"Ugh, this uniform is tight as usual." Suzaku found himself in formal attire right after a cold shower. Arthur was moseying around the estate, doing whatever cats usually do, Suzaku expected the furball to join him in due time.
"I hope they don't find me intrusive," he worried.
Suzaku, feeling apprehensive about this meeting, double checked his uniform to see if all was in order.
"Zero must remain a symbol of hope," he whispered, the reflective mask weighing heavily in his hands. For better or for worse, he was no longer just Suzaku Kururugi, but a hero of the people, just as he always wanted to be.
And a hero is never off duty.
The Black Knights were largely autonomous at this point, an independent enforcer of justice, but there was a bi-monthly report about their activities and future developments to Nunnally, seeing as though they are, for some extents, operating outside the law.
Of course these were old friends of Suzaku, and the meeting was largely a formality.
"Are you coming Suzaku, the airship is ready to leave," a soft voice rang from outside the door.
"Just a second Nunnally," the Knight of Zero dons his helmet and the locking mechanism snaps into the place, "I'm ready."
The tiny queen greeted him outside the door, but he knew those shoulders bear a burden equal to, if not greater than his. As they walked through the corridor, she spoke up.
"Say Suzaku, was a certain incident in Jeremiah's jurisdiction reported to you? The one that had an anomalous energy signature?" she asked.
"It was," he started, "I was told by Jeremiah that he had a trusted officer stationed there that reported a natural disaster as the cause. Why?"
"Nothing, nothing. I just heard from Tianzi that there had been some odd chains of natural disasters happening in the Chinese Federation and I was wondering if this was connected."
Suzaku held his chin, it did seem rather strange that a natural disaster would spike up the energy levels so much, "I'll have Jeremiah look into it."
He reached for his phone as he boarded the airship.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Hey are you sure you copied that guy's memory correctly? This Orange son of a b**** keeps asking questions," a tall woman in violet armor blew smoke into the air as she slammed down the phone. Her voice was strange, shifting a male tone slowly to a feminine one.
"Of course dear Helen, haven't you tasted the marvelous recreation yourself? You would doubt such a divine interlacing of consciousness?" white gloves and blue overcoat flew into the air as a silky smooth voice filled the room.
"Ugh," she flicked her cigarette onto the ground, "The only thing I 'tasted' was some creepy a** memories being shoved into my skull."
"Your lack of appreciation for such fine arts highlights your low-birth," the man clicked his tongue. He earned himself a short glare from the woman.
"I gotta say I feel sorry for that Rick guy, was a good fighter. Had a lot of guts to fight the lot of us in that stolen Knightmare. Took out like half a dozen of our troops," she laughed, "I can't believe some idiot was brave enough to assault the square like that."
The man in blue and turned towards her, his eyes blazing with a familiar red glow, "I care not for the reason of rabble. Come, our glorious leader has proclaimed a multitude of extravagant news to announce."
Metal doors closed behind him, leaving an empty room in its wake... or so they hoped.
"Did you see that?" a soft, yet urgent whisper, "That was a Geass!"
"I did L.L., it appears that the destruction of the cult was not as thorough as I'd hoped."
Two figures crawled out from the air ducts, a man and a woman.
"Well this definitely a concern. Let's go, I know where they are keeping that man prisoner, I want to confirm something about the Geass powers we're up against."
"Wait, how do you know where we're going?" the lady questioned.
"From the outer appearance and inner layout so far, this should be a land cruiser command unit."
"Aren't there hundreds of different design layouts for those vehicles, how do you know we're dealing with the one you have in mind?"
The man turned, and C.C. could feel even the air around him snap to command, something she felt when she first met him.
This was a man born to lead.
"Why you ask? Because I've memorized every last one."
