Kallen.” Ohgi tried to calm her.
    “Our current priority is to recover all our KnightMare Frames.” Zero told her with a wave of his hand, “then we can get underway after the duchess.”
    “You’re letting her get out a ways from us, aren’t you, Zero?” Kozuki asked with a scowl. “Gino was what she wanted all along, and you knew it.”
    “Of course, and now that Evita has her prize, she’ll let her guard down and no doubt lead us right to Schneizel. Her fleet didn’t set course for Britannia; they’re headed for the South Pacific.”
    “Major Nu,” one of the bridge bunnies called to Villetta who was silently observing the argument between Captain Kozuki, Zero and Ohgi.
    “Yes?” Villetta asked.
    “We’ve recovered Commander Weinberg’s Type-21J and the person who stole it. Shall I have him thrown in the brig, ma’am?”
    “One moment.” Villetta walked up the stairs to the mezzanine where the argument continued to ensue.
    “HE’S NOT EXPENDABLE!” Kallen pointed an accusing finger at Zero. “When are you going to learn that?”
    "To save the world from the totalitarian rule of Schneizel, we are all expendable," Zero told her calmly.
    “You’re as bad as Lelouch was!” Kallen didn’t wait for him to retort; she turned and stormed off the bridge.
    Ohgi’s eyes went wide as he choked down the urge to blurt out a laugh; he coughed heartily to clear his throat.
    Zero simply watched her leave.
    “I hate to interrupt,” Villetta said as she walked onto the command platform, “but I need to know what you’d like me to do with the pilot that stole Gino’s Samurai.”
    “Have him report to my personal quarters,” Zero said to Villetta’s surprise.
    “As you wish, Zero, but…” Major Nu started to say.
    “Don’t worry.” Zero put his hand up in a dismissive gesture. “I’ll deal with him myself.”

    * * *

    “That son of a bitch…” Kallen cursed aloud to herself as she walked towards the Devicer’s lounge; she needed a nice strong drink to calm her emotions.
    Kallen walked past the open door of the hangar deck when she caught site of Gino’s Type-21J and the man who had stolen it standing next to the KMF talking with the deck chief.
    “Enoch?” She recognized the man almost immediately. It was hard not to. His skin had a distinct gold tinge to it in the fluorescent, overhead lighting of the hangar deck.
    “HEY, ENOCH!” Kallen called out to him.
    “Oh, hi, Kallen, how are you?” he called back as he walked towards the elevators at the left-hand side of the hangar bay.
    Kallen ran into the bay towards him. “Wait up!”
    He held the elevator door open for her. “Can I assist you in some way, Captain Kozuki?” he asked her with a smile.
    Her desperate blue eyes met his amber orbs. “I need your help with something.”
    “Oh…what can I do for you?” he asked in a meek tone.
    Captain Kozuki gave him a narrow-eyed look as she pushed past him into the elevator. “You can give me the truth.”
    “About?” Enoch inquired as the elevator doors shut.
    “Zero,” she replied. “How is it that you are down here with that KnightMare Frame, and yet Zero was on the bridge with me only moments ago giving orders?”
    “Someone is standing in for me.” He refused to lie to her, but he knew better than to expose Lelouch…not just yet anyway.
    Kallen brushed her hair back and put her hands on her hips. “Who?”
    “Usually C2,” he smirked.
    She raised an eyebrow. “C2? I highly doubt that C2 was the one calling the shots in this last battle, and she certainly is not the person I was just arguing with a few minutes ago. Tell me who was on the bridge.”
    Enoch gave her a devilish grin. “Ohgi, Villetta, the bridge crew, and Zero. Who else would be there?”
    “Stop toying with me,” she barked at him. “I want to know who the man behind that mask is!”
    Enoch’s expression became sad. “If you learn that Zero is the person you hope he is, would that make the pain go away? Is that why you hope beyond hope for it to be Lelouch?”
    Kallen blushed; she was acting like an obsessed teenager and she knew it. "No, it's not that...it's just...I can't let go."
    "What about poor Gino?" Enoch asked. "Are your feelings for a dead man greater than those for the love that's staring you right in the face?"
    Kallen's expression softened. "I'm not sure if I feel anything other than friendship for Gino. He's my wingman... and a good friend…maybe my best friend right now…I do care about him a lot, I admit, but I'm not sure it's love."
    Enoch put his hand on her shoulder. "True love often starts with real friendship...and it's hardly ever a sure thing at first."
    "Wha?" Kallen stepped back. "Are you trying to imply that I'm in love with Gino?"
    Enoch smiled at her as he spoke softly, "No, I would never presume such a thing. Only you know the truth that lies deep down in your heart, but it is clear that he loves you very much."
    She looked away from Enoch. “I know he does, but we’re too different. His family was Britannian nobility and mine was only half that. I was a Black Knight under Zero, he was a Knight of the Round…I mean…at the end, he did change sides and…he did save me in the last battle…but still, it wouldn’t work out.”
    Enoch moved over to look her in the face with a grin. “Opposites attract, you know, and never doubt who you are, Kallen. I come from very humble beginnings. Before my transformation I was a farmer.” He pointed a thumb at his chest in a nonchalant gesture. “And look at me now!”
    Kallen giggled, “Yeah? You’re a pretty interesting guy.” She smiled at him and leaned towards him. “You remind me of Lelouch in many ways.”
    Enoch backed away from her into the rear of the elevator and put up his hands defensively. “Hold on a minute there, beautiful…let’s stick to Gino and you.”
    Kallen frowned, “Why? Has pizza girl got her hooks into you already?”
    “No…C2 and I already gave that a whirl a while back and it didn’t work,” Enoch said as Kallen moved in closer to him, “but that doesn’t mean I’m available…besides, I’m far too old for you.”
    Kallen laughed, “You’re too old? You don’t look more than twenty-four to me.”
    Enoch let out a nervous laugh. “I’m a wee bit older than that, love.”
    Kallen gave him a distraught look. “Well, how old are you?”

    * * *

    “Oh, how I’ve missed you!” Evita kissed Gino on the lips.
    Commander Weinberg struggled in the straitjacket prison suit he was bound in as the duchess proceeded to examine him.
    “You call this love, Evita?” He moved his head to try to avoid her advances.
    “I admit it’s a little one-sided right now…” she cooed in his ear, “but men are so easily wooed. The key to their heart is through their genitals.” Evita caressed his prison suit over his groin.
    “It’s not that easy, Duchess,” Gino snarled at her as he closed his legs. “I do have feelings for someone, but it’s not you.”
    Evita looked down her nose at him. “Really? Is it that lowly, half-breed captain of yours?”
    “Don’t you DARE call her that!” Gino lunged at her in a fury.
    Evita leapt back as a pair of guards entered the prison cell to protect her. “So, you’re in love with a nip-mutt, are you? How sad, a noble Knight of the Round such as you enamored with a Japanese whore; it’s pathetic. I could understand if you just wanted to use her for sex…I suppose her being half-Britannian she is somewhat pretty, but to actually have feelings for her…that just won’t do, my love.”
    The duchess snapped her fingers, and a female officer entered the room with a tray containing a variety of whips. “Tie him to the harness in the center of his cell,” she instructed the two guards.
    “Evita, what the hell are doing?” Gino demanded as she selected a cat-o’-nines from the tray.
    “I’m going to scourge those lustful demons for that vile woman Kallen from your body. When I’m done with you, you’ll be begging for me to love you, my dear Gino.”
    Gino gritted his teeth. “Never!”
    The duchess giggled manically as she struck him with the cat-o’-nine-tails.

    * * *

    “Where the hell is he now?” Lelouch paced the personal quarters he shared with C.C. and Enoch.
    “Knowing Enoch, he’s probably off chasing after some cute lady-crewman,” C.C. snickered.
    “I wasn’t talking about Enoch…” Lelouch frowned. “I mean Suzaku.”
    “Well, maybe he got detained by something.” C.C. came over and kissed Lelouch on the cheek. “Stop being so uptight…we’ll get Nunnally back, you know that. Schneizel needs her alive, so she’s safe.”
    “It wasn’t Schneizel that took her, of that I’m sure.” Lelouch traced her cheek with his gloved hand. He leaned in and kissed C.C. on the lips. “Thanks for trying to comfort me, C2, but I think that man Jason is taking my sister to someone else, and I am concerned for her safety. Considering the instincts and feelings that Euryale transferred to me with her Code, I can imagine what erotic horrors may await Nunnally, and I fear for her.”
    “That won’t be a problem,” Enoch said as he entered the room, interrupting them. “Jason may be a fanatically loyal dweeb, but he is no fiend. He’ll respect the chastity of the empress from anyone who would try to take it from her, of that you can be rest assured.”
    “Where’ve you been?” C.C. asked with a snicker. “You look like you just sat through a psychology session with a troubled teen.”
    Enoch winked at C.C. “Yeah…Kallen and I had a long heart-to-heart about her feelings for Gino. I convinced her that she ought to stop moping about this other idiot she was once in love with. I suggested to her that she needs a man in her life, not a boy.”
    Lelouch gave him a narrow-eyed look. “Ha, ha.”
    C.C. laughed, “Oh, come on, Lelouch, you know that I like boys.” She threw her arms around Lelouch’s neck. “Enoch’s just teasing you. He knows that even if you do still have feelings for Kallen that it would be cruel for you to be with her considering you’re immortal now and she is not. Besides, would you want to be with her as she gets old and wrinkled while you remain young and handsome.”
    “My feelings for her are none of your concern,” Lelouch scowled at C.C. and Enoch. “Even if I still do love…”
    Lelouch was startled by the door to their room opening; he shrugged off C.C. and moved to grab his mask.
    “There’s no need for that, Lelouch,” the Red Dragon said as she closed the door behind her and Suzaku. “It’s just us.”
    “Where the hell have you two been?” Lelouch demanded from Suzaku.
    “I’d say the ear-to-ear smile on his face answers that question.” Enoch chuckled upon seeing Kururugi’s gleaming expression.
    “Huh?” C.C. gave Enoch a perplexed look.
    Lelouch was mortified. “Don’t think that everyone is as lecherous as you are, old man.”
    “Well, actually,” Suzaku took hold of the Red Dragon’s hand, “we’ve been doing some catching up, but that’s not why we’re here. You wanted to see me?”
    “Yes!” Lelouch snapped in irritation. “I need to know how soon your Hakodeshim will be ready for redeployment and if Professor Chawla has made any progress with finding a way to shield our KMFs from Schneizel’s Gefjun weapon.”
    “Our Archangels are fully restored and ready,” Suzaku said jovially, “and Rakshata says she may have found a way to insulate our KMFs from the Gefjun disturber, but she’ll need Professor Asplund’s expertise in metallic alloys to design new energy filler containers.”
    “I see,” Lelouch said. “Then you’ll have to remain here to protect this fleet while the Yamato no Orochi and I proceed to try and find Schneizel’s headquarters.”
    “What about Nunnally?” Suzaku asked impatiently.
    “What about her?” Lelouch barked.
    “Shouldn’t we go after the Argonauts to rescue her?” Suzaku growled at Lelouch.
    “We don’t have time for that now,” Lelouch retorted.
    “How can you say that about your sister? You know what she means to us!” Suzaku yelled at him.
    “Us?” Lelouch asked snidely. “If she means so much to you, Suzaku, why didn’t you stop Jason from capturing her in the first place? At least the old man has an excuse…his Type-21J was affected by the Gefjun field. The Hakodeshim are immune to the effects of such a weapon, which is why I had you guarding Nunnally in the first place. Maybe if you were a better Devicer you’d have…”
    “STOP IT, LELOUCH!” the Red Dragon ordered him. “Suzaku cares about Nunnally as much as you or I do.”
    “You?” Lelouch scoffed. “How could you care about my sister as much as I do? What is she to you, woman?”
    The Red Dragon unfastened her mask and removed it.
    Lelouch’s eyes were as wide as dinner plates as he saw her face and flowing pink hair. “Uh…Eu…” he tried to speak as his knees buckled and he sank down onto them.
    “Euphemia!” C.C. exclaimed in shock.
    Euphie glared at her brother. “How dare you ask ME if I care about Nunnally! I care for her far more than you do, Lelouch; I didn’t use Geass upon her; I didn’t try to use her for my schemes or as a tool. You did!”
    Lelouch recovered quickly. “Euphemia is dead…I should know because I killed her. You’re an imposter!”
    "Imposter?!" Euphie turned to C.C. with a fierce look. “He’s immortal, right?”
    C.C. was still stunned. “Yeah…um…sure he is, but why do you…”
    Euphemia turned back to Lelouch with a sneer, “Your childish stupidity made me do despicable things, then you tried to kill me to cover it up, and now you have the gall to call me a liar...you little bastard!” She pulled her sidearm from its holster and shot Lelouch in the chest.
    Lelouch dropped to the floor, the life gone from his eyes.
    Euphemia gave Lelouch’s corpse a sinister smile. “Guess nobody told you that payback’s a bitch.”
    “Euphie!” Suzaku yelled in horror.
    “What?” She smiled at him and snickered. “He can’t die, Suzaku, and after what he’s done...he deserves a thousand deaths like this.”
    “Oh, for the love of….Euphemia, why the hell did you do that!” Enoch cried.
    “What’s the big deal?” Euphie asked Enoch with a shrug. “It’s not like this gun can kill him.”
    “That’s not the point!” Enoch picked up Lelouch’s body and pointed at the large pool of blood on the chest of the Zero suit. “Do you have any idea how hard it’s going to be to get this stain out? Not to mention the bullet hole.”
    Euphie blushed. “Whoops, guess I let my anger get the best of me.”
    Enoch gave her a surprised look. “Noooooh…ya think?”

    * * *

    “The FORGE is at one hundred percent operational status, Prince Schneizel.” Nina adjusted her glasses as she brought up a digital readout of the FLEIJA reactor on the viewscreen of the control station at which she sat.
    Schneizel looked over her shoulder. “Excellent work, Nina. Now we’ll be able to generate a field powerful enough to short out any sakuradite-powered machine. Even the Automatos machines of the Greeks, should any of them resist the plan that has been set in motion. With this Gefjun transmitter, no one will be able to challenge us.”
    "How will you enforce your rule without the mechanized forces of the Greeks if they turn against you?" Nina asked him with a perplexed expression.
    "Come with me," Schneizel said with a sinister grin.
    Nina got up and followed Schneizel from the master control room of the FORGE into an adjacent chamber that led out onto a balcony.
    To Professor Einstein's amazement, a legion of hundreds of Vincent Ward, Gareth, and Gloucester KMFs stood within a courtyard that flanked one side of the building that housed the FORGE.
    The light of the setting sun glinted off their metal forms as a breeze whipped up off the ocean beyond that blew back Nina's hair as she surveyed the masses of KnightMare Frames.
    Nina looked over at Schneizel. "With all due respect, Prince Schneizel, what good are these fifth- and seventh-generation Frames against the more modern weapons of the Greek legions, not to mention both Britannia and the UFN? Even if we knock out most of the tenth-generation and newer frames, there are bound to be pockets of KMFs we miss, and these machines are no match for them. The Greek Automatos have already proven their superiority over any KMF that is less than tenth generation."
    Schneizel smirked at her, "My lovely Nina, this army is not what it appears to be. It is only the tip of the spear of my Order of the Silver Cross. This legion will deal with any who resist my plan and simply enforce my rule upon the world after the Greeks use their Apollyon device."
    "Apollyon?" Nina was intrigued.
    "Yes," Schneizel smiled mischievously. "You see, while I was in Tartarus, I had the pleasure of meeting a woman there who saw my vision of a New World as useful to her people's desire to leave this Earth for the stars. We struck a deal, and she has agreed to give me the Apollyon device in exchange for my help via this Gefjun disturber and the plans for your FORGE."
    Nina was mortified. "You gave them the plans to my creation?"
    Schneizel laughed, "Not yet, Nina. She will have to deliver on her end before I'm ready to do that. You see, your FORGE would greatly improve the duration time of their spacecraft. Rather than having to hop through the cosmos from one sakuradite deposit to another every few months, they could travel for decades without refueling."
    "Why would you give them the plans for the FORGE? What does this Apollyon do that makes it so valuable?" Professor Einstein asked.
    "It's a Titan Automatos that projects a sphere to anywhere within five thousand miles of it that folds space," he said with a sinister look.
    Nina gasped in horror. "That would be like having a flying FLEIJA gun that could teleport the Collapse Effect Sphere it generates to anywhere in the world! It's the Damocles all over again."
    "Precisely," Schneizel smiled, "but a bit more compact and advanced. With a weapon like that in my power, I shall create permanent peace in this world."

    * * *

    "The Tartarus is now at full power, milady," Hephaestus said as Sthenno watched the lights throughout the city come on in the darkness of the Antarctic night.
    "Excellent, Hephaestus," she said with a triumphant look. "And the Apollyon?"
    "It is at full power," Hephaestus told her.
    "Soon we shall dominate this world," Medea snickered as she walked into the control room of the central tower of the city.
    "Indeed," Sthenno agreed as they both stared out at their rejuvenated city. "First, we shall crush Schneizel, then the UFN, and finally the rest of this pathetic civilization."
    "Have you called out to the others at Jupiter?" Medea asked.
    "Not yet," Sthenno told her with a smile. "Better we take command of Earth first. Once our power base is secure here, then we can contact Zeus and the others. Besides, we don't know how many of the other gods escaped the cataclysm and may by now have spread out over the local group of stars around Sol. Zeus and the others might have been defeated, and there may be nothing but hostiles out there. I think it best that we proceed with caution before we expose ourselves to star-systems around us at large."
    "Have our Cyclops and Minotaur legions been reactivated," Medea asked Sthenno.
    "Yes," Sthenno said flatly. "Though I hope we don't need to use them. I'd like to have them intact when we spread out into this solar system. I've a feeling that we'll need them to fight off any adversaries we encounter. We've lost too much of our armed forces as it is. I'd hate to weaken our position any further."
    A woman's voice spoke sharply from behind Sthenno and Medea, "You should have thought of that before you decided to take command, Sthenno!"
    Medea gasped as she turned around to see the woman and her entourage that stood at the back of the room.
    "Surprised to see me, Medea?"
    Sthenno looked at the armor-clad woman in horror. "I...I wanted to hand this world over to you before I woke you."
    "Save your pathetic excuses for later, Sthenno," the woman scowled as she walked gracefully over with her party of men in tow.
    Medea got down on her knees and hung her head. "Forgive me, milady."
    The woman put her hand on Medea's head. "There is nothing to forgive, Medea. You did as I would have commanded you to do, and I commend your efforts which have brought Tartarus back to life."
    Sthenno looked at Hephaestus with venom then turned to the armored woman. "So, what is to become of me?"
    The woman looked down her nose at Sthenno. "You will submit to my authority, Sthenno, and confine yourself to your quarters until I decide what to do with you."
    "Yes, milady," Sthenno said as she left the command center.
    "Ares, have two of your champions guard her," the woman told the tall, armor-clad man at her right.
    "Yes, milady." Ares bowed and nodded to two men next to him. They left after Sthenno immediately.
    "Hephaestus, contact Jason immediately. I wish to know his progress," the woman ordered him.
    "Yes, milady." The man nodded respectfully and worked the controls of a nearby console. In a moment, Jason's image was on the overhead viewscreen.
    "Jason," the woman smiled, "I trust all went well?"
    "The empress is in our possession, and we should return home in less than a day as per your plan, milady," Jason said with a warm grin.
    "Excellent work, my champion," she replied. "I look forward to seeing you in person soon."
    Jason gave her a respectful bow. "As do I, my goddess...Athena."
    All things in moderation...

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