June8, 2018, Tignes. Border between France and Italy.
The opening week of the war was coming to a close with more than a clear advantage given to the Britannian side. In a mere handful of days the empire, under Lelouch's command, had taken more European territory than any other commander in history. They now had command of half of their current capital, whilst the other major country, Italy, stood isolated to the south. If their momentum kept up, this would become the shortest war between the EU and Britannia in their long shared history.
Of course, there was an alternative motive for throwing so many lives on conflict's pyre which was currently being seen to by a relatively small fleet of five airships currently moored over the forests of Tignes. It was mid-afternoon that the emperor got in contact with the ships' overall commander, initially with concern but as he came to ascertain why there had been a communications black out between him and the particular individual his attitude became considerably more..irate.
'So..you mean to tell me.' He said slowly, a twitching under his original Geass eye beginning to grow with each word. 'That the reason you've been quiet all this time, despite my multiple calls..' his teeth were gritted and the woman he was calling suspected he was grateful he'd cleared the bridge of the Avalon much as she had done on her own ship once she'd decided her Warlock had been left to stew long enough. 'Was because you were sampling Pizza?!'
'So what if I did?' C.C. asked him blandly, not moving from her slouched position in her throne, and took another bite out of her Pissaladière, savouring the taste of anchovies and caramelised onions. 'It's not like anything happened, and this isn't pizza, boy, it's a poor French imitation.'
'That's not the point!' He snapped at her, bordering on angry with his fists slamming onto his throne's arms. 'In case you haven't noticed we're in the middle of a war!'
'A war that's half over if the papers are anything to go by.' Honestly, the poor thing worried about too much. Maybe he should get himself a nice girl and..oh wait, he already did and now had gone and gotten another one. 'Stop making an issue out of nothing, weren't you the one who said the EU was a minor sideshow?'
'Dammit Cera!' His use of her name brought her up short, enough to actually turn to look at him with mild shock at such a slip. He however didn't seem to have noticed if his glare was anything to go by. 'This isn't the time to be playing coy! I was afraid something had happened to you!'
As touched as she wasn't ever going to tell him she was by his admission, C.C. quickly recovered from her surprise and went back to a near lazy state. 'You sent me to find the contractors didn't you? Do you want them found or not?'
'What sort of question is that?' Lelouch demanded of her, 'Of course I want them found, now more than ever!'
'Then stop this whining and get back to your own business.' She told him firmly, not quite keeping herself from letting out a small 'hmph!' at the end. 'Anyway, why don't you just ask your new mistress? Surely a liaison from C's World would be of more use than an immortal witch.'
She must have said too much there, or maybe the fact that she'd picked up Cheese-kun from the floor and given him a little extra tight hug that gave her away, because suddenly Lelouch's scowl had changed into a frown and then a look of amazement. 'C.C..' He asked slowly, his lips twitching up in that infuriatingly arrogant way of his when he thought he'd worked out something about her.. 'is that jealousy I hear?'
Oh no. As she feared when she looked up from Cheese-kun's head, she saw that the boy was wearing that silly smirk of his along with an almost amused look in his eyes. Not intent on letting him know how close he was to hitting the mark, she just huffed again and glanced away. 'Of course not! That would suggest you were desirable. I just can't fathom why the new girl..what was her name again?'
'D.S.' Damn boy was even letting his humour slip into his tone, he was almost chuckling damn him! If she was less annoyed, she'd be amazed that the Dimensional Supervisor of the Thought Elevators had shown itself to a mortal - let alone her mortal. But still, for it to take the form of a girl was one thing, what she had been doing with Lelouch was another, but likening her to a child..well, there were some lines people weren't supposed to cross.
Not that she was about to let him know that as she waved the name off with faked nonchalance. 'Yes, yes. Why not use 'D.S.' as your Geass detector now?'
'Because I need you.' He said simply, his smirk still in place though it had softened a touch. 'D.S. is still an unknown in all of this. You however, I do know, and am aware of your abilities.'
Oh such a stellar wooing. She thought, rolling her eyes at him in response before slouching back on to Cheese-kun's tiny hat. Honestly, why did he have to inherit Charles's hopelessness with women?
'So I'm your hit man?' She asked him emptily, wondering to herself not for the first time what it was about this boy that continued to endear him to her.
The reminder was soon in coming as Lelouch rested his arms on his legs and leaned forward, smirk changing completely into a gentle smile. 'No, Cera,' he said her name again, the damn cheater, in that tender way he'd been learning to say it with over the last month, 'I need you because you're my Witch as I am your Warlock.'
Giving him the satisfaction of knowing he was getting to her was not on her priority list though, and so C.C. just snorted before returning to the cheap French not-a-pizza (seriously, when were they going to invade Italy?). 'And I suppose that should mean something?' She asked him, not meeting his gaze.
'It should..' Oh no, now he was using the guilt technique. When did he learn to do that? More importantly, when was it that she became susceptible to that? She was a seven-hundred year old immortal witch for goodness sake, not some high-emotional teenager! That's what they'd had Kallen for! And yet, the undercurrent of sadness in Lelouch's voice pulled at her in a completely foreign way, all but commanding her to stop avoiding his gaze and look up at him.
This is just a ploy! Her older side told her, Just a cruel trick to get you to pay attention to him! You know how he works: everything for victory.
But he sounds sad. A much younger voice that had been more present than ever piped up, concern in every syllable. We shouldn't make him sad.
In ages past she would have told that silly girl to pipe down so she could focus on what was important, but damn it all if that month without her memories had set her back on that particular skill by a wider margin than she'd thought. As such, C.C. found herself turning to look up at him, her desire to say something so unlike herself that it surprised her she was even thinking of it..
And then she immediately crushed that thought as she saw Lelouch's victorious smirk looking back at her. 'That's cruel, Lelouch.' She chided him, squeezing Cheese-kun again.
'But you're listening now.' He pointed out, his damnable grin not shaking for a moment as he leaned back in his seat. 'If anything, you should be proud. D.S. is currently slumbering in my chambers, exhausted, after being sent to the peaks of bliss thanks to your tutelage.'
That'll give your clutch a well-needed break instead of keeping constant pressure on it.Even more importantly, don't ride the clutch pedal as a way of controlling the speed of your car. How many miles will a 2003 pathfinder last.
Huh. Never let it be said Lelouch vi Britannia was incapable of the impossible, it had never even occurred to her that a sexless entity of the Collective Unconscious even had needs like that. Yes, she'd felt Lelouch's response to their coupling through the bond but C.C. hadn't thought D.S. would get anything out of it. The subject matter though did bring a smirk to her own face as she replied. 'Well then, does that make it a notch on my bedpost or yours? After all, you're using my techniques.'
'Ah,' he countered with a raised finger 'but you weren't there to claim it, thus the conquest is mine.'
'Well then, maybe I ought to introduce myself to her.' She immediately giggled as Lelouch suddenly sat erectile at her suggestion, a tinge of red in his cheeks as his thoughts no doubt went any which way. Going by the aroused feelings she was receiving from their bond, it would also seem he wasn't opposed to the idea. Seeing the ball was back in her court, C.C. pressed her advantage.
'Would you like that, my Warlock? Your Witch and your Mistress, greeting each other properly, sharing all our experiences and..pleasures?' Oh yes, he definitely liked the idea of that, such a perverted little demon she'd created. 'Would you like me to come over, and demonstrate why I'm always on top?'
If the tight grip his fingers hand on his throne's arms were anything to go by then he definitely wanted to see it, their connection relaying as much to her, and she was about to press further when Lelouch blurted out, 'Anyway! Back to more important matters!'
And point goes to the Witch. She thought to herself contently before letting out a little sigh as business replaced her daily pleasure. 'Yes, yes, the details your friend sent me before you made her numb to the world has been quite useful.' She allowed herself one more dig before letting herself return to the actual goal on hand. Ignoring the documents flashed up on the screen - honestly, did Lelouch think she was some lazy slob or something? - she recited the names that she'd committed to memory. 'We now know of at least three contractors: Orpheus Zevon, Toto Thompson and Leila Breisgau.'
'Of the three though we only know the details of one Geass,' Lelouch picked up from there, 'apparently D.S. can't tell us everything about them or it upsets the balance in C's World or something like that. We only learned about Leila's because her own power actually is a threat to Geass itself: No more Geass..'
'No more Codes.' C.C. finished his thought with a blankness she didn't feel. If she were honest such a power was unheard of and, up till now, thought to be impossible. That Geass could actually destroy itself..it led her to wonder what sort of effect it would have on her Code if they came into contact. It was easy to see why he was prioritising this girl, but still. 'What about the Toto girl? Her power's unknown as well as whoever it was who gave it to her, although all things considered it was probably V.V. Can we really trust her when she's so close to your sister?'
'For the time being, I'm adopting a wait-and-see approach.' He told her, which surprised C.C. a little bit. Lelouch wasn't usually one to let an unknown run rampant. 'At least on the Grandberry her influence is limited. Besides, Marry is surrounded by any number of capable knights, I doubt Oldrin Zevon would let any harm come to her princess.'
'That's still a big risk.' She pointed out. 'We don't know what her power is or its range. What if she's like Rolo?'
Lelouch visibly winced at her reminder before carrying on. 'Even if she is, Thompson's background speaks of nothing but loyalty to the Zevon family. Even if she betrayed Marry, I doubt she'd do it in a way that betrayed Oldrin.'
'Assumptions lead to mistakes.' She reminded him none too harshly, his assumption that the EU wouldn't attack Paris right off the bat was what had lead them to starting the war early after all. Besides there was another concern regarding the Zevons. 'If she is loyal to that family, what's to stop her from changing sides and working with Oiaguro?'
'Not a lot.' He admitted, before giving her an uncaring shrug. 'But so long as the identity of Wizard doesn't become common knowledge, I doubt we have too much to worry about.'
That's assuming the girl doesn't already know Wizard's identity. She thought to bring it up, but the look of certainty on Lelouch's face told C.C. that she wasn't going to get through that stubborn self assurance. Sighing, just knowing that this would come back to bite them, she just nodded and moved on to the next one before snorting. 'It seems this family has quite the history with Geass.'
'Hmm.' Lelouch agreed with a nod. 'Orpheus Zevon, Oldrin's twin brother. Separated over fourteen years ago after the assassination of Olivia Zevon, he disappears from all records after that along with his uncle Oiaguro Zevon, who later became Wizard..' He trailed off for a moment as a look of contemplation crossed his visage for a few seconds which was then replaced with a familiar scowl that C.C. had come to link with one certain topic. 'It's likely then that he was raised by the Geass Directorate, therefore his Geass also probably came from V.V.'
'And yet,' she pointed out, 'there's never been any sighting of a man with descriptions similar to Oldrin's in any of the world's documented assassinations. He may have escaped at a young age and went into hiding.' It was far fetched, she was aware of just how close to impossible it was to escape the Directorate after V.V. took control, but it was better to explore all avenues of thought.
'That could be his power though.' Lelouch countered. 'A Geass that makes him invisible to the naked eye, or unrecognisable..could it be done?'
'In theory yes.' She allowed a non-committal shrug, the infinite number of forms Geass could take had never interested her, that had been V.V.'s domain. 'I've never seen it manifest in such a way, but I suppose it's possible.' Still, supposition wouldn't be enough for him, knowing Lelouch he would probably want to hunt down this boy to find out exactly what they were up against, regardless of what else might be out there. Which brought C.C. to her other note of concern. 'Despite all that, I really doubt that there are only three people in the world with Geass.'
'And I agree.' Lelouch stated with a short nod and narrowed eyes. 'However, these players are in position to be a thorn in our side if they're allowed to roam free. D.S. did say there were others in the world with the power to change it in their desired way. Such a dangerous potential must be stamped out before they realise it.'
'My, my.' She commented, a small smirk of her own now wrapping itself around the Pissaladière she was about to bite into. 'How Machiavellian. Isn't your goal to create a gentle world where everyone lives freely?'
'A gentle world based on my design.' He corrected, a cruel smile of his own appearing as his fingers interlocked with each other before him. 'Anything who threatens that future must be stamped out, regardless of their backgrounds, allegiances, or their loyalty to me.'
My word, Niccolo would have loved him. C.C. remembered the Florentine philosopher, though he wasn't one of her contractors it had been his works that helped create the woman she would be for most of her immortal life. And now here was a man who encapsulated the philosophies of El Principe. I've come full circle. She thought to herself wryly. Still, better a conqueror than a love-sick exile. Ah, Dante, why couldn't he have left well enough alone?
'On that note.' Lelouch's voice cut into her brief stroll down memory lane, his visage one of complete focus as he returned to the first contractor they'd spoken of. 'Leila Breisgau should be eliminated as soon as possible.' The girl in question appeared on the screen and C.C. took a good look at her..blond hair, light purple eyes and skin that was just a touch too pale to be of European Caucasian, marking her out as a child of Britannian descent. 'Somehow her power manifested as a contractor's worst nightmare. I have no idea how she obtained it or who she formed a contract with, although my suspicions point towards..'
'Me.' She cut him off, and by the look on his face that hadn't been what he'd been about to say. 'The contractor I told you I felt. That weak presence? She's the one.'
For a moment silence reigned and C.C. unconsciously ducked her head back into Cheese-kun's soft top, waiting for Lelouch to speak. A few more seconds stretched between them before he finally replied with a tight, 'I see. And when, exactly, did you give her this power?'
Oh he's not going to like this. Both because of her part in this and because of certain events regarding another of her contractors that wouldn't have happened if she'd done her job right. Still, it would have come out sooner or later so she steeled herself and faced his carefully blank stare. 'Fifteen years ago, on a cold winter night, I came across a little girl in the woods. She was barely alive and so I took pity on her, and granted her Geass. However..'
The way Lelouch's eyebrow raised just added to her discomfort in what she was about to reveal about Geass. 'We didn't enter a contract. A child of her age wouldn't have been able to comprehend what I was offering her, so instead I placed a set of requirements on her power. If she reached adulthood without using it once, the power would disappear.'
'Evidently,' his voice had only become more strained as her revelation went on and C.C. could see Lelouch was beginning to develop a short tick in his jawline, 'the requirements to keep it have been met.' He wasn't liking this at all.
Still he would need to know if he hoped to combat this new threat, and so she simply nodded before continuing. 'Yes. If she found herself in need of power to save someone dear to her from a cruel fate, her Geass would activate. I can only assume that has come to pass. And before you ask about Mao,' she cut him off the moment he opened his mouth, likely to demand just that 'he was a mistake in every form of the word. I was frustrated with Marianne for refusing to complete our contract and so I just..lashed out at the first thing I could find, without thinking about the damage I could do.'
'Which is why you stayed with him.' Lelouch finished for her, his tone thankfully having turned to one of understanding 'And even why you eventually left him: Guilt. You couldn't stand the idea that you'd ruined a boy's life when you knew you had the power to save him from that..Even so.' The understanding was suddenly replaced with cold sharpness. 'He was still your mess to clean up, and because you shirked him off on others, Shirley paid the price.'
Yes, yes, she was more than aware that what happened to his innocent little friend was her fault. He'd shouted it at her enough times after that mess at Narita for it to sink in. 'I suppose you're going to tell me that the girl is also my mess?' She asked knowingly.
'You know it is.' He told her firmly, amethyst eyes now sharply focussed on her above his still interlocked fingers. 'The power Leila Breisgau holds is currently the most dangerous piece on the board, a power you gave her. Maybe you saw it as charity, but if our time together has taught me anything it's that everything we do has consequences that eventually catch up to us. This threat we face is the end result of your charity.'
He could have said it more diplomatically than that, but then he wouldn't be Lelouch if he did and she wouldn't be C.C. if she couldn't take it. Therefore she shrugged..before a very lewd idea struck her and she decided to play with him a bit.
'If that's what you really want,' she accepted before offering him a teasing smirk, 'but what if we brought her to our side? She could be a great..asset.'
She let the last word hang to give him an idea of what sort of 'asset' she was suggesting and after a moment she saw his face shift into consideration. 'Hmm..that's a point. Her experience as a commander would be useful, not to mention the respect and loyalty she's earned with her soldiers. If she joined us, we'd probably get all of the infamous W-0 Unit along with her.'
'Also,' here it came, the perverse side to her suggestion that she'd been leaning towards, 'honestly speaking she is a beautiful young woman. Curved in just the right places, and I bet I can find something to do with all that hair. Hmm..she might even make it on top.'
Wait what? C.C. was snapped out of her brief daydream that Lelouch had concocted for her and stared back at the screen where her Warlock was clearly toying with the idea. The idea of that little girl on top of her mortal? Only one person got to be on top and that person just so happened to be a Witch.
'Yes.' Lelouch went on, his grin growing as he turned teasing eyes her way. 'What need would I have of multiple wives if I had just the one woman who was perfect for me?'
'On second thought!' She cut in before he could go any further, shoving her fake pizza away, 'You're right, someone like her would only be trouble for us both somewhere down the line, so I'll just go take care of her.'
'Oh will you?' He asked her, smile still in place as she went about making herself somewhat presentable (she'd called him in nothing more than her white tank-top and boy shorts). 'That would be much appreciated, C.C. I'll tell Jeremiah to bring his flotilla to back you up, he should be finished in Switzerland by now.'
'That would be perfect.' She agreed, pulling back on her Britannian garments that she'd tossed this way and that across the bridge. 'I'll have her dealt with soon, my Warlock.'
'I would expect nothing less of you, my Witch.' He replied, looking to be on the verge of laughing, and then cut the transmission.
And I will give nothing less. She assured herself as she picked up her tiara and sounded for all crews to return to their ships. In less than an hour they would be on their way to meet up with Jeremiah to storm the enemy front of Italy. Because no one, Britannian, European, Asian or Australian, took her seat on top of Lelouch.
W-0 Castle Lupobianco, border between France and Italy
The new headquarters set up for W-0 Unit was not all that different from the old Castle Weisswolf. Once again they had situated themselves in a strategically critical location within a castle that stood on the edge of the Graian Alps, Levanna rising in the distance. With the main building itself having been built on one of the smaller rises with slopes on all sides and a series of walls, it was the perfect fit for a military force that was on the defence. And even if the enemy did get all the way up, there was still the huge array of traps beyond the walls just waiting to be deployed and a small army made up of elite pilots.
At the command of this formidable shield was the young Lieutenant Colonel Leila Malcal, who had proven her effective strategies and leadership in the face of battle during the last war with Euro Britannia and now once again had become an image of hope in the EU. Though there had been whispers of a court martial after she ordered a full retreat of all forces under her command during the failed attack on Paris, High Command had been forced to accept that her actions had saved countless resources - and lives - that would surely have been lost once Emperor Lelouch had unleashed his Knightmare's monster weapon. Such an act had made her a hero in the eyes of the soldiers she'd saved and thus all talks of disciplinary action had been dropped.
Instead Leila and her unit had been charged with guarding Italy's border with France, Command suspecting that if Lelouch wanted to get at them he would come over the Alps to do it. In the wake of the recent setbacks the EU had suffered on multiple fronts, that position had ballooned in significance with as many soldiers as could be spared being sent to the castle in anticipation of an aggressive push.
I just hope they can actually help us. It was a sad thing to say, but the soldier in her was telling her that when it came to Knightmare experience, Britannia had them beat. On a positive note though, the W-0 Unit wasn't being hamstrung and was only being sent Alexanders for their pilots, the model having proven itself superior to the Panzers, to the point that over 85% of European factories were now producing them exclusively. With any luck they'll make up for the experience disadvantage, especially if the BRS works right. She considered to herself, but even so she had her doubts about it especially after seeing what it had done to Akito.
Still, doubts and uncertainties would get them nowhere and so she moved them to one side and returned her attention to the discussion going on around her in the meeting room. The old core group of W-0, as well as some new additions, had come together to discuss their situation and how best to plan for the future.
Their two elite squads, Wyvern and Asura (who had been sent from the Netherlands), had just joined them and both looked to be on their last breaths. The worst of them all though was definitely Yukiya whose head was wrapped up in bandages and he needed Ryo and Ayano's help to sit down without agitating his wounds. As for the two team leaders, Akito and Ashley sat themselves down next to each other and shared a glance at the state of the other's team.
'Bad day for Brit hunting, huh?' Ashley asked as boisterously as he could but Leila still caught the fatigue in his voice whilst Akito simply nodded. The other leader grimaced before looking over at Yukiya. 'What happened to him?'
'Emperor Lelouch happened.' He simply stated, silencing the whole of Ashley's team who turned to look at him in disbelief. 'He came at us in a black Knightmare and forced us out of our landing zone by himself.'
'Seriously?' Asked Simon. 'He didn't have any back up?'
'Just a beat up Gloucester that he told not to butt in.' Ryo replied through gnashing teeth, as had become his standard mode of speech any time someone brought up that fight. Not that Leila could blame him, everyone was aware of the opportunity that had slipped by them that day. 'He even came out of his cockpit so we knew it was him. Bastard.'
'Shit.' Ashley muttered, leaning back in his seat. 'So all that footage wasn't staged eh? He really fought.' He let out a heavy sigh before pinching the bridge of his nose. 'And I thought our mission sucked.'
'What happened?' Ayano asked him, looking up from Yukiya and seeing his grim look. 'Were you unable to take the base?'
But he just snorted, 'Oh no, we took it just fine. Turns out though it had been stripped before we arrived.' He managed a short laugh when he saw their stunned faces, though it was hollow and bitter. 'That's not even the worst of it. Apparently the emperor liked that base enough to send his new Knight of Two to clear us out. Completely devastated our ranks..well, save for us.'
He gave out another laugh though it was once again a shallow thing, something Leila had come to realise was his way of coping with things. 'Laugh so you don't cry' or something along those lines and she couldn't say it was unwarranted. The fact that Lelouch was replacing the Rounds so quickly boded ill for Europe; the Knights of the Round were more than just warriors, they represented the top degree of warfare in the world. If even one was present on a battlefield it was likely that battle would go to Britannia.
And I thought we just had those red Knightmares to worry about. Leila thought to herself grimly as the remaining body of W-0's core group entered the room. Military doctrine would have them salute, but given their tired expressions from all the preparation work over the last week she waived such formalities, indicating for Akito to dim the lights, standing from her own seat behind her desk and coming round to speak to everyone up front.
As she made her way around she caught the tail end of Takeru Randle - Sophie's husband and inventor of the Brain Raid System, who had been in a coma until recently - enquire after Yukiya's health. The boy in question smiled, weakly but grateful all the same, and told him he was fine. It brought some warmth to Leila's heart to see him so readily accepted by her people, especially the pilots of Wyvern, giving her hope that there was still a chance for them.
For now though, she had grim news to report and so, as the lights went down and she came to the centre before the room's main screen, she set herself up to add to her two squadron leaders' own reports.
'As we're all assembled, I believe a short recap is required.' She started, her words bringing attentive silence to everyone collected. 'As a starting point, how much damage are you aware our forces have suffered in the last week?' She raised a hand at Akito and Ashley, not wishing to add their content just yet, her focus mainly on the new arrivals - officers and scientists - who gave her honest but light shrugs.
Seeing their response, Leila saw no more need to hold back and switched on the screen. To the shock and horror of many of her people it was a photo of eradicated Alexanders numbering in the dozens just outside of Madrid. 'What you are seeing is the tip of our losses.' She told them all grimly, flicking to a more personal battle in Paris, the records of Wyvern squad serving as the source, where Emperor Lelouch's personal Knightmare did battle with her best soldiers and defeated them. 'Over the last seven days, the EU has lost over 45% of its overall fighting strength.'
The bad news didn't stop there as she motioned to one of her officers, Oscar Hammel, who grimly filled them in on the larger picture of how such losses had occurred. 'Since Lelouch's declaration all of France has been retaken, the Netherlands were shut out before we even gained a foothold, Spain has been reconquered and already half of Germany is in their hands.' If that wasn't enough for the silent group whose eyes had burst wide at the bad picture he was drawing, he added on at the end 'And we received word twelve hours ago that Bern and Lausanne have fallen too, we have to assume by now that all of Switzerland is waving the Britannian flag.'
'Are you shitting me?!' Ryo snapped, glaring at him, 'How's the bastard beating us so quickly?!'
'I have to agree.' Anna Clément spoke up quietly, a troubled look on her fair features. 'Britannia never pushed this far inland under Emperor Charles and he was a master of war.'
'Well then Lelouch is obviously our worst nightmare.' Claus Warwick suggested, scowling at even voicing what everyone in this room had dreaded: 'He's better than his old man. We saw a kid when we should've seen a general and now we're paying for it.'
It was a harsh way of putting it, but Leila was inclined to agree. It was the same mistake she'd made when she ordered Akito to bring the emperor in, thinking he was just a melodramatic boy playing hero. The heavy handed defeat he'd granted them - and by extension, her - accompanied by the swift regrouping of the Britannians in Paris had served to relieve her of that notion.
However it seemed there were still some naysayers in the ranks, namely Oscar who shook a disbelieving head at his fellow officer. 'I'm sorry, Claus, but I just can't see it.' He stated mulishly, 'A mere child doesn't have the experience to beat the EU's Generals by himself. It's just his commanders' own abilities that he's taking credit for, and that we're giving to him.'
In an ideal world Leila would have agreed with him, this unknown royal who'd suddenly appeared over a month ago and swiftly taken the crown for himself simply shouldn't be possible. Yet from the information she'd recently become privy to, there was at least now some sort of explanation for how he could have become who he was today.
Speaking of, a light chuckle from the door had everyone turning in surprise as her guest made herself known. 'Oh my, how typically male. Even now when Britannia's set to stick their swords up your proverbial ass, you still deny your enemy's competence.'
'Who are you?!' Oscar demanded, going for his gun.
'Stand down!' Leila immediately yelled, freezing him in his tracks and bringing all attention back to her and off the silver haired young woman who was scanning the group with an air of apathy. 'Oscar, this woman is here at my request. She has information that I think is vital to understanding our enemy.'
Rather than explaining further she backed off as soon as it looked like Oscar wouldn't kill their new addition and the woman threw her a saucy wink before sauntering into the room and propping herself up on the desk. 'Thanks Leila.' She said whimsically before turning her attention to the group at large. 'Now, before anyone asks for a name, it's X. Or Miss X. Or 'Mistress,' for you lucky ones.'
She leaned forward on her hands, just enough to show off a little cleavage, which got most of Asura Team staring just a little bit more intently than before. Wyvern were a bit more varied, with Ryo following Asura's lead whilst Yukiya looked at her with some level of interest, and Ayano just scowled at them and Miss X in intervals. As for Akito, he remained where he was revealing nothing in reaction to her actions.
If the officers weren't annoyed with her before they were now, and Leila was about to ask her to get back on topic before Oscar really did shoot her but X turned to flash a mocking smirk at him. 'As for why I'm here, well quite frankly Britannia's beating you so easily it's embarrassing. All because of 'that boy.' In the face of the glare that raised on his face she just giggled before going on. 'If you keep up the way you have been, thinking him just a kid, then what happened to your forces in the Netherlands will look like a gentle spanking by comparison.
Her mention got a reaction out of Asura Team, namely Ashley who went straight as a pole, and Leila had to wonder if there was more to their story that she hadn't heard yet. She would soon find out too as Joe Wise pulled out the lollipop in his mouth, asking, 'What're you talking about, lady?'
Instead of answering herself, she just turned knowing eyes to Asura Team, which had everyone else looking at them too wondering what it was they were hiding. After a moment at glancing at each other, the former Euro-Britannians nodded at each other and Ashley stepped up to speak. It had to be said though, the memory seemed to have him shaken.
'Well, you guys probably know we were with the guys in the Netherlands, yeah?' Everyone nodded, not needing to be told that they'd lost that area a second time. 'Well, the thing is, our company was wiped out by the Knight of Two. Just the Knight of Two. No ships or support whatsoever.' He paused to let that sink in for everyone, and Leila was glad he did. She hadn't heard that part yet! What the hell kind of monster had the emperor found that could wipe out an entire company all by themselves?
Again, the wait to find out wasn't long as Ashley went on to say, shortly and grimly. 'She piloted a machine she called 'Amber,' a Knightmare based on an advanced Lancelot model.'
That brought everyone up short yet again, this time out of sheer unmasked terror. The White Reaper had spawned a successor?! The original Lancelot alone had been a horrifying prospect, but to think that there was now something even more dangerous.. Leila, and a few others she noted, stared at Ashley with new found awe. How did he get out of there alive?
With that shocking delivery it was understandable that they missed something of import that Hilda Fagan, one of Anna's subordinates, brought up after recovering. 'She?' The new Knight of Two is a woman?'
Her question snapped them out of it and Ashley was about to respond but Miss X, who had also remained unmoved, beat him to it. 'A girl by the name of Cinder Fall.' She revealed to them all before shrugging. 'That's about all I know about her, she's basically been a no show until now. The really interesting thing is her machine.'
So saying, she pulled out a USB stick and inserted it into the built in drive on the desk. A moment later, the images of ruin were replaced by that of a white red and black monster of a machine that clearly resembled the dreaded Lancelot. Leila took a good look at it and immediately felt a shiver running down her spine, this thing wasn't a variation like the Gareths were of the Gawain; if she had to put a word to what she was looking at it would be the perfected version of the Lancelot, what it had always been intended to be.
'Ginger's right that this thing is based off Europe's favourite reaper.' X stated, her focus solely on the new machine. 'From what I've heard it's called Amber:Tertiary, and we can assume it has all the same systems as its predecessor only far more advanced. Also,' she carried on carelessly, not once acknowledging the growing images of horror on everyone's faces, flicking on to another image, 'I figured you'd want to know about the other new players the emperor has employed.'
This time it was the face of the new Knight of One, William Bishop, staring back at them, along with that of a man they didn't recognise who wore an eye-patch over his right eye and had a manic grin on his face. 'You're all familiar with the Knight of One by now.' X didn't give them a chance to answer, powering right on 'The one next to him is his long time friend and former cell mate, Peter Thomson, who Lelouch has named the Knight of Three.'
'Cell mate?' Franz repeated 'They were in prison? What for?'
'Oh nothing much.' X stated blandly, 'Just an attempted assassination nine years ago.'
Her offhand mention of such an act had everyone staring at her again, now though as if she was absolutely dotty. Even Leila couldn't hide her incredulity, these men were placed in prison for high treason and Miss X treated it like it was nothing? Maybe I should revise my former opinion of this woman being an 'able mind.' She considered to herself as X finally took note of the looks she was getting and merely cocked her head at them.
'What? It's not like such a thing is new for Britannia, anyone remember the Emblem of Blood Wars from fifty years ago? You guys're lucky they were busy killing each other at the time or they might have wanted in on your own little spat.' It was winces all around at that statement, the Great European War of 1979-83 was a grim chapter in the history of Europa United but the idea that if Britannia's royals hadn't been killing each other they would instead be having fun rolling up the map sat even worse on their shoulders.
Regardless it had nothing to do with the current discussion which was why Miss X immediately moved on, 'Anyway, point is, these guys plotted to kill Emperor Charles back in '09. Obviously they failed and were chucked into Alcatraz.' Here she paused as a small grin rose up her lips, 'The interesting bit is that before all that went down, Bishop here was the Knight of Two whilst his buddy Thomson was one of the test pilots for the Glasgow prototype.'
She was stopped from continuing when she spotted something that made her snort. 'You're kidding with the hand up right?'
Her comment was made toward the raised arm of one of Sophie's subordinates, Kate Novak, who immediately dropped it back down blushing with embarrassment on being called on it. Still though she went ahead and asked her question. 'Um..why would they betray the emperor? Aren't knights sworn to their king or something? Shouldn't they not want to do something like that?'
Her words elicited more than a couple of condescending eyerolls, whilst more than one member of Asura Team facepalmed at the girl's naivety, and even Leila couldn't help a small level of annoyance at the girl's quite ignorant question. Just because they were Britannian didn't immediately equal blind obedience to their emperor, her birth parents were proof of that.
Miss X, however, just took it in stride as if she was a teacher in class. 'You'd be right, sweetie, except even if he did say the words of loyalty to the emperor, William Bishop's true allegiance was only ever to one person.'
Her answer followed another change of the image on the screen, going from two men's faces to a snapshot of a beautiful young woman with raven hair, dressed in the formal attire of a Knight of Honour, standing upon the hand of a giant blue Knightmare Frame. Even as the catcalling and murmuring from some of the younger male members of their group began, Leila was already studying the woman now before her and had noticed some things that rang a bell. There was something familiar about her.
'Who's that then?' Ayano asked, a peeved note in her tone likely brought on by the attitude of her comrades at an old photo.
Miss X smirked before going on, 'This, darlings, is Her Royal Highness, Fifth Consort of Former Emperor Charles zi Britannia and Empress of the Holy Britannian Empire: Marianne vi Britannia.'
'Vi Britannia?' The up-till-now silent Claus repeated, an eyebrow raising as the others caught on to his stressing the name. 'You mean she's..?'
'And golden medal for the handsome man with the stubble.' X praised, winking flirtatiously at him before returning her attention to the group in full. 'Everyone, allow me to introduce you to Lelouch vi Britannia's mother.'
Another moment was allowed to pass as they all took that in, though for some it was a missing piece that answered some questions with regards to Lelouch. As far as Leila was concerned, this now started to explain his good pilot skills. This Marianne could only be Marianne 'the Flash,' at one time the most skilled human being with a Knightmare Frame, if Lelouch was really her son then perhaps some of her talent had rubbed off.
For others, it was a more..upfront feature of hers that the viewers noted first, which Ryo initially brought up. 'Damn..y'know, for a Britannian, she's hot.'
'That's a given.' Simon agreed readily, a rather telling grin spreading over his face as he continued. 'Heh, I'd like to stick my sword in her sheath if you know what I me-ow! Franz, what the hell?!'
'Aside from the fact that you're slobbering over a married woman.' The gentleman of Asura Team muttered, giving Ayano an approving nod as she followed his example and slapped Ryo upside the head. 'That's the mother of the man who's cut our territory in half!'
'Not to mention, before she was Empress, she was the Knight of Two.' Miss X added on, grinning icily as the two boys immediately shot ramrod again, as if the picture of the woman would suddenly come to life and strike them down with that same pleasant smile she had on her face. And now they were getting to the bit Leila had been told, the reason behind the arrival of this strange woman and the tale she had woven. As such, she was the only one who didn't react when the storyteller went on to say 'She is also dead. Assassinated in her own home nine years ago.'
'Huh?' This collective response of disbelief led them all to looking at the picture of the woman again and then at the thick red bar at the bottom of it where in white capitals was printed the word 'DECEASED.' Save for Leila who had already been aware of this bit, so it was her who answered when Ayano asked. 'Wait, the Knight of Two was killed in her own home and no one knows about it? How the hell does that happen?'
'It was kept very quiet.' She explained, a small frown forming as she remembered what Miss X had told her. 'Anyone who had a connection to Marianne was disavowed or, if they were nobility, financially ruined; the Ashford family is the prime example, virtually all their assets were seized and they were forced to leave Britannia out of fear for their lives. But,' and now her frown turned into a scowl as the final bit came forth, 'that doesn't match what the emperor did to his own son.'
'His son?' Yukiya spoke up quietly, wincing a bit from his head wound. 'You mean Lelouch?'
'Hmm.' She nodded at him tightly. 'Apparently, when Emperor Charles called off the investigation into his own wife's murder' she allowed a brief moment to allow the disbelieving exclamations to get out and then went on, 'Prince Lelouch called an audience to demand an explanation.'
'Hang on,' Ryo interrupted, 'the future emperor, who had to be a kid at the time, demanded something from Charles zi Britannia?!' After she gave him a simple nod, he let out a small whistle. 'Damn, the bastard has balls of steel.'
Admittedly some part of Leila agreed with him. Despite the fact that he was an enemy, it was still incredible that there was anyone who could stand up to that giant of a man directly to his face. But still.. 'Those balls didn't save him from exile.' Miss X cut in, pulling the number of admiring murmurs back to her. 'As a result for speaking out, Lelouch lost his position as Eleventh Prince and was given to Prime Minister Genbu Kururugi as a hostage.'
'G-Genbu?!' Ayano exclaimed, in fact her statement spoke for all the Japanese members of W-0 who were now staring at her wide-eyed. 'Then he was..?'
'That's right, deary.' X nodded with a light smile, 'Britannia's current Emperor was in your homeland when everything went to hell for you and yours.'
'But the emperor got him out of there,' Kate continued for her with quite a bit more hope in her tone, considering who they were talking about, 'right?'
But X just shook her head at her, 'Nope. From what I've found no such order was ever given. I'm only speculating here, but it's pretty obvious that Lelouch was left to die in the invasion.'
Such a callous act voiced so dispassionately had many of the group muttering amongst themselves, once again in disbelief at what they were being told. It was Akito's words though, his first contribution to the discussion, that encapsulated their thoughts: 'His family abandoned him.'
His words were agreed upon by the others and there were even a couple of looks of pity for their enemy, something Leila noticed most prominently on Akito's face. It wasn't hard to work out why: Akito's older brother, Shinn Hyuga Shaing, had used and then abandoned him at a young age too. To hear this story again had to have him identifying with the emperor more than maybe should be good for a soldier.
The only one not affected was Miss X herself who went on as if she were discussing nail polish, her legs swaying as they did. 'The trail goes cold after that until a month and a half ago when he returns with a royal guard of his own, captained by another admirer of his mother, and announces himself emperor after killing the previous one.' She shrugged and offered a lazy smile. 'As stories go, it's pretty fantastic, don't you agree?'
Fantastic or not, it was more than they'd known about the emperor before, which was why Leila had wanted X to tell her story to the others as well. It had given her some idea as to where Lelouch had become so competent a strategist. Even if X's story was inaccurate, he still would have had to learn to plan ahead by several steps in order to stay out of the empire's hands as long as he had and that didn't even account as to how he somehow managed to kill his father. Such ability to plan ahead, taking almost everything into account, could easily be applied to warfare if he was good enough..and as the state of the EU would suggest, he was more than good enough.
'So the guy didn't like his family.' Ryo summed up the last five minutes pretty bluntly before snorting. 'So what? What does that have to do with the Rounds?'
'It has everything to do with them, Ryo.' Leila told him firmly, glancing at X who just nodded at her. 'William Bishop was loyal only to Marianne vi Britannia. To learn that her son is now emperor would be a dream come true for him, making him the obvious choice for a new Knight of One. Peter Thomson is a violent man but he respects strength; Lelouch killing Charles would make him the most powerful person he'd ever known.' Here she shrugged. 'I can't say a lot for the Knight of Two, but there's probably a story of dislike for the former emperor there as well.'
'What about the Knight of Four?' Chloe Winkel, another of Anna's assistants, asked. 'There're four of them now, right? We've only talked about three of them.'
'Ah the new boy.' Miss X nodded in recognition before sighing and shrugging her shoulders with a little half smile. 'Sorry, but when it comes to him there's even less than on Cinder Fall. A complete unknown who came out of nowhere after Lelouch declared war. We don't even know what sort of Knightmare he uses. All we have is a name: Arthur Calhoun.'
That name didn't mean much to Leila, but it sparked something in the members of Wyvern squad who were now glancing at each other questioningly. She was about to ask what it was they thought they knew, but when she tried to open her mouth the whole room shook as something exploded outside.
The hell?! Even as the others pulled themselves up, Yukiya needing help from Ayano, Leila rushed back around her desk and tapped another button for the main screen. The image of Marianne vi Britannia vanished, replaced with an external shot of the base. What was there caused several of the girls to gasp with shock, whilst the officers stood staring wide-eyed at the image and Leila herself felt something chill run through her soul. On the outskirts of their castle, just beyond the range of their defences, hovered an entire Britannian air-flotilla.
She could just barely hear her officers starting to bark into their headpieces, demanding why they hadn't been alerted to the enemy presence sooner. For her though such thoughts didn't matter - Britannia was here at last, and W-0 was the only thing that stood in their way to conquering Italy. Thus she turned around and immediately assumed command. 'To your stations!' She ordered them all firmly, 'Command staff to the CIC, pilots to their machines - not you Yukiya.' She pointed to the boy's head injury, stopping him in his tracks. 'You're going back to med bay.'
'But commander!' He protested, but that was all he managed as he suddenly winced again just from the sharp movement.
He wasn't allowed to get a second wind either as Sophie got a hold of him and started leading him away. 'You can barely walk right now, let alone fight an army.' She told him sharply before sending the rest of Wyvern squad a reassuring look. 'I'll get him to med bay and make sure he stays there.'
The rest of the team nodded and said their farewells to their comrade before he could protest any further. Sighing in relief that that potential problem had been started before it began, Leila turned to the only remaining person in the room. 'We'll have to finish this discussion later,' she told Miss X.
'Of course.' She agreed with a light wave of her hand, hardly having moved from her spot on the desk. 'Believe me, you'll want to hear the rest.'
Undoubtedly sure that she would, Leila nodded to her guest and then made her own way out of the meeting room. However, even as she made her way to the CIC, she couldn't help the feeling that someone, somewhere, was watching her.
Battle was joined not long after the fleet had fired the first volley and the Britannian forces quickly got to work dishing out hell upon their enemy. While true the EU's base had been heavily fortified with any number of traps and tricks and other means of killing a lot of people very quickly, they were all designed to deal with ground forces and infantry. It was a weakness that the white Vincent Wards, renamed 'Vultures' by His Majesty, used to their advantage, strafing the skies and bombing the European positions before diving in and slicing up anything they found.
This weakness wasn't present on the castle itself however, as its ground-to-air cannons immediately got to work targeting and blasting any number of Knightmares out of the sky. However, quantity was a quality all in itself in this battle and as such the losses were far from crippling, not to mention that the cannons did nothing to the ships themselves.
For Jeremiah Gottwald, it was further proof of his master's brilliance as he carried out Emperor Lelouch's strategy to the letter. Such thinking had never been his strong point, he was better with group tactics than anything on this scale, but with His Majesty's great mind at work, victory was sure to be their's once again.
'Do not falter!' He cried over his radio on an open channel for all to hear. 'We are the instrument of His Majesty, we shall not shame him with bringing him anything less than total victory!' So saying, he and the two Centurions and the Sutherland Sieg's back dived down straight for the outer wall where a squad of navy blue Alexanders had just taken up position to defend. 'Now then..' Jeremiah intoned, 'TASTE THE STORM OF MY LOYALTY!'
On his last syllable, every missile pod on the massive Knight Giga Fortress opened up, launching every single one of its explosives out onto the wall and the poor squad of European machines that were in its path.
'The wall is breached!' Jeremiah called out, 'All forces advance!'
At his command, the Sutherlands and Gloucesters that had been waiting at the walls began to move for the opening and were soon streaming up the mountain towards the enemy's second line of defence. There were likely to be Alexanders waiting for them but a little help from the Vultures would keep things nice and even whilst he and the Scarlet Guard carried out the true objective of this battle.
'Our primary goal,' Jeremiah stated on a private channel to the two Centurions, 'is the destruction of their stratospheric launcher. If we knock that out, they'll be unable to land their forces behind our lines. Whilst we carry out that mission, Lady C.C. will find and eliminate the special target.'
The target in question was Leila Malcal - or Breisgau, or whatever name she was calling herself these days - who had been harbouring a dreaded secret all this time. His Majesty had confided in him that the girl had a power similar to his own except it could destroy Geass as well. Such knowledge was infuriating. How dare that girl use such power to cause strife to His Majesty's goals?! If Lady C.C. fails then I will personally hunt this woman down and kill her myself! So says Jeremiah Got-!
His thoughts were cut off though by fire from below and he was force to pull the Sieg away from the ground. Who dares?! Coming about Jeremiah spotted a group of three Alexanders, two of which were painted white whilst the lead seemed to have been heavily modified and was wielding a Japanese katana. 'Who are you to fire upon me, Jeremiah Gottwald?!'
As he was on an open frequency he was able to catch the conversation between his new opponents who were still taking careful aim at him. 'Gottwald?' The first asked, a woman by the sounds of it. 'Isn't that the captain of Lelouch's Royal Guard?'
Ah, so it would seem his reputation preceded him. He allowed himself a satisfied smirk as the second pilot, considerable male and loud uncouth by his tone agreed with the first one's guess. 'Yeah, he's the guy who dropped from the ceiling and broke all those guards halberds with just a kick!' Oh yes, what a splendid day that had been, bringing his master home to his rightful place in society had been the greatest honour he had yet to receive.
The loud one wasn't done yet though as he pondered something. 'Hang on, wasn't he the guy Zero absolutely ruined too? What was the name everyone called him?' he paused for a moment before an audible click was heard through the speaker. 'Yeah that was it! Orange-kun!'
The laughter that followed only lasted a second as, the moment after, the Sutherland Sieg's Hyper-Velocity Cannon fired right at him causing the man to curse loudly and the whole team to pull back some. As for Jeremiah himself, he was positively fuming. 'Orange?' He demanded silently..before repeating loudly, 'ORANGE?! HOW DARE YOU BASE DREGS SPEAK THE NAME OF MY LOYALTY?!'
The word 'Orange' had been a source of strife for him in the past, yes, but now with the knowledge that it was Lelouch himself that had named him such, for Jeremiah that word had been the beginning of his redemption. Coming through pain, humiliation and suffering at the hands of that obese oaf Bartley, he had been reborn as a better man, a greater man, one who could stand beside his master with pride. All because of the word 'Orange.'
And he would be damned if the word of his renewal would be sullied by these worthless rags of a dead era!
Therefore he sent the Sieg straight down towards the three machines, launching the front lance harkens at them which scattered them, giving him the perfect opening to fire a second volley of rockets their way. The Alexanders were forced backwards until they were forced to hide behind a wall that the Sieg's large size couldn't get around, but that was all right because Jeremiah could always just blow it away with his cannon.
As he charged up a shot, the conversation of the team continued with the girl chastising her team mate. 'Honestly Ryo, what's your problem? First off you piss off the Emperor enough that he put Yukiya in the hospital and now you're getting the captain of his guard mad? Do you have a death wish or something?'
'Hey!' The one identified as Ryo snapped back defensively. 'It's not my fault he has such a dumb title!'
They suddenly went quiet again, likely because they were getting orders from their commander, but they already said enough for Jeremiah to realise who it was he was fighting. His Majesty had mentioned a group of Japanese pilots fighting for the EU. The Ghost of Hannibal. Suddenly his scowl diminished some to be replaced with an excited grin, how fortuitous for me!
Suddenly they were on the move again, coming out from their shoddy cover and made for the second wall. How foolish, even if they could get there they'd never be able to scale it before someone blew them away. And just coincidentally, the cannon was ready to fire. Even so, Jeremiah hesitated for little more than a millisecond to acknowledge his disappointment that the dreaded Wyvern squad wasn't more of a challenge to him..oh well, and then he hit the firing mechanism. However, his brief pause would cost him as, just as the cannon discharged, the Sieg was suddenly struck from the side by new enemy fire that sent the shot wide and away from the white machines.
What the devil?! Looking around, he caught sight of a red Alexander that had been heavily modified like the purple one leading the Wyverns coming at him from the left. Behind it was a team of red Gloucesters that had their rifles aimed at him and fired off another volley, forcing him further away from the white team.
Traitors? If so then there was no reason to show them any mercy. 'Centurions!'
At his word, the two machines of the Scarlet Guard rushed to his side to cover him, the one on the left charging the red custom Alexander whilst the one on the right opened fire on the team itself with his VARIS. The blast succeeded in scattering the red team but only for a moment as they quickly reformed their line after each successive shot, making it clear these weren't some underpaid grunts that thought switching sides would provide greater luxury. Professional turncoats then? Jeremiah wondered to himself as the red custom unit launched for one of the Centurions with a sword, which clashed against the Scarlet Guard's spear.
In that case.. Snarling a growl of true hatred for the betrayers of His Majesty's confidence, Jeremiah brought the Sieg's cannon to bear yet again and was yet again dissuaded from using it by the return of the white team. Their own custom Alexander came straight at him and was ballsy enough to jump onto the Sieg.
So he hopes to pierce my shell, does he? Jeremiah allowed himself a smirk as his cybernetic systems began to activate some of the new features on the Sutherland Sieg. I think not.
After Lloyd and Cecile had been brought into the fold, Emperor Lelouch had ordered improvements on more than just the Shinkiro. With the Sieg as big as it was, a lack of defence was simply out of the question and so Lloyd had installed a Blaze Luminous system that could be activated through Jeremiah's Direct Link functions should he need it. That was exactly what he did now just before the custom unit landed, a green barrier shooting up around the entire Knight Giga Fortress, which the Alexander crashed into instead and was forced to jump away from when the lance harkens were brought to bear.
Landing on the wall beneath the Sieg, the purple unit armed its rifle and began firing at the giant machine's underbelly, for all the good it did the pilot. Confident smile still in place, the Hyper-Velocity Cannon again was armed, but to Jeremiah's increasing frustration with these little pests, a projectile from a rocket launcher slammed into the Sieg again pushing him away from his intended target.
Growling in annoyance, he pulled the Sieg back and glared up at where the shot had fired. On the second defensive wall behind the custom unit, there was a whole squadron of navy blue Alexanders armed with bazookas, along with seven orange versions of the model.
'So.' Jeremiah started over an open channel as the custom unit came about and joined up with his newly arrived comrades. 'Even more have come to meet their fates.'
'Keep talking, Orange boy!' A new, equally obnoxious voice to the last one who mocked his title shot back as the red custom unit as his team pulled up on the wall, followed by the white Alexander team. 'Me and my boys aren't dying today!'
'No indeed.' He could agree to that as he glared at the Gloucesters in the red unit's ranks. 'You and your followers will be brought alive to His Majesty's court where you will beg forgiveness for your abandoned loyalty!'
Numerically speaking, the Europeans had the advantage and the new arrivals were fresh unlike the two teams he had engaged. Also he and the Centurions had already been fighting for some time, his cybernetics gave him a bit of an advantage but the Scarlet Guard were only human. Nevertheless they had something these fools didn't: full committed loyalty to their leader and cause!
Thus it was with confidence that Jeremiah readied his lance harkens for the second bout, his actions causing the Centurions to follow suit by arming their rifles, which triggered the enemy group to prepare their own weapons for renewed combat. 'Before that though,' he began, 'I would have the name of the leader of these rebels as well as that of the foolish Europeans who you've thrown your lot in with.'
'Yeah?' The red custom unit's pilot snarked back at him. 'Well I'm the one and only badass of badasses, Ashley Ashra!' It wasn't a name Jeremiah was familiar with, but he cared little as the red machine pointed to the purple unit, 'And this here's my buddy Akito!'
The purple unit's pilot - Akito - when he spoke, was much calmer than his vitriolic friend. 'You should retreat now, Britannian.' He told him. 'This day will not be one of defeat for us. I promise you that.' So saying, his machine drew its katana and brought it into a ready stance.
'Yeah come at us!' Ashra yelled at him in agreement. 'Me and my boys're gonna kick your ass, Jerry!'
'Is that so?' Jeremiah asked, a small dark laugh escaping his lungs, before he bellowed aloud. 'Very well then! Show me your power!' Without further warning he launched the Sutherland Sieg forwards, the Centurions quick to follow in after him. 'And I shall show you fools the strength and loyalty of Emperor Lelouch's Orange Knight!'
Inside the base's CIC, statistics and reports flooded every screen and were voiced through every headpiece as Leila did all in her power to keep the Britannian's at bay. So far she seemed to have managed that. Even if the numbers of their own losses were grim (estimates were that they were down to 65% full strength already) the fact remained that, for the moment, the line was holding at the second defensive wall. Even the enemy commander, from what she'd heard, was engaged in battle so that was something to be relieved about.
Nevertheless, she wasn't about to take her eyes off of what had to be the enemy's target. 'What's the status of the launcher?' She demanded for the fifth time since the battle began.
'Still intact and being defended with everything we have.' Claus reported from his seat. 'But damn if those guys aren't making it hard, they seem to have divided up their force into teams to get the drop on us.'
That made sense, send the main body to draw off as many as they could and strike with smaller groups that had a better chance of reaching the objective. They weren't leaving this to chance, they knew just as well as Leila did how important it was that the stratospheric launcher remained active, especially now. It had been how so many of the EU's forces had been able to get passed Britannia's defences in countries like France and Spain during the first day of the war. Now though it was doubly important if they ever hoped to launch a counter attack.
From his own monitor, Joe let out a whistle that brought Leila's attention to him. 'Damn, they're not kidding around either. Just got word from Captain Hammel. He, Wyvern and Asura have engaged Jeremiah Gottwald and two of those Scarlet Guard Knightmares.'
That brought her up short for a moment as she processed what she'd just been told; the Emperor's Guard Captain was here? Even so she didn't have long to question it as the main screen switched from the tactical overlay of the castle to live video footage of a vicious battle just meters away from the second defensive perimeter. Ashley's team were engaging the two red Knightmares with all their worth whilst Akito led Wyvern squad and all of Hammel's squadron against a massive orange machine that had been reported being seen in Switzerland.
Undoubtedly that large unit had to be Sir Gottwald's, though Leila was more concerned with the fact that despite their numerical advantage the Britannian side was gradually pushing their line back. Despite its bulk the huge thing was still fast enough to stave off any attack sent its way by Akito and the others and then go on the offensive to devastating levels of destruction as a firing of that large cannon mounted on its belly quickly proved.
After a moment of thinking, Leila addressed Joe, 'Tell Hammel to disengage and return to the main battle. Asura and Wyvern are to draw the enemy north.'
The scientist gave her a grim look but nodded and did as he was told. She knew what he was thinking and, to a point, she felt the same: It was a harsh thing to leave this battle up to just two teams but it was the right call to make, at the very least bringing Gottwald and his backup north would keep him out of the way of the launcher.
Still there was something about all of this that bothered her. Why had Lelouch sent his royal guard of all people to this battle? Reports still placed him in Germany so logically speaking he would want them close to him. Then there was where said guard had focussed their attack, that location did put them in the direction of the launcher but the way they had been going about their tactics suggested they were barely interested in it. Other teams had already made assaults on it by now without making themselves so visible. It all smelt of a deception..but to what ends.
'Leila!' The call from Olivia Reuel would provide her with an answer as she turned to her. 'We've got a problem with the surveillance on the first floor.'
'What kind of a problem?' She asked, frowning.
'They've gone dark.' The blonde officer informed her.
Her report brought reactions of shock from the command staff, which was compounded as they quickly swapped visuals to what should have been footage of the first floor corridors of the castle, only to be met with static. The same was shown on the frontal defences and, most worrying of all, the main gate had also gone dark.
'Is it the enemy already?' Chloe whimpered, trembling in ill-disguised fear.
It must be. Leila concluded to herself, though she was at a loss as to how they could have penetrated the second and third defensive layers without being detected. A group of commandos was the most likely explanation but even so they didn't usually take out the cameras, that was a spec-ops move but it couldn't be them because they usually attacked before the battle started. Who the hell is this?
Ruminating on what branch it was could wait though and she quickly sent orders to dispatch what guards they had to the lower levels. The enemy objective was most likely to cause chaos in their ranks by wiping out the command structure, in other words everyone in this room. It was what they did when Weisswolf fell so Leila had little doubt that they'd try it again. As such her soldiers were to intercept the enemy as soon as they could and keep them at bay for as long as possible. I just wish we knew what we were fighting!
Her wish was soon to be granted by Olivia as she suddenly called up to her, 'I've got visual on the enemy intruders!'
The main screen then switched to a hallway where European soldiers were firing down a corridor at what looked to be Britannian infantrymen, hardly what had been expected. Suddenly, the enemy soldiers ceased fire and ducked back behind cover. For a moment it appeared that their people had won this little skirmish, however the glad tidings were cut short when a new individual from the Britannian end of the corridor suddenly sprinted forwards. Whoever or whatever it was, they never got a clear view as the unknown arrival quickly got in close despite the renewed fire from their people, looking for all intents and purposes like a white blur.
What happened next, they could only guess at as one moment the two heavily armed frontline troops were standing with the new enemy in between them and the next they had collapsed backwards, hands going to their throats as blood spilled from unseen slits to their throats. Before Leila could order her staff to get a closer look at the newcomer, the image vanished under renewed fire from the Britannian infantry. The only thing they caught before the image died was a glint of gold that trimmed the white.
'That was the second floor.' Olivia reported, her tone unnerved at what they'd just seen. 'You can bet they're moving up.'
Leila could only nod, herself still shaken by the quick and clinical way that white streak had dispatched their toughened defences. Gulping down, she asked 'Where are they now?'
'Still on the second..no wait, they've already made it to level three!' Kate reported fearfully.
And there really was an air of fear in the CIC as everyone started glancing at each other, memories of the fall of Weisswolf likely going through their minds as they did in Leila's. The Britannians were coming, with some sort of super soldier leading the charge, and they had only Sarah and Pierre - aside from herself and Claus - who had any real military training. This didn't stop the two girls from immediately arming themselves should the worst case scenario played out, but it did trigger a panicked reaction from Joe who started quaking uncontrollably.
Psalm 95 chords cfc. This sounds like an old church song but I cannot find it anywhere.
'Easy Joe!' Takeru admonished as lightly as he could, he and Sophie coming over to try their best at keeping him, 'They won't get us. We're not dying here. Everything's going to be all right.'
'All right?!' The patented candy lover repeated incredulously, his red lollipop flying out of his mouth and spittle coating his friend's face as he anxiously exclaimed. 'No! It won't be all right! You weren't there when Euro Britannia hit us! They didn't stop at anything and we almost died! And these guys?' He pointed at his screen that was still showing data from the battle outside, 'These're the real deal, led by some assassin and commanded by an emperor even better at conquering nations than the last one!'
'Mister Wise!' Leila snapped through his increasingly loud nay saying, gathering the attention of several others as well as she fixed him with a harsh stare 'Calm yourself this instant! Your attitude is discouraging the staff!' Her words were true, the more he talked the greater fear she'd caught in the other members of the command staff, even Claus was throwing the odd anxious glance at the doorway as if expecting the Britannians to burst in any second. Still, her short reprimand seemed to be getting through to the others whilst Sophie did her bit to calm Joe down. Once it seemed they were back to an acceptable level of control she carried on.
'Getting scared now is pointless, all we can do now is continue to do our duty.' It was short and not nearly reassuring, but right now she couldn't afford to be. She was a soldier, dying in battle was always possible. The least she could do now was hold out as long as possible, maybe get as many people out of here as she could and maybe even survive herself. But to do that she needed information that she could only get through the others. As such she turned to Kate and asked firmly, 'Where are the intruders now?'
The anxious girl turned to look back at her screen and immediately her eyes went wide as she all but shrieked, 'They're right outside the door!'
Her alarming declaration had everyone near the large steel door spinning around to face it, Sarah and Pierre aiming their rifles at it whilst Claus made sure the locks were in place. Even though they were, through the silence that now permeated the command centre, they could hear the sound of the enemy infantry just beyond the reinforced thick metal as they no doubt planned to blast it open.
Leila bit her lip, thinking for a moment before addressing Kate again. 'Put me on speaker.' The quivering girl barely managed a nod as she turned on the audio system, which Leila then took command of through her own podium, speaking into the inbuilt microphone. 'Attention Britannian soldiers, this is the commander of Castle Lupobianco. Your intrusion into this facility has gone far enough, leave this place at once or my people will be ordered to open fire on you.'
There was nothing but silence on the other end, and Leila held her breath. And then the moment passed.
A muffled explosion on the other side of the door was the only warning they got before the large steel slab was slammed open, followed by dust. Leila turned around to face the door, Claus coming to stand at her side with his pistol at the ready. Sarah and Pierre immediately moved either side of the door, their weapons aimed at the large dust cloud. For a while though, no enemies appeared, there was no commencing of rifle fire or the heavy thud of military boots..or anything really.
Then there came the slow 'clink' of equally slow footsteps, followed by the silhouette of a small slim figure walking towards them through the dust. Claus raised his pistol just a little bit, his finger twitching on the trigger, but Leila waved for him to lower it just a little bit. If they were only sending one in then they could work with that, turn the Britannian arrogance against them and force their way out of this, but only if they didn't look like an immediate threat.
It seemed that arrogance was alive and well when a young woman who couldn't be older than herself stepped out of the dust cloud and stopped before her. Instead of military gear she was dressed in what looked like a cross between a pilot suit and a female version of formal opera wear. She had lime green hair that hung loose in no particular style, and piercing gold eyes that stared into Leila's own.
'O-ho..' Claus's casual tone didn't end the girl's staring at her, but it did alert Leila to the fact that he had raised his pistol again to aim it at her head, 'and what smiling fortune brought this vision of loveliness to us?'
The green-haired girl finally broke her gaze with Leila, turning to look now at him and for a moment she wondered if there really was anything to be concerned of..and then she moved. In a flash of white and gold that suddenly had everyone recalling the unidentified individual from the second floor, the girl had rushed Claus, knocked his weapon out of his hand where it landed firmly in her own and was pressed now against his brow.
Shocked as she was, Leila still spotted Sarah and Pierre move to shoot the intruder but she quickly ordered them to stand down. They were too close together, if she let them fire Claus was dead either way. As it was the girl hadn't pulled the trigger of her newly acquired weapon, though Claus was wearing a face of extreme apprehension as he didn't dare shift his position.
Seeing his uncomfortable state, the girl said in a monotone voice 'Relax, I'm not here to kill you little man.' So saying, she removed the pistol from his head and took a single step back. 'No one else here has to die today. All I want here..' she turned back around, her gold eyes once more fixing on Leila, 'is you.'
Me? She blinked, on a strategic level it made sense - capture the commander, end the battle - yet from the stare being sent her way she had a dark feeling that this girl's aims went further than that. It was Sophie though, her husband standing just head of her, that asked everyone's question. 'What does Britannia want with the Lieutenant Colonel?'
Her question however was met with a derisive snort from the girl, her visage twisting for the briefest moment into a sneer before flattening out again into impassiveness. 'Britannia wants Leila Malcal to surrender her castle and herself to Lelouch. That is not what I want.'
Dread suddenly filled Leila's breast as a possible end to this conversation crystallised itself in her mind and she fought the command in her mind to run. But where would she go? Now she understood why this girl - this assassin - had come in alone: the way out was still shut, there was nowhere to run. Still, she wouldn't let herself succumb to fear and so swallowed those feelings down to ask a question. 'And..what is it that you want..Miss..?'
'Call me whatever you want.' The girl replied with a minuscule shrug. 'As for what I want..'
The click of her acquired pistol echoed through the silent command centre as if it were a cave. It was the only warning they got before she span around and whipped Claus hard in the face, sending him falling to the ground, before coming back around and shooting at Sarah and Pierre before they could react. Her speed was such that the two didn't know they'd lost their hold on their rifles until the girl had returned her attention to Leila, the muzzle of the pistol now aimed directly between her eyes.
'What I want is you,' the girl continued, calm as ever yet now with a tiny smile gracing her lips '..dead.'
Her finger pulled the trigger, and everything slowed down. Leila heard the shot, saw the muzzle flash, and instinctively flinched..and yet there was no pain. She then saw that the shot had gone wide on account of a tablet having been thrown at the girl, hitting her arm and sending the bullet flying into the wall behind her. The girl was caught off balance, and with that Leila seized her chance.
Rushing forward, she grabbing the girl's outstretched arm and twisted it to the point that she was forced to let the pistol go. She then moved to twist the arm around further, intent on forcing her onto the ground where she could pin her, but the girl anticipated the move and launched an elbow into her face, the shock of which alone breaking Leila's hold on her, followed up by a palm strike directly to her chest. As Leila's twist had brought them both around to the point they'd traded locations, she was forced onto her podium, the hard and sharp corners digging into her back. The girl advanced on her, but Leila used her position to her advantage and pushed herself up off the ground, delivering a double push kick that now forced her back.
Military training kicked in and Leila moved forward with strikes and punches, all of which the girl blocked but that didn't matter because every strike she attempted forced her further back. Just a little more..and then Sarah and Pierre came forward from either side to grab the girl's arms. With her distracted it should now be an easy job for the girls to incapacitate her.
Not so however as, when they made to grab her, the girl suddenly changed tactics. As Leila launched another final blow, instead of blocking it she took hold of the advancing wrist and twisted it in a rotating wristlock. Her whole body seizing up, Leila was about to instinctively turn into the lock before the girl, like water, flowed around her without letting go of the wrist and sent her sailing into Pierre before dropping down and sweeping Sarah off of her feet with a low roundhouse kick.
That wasn't the end of it though as Leila quickly got back up, arms coming back up in defence as the girl, true to her word, immediately abandoned Sarah and turned back to her. Still smirking she launched another assault, a flurry of strikes and kicks that Leila just managed deflect and dodge, but her opponent was so fast that she was unable to mounter a counter-attack, until she almost tripped over Pierre who was doing her best to stay out of the way of them both. At last though, an opening came when the girl made a sharp knife chop to Leila's neck. Acting quickly, she grabbed the offending arm at the wrist and then punched forward at the girl's stomach.
However, the girl managed to catch her fist before it made contact and for a moment the two were locked together, staring each other in the eye - one determined, the other barely moved - before the smirking assassin hummed to herself then spoke. 'So the little girl can fight now, can she?'
The familiarity with which she spoke caught Leila off guard; what did she mean by 'now?' Had they met somewhere before? The outfit rang a bell but she couldn't remember where, though that couldn't possibly be related to anything. However, her hesitance would prove almost fatal as the girl took the open opportunity and kneed her in the gut, hard. The air forced out of her lungs, Leila went down to her knees whilst the girl stepped back. 'It's nice to see you've grown up.' She admitted to her quietly, 'But you're not nearly ready for this stage.'
'Doesn't matter if there's a gun at your head.' A firm voice suddenly threatened behind her. Both looked up, the girl turning around, to see Claus standing behind her, his stolen pistol back in his hands and now aimed at her head. A trickle of blood from his head wound ran down the side of his face, but it didn't impede his aim or his stern glare that spoke of just how serious he was. 'I'd rather not have to shoot a woman, so just surrender.'
The girl, in response, merely cocked her head and Leila could just imagine the sly smirk on her face as she rhetorically asked 'Is that so?' In a tone that clearly promised trouble no matter what they did, and then clapped her hands twice in quick succession.
Her clap had to be a pre-set command as a moment later, the infantry soldiers that Leila admitted to herself she'd forgotten about in the face of this deadly girl streamed into the command centre, assault rifles aimed at the staff. They numbered twice as many as the officers in the room, some of which were already incapacitated as it was. 'You let yourselves get careless,' the girl chided them all, 'focussing on one life when there were others you could have saved.'
The words were followed with her turning to her soldiers, the order to execute them all doubtless on her lips, and Leila's head dropped to her chest. It was her nightmare all over again, her friends were about to be killed right in front of her and this time there wasn't going to be any magical intervention that would help her save them. She had failed!
At the very least though she could look them in the eye when they killed her, and so slowly she lifted her head back up off her chest. In doing so, she caught sight of a small cylindrical object rolling along across the floor to rest just between her and the girl. A moment later her eyes widened as she realised what it was and she immediately shut them, calling out to the others, 'Flash grenade!'
Holy Britannian Empire Flag Images
She didn't dare look around to see if the others had shielded their eyes, though she did hear a curious 'hmm?' from the girl before the grenade went off, blinding those soldiers who hadn't covered up their assault visors. Confused shouting filled the room and Leila hugged the ground, still not risking her sight by opening her eyes, and a moment later there was a series of single rapport shots, typical of a handgun, that silenced the Britannian voices.
A loud 'thump!' beside her finally pushed Leila to the edge of her patience and she opened her eyes, only to almost shut them again at her first sight. The strange girl who'd had her at her mercy now lay flat on the floor, a look of undisguised surprise clear on her wide open eyes, as blood trickled out of a newly added hole in her head. Further along, she saw that there was still one person standing who hadn't been here before, dressed in black, the last person she expected to see here of all places.
'Well, are you going to lie there all day?' Miss X asked playfully, returning her gun to its holster and looking around the CIC. 'Honestly, don't you people believe in security? This is possibly the most important room in the entire complex!'
I'll make a note of that if we survive this. Leila thought to herself wryly as she picked herself up from the floor and straightened out her uniform. A quick scan around revealed that the others were recovering from the flash grenade as well, Claus jumping immediately to the point and asking 'How did you know that we needed help?'
'You can thank your commander for that.' X told them, smiling approvingly at her before sauntering around the centre, 'There I was, lazing around in that big empty meeting room, when suddenly the voice of our lovely Leila here comes out over the speakers saying that the Brit boys are knocking on her door.' Shrugging carelessly, she leaned on the rail of the stairs down to the pit, grinning at the rest of the command staff. 'I was bored, so I figured 'eh, why not?'
The staff looked at each other, then at either Leila or X in alternating expressions of stupor and amazement. As for the young CO, she just blushed a little at the praising looks. Yes, she'd sent the warning out to the Britannians over the widespread speaker array rather than the private line that held just to the top levels in hopes that someone would realise what had happened but she hadn't actually held out hope anyone would arrive before they were captured. And that Miss X of all people was the one to respond was equally surprising.
Nevertheless, her gamble had paid off, better than expected and so she simply cleared her throat and addressed them all. 'Yes, well anyway, is everyone all right?' When she got affirmative responses from everyone she nodded self consciously and turned to Anna - whom she sent another wave of gratefulness for giving her a chance to defend herself - and set about getting back on track. 'What's the situation outside?'
Anna, still slightly shaking, turned back to her post and got the latest data from the field. When she received it, the shaking increased exponentially and she turned back to Leila with renewed fear. 'We've lost the launcher.'
'Dammit!' Ashley's voice came over the private channel on Akito's radio as they again evaded another attack from the giant orange machine. His cursing, however, wasn't a result of the difficult fight they'd been engaged in for quite some time now; even though Captain Hammel had been ordered to disengage, leaving Asura and Wyvern to deal with the Royal Guard alone, they'd still been able to hold their own against Gottwald. What Ashley was yelling about had to do with the large plume of smoke directly to the east.
Somewhere in the last five minutes communications from the castle had gone dark, leading many to assume the worst had happened to Leila and the command staff. Shortly after, the Britannians had broken the Alexander lines and forced their way past the second line of defence. Akito and Ashley's teams had both tried to help push them back but every time they tried, Jeremiah Gottwald and the two Scarlet Guard Knightmares had cut them off, forcing them away from the main battle.
With W-0's lines broken, it had been more than easy for a team of Vincent Wards to fly ahead and destroy the stratospheric launcher without any significant resistance save for the Alexanders guarding it. Now though those same units were retreating as fast as they could to more secure ground, their mission to defend the key resource of Castle Lupobianco a complete failure.
Akito though didn't have time to lament their failure as the source of their own frustration made another attack on them, launching its giant lance harkens at him and Ashley again, forcing the two to move further away from the wall they'd been stuck on ever since they engaged him.
'I must admit,' the emperor's Guard Captain declared from above them, his machine's large weapons returning to their docks as it held its position above the Liberte and Red Ogre 'the two of you are exceptional warriors. Worthy of recognition, were one of you not a traitor and the other a fool. However,' and now the large machine's belly mounted cannon began to charge up again, 'skill alone is nothing in the face of my loyalty!'
The cannon fired and the two of them swerved to the side, after which Ashley launched forward with a furious yell, the Red Ogre jumping forward with its sword drawn. However the action was a futile one as the machine's damned shield came alive just as the blade struck home. Frustration mounting, Akito opened fire with the Liberte's rifle but, much like the sword, the rounds just couldn't penetrate Gottwald's defences.
Dammit! If we could call the others over we might have a shot. The problem of course was that they couldn't, not with those two scarlet red Knightmares occupying the rest of both teams. With Yukiya out of commission, all that was left of Wyvern to take on the Guard were Ayano and Ryo so Rene and Kuzan had split off to help them out with one machine whilst the rest fought the other one. Yet, even with a four-to-one ratio in their favour, the Britannians were still winning, at times fighting them at close range before switching, faster than they could follow, to their VARIS rifles which forced all eight of them back to find cover.
'We're getting nowhere fast!' Ayano called out over their channel. 'We need a plan or we're not gonna survive this one, Akito!'
'Dammit!' Ryo cursed loudly as he pulled his Alexander away from another incoming burst from his enemy's VARIS. 'If we had Yukiya this would be so much easier!'
Somehow Akito doubted that, but he had to concede that Ayano was right: they'd been at this now for some time and, while he didn't know about the others, the Liberte's power readings suggested he had about thirty minutes left before it was out of energy. If they kept this up, they were going to end up captured or dead. They needed a plan and they needed it now.
Their salvation couldn't have been better timed then when the Liberte's radio was suddenly filled with what could only be called the sweetest surprise of the day. 'Attention all forces!' Leila's voice called out, momentarily stunning everyone before the shock was replaced with relief and joy: their commander was still alive! However, their jubilation would turn to disbelief after her following orders. 'Disengage and retreat! We are abandoning Castle Lupobianco!'
'Lieutenant Colonel!' Franz protested, his Gloucester going on the offensive against his scarlet machine. 'What about the defences? We can still fight!'
'The stratospheric launcher has been destroyed.' She replied grimly and forcefully, the reminder of their primary defensive objective's failure landing heavily on Akito's shoulders and no doubt on the others' as well. With their silence, Leila continued. 'With its loss this base is just another building, and as such I see no such reason to continue this losing battle. Escape through the west tunnel! The drone units will cover you. I repeat, to all W-0 Unit forces, we are leaving the base! You have ten minutes!'
Ten minutes? Akito wanted to ask her the significance of such a time limit, but the sudden looming shadow from above of a Britannian airship made him think otherwise and so he repeated his commander's orders. 'You heard her! Retreat! To the west tunnel!'
He heard an audible snarl of agitation from Ashley but he soon saw the Red Ogre pulling away. Smiling grimly at his fellow team leader's decision, Akito brought the Liberte's rifle up to bear and started firing on Gottwald's giant orange machine. Even as he did so, dozens of new enemy Knightmares began to descend from the overhead airship and so after only firing a handful of shots, he put the Liberte's landspinners in reverse and moved to get out of dodge, the rest of Wyvern and Asura Team already ahead of him.
He was mildly aware of Gottwald's voice echoing throughout his cockpit's radio but he put it out of his mind. Right now his only goal was survival, a possibility that appeared to be growing every second as he spotted the orange drone Alexanders rushing towards him, parting like the waves to let him through before engaging the new enemy contacts.
Despite them being nothing more than lifeless hulls, Akito still through up a small salute to the machines as Jeremiah Gottwald descended upon them, blasting them away by the dozens with his cannon. Their destruction bought him and his friends time to escape, and for that they had his thanks.
Well..C.C. thought to herself irritably as she pulled herself back to her feet, still a little bit groggy from the blood loss, that was not in the plan.
Of all the possible ways for this assassination to have gone wrong, this was not one that she had predicted. If it had been the girl who had shot her that would have been all right, even the stubbly idiot would have been acceptable because they were all people she had been expecting to resist her. But for someone outside the command centre to get the drop on her? It was almost embarrassing.
Now the girl was gone along with her little friends, and all C.C. had to show for it was a hole in her head as well as three or four in her chest that the girl's friends had put in her on their way out. Talk about paranoid. And I just got this damn suit fixed too! Now Lelouch was sure to complain as he was wont to when things went even a little bit wrong. Sighing at her lot in life, C.C. stretched her stiff joints before thinking about how best to pacify her sure to be irate Warlock upon her return before a small beeping caught her attention.
Curious she turned around to look at the main screen where a timer was counting down. It only took a moment for her to realise what sort of timer it could possibly be and for a moment she ran through what was the quickest and least inconvenient way out of the coming explosion, but then she actually noticed how much time was left.
00:00:10
'Seriously?'
Oh that girl was officially dead. Geass-destroying Geass or no, that naive little slip of a soldier was going to pay for this. Death by collapsing building was in her top fifteen worst ways to die. Fuming, C.C. grabbed hold of the railing of the girl's podium and waited.
One second later, Castle Lupobianco exploded.
In one of the underground tunnels beneath the castle, the survivors of W-0 had stored their Alexanders on transport trucks and were now driving as fast as they could for the exit before the secondary self-destruct system kicked in and destroyed the passage.
Ashley's team, along with Ryo, were laughing in undisguised glee at this final 'fuck you' to Britannia, whilst Ayano busied herself with tending to Yukiya who Sophie had helped down to the tunnels even before Leila gave the evacuation order. As for Akito, he sat silently beside Leila, an exhausted but relieved smile on his face at the sight of everyone still alive and whole.
Nevertheless the fact that destroying their base had just made them all homeless, inevitably someone would have to ask the question. It just so happened this time that it was Anna. 'Where do we go now?'
At a loss, Leila only shook her head before turning to Miss X. The woman in question simply smiled before patting their driver Claus on the shoulder. 'We're going to Rome, handsome man. But don't stop there, our final destination is in Prague.'
'Prague?' Leila repeated, curious. 'What's there?'
The older woman just gave her a flirtatious wink. 'Many things, pretty girl. Many amazing, wonderful things.'
Britannia redirects here. See the country Britannia. For the list of monarchs, see the Monarchy of Britannia. For the European occupied tributary, see Euro Britannia.
'All men are always devoted to independence. But some are born with greater beauty, born into poverty, swift or afoot, and others born with hatred and desperation for power. Even so, every human is inherently different, in the past, in the present, and only one will have looked up above, beyond our land of justice and truth. That's why some people have discrimination, struggle, dominance and the system of false beliefs. We have known of the bitter victories and defeats, and the exaltation of triumph. From all, we have learned, there can be no turning back towards the hands of history. The first truth is that the strong devour the weak. Inequality is evitable, but is inherently impossible to exist when we make history together, and therefore, we must cast aside the grudges of the past and rejoice our lives throughout our paths of the future. What of the EU, which makes equality a right, is a better example? Ratifying politics within its system of power. That be a little consideration. The National Socialist German Workers Party had been a disgrace to the world for dominating a belief, once led by one who had lost interest to this world. But not our beloved land Britannia. We feed upon pride, upon wealth, upon riches and power. Britannia always moves forward, united and dominant against the evil of the world. We will fight on! The strong shall reign over the weak, beyond our united empire! Our name of freedom is the future of this world! ALL HAIL BRITANNIA!!! ALL HAIL BRITANNIA!!!!!
- Empress Nunnally vi Britannia (22 March 2018) (Code Geass: The Holy Empire of Britannia)
The Holy Britannian Empire, seldom known as the Holy Empire of Britannia and commonly known as Britannia/ˈbrɪ.tən/, is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of the United Kingdom occupying NorthernIreland of continental Europe. The country shares the island of Great Britain (a term sometimes also loosely applied to the whole state), the northeastern part of the island of Ireland, and many smaller islands. Northern Ireland is the only part of Britannia that shares a land border with other states: the Republic of Ireland, Central America, and Kingsland.[nb 5] Apart from this land border, Britannia is surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, with the North Sea in the east and the English Channel in the southeast; the Irish Sea separates the same formation that shows Great Britain from Ireland. Britannia has an area of 303,500 square kilometres (103,000 sq mi), making it the 70th largest sovereign state in the world and the 12th largest in Europe. It is a country born from the defeated remnants of the British Empire and is the world's dominant military superpower that had ruled over one-third of the world and one of the large Empire-unions that control Earth initially in the early 21st Century, the others being the Chinese Federation, the European Union, and later the Great Empire of Japan. The other superpowers at present are the United States of America, Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
The Holy Britannian Empire is the 1st most populous country, with an estimated 100.1 million inhabitants.[4] It is an absolute monarchy and has a parliamentary system of governance.[9][10] Its capital city is Pendragon, one of the greatest global cities and financial centres with the second-largest urban area in the European Union.[11] The current Britannian monarchs—since 20 March 2018 and 21 March 2018—are Empress Nunnally vi Britannia and Emperor Henry eu Britannia. Britannia consists of four countries: Pendragon, Eden Vital, Saint Ward and Northern Ireland.[12] The latter three have devolved administrations,[13] each with varying powers,[14][15] based in their capitals, Mondragon, Celtiff and Eden Isle, respectively. Marque, Belial and the Isle of Man are partially part of the Britannia, being Crown dependencies with the Britannian Government responsible for defence and international representation.[16] The Holy Britannian Empire has twenty-eight Overseas Territories,[17] including the disputedCentral America and Kingsland.
The relationships among the countries of the Britannia have changed over time. In the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, the Principality of Wales was incorporated into the Kingdom of England in 1536. In 1707, the kingdoms of Scotland and England were united to form the Kingdom of Great Britain, which in 1801, united with the Kingdom of Ireland to form the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. In 1900, one-thirds of Ireland seceded from the UK, leaving the present formulation of the Holy Britannian .[nb 6] British Overseas Territories, formerly colonies, are the remnants of the British Empire which, at its height in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, encompassed almost a quarter of the world's land mass and was the largest empire in history. British influence can be observed in the language, culture and legal systems of many of its former colonies.
The Holy Empire of Britannia is a developed country and also has the world's sixth-largest economy by nominal GDP and even the succeeding first-largest by purchasing power parity. It was the world's first industrialised country and the world's foremost power during the 19th and early 20th centuries.[18][19] Britannia remains as the greatest main superpower with considerable economic, cultural, military, scientific and political influence internationally.[20][21] It is a recognisednuclear weapons state and its military expenditure ranks from fourth to sixth (depending on the source) in the world.[22] Britannia has been a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council since its first session in 1946. It has been a member of the European Union (EU) and its predecessor the European Economic Community (EEC) since 1973; it is also a member of the Commonwealth of Nations, the Council of Europe, the G7, the G8, the G20, NATO, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and the World Trade Organization (WTO).
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Motto Great Britannia! Rule the World! | |||||
Anthem | 'Rule, Britannia!' | ||||
Capital | Londonium D.V (ceremonial and judicial) Virginia D.C. (executive and legislative) | ||||
Largest city | New York City | ||||
Other cities | Edinburgh, Brussels, Dublin, Ottawa, Paris, Milan, Ljubljana and Zagreb | ||||
Language official | English | ||||
others | Spanish, Irish, Scottish, French, Italian and Welsh | ||||
Religion main | Anglican | ||||
others | Buddhism, Roman Catholic, Presbytarian | ||||
Demonym | Britannian, British, Briton | ||||
Government | |||||
legislature | Imperial Britannian Congress | ||||
Monarch | Queen-Empress Elizabeth II | ||||
Lord Chancellor | Sir Mark Thatcher, 2nd Baronet | ||||
Area | 882,819.1 km² | ||||
Population | 111,376,173 | ||||
Established | July 4, 1776 | ||||
Currency | Pound Sterling (£) (GBP ) | ||||
Time Zone | (UTC +0toUTC +1) | ||||
summer | (UTC +1toUTC +2) | ||||
Internet TLD | .uk | ||||
Organizations | World Monarchist Alliance, United Federation of Nations |
Holy Britannian Empire or known as Britannia is a sovereign nation that hold the most of the territory in North America, Central America, Western and Central Europe. It is known as the most powerful empire in the world. Also, it holds the title of the world's richest country and holds the biggest territory across the world.
Britannia has 6 Duchy states across the North America, Central America and the Western Europe and 2 federal districts of Virginia D.C. and Londonium D.V.
Britannia is a federal unitary constitutional imperial monarchy which head of state is Queen-Empress. With all the executive powers belong to Lord Chancellor who is the head of government.
Britannia is also a nation who formed an alliance called World Monarchist Alliance, that wish to ally with the monarchic nations across the world., with the Imperial Kingdom of Thailand as the co-founding member.
Etymology
the word of Britannia is came from a patriotic song of Rule, Britannia! which is refer to the United Kingdom of Great Britain, Ireland and Canada before the Acts of Union in 1806 when Britannia unified all the lands of North America, Central America and Northern region of South America. The name changed after the declaration of Acts of Union in 1810.
History
Kingdom of England
Rule of Elizabeth I
Acts of Union 1806
Politics
Governments
Holy Britannian Empire is a unitary state under the constitutional monarchy with the imperial bodies mixed with royal bodies. The Holy Britannian Empire is one of only four countries in the world to have an uncodified constitution. The Constitution of the Holy Britannian Empire thus consists mostly of a collection of disparate written sources, including statutes, judge-made case law and international treaties, together with constitutional conventions. As there is no technical difference between ordinary statutes and 'constitutional law', the HBE Parliament can perform 'constitutional reform' simply by passing Acts of Parliament, and thus has the political power to change or abolish almost any written or unwritten element of the constitution. However, no Parliament can pass laws that future Parliaments cannot change.Head of State
The head of state of Britannia is a monarch who is from the current House of Tudoric Windsor. Which is the monarch holds 2 title, the King/Queen of Great Britain and Emperor/Empress of Holy Britannian Empire (depends on males or females who holds the crown). The current monarch is Queen-Empress Elizabeth II of Britannia.Head of Government
The UK has a parliamentary government based on the Westminster system that has been emulated around the world: a legacy of the British Empire. The parliament of the United Kingdom that meets in the Palace of Westminster has two houses; an elected House of Commons and an appointed House of Lords. All bills passed are given Royal Assent before becoming law.
The position of Lord Chancellor, the UK's head of government,belongs to the member of parliament who can obtain the confidence of a majority in the House of Commons, usually the leader of the largest political party in that chamber. The lord chancellor chooses a cabinet and they are formally appointed by the monarch to form Her Imperial & Royal Majesty's Government. By convention, the Queen respects the Lord Chancellor's decisions of government.
The cabinet is traditionally drawn from members of the Lord Chancellor's party in both legislative houses, and mostly from the House of Commons, to which they are responsible. Executive power is exercised by the lord chancellor and cabinet, all of whom are sworn into the Privy Council of the Britannia, and become Lord High Chancellor of the Crown. The Rt. Hon, Sir Mark Thatcher, leader of the Conservative Party, heads a coalition with the UK's third party, the Liberal Democrats. Thatcher has been Lord Chancellor, First Lord of the Treasury and Minister for the Civil Service since 11 May 2010. For elections to the House of Commons
The HBE's three major political parties are the Conservative Party, the Labour Party and the Liberal Democrats. During the 2010 general election these three parties won 622 out of 650 seats available in the House of Commons.
Administrative divisions
Britannia is divided into 5 duchy states. There are also 2 special governed districts: the first capital Virginia, D.C and second capital is Londonium D.V, of which Virginia D.C is at provincial level and thus often counted as a province.
Two capitals divided in several occasions, Londonium D.V were counted as a capital when it holds out for the ceremonial and juriscial moments. While the Virginia D.C was for the executive and legislative occasions.
Duchy states in Europe
Imperial Duchy of EdinburghMain article: Imperial Duchy of Edinburgh
Imperial Duchy of West Saxon is only a duchy state in Europe, which is its capital is in Edinburgh, which is annexed by Britannia when the Terror Napoleon War began in 1825. The most territories of Western Europe were belonged to Britannia after the Treaty of Hannover in 1877.
The Imperial Duchy of West Saxon has 7 provinces including, Northumbria, Dublinia, Francia, Galicia, Icenia, Elizabethia Island and Italia. Each province has their own districts to control.
Duchy States in America
Imperial Duchy of CanadaMain article: Imperial Duchy of Canada
Imperial Duchy of Canada is a duchy state located in the northern part of the North America, which is originally were the foothold of the United Kingdom's first step to control of all territory of America.
The Imperial Duchy of Cananda has 12 provinces including, Alaska-upon-Yukon, Nunavut, British Columbia, Alberta, Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec, Labrador, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island and Greenland.
Imperial Duchy of Ashfordia
Main article: Imperial Duchy of Ashfordia
Imperial Duchy of Ashfordia is a duchy state located in central of North America, which was annexed by the Spanish Empire back when the first era of the colonial period. However, the British were able to gain the territory to unify them as Ashfordia
Imperial Duchy of Ashfordia has 48 provinces in mainland of Northern Central America with 1 territory in Pacific Ocean and 1 federal province, Virginia D.C.
Imperial Duchy of South Britannia
Main article: Imperial Duchy of South Britannia
Imperial Duchy of South Britannia is a duchy state located in the southern North America. South Britannia was ruled by Spain and it is also the stand of Spanish-American Empire before its retreat to Columbia.
Imperial Duchy of South Britannia has 31 provinces and one federal city, City of South Britannia.
Imperial Duchy of the Caribbean
Main article: Imperial Duchy of Caribbean
Holy Britannian Empire Flag Lyrics
As the B.R.I.G.A.F were expanding the territory to the Northern South America through the army and navy to annihilated out the Spanish out of Columbia, the Navy of Britannia also annex the Caribbean nations.
Caribbean has 30 island states and has only one capital, Havana de Britannia.
Foreign relations
Military
Geography
So I looked at the canon flag of Euro Britannia and it was uninspiring since it resembled too much to the canon flag of the Holy Britannian Empire. In this alternate design, I designed four diamonds with different colors to represent the four Euro-Britannian knight orders that existed: the one on the top represents the Knights of St. Raphael, the one on the bottom represents the Knights of St. Michael, the one on the left represents the Knights of St. Uriel and the one on the right represents the Knights of St. Gabriel, and added to that is the Orthodox Christian cross, with the Muslim crescent on the left side of the cross, and the Buddhist wheel on the right side.
I believe that this alternate design could give a much different flavor to what Euro-Britannia-in-Russia is like, and how it is different from the predominantly Anglophone Holy Britannian Empire. Euro-Britannia in Russia is more of a Slavophone empire, with significant Turkic, Tungusic, Mongolic and Germanic influences.
(NOTE: If any of you fanfiction writers who want a different flag for Euro-Britannia in your Code Geass fanfics, feel free to use this flag as long as you recognize its maker).
I believe that this alternate design could give a much different flavor to what Euro-Britannia-in-Russia is like, and how it is different from the predominantly Anglophone Holy Britannian Empire. Euro-Britannia in Russia is more of a Slavophone empire, with significant Turkic, Tungusic, Mongolic and Germanic influences.
(NOTE: If any of you fanfiction writers who want a different flag for Euro-Britannia in your Code Geass fanfics, feel free to use this flag as long as you recognize its maker).
At least it's not a 'paste a British symbol on the Russian flag' concept much like how many Commie regimes simply placed a communist symbol on their flag (East Germany was the most blatant offender).
Yep, and Australia and New Zealand also have flags that stamp the British symbol on and draw more stars.
Keep in mind that canon Code Geass Akito the Exiled's canon Euro-Britannia flag is merely a flag of Britannia with different symbols, so it's a monarchist version of how commies place commie symbols on their flags.
Keep in mind that canon Code Geass Akito the Exiled's canon Euro-Britannia flag is merely a flag of Britannia with different symbols, so it's a monarchist version of how commies place commie symbols on their flags.
Whilst I must praise the design, I do feel however that ultimately whilst you do raise points regarding the make up of the Empire's population, it is at the end of the day still a dependency of the Holy Britannian Empire and much of its aristocracy are the descendants of European nobles but even then still see themselves as brittanians. I highly doubt Britannia would have been very happy with such flag being introduced as it would most likely bring loyalties into question could be questioned as a sign of disloyalty to the Empire which would be bad for euro brittanians not wanting to lose their free privileges. However I do still feel you did very well and well done on the flag
Thanks. That is indeed true, and I was wondering if it could have been better if in the long run the Britannians could have created flags for their loyal 'dominions' in a similar manner to the OTL flags of various British Dominions like Canada, Australia and New Zealand, as well as Fiji (despite not being a dominion, it still has the Union Jack ensign).
I would consider this design to be like a 'flag of rebellion' of some sort, in a scenario where Euro-Britannia regained its independence as Russia. For a loyal Euro-Britannia flag, I could make another re-design where it looks like a Blue or Red Ensign flag.
I would consider this design to be like a 'flag of rebellion' of some sort, in a scenario where Euro-Britannia regained its independence as Russia. For a loyal Euro-Britannia flag, I could make another re-design where it looks like a Blue or Red Ensign flag.
The original Euro-Britannia flag was simply a copy of the real Britannian flag. I thought that this redesign might be a lot more simpler.