Disclaimer: I do not own Code Geass or any of its canon characters.

"Lelouch vi Britannia commands you, now all of you, die!" The Black Prince's left eye flared a bright crimson as the power of Geass burned into the souls of the dismounted royal guardsmen before him.

The fourteen men dressed in their distinctive dark red uniforms stood at attention and raised their pistols to their own heads. "Happily your highness!" they shouted in perfect unison just before they fired.

As the dead royal guards fell into a rapidly growing pool of their own blood Lelouch smiled. Now after seven years of hiding in the shadows he had a real weapon with which to strike at Britannia. Barely 20 seconds after the last shot, a Britannian Army Sutherland with distinctive red shoulders burst through the door of the warehouse and immediately deployed its factsphere sensor.

Once again Lelouch flared his Geass "I order you to come out at once!"

"Just who the hell do you think you are to order me?" The female Sutherland pilot yelled back at him through her speakers. Instantly realizing that his power had failed for some reason, he needed to give her a reason not to shred him with the heavy assault weapon pointed in his general direction.

"My name is Alan Spacer, my father is a duke, after you check my identity I will request your protection." Lelouch took note of his power's first known limitation and decided to fall back on his exceptional ability to deceive. The pilot snapped up the chance to rescue a noble and complied with the request. She had barely finished lowering herself to the ground when Lelouch decided to try again.

"You can check my ID if you want, but first I would like to borrow your Sutherland, your pistol as well." As she made eye contact the Geass invaded her mind and extinguished all hope of resisting the command. She handed Lelouch her pistol and ignition key while telling him the security code in an unnaturally calm tone of voice. By the time she regained control of herself, Lelouch and her knightmare were long gone. Lelouch needed a better grasp on the bigger picture of what was happening in Shinjuku. He reached for his phone and hit a number saved in the speed dial.

"Lulu you better not be out gambling again or I'll-" A familiar voice yelled at him to start their conversation.

"Shirley this is important, are you near a TV?" Lelouch asked in a more serious voice.

"A TV? Yes but what-?" She managed to secure the remote from one of the other swim club members despite their protests.

"The news. Is there anything about Shinjuku?"

"Just some traffic restrictions, Lelouch." Shirley informed him.

"Why is it restricted? Have they mentioned anything else?"He asked calmly. If the truth was being suppressed so effectively, it likely meant that Clovis and the military needed time to get their stories straight. From what he had seen in the last hour, it was clear that the girl in the capsule was both extremely important and regarded as top secret. Some of the transmissions that Lelouch was listening in to with his captured Sutherland indicated that even the military was being kept in the dark.

Lelouch was about to ask Shirley another question when he saw a Britannian Badger IFV and a squad of dismounted infantry open fire on a group of unarmed Japanese civilians. He quickly sighted and acquired the IFV, the rangefinder showing 62 meters to the target. The Black Prince clicked in the red thumb ball on the right control stick and sent a torrent of 25mm armor piercing high explosive rounds into the hostile vehicle from behind. The APC shuddered as the rounds penetrated the thin rear armor, before hitting something vital and exploding in a large fireball. He then shifted the fire right and effortlessly exterminated the dozen or so infantrymen next to the burning wreck.

"Lelouch that sounded like gunfire, what is happening over there?" He could hear the panic creeping into Shirley's voice. Lelouch looked down and saw a discarded chess board that had apparently been dropped by a fleeing civilian, and upon zooming the view in noticed that the only two pieces on the board were a still standing black king towering over a fallen white rook. A flash of inspiration suddenly hit him.

"Yes Shirley, I seem to have dug my own grave for the 15th time this year. Assuming I'm still alive tomorrow I'll tell you all about it." Lelouch closed the phone and began to think of a way out of the mess he found himself in. Although he had a fully armed knightmare frame, he was by no means an expert pilot. He was effectively surrounded in the middle of the ghetto with dozens of Britannian armored units attacking the area from all sides. He noticed a new unit entering the area on his IFF system, an unmanned Britannian supply train that was marked as a weapons shipment. Why it was coming directly onto a battlefield, he did not know or care, but Lelouch recognized an opportunity when he saw one.

An explosion about 100 meters distant derailed his train of thought. He saw the red Glasgow from the terrorist truck, now missing an arm, being chased by two Sutherland pilots. Overconfident Sutherland pilots, he corrected himself Despite the clear line of sight to their unarmed enemy they were not firing their assault rifles, just toying with her. Perfect.

Lelouch pulled the radio transmitter he had taken from the terrorist truck out of his uniform and flipped it over. There were a list of names and associated frequencies on a sheet of paper taped to the back. He remembered that the driver of the truck had called the woman that got into their Glasgow "Kallen". A quick adjustment to the radio and he was on her line.

"The west entrance. Jump onto the tracks and move to the west entrance." He ordered the Glasgow pilot over the terrorists' frequency.

"Who are you and how do you know this code?" the Glasgow pilot shot back with an angry tone.

"Trust me and win, or be stubborn and die. You do want to win don't you?"

"To win?" She wondered aloud. They were just the local Shinjuku resistance group, the thought of actual victory against the power of Britannia had up until that very second never entered their thoughts.

The Glasgow did as the voice on the radio said and jumped up onto the tracks, followed closely by her two pursuers.

"Now what? There's no cover from those Sutherlands up here." She asked her mysterious new commander.

"Jump onto the train and keep going. They won't shoot, not while they are having so much fun toying with you." The red Glasgow did as he instructed and jumped, leaving the lead Sutherland stuck against the front. As the second Sutherland tried to jump over the first to continue the pursuit Lelouch lined up a shot from a nearby rooftop. His twin slash harkens impacted the Sutherland in mid air, crippling the unit and knocking it off the tracks to the street below. The remaining Sutherland, not yet realizing that he was under attack, opened a comm channel to Lelouch.

"State your name and unit soldier! We're after the one armed Glasgow." Lelouch's reply was a burst of well aimed rifle fire that destroyed the Sutherland's left leg. As he was about to raise his own rifle to return fire the pilot noticed the red Glasgow accelerating over 140 kph across the top of the train directly at him, he immediately ejected.

"You saved me, but how did you get a hold of a Sutherland?" She looked over at the building that was the origin of her unknown ally's fire but saw nothing. Before she could ponder what exactly had just happened a squad of terrorist infantry broke cover and ran toward her Glasgow.

"Kallen what happened? Who was that voice on the radio?" One of the insurgents asked her as they came running up from another direction.

"He contacted you too? I don't have a clue who he was but he sure went out of his way to save me." Ougi, the leader of the resistance cell was about to put his radio away when it crackled to life.

"Are you the one in charge?" The mysterious voice asked him.

"Uhh, yeah I'm in charge here." He replied with some hesitation.

"I present to you the contents of that train. They should be a nice upgrade from those RPGs and assault rifles you carry." Kallen opened the door of the first car with her Glasgow's remaining arm and her eyes went wide with shock. Staring back at her were 3 factory fresh Sutherlands along with plenty of additional energy fillers, weapons and ammunition. As other resistance members opened the other cars they found that they all had a similar cargo of knightmares.

"These Sutherlands place you on an even field against Britannia. Follow my orders and I shall grant you true victory on the scale of Itsukushima." That last line turned a few heads. The battle of Itsukushima was the only Japanese victory in the entirety of the Second Pacific War. Lieutenant Colonel Kyoshiro Todou's display of tactical brilliance and determination earned him the title of Miracle Worker. "Woman in the Glasgow, stay where you are. Your unit will run decoy. Change your energy filler, re arm, and await further orders." The voice instructed.

"Understood." Kallen switched out her empty filler for a new one, and picked up a KAR 25 assault rifle in her Glasgow's remaining arm. Because Lelouch had captured an operational Britannian Sutherland that was still connected to their networks, he in effect had a complete list of enemy communication codes, IFF frequencies, and a near real time map of enemy force deployments. He immediately began to process this information and create orders for his newly acquired terrorist allies.

"P1, P5, P7 enemy Sutherlands will reach your position in 23 seconds from the north, shoot them through the wall." Despite some of the terrorists expressing their disbelief that a nameless voice on the radio could actually know exactly when and where the enemy would be, Ougi ordered everyone to double check their weapons and take aim. Despite an initial protest, notably from Tamaki, the newly formed knightmare group readied their assault rifles. Five terrorist Sutherlands formed up and took aim at the designated wall. Exactly 23 seconds after they received their order they opened fire in unison, blasting away the thin concrete wall and completely destroying the two enemy Sutherlands behind it. The terrorists cheered as the enemy units exploded.

"You heard him, do what the voice says everyone." Ougi effectively relinquished command to the voice on the radio and placed his forces directly under its control. Lelouch wasted no time. He began to give orders as fast as his brain could process the information with an inhuman level of accuracy. The Black Prince micromanaged his forces with skill reminiscent of a professional Starcraft player. He read the enemy moves with near perfect precision, forcing them into ambush after ambush. Lelouch had turned a group of disorganized terrorists that two hours earlier could barely scratch the seemingly invincible Britannian war machine into a force that was steadily dismembering it. He knew that his terrorists were poorly trained and overall inferior pilots to the well drilled Britannians. Instead of direct combat his tactics focused on ambushes, hit and run strikes, and using the terrain of the old ghetto against the enemy. For the first time in history he was employing time tested guerrilla warfare tactics with knightmare frames instead of infantry with lethal results. As the Britannian forces began to fall back to defend their G1 mobile base victory seemed imminent.

"This is P4 reporting enemy activity at point D17."

"What do you see P4? Enemy reinforcements?" Lelouch asked, expecting to hear that Clovis was beginning to panic from suffering such devastating losses.

"Negative negative, there's just one enemy unit, its some kind of new white knightmare! Its so fast I can barely get a lock on it-" As the line cut to static another report came in.

"This is P6, that white frame has some kind of energy shield, we cant even scratch it!" Lelouch immediately set his genius mind on the task of figuring out what was happening. Based on the reports his troops were giving him, there was only one enemy unit, it was equipped with extremely advanced technology, and it did not show up on his IFF screen. The only logical conclusion was that it had to be some kind of new prototype that was deployed as a last resort.

"All forces fall back to point F31 immediately! The enemy is some kind of advanced prototype knightmare that is far superior to a Sutherland. Lure the enemy unit in and surround it." As the terrorists fell back to their new rally point the white knightmare used its speed advantage to catch a squad that lagged slightly behind. The unit's arm mounted energy shield absorbed the incoming fire as it closed the distance to the three terrorist Sutherlands. A slash harken shot forward from its right wrist and decapitated the closest Sutherland. The second Sutherland fired its slash harkens at the white frame, who fired the harken on its left wrist to block one and dodged the other. The white frame reactivated its energy shield and sped forward, using it as a weapon. It shield slammed a Sutherland, shattering the unit's sensors and breaking its arms. The final Sutherland attempted to flee only to be hit with both of the white frame's slash harkens from behind. Seconds later the White Knight found himself under fire from the east; a single red Glasgow with one arm firing an assault rifle. He immediately repositioned the frame's energy shield to absorb the fire and gave chase.

"Q1 here, the white knightmare took the bait and is coming full speed after me, everyone get ready." Kallen pushed her old Glasgow to the limit as she tried lured the enemy unit through the streets toward point F31. Waiting for them were the remaining 17 terrorist Sutherlands, 12 of which were concealed in the destroyed buildings surrounding the intersection, the remaining five were lined up in the street.

Lelouch's plan was nothing short of brilliant. He knew that this white knight was not afraid to fight against superior odds, and so he designed an ambush that was clearly a trap. The five Sutherlands in plain view were not enough to scare him away, but enough to keep him engaged while the remaining 12 surrounded from the rear.

"I've destroyed three enemy Sutherlands and am pursuing a red Glasgow." Suzaku reported.

"Just be careful Private Kururugi, the Lancelot is unfinished, and has not yet been equipped with an ejection mechanism."

"I'll keep that in mind Cecile." Suzaku looked over the Lancelot's condition readout. Energy filler was near 79% charge, Blaze Luminous shield had recharged to 90% strength, and there was only superficial damage to the frame itself. From what he had seen so far he felt confident that he could defeat these terrorists and end the fighting.

The Glasgow pilot he was chasing was certainly no novice, that much was certain from how well they were able to maneuver through the tight streets while still delivering accurate bursts of fire against a fast moving target behind them. 'If that guy had a better frame I would probably be in for a real fight.' Suzaku thought to himself as he moved to follow the red Glasgow around the next corner.

Suzaku turned his Lancelot around the corner and found himself staring down five enemy Sutherlands who had already pretargetted his position. The red Glasgow moved out of the line of fire just as all five Sutherlands unleashed streams of 25mm rifle fire at the Lancelot. He brought up the Blaze Luminous shield and rushed forward toward the six enemy knightmares, pushing the Lancelot's agility to the limit and he attempted to dodge as much fire as possible. The enemy Sutherlands were too tightly packed to maneuver quickly and Suzaku took full advantage of this, firing both of his slash harkens at two different targets simultaneously. Neither terrorist could dodge at that distance and the anchors smashed into their right arms, disabling their weapons. The Lancelot surged forward with the energy shield leading the way in an attempt to replicate his earlier shield bash. Kururugi put as much kinetic energy as he could behind the shield bash as it impacted one of the Sutherlands that was still firing at him, sending the severely damaged unit flying into a nearby building.

Suddenly the remaining knightmares stopped firing and rushed at him from three directions. Suzaku used the Lancelot's superior speed to reverse away from them back into the middle of the street. In perfect unison the shelled out buildings around him suddenly erupted with torrents of 25mm rifle fire and incoming slash harkens. He tried to position his shield to absorb the incoming rounds, but it could only face in one direction, not four. As hundreds of high explosive rounds rained down from the buildings above, several terrorist knightmares moved to block off each entrance to the narrow street.

"Suzaku you won't be able to eject, get the hell out of there before they kill you!" Cecile screamed into the radio as she watched the elaborate trap spring all around him. Surrounded and out of options, Suzaku did the only thing he could. The Lancelot accelerated to full speed toward the south exit of the street, the least defended one. Although the terrorists were definite not expert marksmen, they still scored dozens of hits on his frame, blasting large chunks off of the white armor and blackening the rest.

Just as he smashed through the three Sutherlands blocking his escape a burst of very well aimed fire from the red Glasgow connected with and destroyed his left land spinner, sending the Lancelot crashing through an abandoned apartment building. Suzaku's world faded to black as the impact forced his head through the forward most display screen.

"Nice shooting Kallen!" The terrorists cheered their ace for delivering a crippling blow to the white knightmare. Several of the Sutherlands moved up to find the white frame inside the partially collapsed apartment.

"All forces pull back to the subway tunnels and retreat, massive Britannian reinforcements are inbound from Tokyo. Today you dealt Britannia a devastating blow, defeated their White Knight, and proved beyond any doubt that the Japanese people have not given in to their tyranny. Escape and regroup, I will contact you again in a few days."

As the terrorists retreated underground, Lelouch turned off his radio and made his way closer to the Britannian G1 mobile base. After parking his Sutherland behind a nearby building he dismounted and donned the helmet that completed the Britannian army uniform he was wearing. As he approached an entrance to the G1 he was stopped by a guard who demanded to see ID. Lelouch removed his helmet and activated the Geass in his left eye. "You will let me through and stop anybody else that tries to get past you."

"Yes, your highness!" The mind controlled guard opened the door and handed Lelouch his assault rifle. He made his way to the command center at the top of the G1 and opened the door. Inside the room were the G1's command crew, and the Viceroy himself. The Black Prince raised his rifle at the ceiling and fired a shot, immediately drawing the attention of all nine people in the room.

Now that he had eye contact he again flared his Geass. "Everyone except for Viceroy Clovis line up and stand at attention." All eight of the command staff had no choice but to comply with the intruder's order, and they all stood in a perfect line. Lelouch calmly raised his rifle and from right to left sprayed them with 6mm rounds, killing them all. The weapon clicked empty. Lacking extra magazines for the weapon, Lelouch dropped the assault rifle into the rapidly expanding pool of blood and drew his pistol as he advanced on the raised throne at the center of the room. Even though the man in front of him just killed eight people after somehow forcing them to stand there and take it, Clovis remained relatively calm.

"Now Prince Clovis, you will order a ceasefire or you will be joining your friends down there." Lelouch motioned toward the dead bodies at his feet. Unarmed, alone, and faced with someone who was clearly ready to kill, he knew he was in no position to argue. Clovis hit the communications array on the arm of his throne.

"Cease fire at once! I, Clovis la Britannia, Royal Viceroy of Area 11 order all forces to cease fire at once. All casualties either Britannian or Eleven are to be given full medical attention. All combat operations in Shinjuku are hereby ended immediately." Clovis looked at the mystery intruder who still had a pistol aimed at his head. "There, was that satisfactory?"

"Indeed it was Viceroy." The masked soldier replied.

"Now what? Perhaps we sing a few lively ballads, or maybe a game of chess is more to your taste?"

"That sounds familiar Clovis, I was under the impression that we just got done playing a lively game of chess. You lost."

"So you were the one commanding those terrorists out there. Even Todou the Miracle could not have pulled off such a victory against impossible odds. Who are you?" Clovis strained his eyes against the darkness but could only make out the outline of the intruder's head, no distinctive details.

"In my seventeen years I have lived two lives, you are only familiar with one of them. The real question is do you want to know who I was then, or who I am now, big brother?" Lelouch stepped out of the shadows into the light barely two meters from Clovis. "You knew me seven years ago as Lelouch vi Britannia, eleventh prince and seventeenth in line to the imperial throne."

"Lelouch? No it can't be! I thought that you had died. The Emperor himself said so!"

"And you really believe all the lies that monster breathes out? No, brother, I was sent here with my sister to be disposed of, not exiled."

"What do you mean 'disposed of''? He sent you to Japan to make you stronger."

"If all the OSI assassins he sent after me were just a test to 'make me stronger' then he certainly succeeded, but I severely doubt that directing airstrikes onto the house I was living in would do anything other than make me just another martyr to use against the Japanese people." Lelouch stepped closer. "The real reason I was exiled to Japan was because he sat down and thought long and hard about how to kill his own son without actually killing his own son. In the end he concluded that by making it look like I was executed by the Japanese in retaliation for the invasion he could both get rid of me, and make his new enemy appear as savage as he wanted you to believe them to be."

"What are you saying Lelouch? Why would our father want to kill you?"

"Name one person who has openly defied him in his own court and lived to tell about it Clovis, just one, anyone." Clovis sat for a moment, unable to answer. The silence from Clovis was all the answer he was expecting.

"I can forgive you for your stupidity, I can forgive you for your ignorance, and I can forgive you for your incompetence. However Clovis, I cannot forgive you for all the innocent people that were murdered today simply because you said so." Lelouch stepped forward and planted the cold barrel of his pistol firmly between Clovis's eyes.

"Wait you can't Lelouch! We may have different mothers but we are still blood! Would you really kill your own brother? They were just some Elevens!" As tears began to flow down Clovis's face he looked up into his brother's eyes and saw only cold, calculating hatred. Lelouch began to slowly depress the trigger. Lelouch's response was just as cold as the metal touching his forehead.

"You're right brother, they were just Elevens. And you were just a Britannian."