Chapter 52: His Name…is Lancelot

With the battle approaching its climax, both sides push as hard as they can to secure victory. But while Zero has a reveal, so do his enemies and one can only wonder which reveal will carry the greatest impact.

(Previously)

“We interrupt this broadcast to bring you a news bulletin. As we speak, a terrorist attack is underway at Prince Andrew prison, which the authorities are working to contain. We now go to the scene with our own Christine Fall.” The news changed, catching their interest.

“Terrorists?” Nina asked as the feed changed, showing a prison in flames, as knightmare wrecks dotted its courtyard. Still, others remained locked in battle, including one that looked more like a spider than a man.

Dalque nearly fell in surprise as she scurried to be right-side up, pointing at the TV. "She called out. “Wait a second, I know that, but it looks really different now."

"An upgrade to what we last saw." Lucretia frowned, as she and her sisters could never forget that machine, on which Zero... piloted. Now he was trapped in a battle against, taking blows that she wasn't sure how he wasn't taking out.

“The Black Knights…Brother.” Nunnally clenched her hands, only to feel Shirley’s hand on her shoulder, the older girl trying to offer what support she could.

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Across the prison grounds, the sounds of gunfire, screeching landspinners, and explosions rang through the air. The core of the action was the main yard, where the main thrust of the Black Knights, who had broken in to rescue a VIP, and the Britannian guards, who had been put on high alert, and the Glinda Knights, who had known that the assault would happen and thus had been prepared.

To the left, the Miracle Worker Tohdoh was up against the white terror of the resistance, and a unit that had seemed to make it a habit to constantly throw a wrench in their plans, the Lancelot. The former Japanese soldier focused on the unit that had managed to keep up with him and even took out 3 of his men, mercifully not killed but forced to eject. For Suzaku, he was just as pressed as he was amazed and disheartened to know that the Black Knights had another 7th gen frame, and one with a capable enough pilot to keep up with him.

On the right, one of his four swords, Chiba, was dancing and dodging around the continued aerial assault from the Bradford. The unit had made it nearly impossible to attack it when it spent too much time in the air, and proved itself far more agile than even a stunt plant, making it difficult to target and fire on it with her rifle. The only silver lining to this cloud was the fact that Leonhardt hadn't been able to score more take-downs on them, and much like the left flank, it was a dynamic stalemate.

To their rear, their only means of escape was no different as another of Tohdoh’s swords, Asahina, was being pushed back by the Lancelot's lesser but still frighteningly capable sister, the Lancelot Grail. It's pilot, the knight of honour to Marrybel, Dame Oldrin Zevon, was proving that her age didn't make her any less of a combatant, using her unit's many blades to keep Asahina's Gekka on the back foot. She had already handled half his allotted units, a few with direct strikes to their cockpits, which ensured no one would walk out of them.

It wasn’t much better for the true rescue unit, as despite it being led by Tohdoh’s final two swords, Urabe and Senba, they couldn’t make for their exit as the Sutherland Eye and its pilot, Sokkia was acting as overwatching and firing through buildings, leaving massive holes and slowly destroying their cover, at this point, they knew they’ll be easy pickings.

With the main action, the vanguard was split into two. Guilford fought against Kallen, but unlike the rest, it was the Gloucester that was being pressed by the Guren. The difference in frame performance was a sizable gap, kept as close as it was only because of Guilford's skill and experience with it. Still, Kallen was whittling him down, and both knew it.

Finally, Zero and Chantal, piloting the Nemesis Kagero against Princess Marrybell, who took to the field in her Lancelot Trial. Tink with his Zetland along with several Sutherlands acting as support for her, keeping as much pressure on Zero as possible.

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Neither side, neither Zero nor Princess Marrybell, cared for the choppers flying overhead broadcasting the battle. They heard the battles around them; they responded to updates and requests for orders, and they could even advise and alter battle tactics on the fly for their forces.

They did all this, and yet they weren't truly there anymore. As the Lancelot leapt onto the Nemesis, blade poised to sink deep into the unit, it was instead met by the Nemesis' Blaze Luminous, the shining green shields saving the unit as the Lancelot's blood red MVS clashed against it, Marrybell attempting to force it through regardless for a moment before she jumped off.

As she retreated, the Nemesis gave chase, its autocannons firing tracer and AP rounds which the Lancelot Trial either dodged or deflected with its own shields. Within the cockpit of the Nemesis, a warning sounded as Zero shifted the unit to abandon its chase of Marrybell and turn to the Zetland. Its shields saved it as the massive enemy unit opened fire, along with the Sutherlands.

When the massive hadron blast struck the Nemesis' shields, the unit was pushed back. Zero didn't say a word, didn't make a sound as he pushed the controls, his feet on the pedals as if it were second nature. Dashing to the side, the Nemesis' 6 landspinners pushed it sideways before he drifted into position to charge Marrybell.

The Princess smiled, a glint of monstrous glee in her eyes as joy and rage mixed and swelled to the surface. She fired her VARIS, over and over. Still, this time, it was the Nemesis that played the evasion game, drifting side to side, to the point that she thought momentum would still the unit from toppling. Still, it always swung the other way, Zero managing his movements like an agile beast chasing down its prey.

Slamming into one another, their blaze took the brunt of it, but they separated, only for Marrybell to give a frenzied chase. Both were using wrecks of fallen units as cover, diversions, and even lunch pads. Nemesis lacked traditional close quarters capacity, no blades or fists, but Zero fought like a wild wolf, using his lower frame, multiple legs, and sneeze size to fight, Chantal complimenting it as she would use their VARIS rifle as a staff, or fire their weapons right into Marybel's shields.

This was all that mattered to the two. All they could truly see was what made their hearts beat, their blood heat, and their bones quiver with excitement. It was this battle, this danger, and destruction. It didn't matter if they were royal blood; they were not posh, not high-minded, not gentle.

They were crude like jagged glass, they were brutal like hammers, they were aggressive as beasts. A princess who stood alone in blood, and an exiled prince haunted by nightmares, clashing against each other like a noble knight against a powerful beast in an epic fantasy. They didn't keep still; they kept up constant movement, shifting from evasion and deflection to offense without a moment's pause.

Lelouch and Marrybell, siblings sired by the same man. Siblings who had lost their mothers, siblings who had experienced Charles’ apathy. Siblings who experienced how little ‘family’ meant in royal circles. Siblings who lost a piece of their souls and replaced it with something new, something dangerous, something terrifying to normal people.

They were not normal, they'll never be normal, and moments like this, surrounded by fire and death, with their lives on the line against a foe they so dearly despised, it reminded them they didn’t want to be normal.

Zero hardly paid the Zetland any mind as he shifted the blaze to block another strike. Beneath the helmet, he was smiling. A smile he would have never wanted his loved ones to see. Marrybell was the same.

Chantal couldn’t see it, but she could feel it; she could feel that joy swimming in his core, his anticipation for the clash growing more chaotic, but she could feel more.

And she didn't like it, the…thing, demon called hate, and its influence on his core from how deeply rooted it was.

“If you’re done having fun, we need to focus on the mission. She spoke up as she fired the VARIS at a Sutherland, only for the enemy unit to dive for cover, allowing others to give it covering fire.

Zero seemed to return from the haze, shaking his head slightly. He took a closer look at the situation, and it wasn't good: regardless of their Blaze, they were surrounded, and Marrybell was only adding to the pressure.

“She’s an excellent combatant and an exceptional commander,” Zero mused. He hadn’t ceased moving, but sooner or later, it wouldn’t matter much as Marrybell’s soldiers weren’t slouches, serving as great back-ups to her, keeping the pressure on him and giving the princess openings to strike when they weren’t too close.

Unless Kallen could handle Guilford and then move on to handle the larger artillery-type knightmare attacking him. "She knows the Blaze and its limitations; no doubt she wants us to exhaust our power just on defence.” Chantal proposed, as another shot came in, this time from the Sutherlands. They had aimed for their legs, trying to cripple them as Lelouch threw up the Blaze once more.

“Even with the double energy filler configuration, we don’t have that much time.” Zero stated that his unit was not designed to be energy-efficient; at least, he didn't have that skill with the first, so he needed to build it to accept 2 energy fillers. Rakshata, for all her genius, didn't focus on that aspect either, and the dual-energy filler setup remained in this model.

Adding in the Blaze and VARIS, neither of which is exactly a conservative energy sink, and he could see they were already in the yellow.

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“Dammit, we don’t have time for this,” Kallen grunted as she tried to just handle Guilford. Still, the so-called 'Spearhead of the Empire' was proving his title wasn't just imperial BS. “Zero, you really shouldn't be getting into endurance fights." She added, as she was aware of his unit's limitations as much as he was.

Turning her attention back onto Guilford, who had tried to slash her side, but she pulled back, allowing the blade to miss. Firing her lone slash harken, she struck the Gloucester hit at point blank range in the chest, but once more, while dazed, Guilford was able to just barely avoid being grabbed by her RWS.

'This machine,' Guilford gritted his teeth, having worked up a sweat trying to defeat this unit. The same one that had nearly overwhelmed his Princess and could match Lancelot. He had no delusions that he could defeat it, but as a knight of Britannia, he must defeat it.

It was easier said than done, as, despite his experience, the unknown red unit was on a whole other level and, no doubt, had a deceiver comparable to Kururugi at the helm. He tried to keep his distance, firing on it with his rifle, only attempting strikes with his MVS when the enemy got close, but it was as fast as it was fragile.

Getting close, Kallen grunted as she swiped at the Gloucester with her knife, carving into it and forcing Guilford to pull back as she seemingly went for another grab, but it was a feint; instead, she twisted the Guren. She kicked the Gloucester hard in the chest. Guilford bit back a curse as he worked to shift with his change of momentum, rolling out of the way, only for the Guren to fire on him with its grenade launcher, a strike he blocked, but as a consequence, lost his unit's left arm.

As she charged him once more, Guilford didn't let fear or confusion take him, as he just ejected his now loose cape and charged her, sword in hand, as he would fulfil his duty to his country and his Princess, and not even this red menace could stop him.

Line Break

Hidden from the battle, Rakshata, along with her aides, monitored feedback from the Guren, Nemesis, and Gekka units. The Indian woman was as calm as ever as she and the 3 men went over the date for all 7 machines, with only a few seconds' delay.

It was as she looked over the Gekka customised for Tohdoh that she frowned at some of the variables. "You think that the sub-system linkage in the right arm isn't tight enough?” She asked, very much not speaking Japanese.

“I doubt it, it’s probably the line.” One of her assistants replied as she took a quick drag on her pipe.

“I’m heading a 0.7 to the specs.” The other confirmed as he compared the states he was seeing to what they should be on another screen.

As she breathed out the nicotine-laced smoke, Rakshata sighed. “Obviously, those old cogs at Kyoto need to supply us with better parts; we can only do so much.”

“Could you repeat that, please?” Inoue spoke up, as she and the other Black Knight staff present had no clue what was being discussed. Rakshata glanced to the side, where her fellow Chiefs, Inoue and Yoshida, watched. Unlike the rest, they had taken to their non-combat roles better and so, didn't complain when they weren't picked for this operation.

“We need better parts," Rakshata repeated.

Yoshida hummed, crossing his arms as if he already seen how much it cost to build the Guren. Even with their larger financial pools, no way in hell they could afford that. “That would be hard to explain to Kyoto, we're already their golden kids.” He mentioned, as a connection or not, he didn't want to be in the room when Zero made the demand.

“Well, I imagine they'll be less stingy with the purse considering Britannia is more than willing to give that Earl of Pudding what he needs to make more of those Lancelots.” Rakshata gestured to another screen, which showed a live news feed of the battle against not one but 3 different Lancelot-type models, along with additional high-performance units, one a walking bunker buster and the other a jet with the agility of a hummingbird.

Before Inoue could respond, the communication line came to life. “Rakshata.”

“Something the issue, Zero?” Rakshata asked, glancing at the screen displaying Nemesis' details and considering the trash designs she'd been given. "I've made massive improvements, and Zero is handling it well enough," she said.

“I’m shifting to plan C, should it hold?” Zero informed her, to which she picked the pipe from her lips and smiled.

“Don't doubt my work; we made sure to test it before you ever saw it. Just be mindful of your energy filler levels; that function is still a power drain I need to solve.” She advised, as she only wished she had a means to see the face of the Earl of Pudding at what came next.

“I’ll keep that in mind.” Zero confirmed before he ended the line to focus on the battle. Rakshata figured he had maybe 9 minutes of combat time left, so he better make it count.

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"Oh my, aren't those enemy models something else?" Lloyd beamed as he, Cecile, and the rest of the A.S.E.E.C. unit watched the events unfold. They had expected a fight, and oh boy, did they get one. “Perhaps I should be grateful such carnage makes for good television.” He chuckled as the feed focused on the Princess battling against who they knew to be Zero, and the Lancelot, which seemed to be in a pitched battle with a black unit with a quite large sword.

“You aren’t worried?" Cecile asked, as it was odd and concerning to watch the Lancelot be countered near-perfectly by the red unit at Narita, it was another to see that the Black Knights had more than one such unit of comparable specs.

Lloyd tapped his chin, as was typical for him; he hardly seemed bothered by the fact that during this prison assault, dozens had surely died. “I mean, I wouldn’t like it if they managed to damage my Lancelot, but it would be a perfect chance to improve shortcomings, just like after Narita. In fact, if that’s the case, I wouldn’t mind more of them.”

Cecile took a breath, held it, and released it, trying to calm her frustration with her boss, who could say something amounting to treason. “Lloyd.”

"What? Science and advancement are built on obstacles and challenges. If those pesky Euros hadn't started investing in knightmares as fast as they did, we would be sending Gloucesters and calling that the absolute peak of knightmare design." Lloyd waved it off, so she tried to focus on something else. And that comes in the form of the Princess Marrybell and Zero crashing through a wall of the prison into another courtyard, one closer to the rear of the complex.

“The Red one and the multi-limbed units seem to be the most capable.” She noted, frowning once more, that Zero's unit had deployed its copied Blaze Luminous to counter a strike from Marrybell.

This, it seemed, was the part that upset and annoyed Lloyd, as his blasé smile faded into a frown as he watched Zero piloting an upgraded unit he had fielded at Narita, one that clearly showed designs Lloyd and his team had worked on and never shared. “Through no small part of their stolen tech, of all the things she could have done, she did this…”

Rakshata, it was one thing to learn and confirm that she was aiding their enemies. But for that woman to have the gall to copy his work, his creations…truly, she must have hated him. A hateful woman, but an incredibly capable and brilliant hateful woman.

As the other Sutherlands and Zetland gave chase to support their Princess, Zero managed a direct shot that took out another Sutherland, slowing the rest. At the same time, the Zetland returned the favour with a massively destructive shot from its hadron cannon. Marrybell moved out of the way and allowed Zero to tank the shot with his Blaze.

“I still can’t believe it. I saw the reports, but to witness it with my own eyes…they really stole the design details for the Blaze and VARIS rifle, but when? How?” Cecile questioned, as she couldn't think of a single time when someone had gotten close, and she trusted the other staff with her life; they wouldn't have sold such information.

At that, Lloyd’s face hardened. “That, Cecile, is impossible. Rakshata works fast, but it would seem Lancelot's arm, and VARIS proved invaluable spoils of war for her to reverse engineer this."

However, Lloyd’s mood turned right as rain the next moment as another screen focused on Oldrin handling one of those units. It seemed she was having the easiest time. "Good thing ole Schneizel boy increased our funding, else poor Suzaku might have been alone down-OW!"  Cecile pulled him by the ear like he was an unruly child.

“Do you have any tact?” She complained that the feed had temporarily forgotten.

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“All forces, be advised that reinforcements are en route.” Sokkia heard the announcement as she remained in her spot, having no need to move as she handled her part in this battle.

"Seems like the Viceroy's decided she wants a piece of the action, Marrybell would be upset if we left anything but scraps for her though…" She hummed as she targeted another building, where she knew some terrorists were hiding.

With a pull of the trigger, she sent a blast clean through it, an explosion filling the space in the building as it collapsed. As it went down, she noted that 3 of the enemy signals went dark. Good, that just left 8 more.

In those 8, Urabe and Senba were starting to sweat as they kept moving around. As the building went down, the elder of the two grimaced when he saw that none of the 3 pilots ejected. "This isn’t ideal.”

“You telling me, at this pace, that crazy Britannian will level half the base and take us with it," Urabe called out over the coms, as he held onto Jugo, using his unit's arms to shield him from the debris, but not the dust as the man coughed as they raced away from the latest site to get an speedy demolition.

“Zero, where are you? We’re being slaughtered here." Urabe contacted their leader, who had assured them he could get there.

“I'll be there shortly. I was able to put some distance between us and the rest of the fight." Zero replied, though Senba could hear intense combat over the line. Glancing at his screens, he saw Zero's IFF was indeed further into the base compared to the rest, but not only did he have several Britannian signals around him, but he didn't have a safe path to their current position.

“You're still a ways off, and the only means to us from where you are would be another courtyard; you'll be a rabbit waiting to be skinned," Senba warned the masked man, who he figured had to be far younger than he was.

Line Break

“They can try, but I have a feeling they won’t get the chance,” Zero replied to Senba as he was in the midst of another intense duel with Marrybell, who was dead set on taking his head, just as Lelouch had bet, as it meant she gave chase. It meant she didn't realise she was intentionally separated from the rest. “Chantal?”

Chantal sighed, but couldn’t keep the ghost of a smile off her face. “Just don’t mess this up,” She teased him as Zero chuckled, his grip on the controls tight and confident.

“Rest assured, I performed at my best when I'm under pressure, which really gets the blood pumping." Zero declared, as in what must have seemed like a fit of madness, he shifted his focus from his clash with Marrybell, the Princess taking the chance to strike at him and at last, draw proverbial blood as she sliced into Nemesis' frontal side, disabling one heavy machine gun and even an autocannon.

But instead of flinching or countering, Zero gunned it for the Zetland at full speed. "What the-" Marryball asked as she tried to fire on the fleeing unit, but its Blaze came into effect one more, shielding its rear, and thus, she gave chase.

Tink blinked in surprise at the suicidal move. Was Zero counting on his Blaze being enough? He must have grown cocky; they knew that technology far better than he, and Tink knew it had to be close to its limits. A sustained strike from his Zetland would overwhelm.

"Well, considering what could be, not a terrible way to go," Tink muttered as, without hesitation, he targeted the incoming knightmare, the same as the other Sutherlands, and as one, they fired. Zero did no shift, he did not slow, he did not evade. With the world watching, he faced the blast of red death and kept his advance.

The bullets, but more importantly, the blast from the Zetland's hadron cannon struck right on the money. The Nemesis was saved from death by its blaze, but even after a few seconds, one could tell it was starting to buckle, cracks forming across it as if it were made from glass.

“Hold on…he can’t be…” Tink thought aloud, only for his surprise to increase as Zero rushed through his attack, Zero playing the most dangerous and lopsided game of chicken the soldier had ever seen. Within the cockpit of the Nemesis, warnings blared from the soon-to-fail Blaze, the machine begging him to evade, to retreat, but Zero's mask remained as cool as ever, for his attention was on another system, ready for use.

“Tink, he’s trying to ram you!" Marrybell called out as she continued trying to slow down the rat. Still, despite Zero taking the straight route, making it child's play to fire her VARIS repeatedly, his Blaze kept on blocking her shots, so she could only work on draining its power so the masked man would finally die!

But whatever Tink or Marrybell thought would happen didn’t, as at long last, the Nemesis shifted, crouching on all 6 legs, as above the knee joints, wing-like protrusions shot out, with another far larger set akin to those of a dragon fly unfolding from the sides of the main bodies, all their leading edges glowing pink against the black and purple units, to the sides of the rear, two boxes were violently ejected with a jet of gas, revealing thrusters.

“Now let’s take the skies and reap justice on the arrogant, Nemesis!” From its crouched position, Zero pushed the unit to jump high, just as its Air Glide unit powered up and its thrusters ignited, sending it into the sky. All who saw this happen couldn't stop their jaws from falling wide open at the sight of Zero's unit taking to the skies and flying.

“What that-!” Tink called out.

“Did it-?” Marrybell looked on, wide-eyed.

"It can fly?!" Rivalz held his head in stunned shock as the rest of the council couldn't even speak a word, Nina having fallen out of her chair, the ground having believed Zero was about to be killed, only for their friend to pull off another miracle.

"NOOOOO!!!" Lloyd collapsed to his knees, nearly pulling his hair out as he couldn't believe it. Rakshata had beaten him to the punch of a flying knightmare! But how? HOW?!

Not even the Black Knights were safe from the shock, as neither Rakshata nor Zero had thought about informing them about them, so when Kallen spotted the Nemesis flying out of the courtyard he had led Marrybell into, she had to blink a couple times to make sure she wasn't seeing things. Tohdoh only grunted, a smile forming as he wondered if this was the young prince being dramatic. At the same time, Chiba wished he could handle her flying issue.

Zero paid all of them no mind, as he already had the necessary data on the target's location courtesy of Urabe and Senba. This target had the good manners not to move from their overwatch spot, how thoughtful of them.

“I see them,” Chantal called as Zero twisted the unit, drifting it in mid-air so that their main cannon could line up with the tallest building, where they made out the shape of a heavily modified Sutherland trying to shift its focus from Urabe and Senba to them.

Shame, they were too slow on the draw.

Chantal pulled the trigger, and with their VARIS set to its burst mode, that meant the Nemesis's main cannon unleashed a supersonic green sphere of destruction, which Sokkia saw coming and pushed her unit to dodge, or else she would be killed.

She was successful in that, if only barely as she managed to move her unit just enough that instead of the hit coming in at the Sutherland’s chest, which would have obliterated her cockpit, instead slammed into her unit’s head with as much force as a incoming truck, throwing her back in her seat as the Sutherland’s head was turned to scarp, damage spreading through the system as the Sutherland was thrown its back and nearly off the building.

"Sokkia!" Leonhardt called out, having seen the entire thing, but he got no response from her. Marrybell's gaze shot to her screens, but she didn't see the dreaded 'lost', Sokkia…she was still alive, God, she hoped she was still alive.

“I wasn’t able to land a kill shot,” Chantal noted as Zero pulled on the controls and jetted off, having sparred only a moment before he did for both he and Chantal to see the Sutherland lying on its side, its cockpit largely undamaged. Still, the arm that was supporting its VARIS was also gone, its shoulder being ripped apart from their strike and sending the limb and the rifle plummeting to the ground below.

“It’s enough, now let’s go handle the other problems,” Zero called as they zoomed towards Kallen. With their speed and agility, despite several Sutherlands firing on them, the impromptu flak wasn’t able to hit their mark.

Chantal and Zero both grit their teeth, but didn't complain as Zero shifted, pulled, and pushed on his controls, his feet managing the pedals to put their unit into a high-speed aerial evasion pattern, the G-forces pressing into them as they twisted, spun, flipped, and almost twirled around the Britannian attempts to strike them down. Not even Marrybell could score a hit as she cursed and rushed back towards the main battle.

“Things aren’t looking good,” Guilford was breathing heavily, his back against the wall here as he was struggling to keep up with this red monster, and now Zero could fly? What was next?

He would see it as his unit was suddenly fired on. Looking up, he, along with Kallen, saw it was the Nemesis, upside down and bearing down on him as its sole remaining autocannon peppered him, forcing him to pull some evasive moves of his own.

Taking his eye off Kallen proved to be a mistake as she rushed him, the spectacled knight having just enough time to see her slash at him with her knife, knocking his sword arm to the side, giving her the window to latch onto his Gloucester's head with her RWS. Knowing what came next, he ejected right as she pushed the button and flooded the unit with extreme levels of heat and radiation, causing it to bubble, bulge, and ultimately, explode.

“Thanks for that," Kallen called out over their radios, only for a shot from a VARIS to strike the Nemesis in the shield, which was blocked by its shield. Turning, they saw Marrybell fast approaching; her Sutherlands followed at a slower pace, and the Zetland formed the rear.

“Zero!" Marrybell was out for blood; she refused to allow him to nearly kill Sokkia and walk away.

Zero was turning to handle her when Kallen stepped up and rushed to face Marrybell and her back-up. “You keep going, I’ll handle the princess." Kallen reminded him that he couldn't have much power left, and, truth be told, he didn't.

“Watch yourself," Zero confirmed as he shifted focus to blast off towards the enemy air unit. Marrybell wouldn't give up so easily, and in those moments it took Kallen to reach her, she continued to target and fire on the Nemesis with her VARIS.

All of which missed, as unlike her unit, Nemesis came with 4 factsphere sensors spread across its body, giving it exceptional area observation. "Could you be gentler?” Chantal complained that Lelouch didn't just take a straight path; he maintained their incredibly, near-physically defying evasion route, partially because each of the 6 legs had smaller sub-thrusters. Those 6 legs weren't idle as they constantly shifted about, adding to their movements, acting as aerial reverse thrusters, or just swinging weight around to act as a counterbalance.

Zero could feel it as well, and it wasn't easy on his body or the machine, really, to be moving around like a fusion of a hummingbird and a fly. Still, it conserved power which would otherwise go to the Blaze, which was close to overloading and needed time to cool.

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“Lloyd, Rakshata couldn’t have just…right?” Cecile looked at Lloyd, who was back on his knees, but much more frantic and angry.

"She stole it, dammit, she stole my work, bastardized it, and put it into the monstrous creation of hers!" Lloyd yelled as he recognised the design, even if it had been modified. It had clear signs of his work.

“But how did she manage it? We’ve never had so much as a security breach. Wait-no, that wouldn’t matter because we haven’t even finished designing and building a functional float unit for a knightmare.” Cecile spoke up, as they were sure to run a tight ship.

Rakshata, for her part, was far from the pleased woman Lloyd thought she would be. As she glared at the screens as if they had insulted her genius and achievements, before burning her house down.

“I suppose it was good fortune that Zero could provide us with the Britannian data on float technology.” One of her aides pointed out as they kept up with the battle, both the news, which was focusing mainly on Zero flying through the air, engaged in an intense dogfight with his Britannian counterpart, and their own feeds on the many units' performance, and thus far, the Nemesis was showing few reasons to be concerned.

“Yes, we were able to complete these months ahead of schedule.” The other added that if she were a fierier woman, she would have had Rakshata growling like an angry beast.

“I wouldn't have needed it if the boorish Maharajah weren't so stingy with our budget. The idea that I had to do this collaboration with the Earl of Pudding…it's distasteful." She didn't need to use it. She damn well could have cracked it on.Her.Own. She might have already if money wasn’t always an issue she had to fight for. Sadly, for her, that girl in Kyoto could be a convincing little brat, and the scientist had to swallow her pride and use Lloyd and Cecile's work to plug in gaps in her own research.

“Still, it seems to be working fine, right? Wasn’t that why Zero called earlier?" Yoshida mentioned that, as he wasn't sure why Rakshata was so angry, he was smart enough to try to keep her calm without telling her to calm down.

“It was, but he should be wary of the energy consumption; it would be embarrassing if he were captured because of that.” Rakshata begrudgingly admitted that Zero's unit had the lowest energy filler levels of the still in combat frames.

“Could you keep an eye on it and remind him if that becomes an issue?” Inoue requested, since it seemed like chaos out there. No way they'll have time for a recharge, even if they had someone to rush in and do so.

“I suppose I could.” Rakshata agreed and returned to her task of reading the data.

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Out in the field, or more accurately, the skies over the prison, the Nemesis was locked in a dogfight with the Bradford. Leonhardt was sweating as he found he was being pushed. His unit might have been designed for a more aerial role, but it was still a prototype, one with an incredibly fuel-draining means of flight.

Zero's unit, by contrast, was heavier and not as quick off the line. Still, as they turned and dived against each other, he saw it was a hell of a lot more agile, those 6 legs allowing the arachnid-style machine to perform stunts and recoveries that Leonhardt wished he could copy. Though in fact it had shields and he didn't, it meant that even when he landed blows, they did nothing, while he had to worry about a few good hits sending him back to earth the hard way.

“Not good," Zero noted as he kept up the game of cat and mouse. He was in the better unit, at least for a fight like this, but he was burning through power and getting no results. At best, they had about 5 minutes left, and that would require putting out the blaze.

“We can’t beat him like this,” Chantal called out, having stopped trying to get a lock on the Bradford with their turret. Even with its increased speed, it was pointless, so she could only fire directly ahead, which required Zero line them up first, a challenge in itself.

“We’ve bought a chance for Chiba to reinforce Asahina, but at this rate…” Zero hummed, its eye never far from their power gauge. At least on the ground, Asashina was getting some much-needed back-up against the second Red Lancelot, and the duo were making progress, pushing the multi-blade carrying unit back.

A 2v1…yes, that could work. “Hold on.” Zero gave little warning as he dived; Leonhardt, left surprised, only for a moment, gave chase. The two knightmares screaming towards the concrete, the Bradford trying to land a lucky shot on its prey, but keeping his distance as he knew Zero's unit could recover from a dive like this much easier.

Zero did, in fact, pull out, with just a few meters between them and the ground. He pushed their Air Glide system for an increased speed, making full use of their forward momentum as he raced towards Marrybell…and Kallen.

“Kallen, hook up and handle the pest to my rear!" Zero called out, giving Kallen only seconds to see them coming and realise the plan.

But she wasn’t an ace for nothing, and that skill was matched by her intelligence. “Right!” She confirmed as she pushed back from Marrybell, and evading another shot from the Zetland, she raced for the incoming Nemesis.

Knowing they'll get one chance, Zero pushed his controls hard to the side while pulling up. As they pulled off a steep climb, they started to spin. Kallen fired her lone slash harken, hooking onto the unit and immediately jumped, allowing her unit to be pulled long like a weight at the end of a rope. She held on tight as she was pushed into the side of her cockpit, her line straining against the pull, but holding.

The result was that as Zero continued to climb, Kallen used the rotational force from their stunt to shoot herself into the air, right into the path of the Bradford. “Crap!” Leonhardt cursed, seeing the ground unit taking to the air in such an insane way.

It was too close, and he couldn’t evade what could turn into a mid-air collision, thus he fired both his slash harkens, trying to knock the red menace out of the way, but Kallen dodged the first, allowed the second to strike her unit, shredding through her left arm, a loss but one which meant she was able to get close enough that with her right, she latched onto the Bradford.

“Leonhardt, eject-!” Tink screamed in horror at the sight.

“Let me see you burst!" Kallen roared as she slammed her thumb on the trigger, giving another Britannian unit a dose of heat and radiation. Leonhardt was knocked in the head when she grabbed him. Still, as the warnings screamed around him and his unit failed against the body-bulging power, he was able to reach for his ejection lever and pull it, sending his cockpit flying a second before the unit exploded and nearly took him with it.

“Damn, I wasn’t expecting a stunt like that.” Asahina chuckled, even as he and Chiba continued to duel against their Lancelot clone.

“Kozuki, who are you getting down?" Chiba was called out as the Guren, several dozen meters off the ground and falling fast.

“I’ll collect her.” Zero called out right as he came in under Kallen, allowing her to right her unit and land on Nemesis as if they were a surfboard.

“Next time, give me a real warning," Kallen told them as they flew lower to the ground, allowing Kallen to jump off and safely land, a move matched by the Nemesis, which was approaching the red of its power reserves.

“And don’t just jump onto us, we’re not the sidewalk," Chantal remarked back, only for the two units to need to split to avoid being shot by the Zetland and Marrybell, as even with the Bradford out of the picture, they weren’t going to let the two damaged frames walk.

Urabe came on over the line with some good news. “We're making good time, 2 minutes, and we're home free.”

“Princess, you're losing the advantage. Where are those reinforcements?” Tink asked as he focused his attention on Zero, leaving his Princess to handle the wounded, but still capable and dangerous red machine.

Marrybell frowned as she engaged her for, who was playing much safer now that it lacked an arm. "2 minutes at most," Marrybell confirmed.

“If we’re going to retreat, now would be a good time," Chiba called out as 3 of the more problematic frames were handled, but they were outnumbered, and she would bet more were on the way. “They'll be closing ranks; we're running out of time.” She noticed that, even with Kallen trying, Marrybell wasn't falling back or taking the bait; she knew she had to press them, and she was doing just that.

“Oldrin, Kururugi, we’re heading towards you.” Suzaku heard the Princess over the line, though he kept his focus on his opponent, as no matter what it did, it just wouldn't let him past, and he had only managed to deal minor damage.

“Understood, my lord!” Suzaku blocked another strike from his opponent's giant weapon; the thruster built into it meant that when they wished, their swings hit like boulders, a fact which had nearly done him in sooner, explaining the larch gash across his unit's chest.

Tohdoh, on his side of things, was just as pressed as he was, using all he had just to fight, but he could tell his foe was just better. But the former Japanese soldier had years of experience under his belt, and had been in more than a few dirty fights and knew how to exploit openings, if not make them.

If he could get the Lancelot lined up, a single swing could do it in, but he also needed to account for its blaze. As he pondered his next move, Zero’s command came in. “Tohdoh, I’m sending the Guren your way, along with data and a plan of action to handle the Lancelot.”

As he relayed the info, Kallen kept rushing in from her duel with Marrybell, the Princess trying to give chase. Still, a shot from the Nemesis stopped her as Zero pulled up between the Princess and the Guren.

Seeing the date, Tohdoh couldn’t help but smirk. “Understood.”

'First part, give the unit distance. Its speed, agility, and power are of another world, I would say even greater than its stolen data would claim, but for all the times it’s intervened, those were times to study it; to refine my notes so I could finally see it as scarp.’ Zero thought about his first annoyance, a machine that seemed destined to always stand against him.

It was amazing, he would be the first to admit that…but he had spent many nights going over data and footage, breaking it down and creating a profile on it as it didn’t matter your skills if one could predict how you’ll act, same principle behind dodging bullets-watch the gun, watch the trigger finger and you’ll rarely be tagged if you had good timing.

Marrybell crushed into the Nemesis, again its shields blocked her strike, but she was sure it was close to its limits. Meanwhile, the Guren and Tohdoh’s Gekka circled the Lancelot, baiting but never attacking, keeping it on its toes. ‘If this is accurate, the Lancelot is almost machine-like in its predictability. Give it distance, and it'll attempt a straight on strike, one it never feints.’ Tohdoh recalled what he had read.

And as if following a script, the Lancelot raced straight for the wounded Guren, trying to handle what would normally be the biggest threat in one swoop. Still, she put all she could into a jump, which saw her escape its strike. She would worry that it could shoot her, its VARIS being in play, but that wasn't how the Lancelot moved.

‘Dodge that and the bastard would always dodge the expected counterstrike.’ Kallen smirked as she saw the unit do just that, not try and shoot her down, but immediately reverse course, shifting to land closer to where its red sister was battling Asahina and Chiba, who seemed distracted by their own fight.

‘And lo and behold, poor fool leaps right to where Zero said he would,’ Asahina was not too busy fighting one to notice the Lancelot approaching, neither was Chiba, and despite his misgivings, he had to hand it to Zero, the guy was almost scary with how accurate his predictions could be. As the Lancelot landed, he spun around. He aimed his rifle, unleashing a burst that lasted no more than 2 seconds before he spun right back around to continue his fight with his foe.

Such a small time frame, one where less than 10 rounds could be sent towards the Lancelot, and wouldn’t have done anything unless they hit something vital, which was why Asahina hadn’t been told to aim for the body, but for his VARIS and while most mist, 3 shots didn’t, cracking int the VARIS, 2 damaging it with the 3rd impact knocking off a chunk of it.

“What? Could he have-!” Suzaku was flabbergasted by the move, one that left him without his main ranged weapon as he tried to store it; it was jammed, and so was the firing mechanism, leaving him with what amounted to a fancy piece of junk.

“Kururugi, pull back to the princess, now!” Oldrin yelled.

‘And as logic and its behaviour would dictate, it’ll return to the rear, and with that,’ Lelouch smirked as the Lancelot again, took off with a mighty leapt, its shields ready against any attack from them, mor likely, those it could see but with the rescue team having had no real issues, Zero called in some help from them.

And that help was Urabe, coming out from behind a building right as the Lancelot landing, the holy sword ready to pierce clean through the Lancelot’s rear and finally put it down.

“Lancelot, behind you!” Tink yelled over the radio, shifting focus to try and help his comrade, but that in itself left him open as Zero, with his power reserves having fallen into the red, drifting the Nemesis, giving Chantal the chance to fire their main cannon, it was on normal mode, the only one they still had access to with power as low as it was, but that was more than enough to sheer through the Zetland’s right leg, causing the unit to loose balance and trip, its shoot going wide and accidentally hitting 2 Sutherlands.

Suzaku had his own issues as he dodged the series of rapid thrusts and slashes. “I know this.”

“What the hell? How could he have dodged that?” Urabe asked as his last blow managed to 'draw blood' in a sense, piercing the upper half of the cockpit. As he pulled back and the Lancelot tried to retreat, it peeled at the cockpit like a can opener, before at least, its top port was cut off and fell to the ground.

Seeing this happen, Lloyd panicked as the Lancelot did not have an ejection block. For Euphemia, she clasped her hands and prayed that she wouldn’t lose anyone she cared for. But in the field, for those watching at Ashford?

It was an entirely different response: when Lancelot turned, it revealed its cockpit to the world and to those it faced. And that response…was horror.

"No…" Zero, for once, was left stunned and stupid as he saw not an enemy, but his friend…why was Suzaku here, why was he in that stupid thing? Why was he the one Lelouch wished so much to kill?

"It can't be." Kallen was having a similar break. This didn't make sense. Suzaku couldn't be a pilot; he couldn't be the one who kept getting in the way; he wasn't like them; he wasn't a Britannian.

"Suzaku?" Tohdoh's response was not of heartbreak in the moment, but of one that had started years ago, and only flared from time to time. He had always known his student had chosen this path; he just couldn't have imagined this would be how they would meet once more.

Line Break

And we're back, with the first chapter for this story of 2026! It was a fun break, spent time with friends and family, realised I'm older than I thought because my youngest nephews and niece were talking about stuff I just didn't get. I managed not to get killed by the summer heat.

As for this chapter, it's the conclusion of the prison battle, which is good for me, as I would like to move on, as I have another original plot in the works. I can't say what it was, but I can say this chapter did have some changes made, which I'll go into more at the end.