Code Geass: Black Knights [IC/PG-13/Started/Accepting]

[Aix]

OoC

[hr]Britannian Military Meeting Ground #4, 1600 hours EST, March 1st, 2019 a.t.b.
[hr]Jiang Kongming watched impassively from his high platform as his new subordinates gathered before him, arriving by Knightmare. These were the new Black Knights, comprised of both Britannian soldiers and elites and the original members of Zero’s original resistance group and allies. Kongming recognized many of them from on TV: Tohdoh, Kallen Kouzuki and more, but, of course, the most important of the Black Knights stood beside him. That would be Zero, the savior who slew the tyrant, 99th Emperor Lelouch vi Britannia, and returned world peace with Lelouch’s kind and compassionate sister, Nunnally.

But, this was not the original Zero, the first Zero, the great performer of miracles who lead the rebellion in Japan against Britannia’s oppression and, against all odds, won. No, the first Zero was dead as a part of his own plan. This Zero was a mere impostor, a figurehead, and not so worthy of the admiration he found on the faces of many of the new recruits. This Zero had been simply another pawn in the first Zero’s ultimate plan. To Kongming, this Zero was merely someone who’s sole job was to strut around in a fancy costume and cape and the trademark mask.

Zero may be officially in charge of the mission, but Kongming was determined to be the true leader. Jiang Kongming would be the one to be admired. He would, by all means, earn their respect, he would draw their awe. Commanding men was nothing new to Kongming, he had very often taken the role of a commander when he served under K.K... but he would not be with K.K. this time, he would be against her. He would face an army of Geass users and an Immortal who had acquired four of the Immortal Code. He would bring them down to restore peace to the world and avenge his sister... his sister...

What K.K. did was unforgivable. Hao was his sister and his companion since the day they were born. They had less squabbles than, perhaps, other siblings, though it would not be true to say they had none, but the important thing was that they were always there for each other. They stood together against all obstacles, against the Eunuch’s, against exile, against the cruelty of the world. Hao was gone now, never to return, but K.K. would suffer for it.

Kongming was brought out of his thoughts as he realized, finally, they had all gathered before him, their Knightmare cockpits all opened up to reveal the pilots themselves and Zero stepped up to the podium to address his new army. “Welcome, Black Knights, both new and old! Today, we gather here in the name of peace, justice and unity! We face a threat to the peace and unity which we worked so hard to create, and so, as the Knights, and defenders of justice, we will eliminate this threat for the sake of humanity’s happiness!” He stepped back and allowed Kongming forwards to give the details.

“Honored to be here, to be one of many in the congregation of brave souls willing to put their lives on the line for the sake of a peace and justice. I am Jiang Kongming and I am the Black Knight’s mission adviser,” he said into the microphone. “The Black Knights have been brought together once more to combat an underground organization called the New Order which utilizes a power known as Geass. The leader of the organization is an immortal who calls herself K.K... Of course, all of you will already know this because you have each been handed a document on this topic.” He looked around, making sure everyone was paying attention and that there weren’t anyone urgently flipping through documents. “Tomorrow we will mount a stealth raid on an underground research base located in the Amazon Rainforest in Brazil. Our task is to break and enter and retrieve data and research materials before pulling out. A F.L.E.I.J.A. strike will be employed to obliterate anything that remains so the enemy cannot salvage or recover their supplies. You have been, or will be, given a new document on the details of the mission. There is no pulling out now...” Kongming spoke up louder. “Ready yourselves, Knights, to war against the forces who wish to bring on calamity, to tear the world apart. Are you prepared?” The Black Knights roared their assent and Kongming raised his arms to deliver one final message. “Good! Now all aboard the Shadowhawk Carrier for a pizza party!!!!” He grinned at the army’s surprise and walked off.

[hr]

[hr]

Everyone gathered in the great ballroom and pizza boxes were passed out to each table. Kongming walked onto the stage and got everyone’s attention. “Ahem! Excuse me! Before the festivities begin, allow me to remind you of something!” Everyone abruptly stopped. “Thank you! Now, there is no alcohol on board that I know of and no alcohol or drugs shall be consumed! The party shall be abruptly halted at 1900 hours EST to allow everyone to review tomorrow’s mission plan and perhaps get a modicum of rest. Roll call will be at 200 hours EST tomorrow, whence the stealth raid shall immediately commence. Understood?” The army gave their acknowledgement and, once more, Kongming raised his arms up dramatically. “Let the party begin!”

 

As Kongming walked off stage, he glanced around and annoyedly noted that there was already a large crowd gathered around Zero at one table. Looking around some more, he approached another table where Kallen, Shinichiro Tamaki, Yoshitaka Minami and C.C. had already gathered.

“Well! It’s... this place is a lot ritzier than our old headquarters, isn’t it? A lot bigger, too,” said Tamaki, gesticulating at the room, from the crystal chandeliers hanging from the ceiling to the marble floors and carpets.

Before anyone responded to this prompt, Kongming had come over and brought his hands down onto the table with a light bang. “Well... hello, there. Mind if we join you here?” asked Kongming with a warm, friendly smile on his face.

The group already at the table regarded the newcomers with slight suspicion and Tamaki glanced nervously at Experiment Y’s inhuman appearance, edging away. “Well... sure, I guess.”

Kongming nodded graciously and pulled over a chair. “Thank you.” He dropped into the chair and slouched into a more comfortable position. He then flipped head, swinging his hair, and looked at each person at the table in turn while adopting a curious expression. “So you guys... are part of the very first, original Black Knights.”

Tamaki went right on to answer. “That’s right, Mister Reform-the-Black-Knights! I suppose, you have heard of me as well, I am the great Shinichi--” he stopped as he realized Kongming decided not to pay attention to him.

“Kallen Kouzuki, I presume?” Kongming held out his hand. Kallen seemed startled, but she nodded in response to Kongming’s question and shook his hand. "I am," she said. Kongming smiled and turned to C.C. “C.C., I believe... the one they call the Immortal Witch... I apologize, that is not the proper way to greet someone. How do you do, C.C.?” He offered her a handshake.

[RogueZero]

A Red Knigthmare Frame was parked on the low platform along with the other Knightmare Frames, meanwhile on the top of the high platform, Kongming was standing beside Zero. "I never thought that this day would really come ..." Dante muttered to himself. As the other Knightmare pilot opened their hatch, he too opened his hatch. When Zero stepped on the podium and begin his speech, Dante muttered to himself "Compared to Kongming, this guy sucks ...". Yeah he never admires Zero, for him Zero's just another pawn of Kongming. When Zero finished his speech, Kongming stepped up to the podium, and begin his speech.

 

As his speech finished, Kongming said that there'll be a Pizza party on the ballroom, Dante's surprised by this announcement. "Hey! Yesterday he said to me that there's a BBQ party, but now it's been changed to pizza? Oh well not any of that matters ...". Dante parked his Knightmare Frame inside the Shadowhawk Carrier, and walked into the ballroom. Once again, Kongming stepped up on the stage and announcing something about not consuming alcohol and drugs. Dante can only watch him from behind the stage. As he walked down the stage and approached a table, Dante immediately follow him and stand behind him, it's only natural for him, since he's Kongming personal bodyguard. Aside from Kongming, there're several other people whom he recognizes like C.C., Kallen, Shinichiro Tamaki, Yoshitaka Minami, and Y. As Kongming speaking with the other people, Dante turned his attention to Y. "Hey, did you enjoy this party?" he asked Y.

[Thranduil]

Disregard as I will repost after encapturere

[Asriel Dreemurr]

Throughout the whole of the proceedings, there was one person following close behind Kongming.  This figure bore the palest skin anyone had seen, with the possible exception of a certain immortal witch, and hid his eyes behind a sort of metallic vizor which connected to a set of headphones set over his ears.  A tight braid of dark silver hair hung down to the small of his back, occasionally being tossed by the wind, and a skin-tight flight suit of red and black was the only thing he was wearing.  Whenever he moved, his motions could be considered...efficient.  Furthermore, the normal warmth which might surround a human was absent from this particular person who refused to be more than a meter and a half away from Kongming at any given moment.  Thus it was that when a certain Chinese fellow took his seat at the table whose importance has already been noted, this even stranger fellow seated himself exactly to his left.

 

Experiment Y remained silent throughout the discussion, and simply looked over those before him through the HUD which his vizor gaze him access to.  Though he did give a slight bow of his head to a certain green-haired individual.  However, soon enough he had someone interested in speaking to him.  That certainly was odd, most people didn't even bother to greet him.  What made this even more odd was that word that had been used in the question.

 

"Enjoy?" He asked as he turned his attention towards Dante, but not his face.  His voice was, in a word, cold.  Whatever emotion might have registered in a normal human's voice was simply absent from his.  "Enjoy...  Well, the food is adequate and there has been little to disturb me.  The experience has not been negative."  And that was all the answer Dante was going to get out of Y for the time being.  The artificial man went back to being silent, and had no intention of breaking his own silence unless he was specifically addressed.  He'd been ordered to follow Kongming like a shadow, and he intended to do so.

[encapturer]

While many of the other soldiers wandered the floor, meeting Zero, eating pizza, conversing with others, Maria sat at a smallish table with a few other Academy graduates, idly eating a slice of pizza of her own. While many have chosen their own attire for this mission, Maria had opted for a simple unadorned black military uniform, wearing her pilot suit underneath in case of an emergency sortie. Being around so many people felt... unpleasant. So much insignificant chatter from the masses. And anyone speaking of anything of importance had their voice lost in the noise.

Maria stood up. She could not stand it any longer.

There was one other place she could be. While everyone was relaxing, she would go to the hangar and run some diagnostics on her Vincent. Her Vincent. That machine was re-engineered to best fit her style, using technology still in its experimental stages. Well, the tech is safe enough, it's just that most normal people would not opt to use it, seeing that it disables flight. And the Dermal Armor was originally developed as a way to quickly fabricate Knightmares on the field. Still it was experimental, so she needed to check on it from time to time.

As she walked through the floor, she passed by a few tables; the notable ones being Zero's table and the old Black Knight's table. Maria hasn't personally met anyone at either table before, though Zero and most of the people at the Black Knight's table carried an air of importance that seem to dwarf her own. After all, she was just a mere soldier, A Royal Academy graduate, sure, but she barely passed, mostly thanks to her amazing ground combat abilities. Of course she was sure that her true abilities would show once she deploys her Vincent on a true battlefield.

That was one thing she needed to check. She was sure that she had the Dermal Armor on when she loaded the frame into the carrier; after all, it wouldn't be that useful if she had to forge it on the field. However, if her Knightmare isn't powered, then the armor has a tendency to...

*Tink*

*CLANG DRONG THUD SSHHHIEEEK SKAAD CLUNK DRAM*

The sounds were muted, but Maria could recognize the sound from anywhere. The Dermal Armor was coming off. What a way to start this mission, Maria thought to herself as she ran out the doorway towards the hangar where her machine awaited her...

[Thranduil]

He was late. He was late to the ship, and late to the party. This being the case it did not bother him, he never did enjoy fancy soirees like this. He was only here because he was told to be here. As he walked down the elegant hall to the main ball room he noticed the extravagance of the location. So much excessive luxury made him nauseous. Walking up to the doors a couple of well dressed men opened them and bowed as he entered. As he stepped into the room a young woman rushed out towards the Hanger Bay. That must have been something to do with the crashing sound. When he entered there were some people who scrutinized his attire however few people actually payed him any heed, that was fine, he never liked too much attention. Although he would admit walking into a room full of people dressed for a ball room type party when he looked like he just walked out of one of those Japanese Manga must have been a shock to some of them. Walking through the morass of people he saw the main attractions to the party, there were Kallen, the prodigy Knightmare pilot. C.C. the 'Immortal Witch' who has the ability to give others the power of Geass. Then there was Zero, the 'Savior of the World', but it was not the real Zero, no no, the real Zero had died. He died as a part of his master plan. No this Zero was an impostor, he was nothing more than a shadow of the true Zero. It baffled him how people could be fooled by such a poor reenactment of the original. There were others of semi importance at the party but no one who was of any real interest to him.Noticing a group starting to congregate around Kallen and C.C. he assumed that this was the proper table to go to. Walking up he introduced himself to the rest of the group.

 

"Hello, my name is Arcturus. Some of my former team members took to calling me Lupus. Either name works for me." After his introduction he simply stared at the group of people wondering what sort of responses he would get. It always seemed curious to him how people reacted to meeting him for the first time. Looking at all of the people around the table he noticed a few particular people. One of whom appeared to be the "Leader" of the group, and his, consort, friend, no this thing was much too cold to be human, its skin was too pale to be natural, clone bodyguard perhaps? He turned to the 'Leader and bowed slightly. "You must be the one they call Kongming."

[Premier Alexander Romanov]

Cecile ci Britannia, the Zeroth Princess of the Royal Family, was rather irritated at Jiang for dragging her away from her work to attend his little get-together so he could take up the mantle Lelouch had given to Suzaku. She was enjoying her new home on Kamine Island, picking up the pieces of the (hopefully) defunct Geass Directorate and continuing their research into who made the Thought Elevators in the first place, as well as how the "Gods" and the "Sword of Akasha" were formed in the first place. For centuries, she had spread the will of the Geass, but until recently, had rarely questioned how it came to be. So many questions were left unanswered, especially why, if the creators of the Ragnarok system had devised this elaborate scheme to destroy the gods themselves, did they not follow through. But Jiang thought that exploring the very reason why humanity has access to a weapon that can kill GODS was less important than gathering all of Lelouch's closest companions and rubbing it in their faces that he's in charge. Furthermore, what really got under her skin was the pizza, the delicious pizzas of a plethora of wonderful varieties that Jiang ordered for this party. This man knew of her greatest weakness, and had only managed to lure her away from her latest project, connecting the commonalities in the world's mythologies to the Geass Directorate's records, with the promise of pizza, something that was rather hard to acquire on Kanime Island. Even throughout the gathering, she had glared in his direction while never having a hand that was not filled with a piece of pizza. She hated him with every bite that she took of the scrumptious pies he was giving her. She ate his bait out of pure spite, and continued the trend by matching his hand with one covered in pizza grease. "A pleasure to meet you, Mister Kongming." She replied to him was as much saccharine pleasure as she could place in her voice without making it too obvious for her disdain of him. "Though I go by Cecile now. You can thank Empress Nunnaly for giving me an honorary position within the Royal Family for helping her dear brother."

[Aix]

Kongming caught the disdain in C.C.'s --no, Cecile's-- voice and his smile waned, it got smaller still when he realized how greasy his hand had become. After a pause, he spoke again. "I see. I'm glad you are enjoying the pizza, Cecile," he said and trying to he gave her his best smile. He turned and found a newcomer to the table, clad from head to toe in wolf pelts so that you couldn’t even see his face. An eccentric, he thought, but he was used to strange companions, there had been plenty among the many others who submitted to K.K. The man bowed upon greeting him and Kongming felt that familiar feeling he had been missing here so far; the feeling of having someone serve beneath him and treat him with the respect he deserved. But, he said, “There is no need for such formalities” and he hastily wiped his hand off on the tablecloth and offered the man a handshake. Despite his own personal feelings and superiority complex, he had always found it that he endeared himself more to subordinates by pretending to lower down to their level. “Nice to meet you, too, Arcturus. I am very glad you have joined our cause.” He had read the report on Arcturus, this man was an invaluable asset. “I suppose you are hungry?” Along with the large variety of pizza he had ordered, there was a pizza with rabbit meat specially reserved for Lupus and Kongming signaled over to the pizza table to have it brought over, then, he took a pizza from the table and backed up a few steps. “Now, please excuse me, I am going to walk around.”

 

Kongming spent about half an hour going from table to table greeting the new Black Knights, making sure to greet as many as he could to solidify his position in their eyes. At some point, he found himself in the Knightmare hangar before a customized Vincent Knightmare Frame as he was tracking down the last few people he hadn't met. He took a look down at his folder and found the profile of the blonde former noble girl in front of him who was busy repairing the Knightmare’s special adjustments. “Hello... Ms. Relison,” he said, surprising her. Both he and Experiment Y were soft walkers and their footsteps had been further concealed by the clanking of the repair business. "Nice to meet, you and glad that you have joined our cause... I hear you made those adjustments yourself. That's rather impressive." He smiled at her.

 

The rest of the party time was rather pleasant, and Kongming continued to wander the tables for a while before settling down at the table where he had started at, with Kallen, C.C. and Arcturus. He deemed his mission a success as some people opened up to him quite nicely, even coming over to try to chat with him. Finally, his watch beeped, signalling the time and he walked up on stage again. "Attention, please! This party is now terminating. I'd be most grateful if everyone helped clean up," he said into the microphone. Of course, it was an order to help with tidying up the room, but, again, it made people feel better if they are asked rather than commanded. Cleaning up was a quick business, Kongming rather liked this new group, they were a lot more disciplined and orderly than the simple rebels he was given by K.K. "Thank you everyone! Now, we will be arriving to our destination, Manaus, Brazil, in approximately 5 hours. For the rest of this time, firstly, I'd like you to review and memorize your mission plan, as you have all been assigned to squads and given a specific place to go. Each and everyone of you are expected to aid in executing the raid with perfection and error, I'm afraid, will not be tolerated. After you have assured that you will accomplish your role in tomorrow's mission, you are then free to do as you like... within reason of course. You may sleep or you may spend the time elsewhere at your leisure, but please make sure that you are well rested."

 

Jiang Kongming sat in a rather luxurious black armchair. In front of him, sitting in not as luxurious chairs, were six members of Black Knights: C.C., or Cecile as she was called now, Dante Azuma, Kallen Kouzuki, Arcturus, a Britannian military graduate and Zero himself. The rest of them, with the exception of Zero, had not met the graduate before. The sixteen-year-old sat very straight and looked very professional in his Britannian military uniform. His bespectacled eyes stared attentively at Kongming, awaiting instruction. Seeing as they were all gathered, Kongming spoke up. "Perhaps it would be best to start off with introductions. Seeing as most of us already more or less know each other, Carl, you may start first."

 

"Yes, sir!" he said. He looked at the people on both sides of him and began his introduction. "I am Carl McFarland, I am a graduate of the Royal Military Academy. I am a pureblood Britannian, my parents--"
 

"Now, now, we don't want your life story, that will do," interrupted Kongming. "Carl McFarland, very nice to meet you. I hear you were this year's top graduate, in fact, you passed with the best marks of anybody for years, and I feel that with the excellence and effort you have displayed, you have rightfully earned a spot here." The boy bowed his head, embarrassed.

 

As introductions were over, Kongming went to address the whole group. "About tomorrow's mission. Truthfully, the possibility of success is only 50% at best, I have no clue of the tricks K.K. hides up her sleeves." He paused to make sure the group listened. "Most of the army, as you may know, will be securing the perimeter, eliminating chances of escape, we will be the main group to go in, a miniature F.L.E.I.J.A. will open a hole up for seven of us to enter directly into the heart of the compound, it also allows us to rush in with our Knightmares so that we are prepared to face any sort of threat." He looked at Arcturus and handed him a photograph, displaying a building located within the industrial area of a city. "You are to break into this building, break a hole in the floor and drop the bomb inside after activating it. It will detonate in 1 minute, that should be ample time for you to get out of the blast range, which is approximately 100 meters in radius." He looked to the rest of them. "Hopefully, that will take care of most of their defenses, such as their Knightmare pilots. Immediately after it detonates, we fly in. I realize that, Arcturus, your Knightmare cannot fly, your job is to keep in hiding at the edge of the hole in order to snipe any enemies that show up." Kongming leaned back into his chair. "Are there any questions?"

[Thranduil]

Arcturus just sat silently listening to what Kongming had to say, all the while making mental notes of anything that might be important. When Kongming handed him the photo of their target Arcturus' eye brows arched slightly, nothing noticeable, but his curiosity was piqued. Once Arcturus finished looking at the photo he handed it to Kallen. As he passed the photo along, his cloak slipped off his arm revealing scars going up it's length. Just as quickly as it had appeared he withdrew his arm back into his cloak. Once Kongming was finished Arcturus asked him what had been scratching at the back of his mind all along.
"How are we to know that this location is not compromised?" Arcturus stated rather than asked as he waved his hand around the room.
"Do not give me your pathetic excuse that we are on the ocean in a ship run by the Brittanian Military. We all know that the military has issues dealing with rebels, and if the reports about K.K. are true then for all we know a spy of hers has already infiltrated our location. So my question to you again is this, how do you know our location is not compromised?" Arcturus gazed at Kongming with a stare that could break any normal persons will, but he knew better. Kongming was no normal person.

[encapturer]

"...I'm such an idiot!" Maria muttered to herself, currently inside the cockpit of her Vincent.

A low hum filled the hangar as the pieces of the armor that had fallen off magnetically attached itself back to her knightmare frame. Of course, if she didn't want this to happen again, she would need to run some minor adjustments. Maria sighed, it felt like she always needed to tweak something all the time.

"The price of beta testing," she said to herself, as she exited the cockpit.

Maria wasn't done; she needed to access the flight pack directly in order to finish her maintenance. Before she could even begin, she was caught unawares by Jiang Kongming, the advisor on this mission. At first glance he seemed professional and a by-the-books officer, but Maria could not remember seeing him at any point in the past, not even on the news. The one with him was an even larger enigma; what was his role? Bodyguard?

Kongming knew that she personally customized her Vincent and complimented her on that fact. "Thank you, but... well, I had some help..." Maria replied. This was true, though really the only help she needed was getting her hands on the technology. "But I'll show you what I can do with this baby," Maria continued. "I won't let you down." Of course, the two needed to be elsewhere, so they left after a bit of smalltalk. Maria herself still needed to finish the adjustments...

***

*Beep* *Beep* *Beep*

Maria slowly opened her eyes, awakened by her alarm. It took a few moments, but she soon recognized where she was...

She was still in the Vincent.

On her dashboard was what was sending out the alarm; a miniature handheld computer that also served as the control panel for her customizations when docked into the dashboard. After turning off the alarm, she pulled the device out to get a sense what time it was.

0130. Maria breathed a sigh of relief. Her system also reported that all systems were running to spec, and that she should have no problems in the upcoming battle. While she thought she had kicked the habit of working on her frame to the point of exhaustion, she was glad that she fixed all of the problems that popped up. Now, she just had to make it to Roll Call on time...

[Aix]

"This ship works in the same fashion as your Knightmare's camouflage and is hidden from both satellite and radar," said Kongming. "As for having spies on board, I am almost completely sure there are none, each of the members of the Black Knights have gone through an extensive background check and interview to ensure loyalty and are promised either good position in Britannia or money should the mission succeed without a hitch. Traitors are also subject to persecution and likely capital punishment. Of course, it is impossible to utterly ensure one's loyalty, but this is about as good as it can get... it is possible that K.K. may anticipate our coming, but she can't do anything to stop that, she lacks the firepower at the moment as Britannian troops are pushing rebels back elsewhere. Are there any other questions?" He looked at them. "Good. That will be all. I bid you all a good night."

 

[hr]

 

"Milady, they are coming. They will be arriving soon... soon..." Sitting cross-legged on a large, expensive blue cushion was a then young man, fifteen at most, with light blue hair, clad in a black, formfitting straitjacket-like outfit and with a visor covering his eyes. It prevented him from seeing anything but pitch darkness... and his visions. Beneath the visor, the dual Geasses glowed bright as the young clairvoyant saw events transpiring far away and sometimes even into the future. "Jiang Kongming is with them... he wears an expression of anticipation... I know he is looking forwards to attacking us."

 

Another Geass user who stood leaning against the wall spoke up. "Should we leave now? All of the technology has been already transported."

 

"It's fine. However, tell those on the upper floors to evacuate... we are going to have some fun today. Oh, that foolish, foolish child... Really, now. Thinking you could possibly oppose me," commented K.K. She lounged on a large black couch beside the boy as she nonchalantly checked her appearance in the mirror. As usual, she was immaculate. K.K. possessed a cold, forbidding beauty that she seemed like a dark, deadly and solemn goddess to those who beheld her. She was immortal, unaffected by the ravages of time, and she had adopted an uncaring outward expression, but her bloodred eyes still seemed to pierce into the souls of those unfortunate enough to draw her gaze. She was tall and had long, straight snow-white hair which trailed down to her ankles. Her usual garment, which she wore now, was a shoulderless black silk dress which followed her curvaceous figure. It had flowing sleeves which concealed an arsenal of various knives and poisons as old habits die hard. She was no longer prone to assassination, but she was still prepared to deal a torturous death to those who dared try. "A shame really, you were really such a nice kid, brilliant kid. A wonderful subordinate."

 

[hr]

 

Kongming had taken a light nap. His watch alarm woke him up in time to greet everyone for the roll call. Walking into the bridge, which was right next door to his quarters, he picked up the announcement mic and spoke into it. "All Knights up and ready for action! You all have five minutes to get to the ballroom for roll call! I repeat: All Knights up and ready for action! You all have five minutes to get to the ballroom for roll call!"

 

The young mission adviser watched approvingly as more or less everyone had arrived alert and ready to roll. The officers took attendance while Kongming gave his instruction, a reminder really, as everyone had already received the document with all details on what they were to do the next day. "Good morning, Knights! Today we start our mission. Your course of action has been programmed into your Knightmare... I hope, and you will follow those instructions to your post. Do not allow anyone to escape the perimeter, be it civilian or otherwise. Should they disregard you, your instructions are to, by all means, incapacitate them so that they may not leave."

 

[hr]

 

It was a dark, but moonlit morning, which greatly helped their cause as they could keeper a better eye on the proceedings. The Black Knights had silently spread out in a circle, almost a kilometer in diameter, around center the industrial district of Manaus, Brazil, without seeming to draw any attention. Kongming's squad, officially Zero's squad, stood ready in the hangar, waiting for the F.L.E.I.J.A., which Arcturus had been sent to plant, to explode and allow them to fly directly into the enemy's base.

[Thranduil]

Arcturus never slept that night, rather he meditated until the 'wake-up' call was made. After the usual rhetoric was spewed Arcturus made his way to his Knightmare, Silvam Venator. Hopping into the cockpit he activated the engines and ran the diagnostics making sure every thing was in working order. As the squads left for their designated areas Arcturus picked up the F.L.E.I.J.A and headed towards the target destination. Once he was within a thousand meters of the target location Acrturus drew the sword stashed on the back of his Knightmare. Drawing back the thrust the sword downwards and stabbed it into the floor. The damage done to the floor was meager at best, but it was enough for what he planned. Pulling the sword back out he sheathed it and placed the bomb in the gash on the floor. After setting it he turned to flee, only to be stopped by a voice he heard from above.

"Leaving so soon?" Arcturus paused for a second before spinning around. There above him was a giant gold Knightmare, though only a silhouette against the moonlight. It was a custom, a lot more bulky than most Knightmares, and a multitude of turrets protruded from all over it. With a flash, an arrow shaped Slash Harken shot out. Arcturus barely had time to maneuver out of the way when the next one fired.

 

 

The Knightmare's pilot smiled. He enjoyed preying on hapless victims like this, who didn't even have the time to respond. His Geass flickered as he scouted out all the weak points on the Knightmare. Disappointed, he realized that it was a typical Knightmare and aiming for the usual chinks in the armor at the neck and joints would suffice. Arcturus spoke up to the Knightmare pilot who sought to attack him.

"Might I know the name of the person who is trying to kill me?" The other Knightmare pilot laughed maniacally.

 

"Why does it matter? You will soon be dead." With that the other Knightmare pilot shot at Arcturus once more.

 

"Fool." Arcturus whispered to himself. As the gold Knightmare fired Arcturus made slight adjustments to his position making each of the shots miss by a hairs width.

 

"I do not know why you insist on trying to kill me but I can tell you now that it will fail. You have sought to fight with an enemy that you cant even see." With those words Arcturus' nightmare vanished.

 

"There is no sense in killing you just yet, so instead I will remove you as a threat." The other Knightmare pilot looked around the ground franticly searching for anything that might be his target.

 

"You wont escape that easily!" The Knightmare Pilot said agrily as he began firing randomly at the ground. Meanwhile Arcturus had moved off to the side, just beyond the visual range of the Golden Knightmare, and hid among the under growth. He flicked the wrist of his Knightmare and a bow appeared. One of the arrows came out of his arm and he knocked the projectile. Pulling back on the string he let loose the silent projectile. The arrow firmly lodged itself in the main power core of the Gold Knightmare causing the entire system to shut down, and trapping the pilot inside. Arcturus came out of hiding and grabbed the arrow and fled, as he fled he called back to the other Knightmare pilot.

 

"If I were you I would cover my ears." With that the bomb exploded causing a huge gaping hole to appear where had once been floor. 

[RogueZero]

Dante can't get some sleep at all, he couldn't help but remember about the day Hao disappeared. "Hao ... Tomorrow, your brother and I gonna storm K.K.'s hideout ... At last, we will take revenge for you ... I hope you watch us from heaven ..." Dante muttered to himself. After some time, he decided to make some preparation, he went to his Knightmare, and begin adjusting the setting of his Knightmare. He spend the night adjusting his Knightmare and eventually fall asleep inside the cockpit of his Knightmare.

After some hours, his watch alarm began to ring, waking him up in the process. As he wake up, he heard the announcement about gathering on the ballroom. "Better get going ..." Dante get off from his cockpit and headed toward the ballroom. After hearing the instruction from Kongming, he muttered to himself "This mission has to be a success, for her sake ...".

He headed toward the hangar and board Aigis, his Knightmare Frame. After the preparation is finished, the other member of the Black Knights begin to spread out in circle, surrounding the industrial district of Manaus, Brazil. He and the other 5 Knightmare Pilot who are present in the yesterday meeting are waiting for the F.L.E.I.J.A. that Arcturus planted to explode. Not long after Arcturus departure, a huge explosion is heard from below.

"I'll go first!" said Dante as Aigis jumped off from the hangar. Aigis used it's Air Glide System to fly downwards to the place of the explosion. As Aigis approached the hole, Dante met with Arcturus, "I'm counting on ya ..." said Dante to Arcturus. After saying that to Arcturus, Dante and Aigis entered the hole.

[Aix]

Jiang Kongming connected to Arcturus by radio and realized that K.K. had indeed been expecting them. At least, she knew that they were there now. He hesitated for a moment, but he saw Dante dive right on into the hole and he remembered what he said to him earlier. Of course, he must go through with this mission. "Let's go," he said to the others and they all departed the hangar.

 

As Kongming flew downwards, towards the hole, something on the ground caught his eye. K.K., he realized. He could recognize her anywhere and she stood there, in the open, in the middle of the street. He signaled for all of them to stop. "Why is she..." he murmured, but he decided not to question it now and the Guanyu Knightmare Frame dived towards her, polearm outstretched. Almost too easily, he impaled her and flew up again with her body stuck on his glaive.

 

Her body disintegrated.

 

"What the..." Suddenly, he realized that there were copies of K.K. everywhere.

 

Knightmares began flying out of the hole, but they began to multiply as well. There were far too many to all be real. "It's some sort of Geass... They must have made a Geass field! Experiment Y, use the Geass Canceller! Everyone stick close to the Azrael!" he called out, following his own instruction. It seemed someone had been watching and as they closed together three missile shot towards them from within the swarm of Knightmares, taking the opportunity to take them all out at the same time.

 

The enemy Knightmares began to fly out and attack the Black Knight Squads and six custom ones were headed in their direction. More missiles were fired at them. They know I'm here and Zero is here, he thought, glancing at the rebuilt Lancelot beside him. We're in a tough situation, the moment we leave the Geass Canceller field, we'll be swarmed with duplicates and we would be unable to tell what to fight and our vision would be blocked...

 

The first of the Knightmares came at them, a red, dual-lance wielding menace, almost twice as big as normal Knightmares. As it into mid-range it opened its draconic mouth and fired a massive fireball. The ones that followed behind it began their assault as well, shooting a variety of blasts, beams and Slash Harkens to try to force the group apart.

[encapturer]

"Remember, secure the perimeter!"

Maria's squad commander continued to bark out orders to everyone. Maria remembered him from before, one of the top graduates from the Academy. A good pilot, piloting a well-tuned Vincent, but being in charge of a squad was something of an ego trip for him. Everyone had already gotten their instructions, but he was intent on micromanaging the squad. While everyone was flying at a good pace, Maria was starting to lag behind.

"Maria! What are you doing?!" he called out over the intercom.

"Sorry, looks like my flight system still is being held back," Maria replied. As long as she was wearing her armor, the Air Glide system would not perform to spec.

"Held back, what are you..."

The voice of her commander was lost on her, for ahead of her was a strange sight. Multiple copies of the same knightmare frame began attacking Zero's unit. The ones being struck seemed to vanish into the aether.

"Commander," Maria said. "Over there."

"...what?"

The rest of the squad was bracing themselves to battle the knightmares that were emerging from the hole in the ground. The commander began to fight as well, going up against a knightmare that had entered his range. Maria was focused on a different foe; one red draconic looking frame that... just shot a fireball... from its mouth.

Fortunately, that knightmare didn't aim the fireball at her direction, Unfortunately, after the red Knightmare closed its mouth, it immediately charged towards the nearest opponent with both lances outstretched. That was Maria's squad commander; they had wandered a little too close to the central battlefield. The lances began to rotate and spin, becoming drills with massive piercing power. While the commander dispatched the frame he had been fighting against, the giant red Knightmare was incredibly fast and closed the distance within a second, fortunatlely, the commander's battle-sense allowed him to notice the large Knightmare. It had astonishing reach and even as the commander moved out of the way, the red Knightmare swung its lance and tore off arm of his Vincent.

"No way!" Maria fired off a Harken and brought out her rifle and fired a few shots, though the red Knightmare easily dodged. "Inferior bastard," spoke the red Knightmare's pilot. "You should be bowing before me!" Suddenly, a red field expanded from the Knightmare and all nearby were hit by a wave of primeval fear. "I am Maximillian Talon, cower before my greatness!"

"Oh no, oh no, oh no, oh no," Maria repeated to herself. In front of her stood some sort of war demon; the most dangerous person to even pilot a knightmare. She needed to protect herself. She had the tools for it. The resonance shield. Even a war demon could not break the shield easily. Thus she pressed the button.

What happened next should be obvious, as it dawned on Maria a few moments after she activated the Resonance Shield. Her wings on the air glide system retracted themselves into her frame... and she began to fall. "Oh no, oh no, oh no, OH NO!" Maria cried out, as she scrambled for the button to reactivate flight. Perhaps her self-preservation instinct took over, for she was able to activate it in time, slowing her descent until she was about 10 meters above the ground. "Was that... Geass?" Maria muttered to herself as she looked upwards, to see the rest of her squad being destroyed by that red Frame. "How can we fight against *that*?"

Before she had more time to ponder, three knightmares began to zero in on her location. "Alright, first, the ground," Maria said to herself as she landed her frame and retracted her frame's wings. The three enemies were in the air, but as long as they were nearby, Maria could take them. The first one began firing at Maria's position, but Maria used the Acceleration Drive to shoot upwards, the enemy merely shooting at a small crater she left behind when she lept. She rose above the first frame, while the second fired Slash Harkens at her. They missed Maria as she descended, as the enemy thought she would be flying. Maria then landed on the first frame, with it's pilot now confused as to what Maria was doing. He wouldn't be for long, as Maria used one of her Vincent's lances to destory the frame's air glide system. To finish the job, she used the Acceleration Drive again, this time to head towards the third frame, which was flying towards her from above wielding its own lance. The pressure caused by Maria's Acceleration Drive was enough to destroyed the crippled first frame, however. At the speeds the two were going, the third frame was quite cleanly cut in half by Maria's weapon, while her Vincent was protected by her Resonance Shield, though parts of the Dermal Armor was destroyed, becoming dust in the air. The third one's mobility was hampered thanks to firing a Slash Harken, so Maria proceded to finish him off with her rifle, before re-extending her wings and landing on the ground safely.

"As the remaining member of this squad," Maria said to herself, "I shall... continue the mission." While she could not fight directly with that red frame, perhaps he thought of her as good as dead, so she decided to head towards the hole. There were many enemies, but unfortunately for them, Maria was on the ground, now.

[Asriel Dreemurr]

"Did you honestly think you needed to give the order?"  X.Y. didn't have any control over the Azrael's Geass cancellation field, that was a passively active system of the Knightmare frame which couldn't have been deactivated if the frame's pilot had wanted to.  While Knightmare's flooded up from the hold in the ground, he could easily tell which ones were real due to the fact that he couldn't even see the copies.  As such, he began tagging the real ones mixed in with the fakes and transmitting these digital tags to the other pilots in the surrounding area.  Best to make sure everyone knew what they were supposed to be fighting rather than being lost trying to take on the numerous enemies surrounding them.  

 

Of course a unique trio of Knightmare frames emerged from the hole themselves, the lead among them being an absolutely massive one meant to look like some sort of dragon out of mythology.  It even proved itself able to breath fire, a ball of it launching from the mechanical beast's mouth before it broke off to go and fight the weaker foes among the force.  "Its pilot even fights like a dragon would."  Thought X.Y. as he activated the plasma spinner on the Azrael's left forearm, bringing the three meter disk to life and using it as a shield to intercept the fireball so that none of the rest would have to deal with it.  It was then that he noticed a particularly large brown Knightmare charging the formation.  While in the Azrael's cockpit, X.Y. didn't wear his visor simply because it was unnecessary due to the much more advanced sensor array within the Knightmare.  Thus, his solid orange eyes locked onto the approaching enemy and he moved to engage.

 

Silent warrior met silent warrior, and the two were soon engaged in a duel with each other.  From the motions of his foe's frame, he could tell that it was utilizing some technology which predated his own.  That is to say, it had sacrificed agility and speed of motion for extra strength whereas his own was a much more balanced system.  Crimson silver and gold danced through the air around brown and red, having to leave the unit he'd been guarding to bring this one down.  Curiously, the experimental life form had not yet made an attack move despite that the massive glaive it wielded was active and violently sparking with electricity.  He was waiting for his foe to make a sufficient opening to allow for a single strike to bring him down.

 

He didn't even see the red field emerge from the Knightmare, not that he would have been effected by it anyways.  The pilot which had answered his challenge was soon making the biggest mistake of his life, and the last.  The monster of a Knightmare raised its blade high above its head in a move obviously preceding a hard downward slash.  The Azrael spun to the side with ease, out of the path of the blade, and God Breaker left a sparking trail through the air as it was brought through the space occupied by the foe.  Assuming there was no interference with its course, the weapon's power field ensured that X.Y.'s foe was bisected perfectly through the cockpit.  His foe laid low, X.Y. made a quick return to Zero's unit to await further orders.  He made a mental note to make certain that the next time he was deployed it was with some form of ranged weapon to allow for a greater range of engagement possibilities.

[RogueZero]

When Aigis entered the hole, suddenly 3 of unusual Knightmare suddenly appeared in front of Aigis. "What the!?" One of them (The Brown one) smashed Aigis out of the hole. "Gah! Damn it!" Dante shouted. When Dante managed to get Aigis back on it's feet. He couldn't believe what he saw, there are uncountable number of the enemy Knightmare. "What in the!? This must be an effect of Geass, but I can't distinguish the real one and the fake one!" He muttered to himself. At that time, he received some data from Azrael. "So that's the real one eh? Thanks Y., now it's time to kick some *ss." He smiled and began to approach the real Knightmare Frame. He slashed them easily, reducing the number of the fake Knightmare copies.

 

Aigis then proceed to assist the other Knightmare Frame, just then Dante saw a blue and silver Knightmare Frame heading towards Azrael, thus Aigis fired off a Slash Harken to attack the Blue and Silver knightmare, but the Blue and Silver Knightmare Frame dodged it. "You have to do better than that" said the pilot. "So ... it's a woman who pilot that Knightmare eh?" said Dante to that Knightmare pilot. "So what if I'm a woman?" said that Pilot. "Heh, just remember, I'm not goin to show any mercy, even for a woman ..." said Dante. "Heh, then do you expect me to show any mercy for you? I'll make sure you die painfully ..." said that pilot. "I'd like to see you try ..."

 

Aigis charged towards that wavy and curvy Knightmare Frame. Just then, a red field expanded, and suddenly that Knightmare Frame disappeared. "What the the!?". Suddenly Aigis was slashed in the back. "Gah! Damn it!" Dante shouted. "Do you like my Geass?" said that woman. "Why you!" Aigis take out 2 Revolver Blades and slashed the area behind him, but nothing happened. "Tee-hee, can't hit me eh?" taunt that Knightmare Pilot. "Damn it ... What should I do?" Dante muttered to himself. "Her Geass ability is troublesome ..., wait ... Geass? That's it!" suddenly an idea appeared in his head. "Come and get me!" Dante accelerated his Aigis to the direction of Azrael. "Oh, trying to run away eh? Ain't happening!" said that Knightmare Pilot while pursuing Aigis.

 

When Aigis entered the Geass Cancellation Field, Aigis charged it's Hadron Cannon. Just then that Blue and Silver knightmare Frame entered the Geass Cancellation Field, it become visible "I got you now!" Aigis fired it's Hadron Cannon to that wavy and curvy Knightmare Frame. "Too Slow!" she dodged the Hadron Cannon. "Damn, she's really annoying, I can't use my Geass inside the Geass Cancellation Field ... and If I get out of the range of Geass Cancellation Field, I can't see her Knightmare Frame. Dante muttered to himself.

[Premier Alexander Romanov]

Cecile was initially confused by the sudden uproar, until her commander, the false Zero that had lured her on this escapade, reported that it was some sort of Geass ability, even though the true enemy was clearly in her sights. She smirked, now that her immunity to the Geass powers of others would help her, and revved up the weapon attached to her Knightmare Frame.

Cecile, as part of her acceptance as the Zeroth Princess, requested of Dr. Chawla a very special Knightmare Frame, and thus, an orange quadrupedal Knightmare Frame with a prominent hunched back, bladed shoulder and hip plates, and a cluster of nine cylindrical assemblies in the rear emerged, landing thanks to thrusters hidden in the tail and legs. The vulpine head of the Knightmare Frame turned to find a target, and its shoulder pads unfolded to reveal a pair of small Hadron Cannons on turrets. Cecile used these for excavating and to disintegrate solid rock, as they sacrificed sheer power and destructive force for concentrated and sustained fire that could easily break through an enemy's defenses. Cecile was safe in her cockpit along the bottom of her Knightmare Frame, whose agility and firepower made it quite the foe against enemies. Dr. Chawla nicknamed the Knightmare Frame "Tamamo-no-Mae", after the legendary kitsune princess.

[Aix]

While Zero's Squad was doing quite well, the rest of the Black Knights were not so fortunate, they were being utterly destroyed, constantly pushed back and every minute, another Knightmare was ejected. K.K.'s forces, though much smaller in number, made up for it with the massive advantage given to them by the hundreds of duplicates that confused their foe and drew fire away from them. Additional support was provided by missile strikes, flying from within the whole. Of course, K.K. had been expecting a F.L.E.I.J.A. strike was the best way to open up her fortress and she had placed weaponry out of reach of an explosion so that when a hole opened up, it would still be able to function and back up her troops.

[hr]As the blue and silver Knightmare with a curved form was distracted by having to dodge Dante's Hadron Cannon, Kongming took this opportunity to strike. He had the advantage for this moment and he wasn't one to let it go. His glaive vibrated and began spinning and he shot off to impale the enemy, however, the Knightmare's curved form proved to her advantage and it almost slid off of her, only scraping a shallow hole in its side. But, she had not really evaded Kongming yet, the Guanyu's torso did a three-sixty spin and as it twirled around the butt of the glave smashed into the Knightmare, knocking it back and somewhat off-balance. As the full rotation finished, the Guanyu was once more in a position to charge forwards. Off-balance, the Knightmare could not dodge this time, and the Maser Vibration Glaive pierced through its core and into the cockpit itself, instantly killing the pilot.

 

Kongming looked around to find that X.Y. had taken care of the brown Knightmare, though the Geass User had ejected and escaped. To his other side, Kallen and Zero had each taken on a Knightmare, and ordinary pilots were no match for the Knightmare geniuses' skill. However, all around them, the Black Knight's army was being decimated.

 

"Perhaps, we'd better retreat," said Carl nervously, surveying the scene as well.

 

"We press onwards," said Kongming, determinedly, but he radioed into mission control for the mass of the troops to enter organized retreat to stall for time. He could not pass up the opportunity to try and capture K.K. now, and with a sudden burst, the Guanyu dived towards the hole and passing by, he signaled for Arcturus and another nearby partially custom Knightmare pilot to follow as well, one who was too far in to be part of the retreat. "We're going to need any support we get here," he said.

[hr]"They are already here," said the clairvoyant. "We should get going now." K.K. and three Geass Users who were not off on errands stood within the underground hangar used for emergency escape purposes. They were about to board a supersonic jet that would fly them out of the country.

 

"What for them to come, I want to see his face when he realizes failure," said K.K with a cruel smile on her face.

[hr]The Guanyu flew around, scouting the area until he came upon a doorway, big enough for even a Knightmare to pass through. Of course, there were some Knightmare research in this base as well and Knightmares would be required to move around the base. Kongming poked the doorway with his glave. It was quite sturdy and he turned the Maser Vibration on. Slowly, the blade began to saw through, when enough of it came off, the Guanyu delivered a stout punch and the door broke open, revealing the clinical-looking corridors beyond.

 

"Turn on your area mapping system and spread out and explore. Everyone, keep radio contact," ordered Kongming. "I'm not too familiar with this area myself and who knows what surprises may await us." With that said, he took a turn onto a corridor to the right.

[Thranduil]

The Silvam Venator ran up to the hole and, with the grace of a cat, glided down to the main floor. He was followed closely by another Knightmare, who had clearly seen better days, although he did not fail to notice that the Knightmare was partially customized. When the three Kinghtmares came up to a 'Knightmare sized door' Kongming began cutting away at it. Although he did not say anything Arcturus hated this. The idea that they were going into an unknown location without any sort of fore knowledge never sat well with him. In spite of this Arcturus followed Kongming's orders and split off of the group and began mapping out the underground. As he ran through he started to notice things, things that shouldn't be there.

 

"Kongming, something does not feel right. We are in the heart of this fortress and there are no defenses  No gun turrets, no military forces, something about this is wrong. We are walking into a trap I can feel it. No, no, no this is very wrong. Kongming we should leave while we still have a chance to do so."

 

When Arcturus finished speaking he listened for Kongmings response but he heard nothing, only static. Well one of two things is happening, either my Knightmare is malfunctioning, unlikely as it is, or this place has jammed our radios, I hope it is the first one because if not we are most definitely walking into a dangerous trap.

 

Arcturus kept walking down the halls, other than the continuous row chandeliers, that appeared every four feet, there was nothing much to see. The excessive luxury almost made Arcturus gag.

[encapturer]

"What was that?" One of the enemy pilot said. He looked down towards the ground and thought he saw something, but a moment later it was gone. He checked his system; indeed, something was down there, but whatever it was was moving too quickly. Shrugging it off, he returned to the fight, just to be picked off by Kallen a few moments later

*****

Along the ground, Maria was dashing along using her Vincent's Acceleration Drive. Each use of drive shot her machine off in a different direction in order to keep foes off her trail. It seemed to work well enough, as she made it to the hole without incident. It seemed a few others made it as well. Mostly the leaders from what she could she could see. Before she could contact them, the comm came to life.

"All units fall back. Fall back." However, Kongming had a different idea, sending a signal for her to follow him instead.

"Unit V-MC2 is joining with Kongming's unit." Maria replied to mission control.

"Where is Command Unit V-Z12?" mission control responded.

"I seem to be the only one left in my squad."

"... Understood."

After turning off the comm, Maria sighed to herself. "Why does everyone make it hard for me to do anything?" Extending the wings in the Float System once more, she followed the others down the hole.

***

"Turn on your area mapping system and spread out and explore. Everyone, keep radio contact."

"Understood," Maria replied, switching on her mapping system. She chose a corridor that seemed to house some sort of research, though she had no idea of the specifics besides it having to do with Geass. Still, she was kind of curious what would be down here, so she pulled a small device, about the size of a credit card, and turned it on. She hoped that she would be able to detect any data receptacles. She wasn't officially asked to collect data, but since she came this far, might as well try to help out.

"Of course, about here we'd probably get ambushed," Maria joked to herself, as a way to keep focused.

[Asriel Dreemurr]

Things were looking grim for the Black Knights.  Despite how well things were going for Zero's squad, the rest of the forces were being distracted by illusions which left them shooting well off in the wrong direction to actually hit an enemy.  Of course X.Y. could not see the illusions, and the only reason he knew they were there at all was because of a special piece of sensory equipment within his Knightmare frame.  It activated whenever a Geass was used to effect something within a certain range, and the entire battlefield was under the effect of this particular Geass.  The Azrael's computer systems saved the readings to be transmitted back to headquarters at a later time, as there were bigger issues for now.  The Guanyu had vanished down the hole left by the F.L.E.I.J.A. detonation and as such The Azrael was duty bound to follow.  Thus X.Y. sent his Knightmare frame down into the earth.

 

The closed quarters of the room meant the necessity of deactivating the Azrael's flight pack, thus ridding it of its more imposing angelic appearance as the wings dispersed.  Of course that also meant more energy for the rest of the Knightmare's systems to run on.  As the door was cut open by the Guanyu, despite the fact that a single swing of God Breaker could have torn it open if Kongming had only been patient enough to wait, Y simply waited to see which path the would be leader intended to take.  Of course once the Guanyu was heading down a path the Azrael was following close behind.  After all, Y was under orders to keep track of the aforementioned boy who would be king.  His own area mapping systems were active, and thus he was getting the same data that his charge was.

 

As was usual from the artificial human, Y kept silent.  He was too busy looking over the readout from the various sensory readings coming in.  If there were to be an ambush, he was likely to be the most prepared one among the group.

[RogueZero]

When Dante was busy muttering to himself, Kongming used the opening that Dante made, and defeated that blue and silver Knightmare Frame. "Well, looks like it's been taken care off by him ..." he smiled.

 

Dante then follow the other Knightmare into the hole he dived earlier. Upon reaching the main floor they come across a large door. "Man, sure this door is ..." before Dante could finish his statement, Guanyu destroyed the door. "Man ... can you at least ... Bah, forget it ..." Dante grumbled.

 

"Turn on your area mapping system and spread out and explore. Everyone, keep radio contact," ordered Kongming. "I'm not too familiar with this area myself and who knows what surprises may await us." With that said, Kongming took a turn onto a corridor to the right.

 

"Yeah, yeah, I understand ..." said Dante while turning on his Mapping System. Dante followed Kongming and Y. to a corridor to the right. "Hey, Kongming ... I want to ask you this since a long time ago ... Do you know what did K.K. do to Hao?" Dante asked Kongming.

[Thranduil]

Arcturus kept a watchful eye out in case of dangerous traps or unseen enemies, however nothing seemed to change along that monotonous hall. No sooner had he said that then the long hallway ended an a massive underground room came into view. Arcturus was stunned to see that this room was no ordinary room but it contained, three rows high and ten rows deep, custom frame Knightmares. Each one of the Knightmares were different than the last. Some of them were hulking fortresses of raw power, others were sleek infiltration Knightmares designed for fast maneuvers.

 

How much money does this organization have? "Hey Kongming, if you can hear this you might want to come down the hall I went down. We have an entire arsenal big enough to start a war on a global scale. If this is what K.K. was working on, then we are going to have a hard time eliminating this organization."

[Aix]

C.C., Zero and Kallen had gone down the central corridor, X.Y., Dante and Kongming had gone down the right corridor and Arcturus, Carl and Maria had proceeded down the left corridor. If the layout of this is more or less the same as the other underground headquarters, then, this way should lead to a control room, Kongming thought. The motion detectors picked up the movement of the Knightmares as they passed and the lights flickered on. Looking at the signs on the doors, it appeared that they were in the dormitories.

 

"Hey, Kongming ... I want to ask you this since a long time ago ... Do you know what did K.K. do to Hao?" said Dante.

 

"Hm?" Kongming saddened at the thought of his sister, he let the silence stretch as he thought back about her. "She... she was promptly shot down, executed on the spot... that's what the witness says," said Kongming. "I interrogated a sentry about it... I used my Geass... and that was what he said happened." Kongming blinked the slight moistness from eyes and got back to business. "Is everyone okay? No traps?" he radioed around.Zero’s trio communicated their safety, and Kongming nodded, but, Maria and Arcturus did not respond. “Arcturus? Ms. Relison?” he repeated. “Are you there?” The silence stretched, and Kongming felt a sense of anxiety creeping in, he looked at the map. At a certain point, the mapping data had stopped and the points representing Maria and Lupus were not present. It stayed like that for a while. Kongming was about to speak again when Arcturus’s message finally came through and the dots representing the two Knightmares flashed onto the screen.

 

"Hey Kongming, if you can hear this you might want to come down the hall I went down. We have an entire arsenal big enough to start a war on a global scale. If this is what K.K. was working on, then we are going to have a hard time eliminating this organization."

 

“I am yet unsure of where K.K. obtained all her resources, but she had been gathering wealth for a long time, hundreds of years, preparing for the day which she would launch her assault,” said Kongming. “I wasn’t one to take care of economical issues, but, K.K. had a funny-looking guy with a mustache and glasses report to her on financial issues. Don’t worry about our power, after all, we have the Holy Britannian Empire and all their power behind us. It shouldn’t be too great of a problem, the only issue is how much resources are to be expended on this venture...” He was rather worried about this, how he would look before the Empress. A lot of Knightmares had been destroyed in action and there were bound to be quite a few pilots who died, he had lost a great deal more of the Britannian Empire’s manpower than need be and it would put him in poor light. The Empire had been reluctant in first place to put him in any sort of control, but he had just barely managed to persuade them of his usefulness.

 

At last, passing the dorm hall, they came upon the control room, which unfortunately was too small for Knightmare access. After once more breaking down the door and mangling the doorframe, Kongming dismounted from his Knightmare, he called the other two to do the same. “X.Y., scout the area ahead for possible traps,” said Kongming. “Your senses are sharper than any human, so you are perhaps best suited for the job.”

 

As the artificial human walked in, the lights automatically flickered on, revealing a large area with many computers and monitors. Kongming eyed the area suspiciously before he entered. At the press of a button, the system booted up and Kongming promptly inserted a USB into a slot. The USB worked its magic, Britannia’s hackers were top notch and the program worked fiercely at decrypting files. First to come up was a map of the area, which the USB automatically transferred onto each of their Knightmares through wireless Bluetooth connection. Kongming sat tapping his foot as the data was transferred, he took a few steps back from the console to glance around at the room and it was then, which the computers exploded.

 

[hr]There was the sound of whirring, the sound of Knightmares’ sakuradite cores start spinning, and the clanking started as well as the Knightmares on the wall deployed. The Knightmares were unfinished, for many weaponry had yet to be installed or had only been partially been installed, for others, limbs were yet missing but they all contributed, nevertheless, to the effort of eliminating the intruders.

 

They leaped off the walls and came crashing down in front of, though some nearly landing on, Arcturus and Maria’s Knightmares. Slash Harkens and bullets fired, the duo were outnumbered and utterly outgunned, the only option was to retreat and run for reinforcement.

 

[hr]Zero, Kallen and C.C. responded to the commotion, they had come upon a room marked “Hangar” but there was urgent business at hand, the investigation would have to wait.

 

[hr]“It would have been a shame if they did not all come together,” said K.K. with a mischievous smile. In her hand was a touchscreen remote control of the headquarters and she watched like a child watching a movie. “This reminds me of the Colosseum, almost. Oh, how I had cheered for my favorite, though, I think I might have jeered much louder at his defeat.”