Chapter twelve: Imitation

A few hours before the fireworks bursting pleads of help - when Lelouch's cooking pot was overflowing suds into the stove range, there was another source of boiling conflict beginning to stir in the Ghetto district of the formally named area of Japan.

Frightened elevens scattered from the army of Sutherland's invading their domestic settlement. Merely over intimidation, not hostility. According to the mission briefing the pilots were assigned to, the operation didn't involve any of the eleven standbys. Though having said that, it certainly didn't mean they would stop going if one was caught in their way.

The Knightmare's lined up and fenced around a dilapidated building that was once a company headquarters back when area 11 was still Japan. Now all that remained of the once successful corporation was a grimy sheltering spot polluted with homeless and Refrain addicts alike.

On the seventh floor of the building in an abandoned supervisor's office, a mysterious masked individual was sitting cross leg behind a desk with a gloved hand wrapped around a glowing cellphone – it was the only source of luminosity in the black shaded room.

It was audibly clear that the Britannian army had finally arrived outside the building - just as planned.

A snicker was heard from within the notorious mask.

"If I follow through with this precisely according to plan, it should be effortless to capture Cornelia." the feminine voice spoke – almost directly to a photo located on top of the desk.

"After that, well..." Another dim giggle was released. "We'll be waiting on you, Zero." The gloved finger clicked send.

Meanwhile in the exterior of the building, a vibrating buzz was evident in the sturdy Knightmare frame known and feared by the name of the Gloucester – a modded model the color of maroon.

A pair of plum colored lips curved upward at the icon indicating a new text message.

"It's time to commence the operation." the Goddess of Victory known as Princess Cornelia li Britannia sternly declared shortly after reading the text.

"Are you certain this is the wisest course of action, Princess?" Guilford, the Princesses knight questioned from his Knightmare that was parked close by to her highnesses.

She tossed her fuchsia toned hair in place in a poised motion. "Of course it is. This is the perfect opportunity to finally detain that little vermin Zero along with his clan of unruly menaces."

"I understand your highness, but you can't actually believe The Black Knights wouldn't have other motives in mind than what they are portraying - these are elevens we are dealing with after all. They aren't the most tamed beings like us Britannian's. Which gives me reason to feel obligated to believe they have other goals in mind. I worry for your safety, your highness."

The princess tittered confidently. "Of course I'm aware they have additional motives - it's safe to assume this whole arrangement is a deception itself. But this is why we came prepared, Guilford. I will not pass up the opportunity to rid these undomesticated animals from my established area."

"Very well, Princess. But may I please suggest the safest way to pursue this situation?"

She swiftly agreed to his advised proposal, "Yes. Go on."

"I recommend that I and a squad go in first to clear the area in case it really is a ploy. Though, if Zero is a man of his word like he claims, then we will escort you to him where you can personally address the action you find suitable."

"Guilford." She rapidly replied, as if the plan wasn't even worthy of contemplation. "You deserve laudability for your recommended offer, but I refuse to allow my men to be a personal shield for my own safety. If this situation turns hostile, I will be in the front lines with the rest of my soldiers. That is final."

"But your highness," he tried to pursue the matter. "If the situation does turn out to be a ruse – and given we know how Zero operates, we can accept there is a hidden goal. So wouldn't it be wise for you to remain on guard outside the perimeter? It would be an irrational and prodigious lost if we could avoid a mistake so great but attested against it. At least if we suffer some casualties, the lives wouldn't have been lost in vain if you are still able to fight."

Cornelia bowed her indigo eyes to her lap and reviewed her knight's cognitive in her mind. The speaker's within Guilford's Knightmare received back no audio feedback from the princess for several long periods.

He's right. I can't be selfish. If all of our lives are lost over a predetermined strategy to guarantee our elimination, then they will have won. And Britannia would have lost.

I can't allow my name to be disgraced from a crooked act by those scum elevens. I am not one to sit back while my men do the dirty work, but given the situation…

She snapped her aim back up and inhaled through her teeth. "Fine. But only because we need a strong unit out here to patrol. Though I can't make a pledge to you promising I will stay at my post; the moment I become even slightly suspicious of what is going on inside, I will be there to join in where I am needed."

"Understood your highness. Worry not. We will not go down that easy." Guilford shut down his Knightmare; triggering the mechanisms within the components to abruptly halt in the vibrating rhythm.

He discharged himself from the hatchet. A troop of a dozen or so Britannia soldiers did the same and regrouped together with Guilford in front of Cornelia's Gloucester. He looked up at the unit and nodded his head to her highness.

Cornelia observed agitatedly as the squad sprinted in the entrance of the building. Clutching her gearshifts firmly, she squeezed her eyes closed tightly.

Guilford, my knight, please take care of yourself.

If that bastard does anything to you, I'll have his head.

Guilford and the squad traveled downward a dark corridor with numerous doors leading to destroyed office spaces on each side of the walls. The setting was deafeningly quiet. Too quiet of a place to feel any form of refuge.

"Be ready to strike at any given time." Guilford ordered his escorts as he investigated the area with full alertness. "We are dealing with The Black Knights after all, so no matter how convincingly innocuous the impending situations are, never let your guard down. Not once."

The squad prepared their equipment by turning on their night vision provided by their helmets, pulling out their backup armed weapons and loading them up as they persisted down the eerie hall.

Without being given time to anticipate, the squad detected nimble clicking of footsteps against solid ground. The noise dimly reverberated off the walls – they differed from their own strong rhythm of stomps that were made by their combat boots. These steps were daintier as if it was coming from a heel.

In a blurred rotation packed with hostile intentions, the squad flipped their attention to the path they had just past.

The troops drew their weapons to the unseen target. "Sir. Rules of engagement?" spoke a solider closest to Guildford.

Guilford stood idly with a strained scrutinizing expression in attempts of trying to figure out who was producing the footsteps approaching them.

"Hold your fire." Guilford ordered in an uncertain tone.

I don't think they are hostile... They would of shot from first sight of us if they were.

Could it be Zero?

"It's..." a soldier, who had increased his night vision level, spoke. "It's Cornelia, sir."

"Yes. That's right. It is me." the impatient Princess, which was now finally close enough to be visually in range said. "I'm sorry to have alerted you."

Guilford's eyes enlarged as he clearly viewed her highness. He lowered his weapon's aim from her.

"You-Your highness, I thought you were going to wait in the Gloucester until our return?"

A plum colored smile slapped on her face as she walked past her men. "I changed my mind."

Guilford swallowed nervously; this is what he wanted to circumvent. Cornelia's presences here is much too dangerous for her. But now that she is here, it was clear this was her final choice. He knew he couldn't fight against her royal wishes. Judging from her character, he knew she wouldn't have been able to sit back from the action much longer.

The knight promptly trailed close behind the Princess. "Very well. But please keep a sharp eye. We haven't speculated any signs of anyone yet. I'm beginning to think there's going to be an ambush."

Cornelia drew out her handgun, "Well, we are prepared for that. Now let's stay together and find Zero."

Without needing to be told twice the men encircled around the princess and traveled to the far end of the corridor where the hall split to a 'T' shape.

To the right of the new corridor beginning, there was an old scorched desk with a new and pristine condition laptop placed on top of it.

"Sir. Should we analyze it? It seems out of place in an area like this." One of the Britannian soldiers suggested.

"Yes. It may hold a clue to our next action. Zero is one for dramatics, after all." Guildford took the lead to the laptop.

Upon switching it on, the fan from within the computer made it apparent the mechanisms from within were warming up and preparing to recover from sleep-mode.

Within a flash, the monitors display turned from black to a glowing static video feed of the anonymous man immediately recognized as Zero.

An undetected gasp was released from Guilford from the unanticipated sight of Zero within the screen.

Is it a two way feed? Is this is idea of speaking face to face?

Guildford leaned his weight forward onto his hands that were now placed on the desk. His face inches from the screen. "Zero. We've come like you asked. Though if you plan to speak your proposition over a feed, I have to deny your request. We want to discuss this matter face to face." the knight demanded.

They waited a few moments due to the possibility of lag from the two linking computers for a reply.

More time past of cautiously watching the screen, but there was no reply from Zero.

Is there something wrong with the connection? Or perhaps the sound?

Guildford motioned his head up from the screen – being because during carefully trying to detect audio from the computer, he instead discovered an unfamiliar noise.

"Do you hear that?" he asked out loud.

Several of the soldiers slanted their heads around and carefully inspected the area's ambiance.

"It's almost... like a hissing sound." said one of the comrades.

"Yes." Guildford's agreement stretched out vocally, he squinted his eyes apprehensively. "That's the sound I hear too."

They may have only been able to hear it, but what they didn't know at the time was that invisible traces of evidences of what was producing the sound was all around them – pouring from the nearby vents in fact.

Guildford's eyes extended out for he came to a late realization. "Wait. This is...! Cornelia!" he exclaimed her name and whirled around to warn her.

"We need to ge-!" His words cutoff from a gasp - the sight of Cornelia only made him further troubled.

"But... but how did you-?" his final words came out weakly before plumaging to Cornelia's feet.

"Quickly! Turn on your helmets gas ventilation-!" one of the comrades assertively spoke, but then shared the same fate as Guildford and tumbled on top of him. One after the other, the Britannian soldiers dropped like mosquitoes being sprayed with repellant.

Cornelia soundlessly stood over her unconscious comrades. A chuckle, that soon turned to deafening wails of laughter transformed into an unrecognizable pitch.

The gases pouring from the vents had now diluted from the space.

The fuchsia color hair of Cornelia soon evaporated and faded into a turquoise tint. Dainty hands unlatched the gasmask from around her jawline.

"Heh. Nighty night." this voice, it no longer belonged to the second princess of Britannia. It was childlike and high-pitched.

"That was almost too easy!" With the gasmask now detached, it exposed a face not belonging to the princess, but of a young woman with long hair and freckled skin.

Her eyes were of a glowing crimson shade. A sigil was marked in the center; exhibiting the power of the kings.

She perched down her weight in a knelling position that resembled an owl on a branch.

"Awh." she hovered over Guilford's unconscious state and pouted, but her lips soon snapped back to a devious smile. "I hope you don't mind I borrow something from you for a little bit. I wont be long – promise!"

Standing from her kneeling position, she flared her arms out in a crucified pose. An electrifying sensation flushed through her as a cyan light submerged over her form. The blazing glow sprang off the walls – causing the area to shine brightly under a hue of blue.

Quickly in a fading instant a flare of white now radiated more fiercely around her.

Gradually, the illumination dulled along with the light that was coated over the walls. It grew dark once again.

Back in the Gloucester, Cornelia hands began to tremble from the unpleasant thoughts entering her mind.

They're taking too long in there. I can't wait much longer. If it was safe they would have come out by now…!"

Suddenly, a gasp filled with relief escaped her.

Guilford-!

She clicked her speaker button on to converse with her knight that stood before her Knightmare.

"Give me an update on the situation." She demanded, already victory was swimming in his vocal cords.

"The area has been cleared, your highness. We've apprehended Zero alive." Guilford revealed.

A chucking gasp was intensely heard all throughout the lineup of Sutherlands. Her budging eyes were bursting with odium and triumph.

We've finally got that bastard!

"Princess," Guildford placed the palm of his hand on his chest while slightly bowing his head. "It would be my honor to escort you to him."

"Right." She professionally compelled, trying to hide the excitement in her tone. Rapidly, she inelegantly rushed out of her Knightmare, but quickly regained her posture as she calmly walked up to her knight.

"How were you able to apprehend him so quickly?" she questioned while they traveled toward the building.

"It wasn't that much of a strenuous task. He admitted defeat quiet easily."

"Oh? Is that so?" Cornelia dubiously shifted her eyes over her knight. "That seems out of his character."

A cutoff titter was released from Guilford. "I guess you can say he isn't exactly himself today, your highness."

I hope you enjoyed the read, thank you very much for checking out this chapter. Please review and give back some feedback. I would greatly appreciate it. Stay tuned for more!

-A

A/N:

(It's 3:00 am, I'm feeling chatty)

Yes yes, I know I said I was going to set my chapter releases further apart, but I was tired of this chapter sitting on my computer going unread! :'( But I doubt those of you keeping up with the story mind the close updates. n_n

But anyways, I hope this chapter doesn't confuse anyone. If there is any confusion about what's going on, I promise the details will be cleared up in the next chapter. Also, I never wrote a plot with any "twist" elements before, so I hope I was able to portray it somewhat correctly since that's one of the major things I love about Code Geass: the unexpected turns in the story. And I found there's a lack of that in the Fanfiction I've read, so I wanted to attempt something I could see happening in an episode.

Having said that, it would be great to hear feedback regarding this. I know it wasn't like... You know... A huge&special twist, it was more of a simple practice test, but you know what I mean. So it would be nice to see where I stand since future chapters are going to have more complex twist, so for future reference, I want to make sure my methods aren't too... predictable? If that makes sense. Heh.

AND ONE...no, TWO LAST THINGS! (I'm like writing a short personal novel down here. Sorry guys!) but sorry about neglecting Lulu and Suzu in this, but the next chapter will be leaving off from chapter eleven, so worry not, I'm not forgetting about my two special boys and taking a new route. And finally, I hope the use of an OC wont bother anyone. I assure you she wont be a main part of this story. Think of her as a... female Mao? Hehe.