A/N: Well, I had this chapter almost done, but I stopped when I had trouble debating on the flashback scene and related events tied to it. And I almost redid some points in these events of this chapter, but I believe it the job, and it should work to keep the story moving.

I won't go too much into it to avoid spoilers, but I was concerned about these scenes now flowing with the rest of the chapter's narrative.

Anyway, I'll save the rest until the end, so enjoy the chapter.

Chapter 2

The Demon Awakens

Lelouch felt comfortable within the cockpit of a Knightmare Frame after successfully fooling its pilot to exit his machine before using his Geass to "hand his Knightmare Frame over to him." Moments after Lelouch took it, he killed the pilot with a shot to the head just as he killed the soldier whose field gear and uniform he was wearing. After compelling the Royal Guards to commit suicide, Lelouch took Suzaku's discarded helmet and whatever he could use off of the bodies of the dead guardsmen before leaving. Lelouch realized if they were intent on killing who had seen the contents of that container, the Britannian Army would likely begin wiping out the inhabitants of the ghetto to eliminate any witnesses.

Observing the movements of the Britannian Knightmare Frames and other units through their IFF signals confirmed Lelouch's concerns.

As I expected, they are wiping out the ghetto to remove any potential witnesses. Lelouch thought while mindful to keep his newly obtained RPI-13 Sutherland, the successor to the Glasgow with improved combat performance and capability, out of sight.

Lelouch had tampered with the IFF of his Sutherland so it wouldn't show on the enemy's screens, but he could still see their IFF signals.

The soldier I found having gunned down an entire family only, Lelouch thought as his anger at the pointless massacre boiled within him.

It just made killing the soldier whose uniform he took as a disguise even easier after he managed to sneak up behind him and strangled him to death using wire Lelouch managed to take from a wrecked car he found in one of the crumbling structures upon reaching the surface. Lelouch's physical capabilities were below the standards Babara set, but he was much more capable than he was when Lelouch was a child to the point that strangling a man to death with wire was possible for Lelouch provided he could sneak up upon them.

Lelouch could've shot them, but he didn't want any blood or damage to the uniform so if he did have to use it to slip by other soldiers, it wouldn't draw suspicion. The uniform was useful for luring the pilot of the Sutherland out of his machine when he approached him to present a Terrorist Communicator he had found. Lelouch had suspected his Geass likely required eye contact, although concerned the pilot wouldn't fall for his ploy, it worked in the end.

"Right," Lelouch said, pushing his anger aside for the time being as he focused on the matter at hand. "I need to confirm something first."

Lelouch drew out his cell phone with a look of apprehension on his face knowing Lucien wouldn't take well to the situation he was in, but yet he needed to confirm something, so he dialed his number.

A few moments of listening to a ring tone, Lucien picked up the phone.

"Aren't you supposed to be at school?"

"Something happened, and now I need you to confirm something for me? Could you check for any news regarding Shinjuku Ghetto?" Lelouch said having deduced his location from spotting the crumbling remains of Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building, which Lelouch remembered seeing as a child and knew it was the only building with such a design.

Lucien wanted to inquire as to why Lelouch wanted such information, but he decided to answer his question first.

"I see nothing except for traffic restrictions."

"Any reason why?"

Of course, once they are done, they will release news that favors the military yet that works in my favor, Lelouch thought as a plan began to form.

"None, so tell me why did you want that information?"

Lelouch explained to Lucien the chain of events that had happened, which led to him being stuck in Shinjuku while the military was conducting a purge of the entire area. Upon finishing that, he had managed to kill a guard to steal his uniform and then a Sutherland; Lucien's displeasure at Lelouch wasn't as profound as Lelouch would've expected, yet it was clear he wasn't happy.

"I warned you that your tendency to play the Good Samaritan would backfire on you one of these days," Lucien reprimanded sternly, yet he was calm. "So, what will you do now?"

"The fact they are restricting traffic to the area confirms they are trying to keep everything happening in Shinjuku under wraps, so they can claim poison gas was released that wiped out the people living here. Especially since they clearly don't want anyone to know what was really in that container," Lelouch answered.

"The girl who gave you a power to compel others to obey you," Lucien said because that one part of Lelouch's story had intrigued him.

"Yes, and it is the means of which I'll open a path to escape," Lelouch answered before explaining his plan to Lucien.

"Very well, but I'll see if Babara can provide support. We'll stay in touch," Lucien said before hanging up once Lelouch had finished laying out his plan to create a route for him to escape.

Sighing, Lucien began dialing another number on his phone, and shortly afterward, Babara picked up.

"Did something happen, Lucien? You aren't the type to call for a simple chat," Babara said, recognizing the reason Lucien was calling having known him well enough.

"Yes, and are you and your students available?"

Sometime later, the military was effortless crushing all resistance before them, but one of the resistance fighters, Kallen, was determined to take out as many members of the Britannian Army to give the people a chance to escape. Earlier she had fought the pursuing Britannian gunships before a Sutherland arrived on the scene, forcing her to withdraw against her foe's technologically superior machine sacrificing one of the arms of her Glasgow to do so.

Kallen had managed to ambush an enemy Sutherland despite her disadvantage and was dealing with some of the Britannians well enough until the Sutherland she had been fighting earlier had arrived on the scene accompanied by another. The pilot and Kallen's pursuer was an older man in his twenties with a tanned complexion with blue hair and orange eyes wearing a blue and gold-trimmed pilot uniform.

"Well, if it isn't our Glasgow friend," Jeremiah Gottwald replied with a devilish smirk.

Kallen immediately ran for it knowing she was outmatched between two enemies in Sutherlands. However, another problem Kallen became aware of was the fact her energy filler had only thirty minutes left. Once her energy filler was out, she would be without a Knightmare Frame and an easy target, and that was provided she wasn't hunted down and killed first.

"The West Entrance," Lelouch said suddenly using the communicator Kallen had left behind in the truck.

"Huh!?"

"Use the tracks to move to the West Entrance," Lelouch informed her.

"Who is this," Kallen snapped, "how do you know this code?"

"That's not important right, so you are going to have to trust me if you want to win," Lelouch answered.

"To win?"

Kallen was hesitant to trust a stranger, but considering her situation and the fact she had very limited options to work with, Kallen complied as her Glasgow leaped up onto an overhead bridge before following train track west.

"Ok, what now," Kallen asked, but soon noticed Jeremiah and his partner were closing in from behind.

"Since you trusted me, you are going to win," Lelouch answered before Kallen spotted a train heading towards her, "hop onto the train!"

"Got it!"

Jeremiah was confused, but he used his Sutherland to stop the train.

"Trying to use this train to your advantage, so are you trying to just run away or lure us into a trap?" Jeremiah said thinking out loud before turning to his companion who was following behind him. "You go after the one-armed Glasgow."

"Yes, my lord," the pilot of the other Sutherland replied as he leaped over Jeremiah, a pair of Slash Harkens swiftly disabled the Knightmare Frame sending it falling off the bridge.

"Shot by friendly fire," Jeremiah said before activating his machine's external speaker to address the pilot, "what's your name and rank soldier we are hunting the-"

Jeremiah was cut off as the Sutherland piloted by Lelouch fired its assault rifle at him, quickly shooting off an arm before disabling one of its landspinners.

Horror dawned on Jeremiah, "Oh my god, a terrorist!"

The enemy Sutherland stopped firing giving Jeremiah a chance to fight back, but as he raised his weapon, Kallen came charging across the top of the train intent on finishing Jeremiah off. Upon seeing Kallen's approach and knowing his machine couldn't move, Jeremiah ejected from his Sutherland, escaping death at the hands of a vengeful Kallen.

"You saved me, but how did you get your hands on a Sutherland," Kallen said wishing to thank the man who saved her, but upon looking towards the building Lelouch was in, he was gone. "Huh, where did he go?"

"KALLEN!"

Approaching the Glasgow was a small group with the most noteworthy person, among them, being a man with black hair and grey eyes wearing a brown jacket, jeans, and a yellow shirt with a red headband. Like the rest of the group, he carried an assault rifle swung over his shoulder.

"What was that weird radio message just now?" Kaname Ohgi asked.

"What, he contacted you too?" Kallen said, surprised while speaking through the Glasgow's internal speaker.

"He sure did," Ohgi replied before his radio began crackling with static.

"Are you in charge," Lelouch asked, addressing Ohgi.

"Uh yeah."

"I present to you the cargo in that train. They are tools for your victory, and if you follow my instructions, then you will win," Lelouch said as Kallen and some of the others accompanying Ohgi opened the cargo cars being pulled by the train where they discovered to their shock Sutherlands, enough for each of them.

As Ohgi and the others expressed their shock, others were excited by the prospect of using a Sutherland against their enemies, but as Kallen was recovering from her initial surprise at the sight of the Sutherlands, Lelouch contacted her again.

"Woman in the Glasgow."

"Yes," Kallen replied.

"Stay where you are," Lelouch said before explaining, "Your unit is going to run decoy you got that?"

"U-Understood…"

"Energy Filler Status?"

"About fifteen minutes worth," Kallen answered.

"Then recharge it," Lelouch ordered, "in ten minutes, I'll contact you with your next instructions."

Switching off the radio, Lelouch reclined in the pilot's chair, taking a deep breath. Lelouch had relocated himself to one of the upper floors of the old Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building, where he could not only conceal himself Lelouch could also broadcast and communicate with the resistance group much more efficiently while giving him an excellent vantage point.

"This is tiring than I would've expected," Lelouch remarked before his resolve hardened, "regardless, I am betting my life in this time, so I am going to have to give it my all."

If I can't win a battle like then, how can I bring down Britannia, Lelouch thought.

The one unknown in this battle was the piloting skills of the resistance fighters and their ability to follow his orders to the letter. The girl piloting the Glasgow Lelouch was confident she wouldn't be a hindrance, but overall it was a gamble the arrogance of the Britannians could also tip the balance in his favor.

If they bring led by someone incompetent that would help me immensely, Lelouch contemplated before he received a text message as his phone alerted him with a beeping noise.

Knowing who it was from Lelouch turned the Sutherland's head to find Babara there, but she wasn't alone.

"Those must be her students," Lelouch noted.

Both of them were women and around the same age as Lelouch if not one year older. The taller of the two were Japanese possessed dark grey hair styled into a medium-length top-do ponytail, with a single light grey bang of grey hair sticking out above her forehead, and lime eyes with a fair skin complexion. Her attire was revealing consisting of only a wisteria-colored sleeveless combat dress which parted around her lower waist to reveal her midriff and thighs while an attached long covering protected her modesty. She wore a yellow scarf around her neck was wearing matching thigh-length leggings with integrated footwear.

Her companion, who was modestly dressed, wore a white long sleeve dress shirt with the collar secured with a red ribbon and over it, a black vest combined with a red checkered mini skirt, and lastly, black leather below-the-knee boots. She also wore black headphones with a red butterfly motif over her long bright reddish hair while she also had pale skin and red eyes.

Lelouch exited the cockpit of the Sutherland to greet them.

"I am not surprised you two found a way in here," Lelouch remarked, causing Babara to glare at him.

"Just how on Earth did you get involved in this?"

"Well, I am sure Lucien told you the details," Lelouch replied.

Babara sighed in exasperation. "He did, and I still can't believe it, but I had warned you your Good Samaritan habits would get you into trouble one day."

"I had no idea the truck I was trying to help belonged to a resistance group," Lelouch replied.

"We'll discuss that later, but first, I should introduce you to my students," Babara said before gesturing to the taller of the two. "This one is Taeko, my first student who has been raised by the clan since she was an infant, and this is Chelsea, my newest student who has joined the clan some months ago."

"Hiya," Chelsea replied briefly, removing the lollipop she had in her mouth while Taeko bowed her head.

"It is a pleasure to meet you."

"Taeko is my strongest student, but Chelsea, I suppose you could call her my most creative student because on our way in, I had her use her Imperial Arms, Gaia Foundation, to learn the identity of the enemy commander," Babara revealed much to Lelouch's interest.

"Who is it?"

"The Viceroy himself," Babara answered.

"Clovis is the one leading them," Lelouch remarked with a hint of surprise, but considering the men he killed earlier wore uniforms belonging to members of his Royal Guards, he suspected his involvement.

I didn't think Clovis would come to a battlefield. He never struck me as the type who could take command of a military operation like this, but if he's here, then that girl must've been valuable to him. Lelouch thought while wondering if Clovis possessed a similar power to him, or was there another reason for Clovis's interest.

Yet knowing Clovis was the one in charge caused Lelouch to smile deviously.

"If Clovis is the one in charge, then victory is likely to be mine, but there is something I wanted to ask you three to do for me?"

"What do you have in mind?" Babara inquired.

Minutes later, Ohgi and his group were ready as the former was aboard his Sutherland powering it up while Kallen was off playing decoy as part of their comeback strategy. She would lure the enemy to her position where they would be ambushed by Ohgi and the others, although some were wary of trusting a stranger the fact he had provided them with Sutherlands and saved Kallen gave most of them the confidence in their mysterious benefactor.

Around the same time, however, Chelsea was using her Gaia Foundation Imperial Arms to disguise herself as a Britannian Soldier. Such was the ability of her cosmetic type Imperial Arms appearing as a make-up kit, which allowed her to disguise herself not only as another person but she could disguise herself as animals and even inanimate objects like trees.

Upon approaching a group of them standing near a tank, she drew their attention by presenting a disc she found before Taeko and Babara made their move.

As old as she was Babara moved faster than the eye could use drawing her favorite weapon of a curved dagger which she used to swiftly slit the throat of a Britannian soldier before just as quickly cutting down another while Chelsea seized the moment and drew a hidden knife to kill the last one. Taeko meanwhile took advantage of the tank's open hatch as the driver was ducking back inside, but before he could close the hatch, Taeko tossed a poisoned smoke bomb in.

It went off seconds later, prompting the pilot to scramble to open the hatch again but died before he could crawl out of the tank.

"What idiots they were, and they were so lax in the middle of a battlefield…such stupidity. No one wonder Lelouch got away with stealing so many of their Sutherlands." Babara commented with disgust.

"Our job is done, and we got a tank, so what now?" Chelsea asked while Taeko had noticed a pair of Britannian soldiers approaching the area to investigate the communication before finding the three women standing near the corpses of their fallen comrades.

"I would say some clean up is in order, but Taeko has it under control," Babara answered.

Chelsea watched as Taeko moving with what seemed to be superhuman speed used her sword to deflect the bullets fired at her before speeding past the two swords, but in passing, Taeko had dedicated the two soldiers, and it took them seconds to realize it as a testament to her speed and strength.

"One day Chelsea, I can condition you into being as effective at killing as Taeko," Babara noted with a hint of pride whenever she regarded Taeko.

"But I can kill?"

"Yes, although killing isn't the problem the issue, like Lelouch, it's your stamina." Babara pointed out.

Chelsea seemed disappointed at the comment, but she merely focused on her task and dispelled her disguise returning to her normal appearance.

"Now we wait for Lelouch's order, but let's move this tank out of the open," Babara commanded as Taeko was already removing the bodies of the tank operators.

Around the same time aboard the mobile G-1 command base, a blonde-haired young adult close to his mid-twenties wearing purple and gold-trimmed royal garb with a white cravat was seated upon his throne. Clovis la Britannia's trusted right-hand man had just reported they lost two Sutherlands in what appears to have been an ambush.

"How were they ambushed by mere Elevens?" Clovis demanded.

"We don't know your highness."

Clovis's right-hand man was older with a darkened skin tone wearing a military uniform and a cape while he was bald with a monocle over one eye while surrounded by black-uniformed imperial officers around a tactical map of the Shinjuku Ghetto.

General Bartley Asprius observed the tactical map alongside three staff officers in black uniforms, although they were confident this was a minor setback, but that one ambush was the first of many to begin happening.

Meanwhile, in another corner of Shinjuku, a young woman wearing a black maid uniform complete with the traditional white apron and hat upon her head was kneeling down before the body of a dead Britannian pilot. She had long purple hair styled into a pair of pigtails that matched her eyes and a fair skin complexion wearing black shoes and matching socks.

She looked almost normal except for the fact she had four arms.

This is the fourth one I have come across, Cassandra thought.

Cassandra was searching for Barbra on behalf of the leader of the Oarburgh Clan, Merraid Oarburgh.

Merraid had grown concerned about Babara's unusual activities. It wasn't that Merraid was suspicious of Babara doing anything treasonous or anything like it, but the fact the client had requested details of the task be kept confidential between Babara and the anonymous client concerned her.

The money they were receiving was very generous, but Merraid didn't like being kept out of the loop even though Babara was okay with it.

Hence Cassandra was dispatched to tail Babara and students to learn what she has been up to and the identity of her client.

However, Babara was their most experienced assassin, so tracking her without being detected was easier said than done.

This is very odd; Cassandra wondered, examining the dead pilot. No signs of resistance or any indication he was drugged, but his face is lacking in any sign of emotion.

Furthermore, the gunshot wound in his forehead indicated he saw his killer, but yet he did nothing, which was extremely odd.

Every single pilot I came across was all the same. No Knightmare Frame and no sign of resistance, Cassandra thought finding it baffling.

Cassandra wondered if Babara's mysterious client was somehow involved.

There are too many gunships in the air, so I'll hide in that wrecked warehouse until they pass, Cassandra thought before taking refuge inside the build to avoid being slighted by the VTOL gunships in the air.

But once inside, Cassandra beheld another sight.

The interior of the warehouse was filled with bodies. One group consisted of Japanese civilians, but unlike the other bodies of the Knightmare Frame pilots, Cassandra had found they actually tried to fight against their impending fate, so there was nothing out of the ordinary there.

Yet nearby Cassandra found the body of another Knightmare Frame pilot who was just like the rest.

Another one and, Cassandra thought before noticing a second group of bodies.

Cassandra was surprised because she recognized the uniform belonging to those of the Royal Guard under Prince Clovis but on top of that the position of their bodies and how they were holding their own weapons.

These men killed one another, Cassandra realized, especially finding the body of their commander who died by shooting himself in the neck. Most unsettlingly of all was the fact they were all smiling. What is going on here!?

Finally, Cassandra noticed another corpse wearing a Britannia prison straight-jacket.

Another shot to the head like the others, but what's an escapee from a Britannian prison doing here?

Before Cassandra could contemplate the matter further, she saw something that defied explanation. The bullet wound upon the woman's head seemingly spit the bullet out before closing as if time was going backward before her eyes.

Cassandra's eyes widened in shock when the corpse began to move.

Reacting quickly, Cassandra hid in the best spot she could find as she continued observing the green-haired corpse coming back to life.

The corpse opened her eyes before looking around.

"Well, he is already making good use of it, I see," C.C. complimented as she got up from the ground.

Cassandra was dumbfounded by what she was seeing because a corpse coming back to life shouldn't happen.

C.C. causally dusted herself off once she was standing up.

"I guess I'll give him a couple days before I approach him, but I am sure he'll do fine for the time being."

The green-haired woman walked out of the warehouse, leaving a shocked Cassandra behind.

Meanwhile, Clovis was becoming increasingly frustrated with what began as an easy massacre of the Shinjuku Ghetto, but now the terrorists were just fighting back; they had somehow seized Sutherlands of their own.

Even worse, they had lost a dozen VTOL gunships, dozens more in ground troops, and armored tanks along with thirty-eight Knightmare Frames, including over a dozen uncounted for. Clovis couldn't risk calling for reinforcements because that would raise unwanted questions with those in the Homeland, which could risk his experiments with the girl being discovered, especially should the Office of Secret Intelligence.

I'll just have to be more aggressive, Clovis thought before approaching the tactical map surrounded by Bartley and his staff officers.

"This farce has gone on long enough! I want you to bring in Quincey's squad," Clovis commanded.

"But my lord that will break the encirclement," Bartley protested.

"It's fine; we'll just reinforce the breach with the units guarding me," Clovis replied. "All we know for certain is that enemy forces are here, so gather whatever Knightmare Frames we have and surround this spot."

Clovis pointed to an area on the map.

"Well, I should've known you make such a stupid move Clovis. Whenever you got desperate with your back to the wall, you were more prone to make bigger mistakes whenever we played chess," Lelouch remarked deviously.

Picking up the communicator, Lelouch had a plan in mind to deal a crushing blow to Clovis.

"Q1, do you have an area map?"

"Yes, I have a map of the old town. But it has no current landmarks," Kallen answered.

"It will do," Lelouch answered before he received the map from Kallen.

Lelouch studied the map for a few more, having completed his plan.

"Now mission number three," Lelouch said with a smile before explaining his plan.

Meanwhile, Clovis boldly moved forward with his own plan, unaware of the massive strategic blunder he had already made.

"All right, send in Burts and the others too," Clovis commanded with a prideful smile, confident the overwhelming numbers he had gathered would end it. "The enemy's main force is that center dot. Finish every one of them off."

As the force of fifty Knightmare Frames converged on the point where the enemy was supposed to be located. Unknown to them, Kallen and the others had escaped the area by passing through an underground subway tunnel, but Kallen was taking up the rear because she had a task to perform as they made their escape.

"With this, I call check," Lelouch said before placing a black queen chess piece on top of the Sutherland's cockpit controls.

Kallen fired her slash harken at the top of the tunnel before turning and quickly fleeing, but despite what should've been minor damage to the ceiling, set off a chain reaction. The location they had lured the enemy into was above an old subway transit hub with tunnels large enough for Knightmare Frames to pass through and large open areas for crowds because of all of the shops that were once inside. It had already been heavily damaged during the war because of combat and bombardments to the area seven years ago, and the utter lack of repair combined with the overall support pillars and crumbling tunnels growing weaker through the years.

Until one strike in the right area could cause the entire underground area to collapse.

Lelouch couldn't hold back his laughter as his screen was filled with fifty Sutherland declared "Lost."

"My plan worked, didn't it?" Lelouch declared. "I can do it, I can defeat Britannia!"

Opposite of Lelouch, Clovis was left pale in horror at the catastrophic losses he had just sustained. Furthermore, Clovis was running out of Knightmare Frames with only those maintaining the encirclement left and what soldiers and armored vehicles were roaming about.

Just who the hell I am up against? Is he even better than Tohdoh?

Clovis thought, but with virtually no options left, Clovis swallowed whatever pride he had left before using the controls at the tactical station to contact someone he knew would be inside of a mobile trailer near the G-1.

"Yes, your highness?"

Appearing on the overheard monitor was the face of a man about to hit his thirties with light blue hair, grayish-blue eyes with glasses over them wearing a white lab coat with a high collar.

"I only have one question, Lloyd," Clovis began. "Can it win? Can your toy beat them?"

Lloyd Asplund smiled before answering, "My Lord, please be so kind as to call it Lancelot, and yes, it shall."

"Launch it immediately," Clovis ordered, "I want the enemy dealt with!"

"At once, your highness," Lloyd replied happily.

Minutes later, the Z-01 Lancelot, the first seventh-generation Knightmare Frame, was in the early stages of powering up. Inside was its pilot, although Jeremiah Gottwald was their original choice, he refused to return from the frontline. So Lloyd was first to settle on a pilot candidate who had literally been picked up and brought to one of the mobile medical centers for treatment.

"Let's go over your objective one more time," a young woman asked.

"I am to eliminate the terrorists using Sutherlands," Suzaku answered.

Unknown to Lelouch despite shot at close range in the back, the bullet was deflected by an old pocketwatch Suzaku had been carrying and the protective gear he wore saving his life. The impact of the shot fired at such a close range still hit him with enough of an impact Suzaku lost consciousness and suffered some minor injuries around his lower back.

During that time, he was recovered, but after awakening, he was met by Lloyd and his assistant Cecile Croomy who had an unexpected offer for him.

He accepted not only to end the conflict in the Shinjuku Ghetto, but Suzaku intended to find Lelouch and ensure he escapes safely.

Is that girl still with him?

Fitted in a new white and black flight suit with gold trim, Suzaku waited for the Lancelot to finish its start-up procedures.

Appearing on the monitor before Suzaku was the face of Lloyd's assistance Cecile, a young woman in her mid-twenties with blue hair and light blue eyes wearing an orange military uniform with a black tie.

"We have estimated the enemy's force consists of eleven Sutherlands and one Glasgow."

"I understand Miss Cecile," Suzaku said, gripping the control sticks for the Lancelot, "I'll eliminate them at once."

"Very well, Lancelot launch!"

The white Knightmare Frame took off out of the gate at full throttle much to Lloyd's amusement.

"This is way better than the manual," Suzaku remarked in awe as the Lancelot sped into Shinjuku Ghetto.

Suzaku had never actually piloted a Knightmare Frame, but he and others like him did undergo training in simulators for testing purposes. However, the fact that Suzaku was rated as the highest in simulated battles showed he had a natural affinity for piloting a Knightmare Frame. This was one of the reasons Lloyd had chosen him to become the Lancelot's pilot when they had no one else available to them.

It didn't take Suzaku long to find the first enemy Sutherland.

"Huh, it doesn't look like a Sutherland," Shinichirō Tamaki commented before the Lancelot beheaded his Sutherland disabling his machine, causing it to eject the cockpit block.

"Excellent, just one more push, and the checkpoint will fall," Lelouch commented from the cockpit of his Sutherland.

"This is B group, reporting enemy presence," a resistance member reported.

"Odd, I didn't notice any enemy units breaking away from their encirclement," Lelouch commented. "I didn't think he would call in reinforcements, but…"

Lelouch picked up the radio, deciding to learn the details first before debating if they were reinforcements called from the outside or something else.

"Give me a status report."

"Every one ejected, but it took out four units in nothing flat."

"It?!" Lelouch asked, clearly concerned.

"It's just one unit, but I never saw anything like before. I think it's a new model or something, but it was all white and…ahhh!" the man was saying before the Lancelot attacked him cutting the conversation short.

"A white Knightmare Frame," Lelouch said, beginning to contemplating this new and dangerous element.

"Babara," Lelouch said, using another communication device Babara had given him to contact her directly with.

"What is it?"

"We may have to change plans. The resistance members are being attacked by a white Knightmare Frame. It's likely some kind of new model, and I just lost five men to it."

"A white Knightmare frame," Babara said before realizing, "It must be the new rumored seventh generation Knightmare Frame. I heard only rumors about it, but if this is the one, then you may be in some serious trouble."

"I see," Lelouch said before quickly formulating a plan. "Ok, then I need you to move that tank."

Meanwhile, Suzaku in the Lancelot was proving to be unstoppable, leaving two more Sutherlands destroyed in its wake, its pilots forced to eject.

"Huh!?"

Suzaku used the Lancelot's Blaze Luminous shields, green energy shields emitted from the forearms, to deflect bullets fired at him from a high position.

"Is that," Suzaku said using the Lancelot's sensors to discover a Sutherland hiding on one of the upper floors of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building. It appeared the Sutherland was attempting to snipe the Lancelot from a safe distance, but its rifle was very ill-suited for such a task. Its shots were reaching the Lancelot, but trying to hit a target from so high up was difficult. "Could he be the leader?"

He's taken the bait, Lelouch thought, although he wasn't sure if the Sutherland's rifle he was carrying would be able to get its attention, thankfully it was enough.

"He's coming up, so get ready…on my signal," Lelouch instructed as he braced himself for the coming confrontation while the Sutherland readied a Chaos Mine with its freehand.

The Lancelot's slash harken struck the ceiling of the floor Lelouch was hiding on, but he was ready before him, and after counting, Lelouch hurled the Chaos mine. The Lancelot, having expected an attack, responded by using its Blaze Luminous upon reaching the same floor the Sutherland was on. Although the impact of the shrapnel spraying grenade was challenging to block, the Lancelot was undamaged.

Impressive shields, but how much can they take? Lelouch wondered before opening fire with his machine's assault rifle.

Using one blaze luminous shield to deflect the attack as Suzaku pushed the Lancelot to approach the Sutherland.

"Are you the one in command?" Suzaku demanded, but he forgot the external speaker wasn't turned on.

Lelouch grinned as the Lancelot drew closer until, "NOW!"

The floor beneath the Lancelot suddenly gave away, revealing two Sutherlands had been waiting on the floor below, but before Suzaku could recover the floor below the falling, Lancelot collapsed again under the weight of more gunfire fired by one more Sutherland waiting on the floor below.

"Q-1, what's your progress?" Lelouch asked as he aimed his rifle into the hole where the Lancelot fell, attempting to shoot it.

"I just finished!" Kallen reported before leaping out of the building just as it was beginning to shake while revealing the remaining hand of her Glasgow was damaged.

"Right, so the rest of you keep the pressure on," Lelouch ordered as his plan was working so far.

Before the Lancelot arrived, Lelouch had Ohgi, and those who had Sutherlands left created some holes in the floors below while weakening as much of the structure as they could. Kallen had finished destroying most of the support pillars in the tower they were in left most of the two towers. After falling through three holes created by the Sutherlands hiding below, the Lancelot kept falling through falls created beforehand by Ohgi and the others.

They led me right into a trap, Suzaku said as he was struggling to use the Blaze Luminous to deflect the bullets fired at him.

Ohgi and the others threw their Chaos Mines into the hole before making a quick retreat as they exited the building.

They are leaving, but why?

Suzaku's question was answered as the tower they were fighting in began collapsing.

"Suzaku get out of there; they are bringing down that tower on top of you," Cecile alerted.

As Suzaku hurried towards the nearest exit to escape the collapsing tower as it was falling towards the second tower, but before exiting the Lancelot's sensors detected a projectile coming at him. A tank shell had been fired at him from the tank Babara, Chelsea, and Taeko had commandeered. Through a mixture of instinct and luck, Suzaku blocked it with the Blaze Luminous, but the impact shoved the Lancelot began into the crumbling tower as the top of it just collided with the tower to the right.

I need to get out, but…

Thinking fast, Suzaku made a beeline for the opposite side of the tower just as it was coming down, but using the Blaze Luminous shields, Suzaku smashed his way through another wall escaping on the opposite side of the building.

If Suzaku had been a second late, the Lancelot would've been crushed by the debris of the crumbling tower.

However, the collapse of the two towers led to the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building to begin collapsing as the broken weight of its two collapsed towers led to the building giving under its own weight.

"Did we get him?" Chelsea asked.

"Hopefully, but our job is done, so let's abandon this tank," Babara ordered as she and Taeko exited the tank. "Chelsea, go meet up with Lelouch as per his plan while we wait at the rendezvous point."

"Ok," Chelsea replied with a salute.

"Did it work?" Ohgi asked as he saw the last of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building collapse into a towering cloud of dust that loomed over Shinjuku Ghetto.

"No way he could've gotten out of there!" Kallen said confidently that white machine could've have escaped from that.

Suddenly a slash harken from the Lancelot beheaded Ohgi's machine before Kallen saw the Lancelot emerging from an alleyway nearby attacking her and the remaining members of their group who still had Sutherlands.

As Suzaku was attacking Ohgi and the others for attempting to bury the Lancelot in the collapsed ruins of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building, a pair of Britannian soldiers were approaching the G-1 base.

"Hold it, this Prince Clovis's personal transport." A soldier armed with an assault rifle said.

"And it's lightly guarded it seems," Lelouch said before using his Geass on the guard, "You will allow me and my companion to pass."

"Yes sir," the guard replied, lowering his weapon, "understood."

"Damn, that's scary," Chelsea commented, having used her own Imperial Arms to disguise herself as a soldier.

"Its nevertheless very useful," Lelouch admitted while grateful that the soldier's uniform concealed his identity while he left his eyes exposed so he could use his Geass.

After seemingly succeeding dealing with the Lancelot, it was then Lelouch decided to proceed to the final stage of his plan before Clovis decides to use anything else that could complicate his efforts. Lelouch abandoned his Sutherland and put on the helmet before meeting with Chelsea, who arrived at their assigned meeting spot by using her Imperial Arms to change into a bird.

Now that they had access to the G-1, Clovis was in the time was now to end it.

Minutes later, Ohgi, Kallen, Tamaki, and the others had retreated into a warehouse they were using as a base while at the same time providing a safe haven from those being hunted down by Britannian soldiers.

"Hey Ohgi," Kallen said, feeling bitter that despite all of that work to bring an entire building down on the Lancelot, it not only failed to destroy it, but they lost all of their Knightmare Frames when it countered attacked. "Who do you suppose that was on the radio?"

"Beats me," Ohgi admitted with a tired sigh. "I tried calling him, but I heard no response, so maybe…"

They were interrupted by the doors to the warehouse being blown up before a tank flanked by over a dozen armed Britannian soldiers poured into the warehouse leveling their weapons at them and the unarmed civilians in their care.

"What the?!" Ohgi began before Tamaki began snapping at him.

"There, you see! Instead of following somebody we don't even know, we should've used the poison gas."

"But…"

"Damn Nagata to hell," Tamaki snapped while prepared to make his last stand.

"So this is where you Eleven vermin scurried off to," the lead soldier said from atop the tank he was riding in. "Prepared to fire!"

But before they could open fire, an unexpected announcement echoed through the battlefield on external speakers and all communication channels.

"Attention all forces, cease fire at once," Clovis announced much to the shock of everyone on both sides.

"WHAT!" the soldier declared while he was just as baffled as everyone else.

"I Clovis, third prince of Britannia and royal viceroy of Area Eleven, at this moment command you; all forces are ordered to cease fire at once. You will also cease the destruction of any buildings or property. All casualties, whether Britannian or Eleven, shall be treated equally and without prejudice. In the name of Clovis la Britannia, you are hereby ordered, cease fire at once. I shall allow no further fighting," Clovis declared.

A second later, the lights and power in the command center of the G-1 were switched off.

"There are you satisfied now," Clovis asked spitefully from his throne.

"Very, well done," Lelouch complimented while Chelsea stood guard outside the command center with an assault rifle.

"And what shall we do now? Sing a few lively ballads, or perhaps a nice game of chess?"

"Now that has a familiar ring to it," Lelouch began before taking off his helmet, "I recall once that you and I never finished that chess game between us seven years ago, so it seems only fitting that game was completed with this battle. You almost had me this time by using that white Knightmare Frame, unlike the previous times we have played."

"You," Clovis demanded, "who are you?"

"It's been a long-time big brother," Lelouch said, stepping into the dim light allowing Clovis to see his face.

Clovis was speechless upon seeing Lelouch face, although seven years had passed he still recognized Lelouch as the young boy he had challenged to chess daily before he was exiled to Japan.

"The eldest son of the late consort Marianne and seventeenth in line to the imperial throne, Lelouch vi Britannia, at your service," Lelouch said, bowing before the throne in a mock greeting.

"Lelouch?! B-But I thought-"

"That I was dead?" Lelouch said, interrupting Clovis before saying. "You were wrong. I have returned, Your Highness. And I've come back to change everything."

Grinning, Lelouch rose to his feet as he leveled his pistol at Clovis, who began to approach his throne.

"I'm overjoyed, Lelouch. They said you died when Japan was brought into the fold." Clovis said with a mixture of nervousness and relief. "What a blessing to have you back. We should depart for the homeland immediately."

"So you can use me as a tool of diplomacy? It seems you've forgotten why we were used as tools in the first place," Lelouch replied back before allowing a moment for Clovis to realize what he was referring to. "That's right. It was because my mother was killed. Mother held the title of Knight of Six among the Knights of the Round but was a commoner by birth. No doubt, the other imperial consorts held her in contempt."

Lelouch's anger began to boil over as he said while his restrained anger was being more apparent.

"Even though you made it look like the work of terrorists, I'm no fool. You people killed my mother!"

"I SWEAR TO YOU," Clovis said frantically, "IT WASN'T ME!"

"Then who?" Lelouch began as he activated his Geass, "the truth cannot be hidden from me, so you will answer all of my questions."

Clovis was instantly ensnared by Lelouch's Geass.

"Speak your questions," Clovis replied in an emotionless tone.

"Who killed my mother?"

"Ask Second Prince Schneizel and Second Princess Cornelia, they can tell you."

"Are they involved in her death?"

Clovis didn't respond.

"I see, so that's all you know," Lelouch said before putting the gun away to pull out his cell phone and readying its recording function. "Next, tell me everything about the girl in the capsule? Why was she so important you would make up a story about it being poison gas and slaughter everyone in this ghetto to cover it up?"

"She is a person of interest to the Emperor, so I captured her to experiment on her." Clovis began as Lelouch was recording everything he was saying using his phone. "She has special abilities including immortality, but most of all she can grant those she forms a contact with special abilities called Geass. We sought to replicate her abilities and study the relationship of Geass between her and the ruins that bear the same emblem upon her forehead. The Emperor has also expressed a great interest in similar ruins, which we believe is why he has been expanding Britannia so aggressively."

She's immortal, then could she be alive? Lelouch wondered, but that was merely the tip of the iceberg.

"Tell me everything," Lelouch asked.

If it interested his father, the Emperor, then Lelouch knew the information Clovis had could prove invaluable in the future.

Meanwhile, outside the G-1, the surviving Japanese civilians were being allowed to leave the battlefield, but yet they were confused over the sudden change from slaughtering them to letting them go. Regardless no one questioned it and quickly accepted it before Clovis changes his mind.

"Why are we letting the Elevens go? What about the Poison Gas they stole?" Jeremiah demanded while speaking to a soldier over a communication line.

"Its Prince Clovis's orders sir," the soldier replied.

"Fine, so get Bartley and the others on the line," Jeremiah ordered.

"Uh, they don't seem to be at their posts," the soldier answered.

"Are you telling me Prince Clovis has been left unattended in the G-1?"

"That's all of my questions," Lelouch said, releasing Clovis from the hold his Geass had on him.

Clovis quickly regained his senses just as Lelouch put away his phone and drew his gun again.

"I promise I had nothing to do with it," Clovis said weakly while holding his hands up.

"I believe you," Lelouch offered unassumingly before his voice took on a dark tone. "But your men tried to kill me, and they murdered my best friend in cold blood, and they slaughtered countless unarmed civilians."

Clovis's eyes widened in alarm as Lelouch aimed the gun directly at his face.

"Please, you can't! We may have different mothers, but you and I are still blood." Clovis said in a panic.

"You can't change the world without getting your hands dirty," Lelouch said before pulling the trigger.

Chelsea, who had been standing outside the command center, heard the gunshot, but moments later, Lelouch exited the command center with the helmet back on.

"We're leaving," Lelouch said as he began walking quickly down the hall.

"Did you just," Chelsea asked, obviously concerned. Not so much that Chelsea was against the idea, but instead worried about the implications of killing a Britannian Prince and Viceroy could bring.

"I did, why wouldn't I kill an enemy commander," Lelouch answered.

Chelsea followed him, unable to do anything about what just happened.

Twenty minutes later, inside an abandoned subway station outside of Shinjuku Ghetto, Lelouch and Chelsea had rendezvoused with Taeko and Babara.

"Despite the issues that white Knightmare Frame caused you, your plan succeeded," Babara complimented.

"It did, and I destroyed a good portion of the forces Clovis brought," Lelouch remarked with a prideful smile.

"Don't let it go to your head, boy. You won one battle, but you haven't won the war."

"I know," Lelouch said with a solemn expression, "it has just begun. Although it's sooner than I would've imagined, with this new power, it helps me speed up my schedule. I would've had to wait much longer before I can make the initial move."

"Hey, Granny," Chelsea began.

"Don't call me granny," Babara snapped.

"Was killing Clovis ok for him?"

"You killed the Viceroy?" Babara said, seemingly surprised by it.

"I did after I used my power to extract everything of interest from him," Lelouch answered, but instead of Babara reprimanding him, she did quite the opposite.

"Well, now you can consider yourself a professional assassin, although it's a shame we didn't have a contact on Clovis we could've collected on."

Lelouch grinned slightly, "but in terms of combat ability, I have a long way to go."

"Yes, you do," Babara said in agreement before adding with a smile, "and now I'll be training you extra hard."

Suddenly Babara became aware of someone before looking over her shoulder.

"What is it?" Lelouch asked.

"You're hiding your presence well, but you might as well come out of there, Cassandra," Babara demanded.

The sound of someone sighing was hard before Cassandra stepped out of the shadows making her presence known among the others.

"As I expected from the advisor to the head of our clan and our most seasoned assassin," Cassandra complimented before turning to Lelouch.

"Cassandra," Lelouch said with an expression indicating he recognized her.

Cassandra seemed just as surprised as the feeling was mutual, "Lelouch, is that you?"

"You two know each other," Babara remarked surprised by this turn of events.

"We met one another when Lelouch and his friend Suzaku visited a Britannian circus me, and Gilberda was apart of," Cassandra replied.

"Yes, I remember that. The owner was a dishonest man, and his treatment of you two disgusted me, to put it mildly," Lelouch commented.

Due to Cassandra's extra arms, she had been old to the circus by her parents, just like her friend Gilberda, who was sold off because of her abnormally high level of strength she possessed. The circus initially from Britannia, and despite most Japanese possessing a negative view of Britannians at the time before the war, the circus was welcomed in Japan.

It was a month before the war between Japan and Britannia when Lelouch met them.

Their location near the Kurugui Shrine was suspicious, and a day after they arrived, three men attempted to invade the Kuurugui Estate, Lelouch noted internally.

Suspecting the circus was a front for Britannian agents, like men involved with those who killed his mother Marianne or were involved with one of the contenders for the throne hoping to ensure Lelouch and Nunnally could never compete for the throne. Lelouch and Suzaku went, and the pair had come across a young Cassandra and Gilberda who were treated as part of the circus' freaks.

When the authorities who captured the men weren't going to do anything about the circus, Lelouch decided to take matters into his own hands.

That night Lelouch snuck into the circus and breaking into the headmaster's office, although, at the time, Lucien had been secretly watching over Lelouch.

His involvement had allowed Lelouch to infiltrate the circus and found some interesting documents inside the ringmaster's office, along with the keys to the cages Cassandra and Gilberda were locked in.

"What do you want kid?" Gilberda snapped.

Unlike Cassandra, Gilberda was the older of the two and the more aggressive of the pair. She possessed short blonde hair wearing colorful clothing you would commonly seen on a clown.

"Do you want to escape?" Lelouch asked with a serious expression.

"What kind of joke is that," Gilberda snapped, "are you making fun of us?"

"Yes or not," Lelouch replied sternly.

"You're serious," Cassandra asked, peeking out from behind Gilberda, who was also wearing attire befitting a clown.

"I only need to know where the key for your cage would be kept?"

"It's in the ringmaster's office," Cassandra answered, "but I don't think you can get in."

"I'll get it," Lelouch replied before slipping away to fetch the key.

"After about twenty minutes later Lelouch came back with the key and freed us," Cassandra said, returning to the present. "Following that I guess Lelouch found evidence of the ringmaster involved in illegal smuggling and accepting state secrets from spies within Japan, so Lelouch leaked it to the media anonymously causing the circus to get closed down and most of its staff including the ringmaster to get arrested."

"How did Lelouch get access to something like that?" Chelsea asked.

"The safe the ringmaster had required only a key to unlock it, which was part of his keyring he kept on his desk, which also had the key for the cage I was looking for. I decided to unlock the safe on a whim to see if there was anything I could use to divert any effort of tracking down Cassandra and Gilberda," Lelouch answered who either by luck or fate he found something that suited his needs perfectly.

"After that, we were freed we stayed at the Kuruguri Estate with Lelouch having to hide us," Cassandra added before saying, "and then the war happened."

"Hiding you two couldn't have been easy," Babara noted.

"They don't really watch Lelouch too well. They only keep an eye on him when he leaves the estate, and even then, they don't intervene unless he is about to be killed," Cassandra explained while remembering a time Lelouch came to them with food, but he was covered in bruises and light cuts.

They didn't even do anything when the local children attacked him.

"After the war started, they followed me, Nunnally and my friend Suzaku until stray artillery fire hit the outskirts of a city we were trying to get clear of causing us to fall through a collapsed train tunnel," Lelouch explained. "We couldn't find either of you, but Suzaku and I managed to get Nunnally out by finding an old service tunnel for maintenance workers. We tried to find out, but we found no sign of you."

"We thought the same, and Gilberta managed to dig us out through the collapsed ceiling of the tunnel back to the surface," Cassandra explained while recalling a mental image of the superhumanly strong Gilberta hurling broken pieces of concrete out of the way before helping Cassandra out of the collapsed tunnel.

"Then I assume at some point you two joined the Oarburgh Clan," Lelouch asked, which Cassandra replied with a nod.

"I see, so now that you two are caught up, we should leave right now and continue this discussion someplace more secured," Babara ordered as the group wasted no further time escaping the area.

A/N: Well that is Shinjuku Ghetto out of the way, and we are introduced to Cassandra, who had encountered Lelouch in the past having helped her and Gilberta escape from the circus just before the invasion of Japan.

They didn't stay together long, but it was long enough.

But the question is how Cassandra's boss will react when she finds out, and there is the fact Clovis is now dead, which is likely to set in motion certain events which will lead to an inevitable confrontation with the Elite Seven.

I have established a new poll, but I am currently running another poll on my profile, and I'll likely replace it with the Akame ga Kill poll once more of the characters on the poll get a proper introduction. But if you guys want to vote on it now, it's up in my Code Geass Crossover Forum with a link located on my profile page, and the poll is under "Code Geass: Lelouch of the Path of Shadow and Blood" topic.

The confirmed harem for Lelouch so far will feature Akame, Hinata(Hinowa), Cassandra, Kallen Kozuki, and C.C.

Akame will be a bit tricky, but we will see how it all plays out.

So I hope you enjoyed the chapter, and I look forward to your feedback and reviews.