Super Robot Wars/Z2/Story Summary/Part 3

CHAPTER 20. Malice Dances in the Desert

Sionny, presumably at Carlos' behest, has decided to petition the UN to band together against the forces of organized terrorism. That of course includes the Black Knights and CBs, who so handily derailed her plans in Azadistan. Elgan knows that the idea itself is basically sound, and expects that the world is going to accelerate from this point forward. But to what end?

Tielia is running some numbers on the CBs' track record to date, and the data show something very interesting. Since their declaration of war, the CBs have put a stop to 18 Class-A conflicts... and yet at least 25 new Class-A conflicts have broken out (to say nothing of lesser skirmishes). Tielia is sure the CBs' performance has been within Veda's expectations, and can't figure out why the master plan to end war isn't working. Maybe it's because the world is changing faster than Veda expects? Or is there some other agency at work? In either case, the team needs to finish up this WLF-busting mission fast.

Setsuna is doing some thinking of his own, with a little input from Maria of all people. He's snuck back into the royal palace, and upon finding Maria asks whose fault it is that the world is so warped: God? Man? Maria replies that God is nothing if not fair; and for that matter it's a fact that men are capable of mutual understanding. ...Which is no help, and Setsuna runs off again in search of whatever is to blame for the world's distortion.

Not so far away, a new joint force of Great Nations military forces is off to a rocky start. The first thing Patrick does upon greeting Jeremiah is refer to him repeated as "Orange", which Jeremiah is only able to let slide after Viletta reminds him that Cornelia herself has given him this shot at clearing his name. Kyuell doesn't see it that way though: he's furious that all the Britannian knights sent on this mission are pure-blood Area Eleveners, and even more so that their company is "tainted" by the inclusion of Honorary Britannians. He says this is all Jeremiah's fault, but Lloyd tells him that it's a little late to start with the sour grapes -- unless he intends to question Cornelia herself.

Patrick certainly isn't a fan of fighting alongside the infamous Orange, or the non-Britannian pilot of the Lancelot. He himself isn't above reproach though, as Graham points out to him -- remember the mess at the orbital elevator in Africa? Graham tells him that it was quite educationa regarding just how scary the Gundams can be, and before Patrick can make a smart-ass rejoiner, his commanding officer from the AEU steps in and slaps his face twice to get him to shut up. _Colonel_ Katie Mannequin is one helluva babe, and is going to be commanding this motley crew with help from Sergei. Sergei sagely reckons that all this youthful energy the pilots have can be put to good use when the time comes. The last to join the party is the contingent from the HPL, fronted by Peerless. Katie can tell from Peerless' youth and unusual mech that she must be one of the HPL's genetically-engineered weapons. Unfortunately, due to some issues in the Chinese Federation, the "Tiger" will not be participating this time around.

Graham and his men are glad to be finally fighting alongside Zechs and his men, but they're not the entirety of the force. Joshua, for instance, resents Graham's promotion despite his checkered record in battle, and intimates that Graham only got where he is today by bumping off his superiors. After he leaves with a smug strut, Graham tells Zechs that Joshua's statements are sort of half-true, and in any case he means to restore his honor on the field of battle. And luckily for him, he's got the Flag that Eifmann's customized to help him pull it off. Zechs too has a new mech, but it's cost more than just money and materiel to get it operational -- test pilot Otto lost his life due to excessive G-loading. There is but one way to make up for his death: take down the Gundams!

The sight of two noble warriors like Graham and Zechs moves Suzaku deeply, and Lloyd says that with them involved it may really be the end... not just of the WLF, but of the CBs and the Black Knights. See, Lloyd's heard a little secret from Cornelia: this mission isn't just about striking a WLF base...

The Zexis forces arrive without incident, finding the base lightly defended... too lightly defended, in fact. Zero can't say for sure that this is a trap, but he's certainly nervous -- more so than he's willing to let on. But does the WLF really have enough firepower left to pose a threat to Zexis? Best to finish up double quick and bug out before anything turns for the worse.

 The other shoe drops once the WLF defenders fall.  Wufei of all people rushes
 in to berate the team for falling into the trap, just before the trap
 springs.  The enemy force opens fire without warning, acting on orders to
 wipe out anyone who should show up here, without exception.  Zexis can't
 reach the UN, and it becomes readily apparent that the only ways out of
 here will be victory in battle, or in a body bag.  Wufei tells Crow that
 while he knew in advance how dangerous it is here, he's got a larger goal
 in mind for which he needs Zexis alive.

 Just to make life suck a little more, the PMC Trust have sent in the Red
 Shoulders to fight on behalf of the Three Great Nations, plus the dreaded
 Ali in a mobile armor.  He rushes over and blasts Setsuna with plasma, and
 Tielia has to rush in to rescue him.  Ali seizes his mech instead, but
 Tielia breaks free by ejecting his external armor, unleashing "Nadore" and
 seemingly undergoing something of a personality shift in the process.  Or
 something.  Anyway, Ali is going to be a bear to deal with, and he's just
 one of many worries...

 The battle is a complete bloodbath, and that's _before_ the enemy's main
 force show up.  The odds are overwhelmingly against Zexis, and the only
 possible thing to do is retreat... assuming the enemy can be distracted for
 a moment, which is a very had problem.  That is, until Hiiro steps up to
 the plate.  His dedication is unwavering as he pushes the Red Button(tm)
 that self-destructs his Gundam, and in the flash of light the team make good
 their getaway.

To show just how good Zexis are, they actually managed to even retrieve Hiiro on the way out of danger! What's more, even the Wing Gundam got salvaged, or at least what was left of it. This is all thanks to the fast thinking of Setsuna, though Hiiro does not verbalize any thanks. He merely says that he was doing his duty, and _manually_ realigns one of his broken bones in order to get out of bed. Two words: HARD. CORE.

What's even more astonishing to his fellow pilots is that Hiiro actually expected to die. He states that he took what he judged to be the best course of action under the circumstances -- those circumstances having been the result of a tactical error. Errors, he states matter-of-factly, must be repaid by death. What's more, he was quite confident that his death would not have been in vain given that his teammates would have carried on his good works. Duo never expected to hear something like _that_ from Hiiro, and truth be told neither did Hiiro himself. Is that, asks Setsuna, the result of acting on emotion? Yup, and Hiiro maintains it was the right call even now.

Tielia tells Hiiro that he's mistunderstood him all along. He doesn't know why he exposed Nadore, the true form of his Gundam Veche which was only to be unveiled in the direst of emergencies. Why it's such a deep dark secret even Lockon hasn't been told, but Tielia says that what he was supposed to do was purge his Solar Reactor and self-destruct like Hiiro did. Hiiro cautions him this: if he really intends to go through with that in the future, be prepared for a pain worse than death. At that, Trois starts to laugh hysterically, even though Hiiro wasn't being humorous. At that Karen starts to laugh too, and Wufei figures that anyone with the stomach to find humor in such dire circumstances might just be able to save the world from itself. Good that he's optimistic, because the probable link between the targeting at the WLF and the ambush by the Great Nations spells deep trouble for the team.

How deep? Deeper than Atlantis. Deeper than the seafloor traveled by the mantis. Carlos is pleased as pie, even as Sionny hears in horror that Zexis is quite intact. Carlos' theory is that the Great Nations will now turn all their attention toward Zexis and away from their Project Vortex: Sionny's got to learn to think positively for a change. She furiously reminds him that she's risking the fate of her country in a fight against the whole rest of the world. Carlos lightly apologizes and tells her to head back to her country to wait for good news: he'll get some good champagne ready.

As he hangs up, Sionna fumes to herself that Eim should never have chosen someone like Carlos, even if they did need the money. Just then Elgan enters Sionny's office unannounced, with one piece of advice: Knock It the FUCK OFF. He informs the little bitch that she's not the one who's going to move the world. The only reason she's still breathing the air of the UN building is that he lacks proof. Oh, and one more thing: no matter how much firepower the Great Nations amass, Zexis ain't gonna lose. He spits that she should tell that to Axion too, and Sionny -- white as a sheet -- asks why he approved the military action if he knows that much. Elgan sniffs that if Zexis were the type to let that little skirmish slow them down, they'd be of no use at all in the battles he knows are coming. She'd better remember that defeat for Zexis means defeat for the world! All this is more than she can take, and she pleads with Eim to make all the scary people just go away...

CHAPTER 21. The Truth Revealed

With a little more time to reflect, the pilots rightfully wonder what's to become of them now. It hardly seems fair that the Zexis stalwarts get to wear the Scarlet T (for terrorist) for having the gall to actually oppose mankind's common enemies, but unfairness is one thing humans have always excelled at. Even in the Macross-verse, global (nay, interstellar) peace was hard-won and is still marred by revolts and terrorism despite mankind moving to colonize the galaxy. All the same, Michelle chooses to believe that mankind can rise above its baser instincts, as Takeru's upbringing on Earth demonstrates.

There seem to be two equally unattractive options: wait for Elgan to restore sanity to the UN, or split the team back up and hope that the overt side at least will no longer be targeted. Alto however has a third option, based on Michelle's offhanded observation that humans seem to pull together only when faced with an overwhelming common threat. Why not force all the world to see just how large its list of common threats are? The team can start with the WLF: if _Zexis_ were to take them out, the Great Nations would have to lay off at least until they could find a new pretext to attack the team.

A good plan, if only the location of WLF's home base was known. Which it isn't. As depression sets in, a voice speaks directly to Takeru's mind. The voice, which spoke to him in God Mars, tells him that it badly wants to meet and converse in person, and that it will take care of Takeru's pursuers long enough to make that happen. Just then Nene and Lalamia rush in with news that a Gishin force has just landed and is under attack by the Federation. A chance to escape? May be, but the voice tells Takeru to come to Point 1934...

Lo and behold, a Gishin ship is waiting for Takeru at the designated point. The source of the telepathy that Takeru heard opens fire, grousing that Takeru's dodging is wholly inadequate to defeat Gishin. Takeru starts to counterattack, which at least makes the encounter look good for Marg's observers. Marg slips out of the ship just as it explodes, and afterwards Mars tracks him down on foot.

Marg was in fact being sincere about wanting to talk with Mars, his twin brother. He tells Mars of their parents Idea and Ayida, and reveals that Zhul is trying to get the two brothers to kill each other as penalty for Marg's attempts at spying. Thanks to his telepathy, Mars/Takeru knows he can trust Marg at once, and accepts Marg's transfer to him of memories of their parents. He sees Idea, Zhul's chief scientist, being asked to give up one of his newborn sons for Zhul to send to Earth. Zhul figures that Earth, the epicenter of all the Tremors, must be crucially important to his plans to rule the universe. Not to worry though, the kid will return from Earth as next-in-line for Zhul's throne!

Idea tells him that the Antiproton Energy source he's developed is intended for peaceful purposes that benefit the whole universe. Were Zhul to put his son to work on an equally peaceful purpose, he'll gladly loan him to the emperor. Hooooooowever, Zhul's gone and made an Antiproton Energy-powered bomb, and clearly wants to use Idea's own flesh and blood to trigger it. Idea won't go along with such a thing voluntarily, so Zhul just dismisses him and steals away the kid anyway. Mars even served as a hostage to force Idea to further the Antiproton Bomb, though Idea also made the Goshin Robo in secret and sent it to Earth to protect his erstwhile son. Zhul discovered this, and Idea was executed when he refused to reveal the secrets of the Goshin Robo to him. Takeru's mother was killed when Marg was ten, for demanding that Zhul return her son to her.

She's left Mars a little something though: a pendant that contains something suspiciously resembling a Plot Device^W^Wmysterious rectangular object. It is in fact none other than the control system for the Goshin Robo: with it, Takeru will be able to unlock the full power of Gaia. That which the father made, the mother nutured, and the brother conveyed is now in Takeru's hot little hands. Marg asks his brother to use the Goshin Robo to bring their father's dreams of universal peace to reality; meanwhile, he's going to investigate just what it is that Zhul fears so much on this planet. That is, if he lives that long... which Commander Warl is determined to prevent!

The Gishin forces have not in fact been fooled by Marg's little ruse, and Warl rushes over to immobilize Marg so he can take him back to be personally executed by Zhul. Marg pleads with his brother to stay away, and instead to summon Gaia and fight. Okay, that works.

 The cavalry arrive momentarily, and Takeru explains what's been going on in
 no time flat.  Kidnap a man's twin brother after they've been apart all
 their lives?  Homie DON'T play that!  Warl is not long for this world, but
 he gets a temporary reprieve when Zhul shows up in person.  Exclamation
 point.  Does Takeru fall for the "No, I am your father" routine?  No.  Is
 Takeru willing to abandon the Earth?  No.  Does Zhul explain how the Earth
 is a threat to destroy the universe?  Of course not, goddamn it!

 Thwarted in his attempt to neutralize Takeru with words, the infuriated
 emperor resorts to force (after having Warl evacuate to a safe distance).
 For all Zhul's smug-yet-cryptic observations about the exotic folks on the
 team, he's a yellow-bellied coward who flees at 10k HP.  Of course, this
 means Takeru and friends have all the more incentive to wreck his ass.
 Alas, that just makes him more of a smartass, and he prepares some truly
 stupefying display of his power.

 Surprise, it's the Spanish Inquisition^W^WDimensional Beasts, who for once
 completely ignore Zexis and focus their firepower on Zhul.  This tickles
 him pink, making him feel that it was actually worth all this shipping cost
 it took to send his avatar to Earth.  W-wait, _Avatar_?!  Like as in, the
 Last Bare-Ender?  No, that would be some other fanfic -- in _this_ playable
 fanfic, "avatar" means more like a body-divided part of Zhul's whole being.
 Which in turn means that the full-strength Zhul is genuinely a force to be
 reckoned with.

 The day of reckoning is some ways away; for today Takeru gets to keep his
 life and the knowledge that his brother is now at the tender mercies of
 the Last Bare-Ender.  Zhul disappears in a puff of smoke, leaving the
 fearsome DBs for the party to deal with.  And then _Eim_ appears, and gets
 the DBs to "heel".  He's saved Zexis in order to chat with them, and Crow's
 first question is whether it's really him who's causing the Quakes and
 letting the DBs into this world.  "Yes and no" is Eim's answer: he apologizes
 for all the mess he's caused to date, saying that it was all in the interest
 of testing the team.

His mech, the Arietis, can Quakes under certain conditions -- not that that guarantees that the DBs will show up. Conversely, DBs can show up without his intervention, and in fact most of them to date have. He tells Crow that the Arietis is the product of Neyn Industries, and is equipped with the so-called Dimensional Vibration System. Neyn is a very secretive special technology research lab directly reporting to the UN, and they're the ones who built the "VX" that powers the Blaster. The mysterious gadget is a Level 5 secret, and after Axion stole it Eim's been busily trying to destroy it to prevent misuse. Crow won't be causing any Quakes any time soon though, as his VX is, in Ein's words, "incomplete". Eim's got a completed VX in his mech, part of Neyn's research into what to do about the DBs.

In fact, the DBs gathered at his feet are ones he had summoned, and as a result they're under his control. Apparently he can lasso some DBs, modify them to suit his needs, store them in Hammerspace, and summon them at will. That implies a stratospheric tech level for Neyn, and Eim explains that their master plan includes using the DBs as biological weapons to fight _for_ humanity. They are hoping to enlist Zexis as well, and felt they had to test them to see how they'd hold up against real adversaries.

Why not, then, get in contact with Elgan first? Eim tells Zero and the others that there are those within Neyn who distrust Elgan's sometimes strongarm tactics in trying to save the world. Thus, why he got in touch with the "boots on the ground" directly. Crow distrusts Eim's explanation and apologies instinctively -- he may be telling the truth, but not the whole truth. Eim finds Crow's hesitance regrettable but understandable, and hopes that he can eventually win his trust. In the meantime, as a gesture of good will he offers to divulge the location of WLF's headquarters, as well as who their backers are. Elgan Roddick isn't _all_-powerful after all, and Neyn prides itself on having the best intelligence gathering in the business.

The WLF are supported by Carlos, and their HQ is in Limonecia. Certainly, having the world's richest man and the world's most vocal small nation as sponsors would go a long way to explaining the WLF's unusually rich resources. Zero asks why Neym hasn't acted against the WLF themselves, and Eim ascribes it to a shortage of warpower: they've only just started researching the DBs after all. He tells Zexis that it's up to them what to do with the information, but he believes they'll strike down the WLF in the interest of world peace. And if Crow becomes a comrade of his, he'll not need to attack the Blaster any further.

That's a lot to digest as the team make good their escape. The consensus, though a divided one, is that Eim is trying to trap the team. Crow in particular is adament that Eim is so accomplished a liar that the vocal stress analysis Tielia ran is meaningless. This is not a knock on Veda, but a sad realization that there are villains out there beyond even its computational abilities. He recounts how much it cost him to learn the falsehood of Eim's words, and says he'd have said so sooner except he wanted to keep Eim's tall tales from spreading. Zero, used to dealign with treacherous folks of all stripes, is equally convinced on instinct alone that Eim is not to be trusted.

Still, it's inarguable that he did have those DBs at his beck and call. Presumably at least some other parts of his speech were true, and without knowing which parts those are Zero has realized the key to moving forward. Striking the WLF's home base will give Zexis the infusion of public Justice they crave, and if it turns out to be a trap it will be the ultimate proof that Eim and his backers are truly the bad guys. Until there's at least some clarity on that point, Zexis will continue to have enemies on every side. And if so, the team would rather make the conscious decision to move forward to confront their foes. Zero advocates heading to Limonecia forthwith and not waiting for Elgan's orders -- he's concerned that Elgan must of known of the Great Nations' ambush and yet not told the team. On the other hand, he's not done wrong by the team before, and even if he intended to sacrifice Zexis to some higher end, it seems a bit premature to pull that trigger. Thus, the team will proceed with all due caution while seizing what could be a major break. Everyone will have to look out for themselves along the way, which in Takeru's case is a heavy, but bearable, burden indeed.

Eim has in fact been acting in Sionny's "best interest", believing that the WLF are just in the way and arranging for Zexis to make them disappear. That this means summoning Zexis to Sionny's beloved homeland doesn't exactly make her feel any better, but Eim assures her that the do-gooding Zexis won't lay a finger on any of the civilians. He tells her gently but firmly that there's no time to argue, especially with Zhul about to figure out what's really so special about this planet. Tomorrow this world will be reborn, and Sionny's tears will finally be dried for good. He promises that the massive amount of energy that will be gated in via Project Vortex will be hers to command. Do you believe him? Gee...

CHAPTER 22. Assault on Limonecia

Lady Une reports to Treize of Zexis' trek to Limonecia, which is certain to beat the Federation's army there unless someone stops for a latte. Treize and his co-conspirators all nod their approval: Zexis is well advised to avoid turning public opinion against them, and the Federation army doesn't really need to lose any forces in a battle of attrition with the erstwhile Allies of Justice. Alejandro asks Treize if he sees any further value in using Zexis, and Treize smiles and says that he's never treated Zexis as a pawn. Not that he doesn't expect great things of them though -- even greater than Elgan himself does, in fact.

If anything doesn't compute about the scenario, it's Limonecia's (that is to say, Sionny's) refusal to even permit the Fed troops to enter her airspace. There's no way in hell Limonecia's army is masculine enough to withstand a Zexis assault, even after all its recent political machinations... Added to their recent odd mobilization of WLFs, the cabal figure they'll be able to soon justify forcible Federation incursions into Limonecia, Sionny's say-so or not. Alejandro dispatches Ribbons to get a Fed "oversight" force ready for action, and the rest of the Fed forces will be kept near Limonecia's borders... "just in case". Regardless of whether Zexis or Limonecia come out on top, Treize is sure that world events are about to accelerate again.

Meanwhile, Lockon and friends are doing some "oversight" of his own in Limonecia. Veda has provided a clue involving several terrorist organizations the CBs took down, whose survivors seem rife in the local populace: ample proof that this land is indeed WLF's home base. Lockon isn't especially shy about calling the one-and-future terrorists out about it either, quite prepared to blow them away on the spot if they don't get lost fast. Which is more of a choice than they gave the innocent civilians who got caught in their terroristic crossfire. Crow plays "good cop" to Lockon's vengeful bad cop, warning the terrorists that the WLF are going down and that Zexis doesn't want any civilian casualties. He advises the WLF to face Zexis in an unpopulated area if they have even a shred of human decency left, and Lockon adds with a snarl that any attempt to use civilians as human shields will result in them wishing they'd never been born.

Lockon -- as nicely as he can under the circumstances -- refuses to explain to Crow why he hates terrorists so much, but he inwardly vows to his long-departed family that he won't suffer any further acts of terroristm on his watch. Crow tells him that he tagged along mainly because he's looking for someone, though that someone isn't exactly a friend. Lockon thinks for a moment, and asks Crow if he likes this world. "Likes?" No. "Doesn't dislike?" Sure, especially with the prospect of helping Zexis improve it in play. Same goes for Crow, who's looking to right a few wrongs with his sniper rifle...

Some time later, Sionny greets the dawn from the seashore. She's labored since her youth to aid her beloved country, and believes firmly that in a few scant hours it will take its rightful place on the stage of history. She thinks back on her Faustian bargain with Eim, a desperate bid to extend Limonecia's recent prosperity after its stores of DEC run dry, and has high hopes that the common people will in time see her as their Savior, nay, their GREAT SAVIOR(tm).

The Limonecian forces dutifully deploy, away from any population centers. The WLF commander muses over his motley forces, cobbled together from a dozen different failed terrorist organizations in a probably fruitless attempt at revenge (gussied up as "world peace"). In fact, the WLF should have imploded long ago, and probably would have if not for Axion pumping cash into their veins. Axion's role is that of the classical "death merchant", profiting with every war started, every bullet sold, and every drop of blood vengefully spilled. But why would Limonecia help too, unless to use the WLF as bait for some greater purpose? Even the commander can't guess what that purpose is, but he expects to find out momentarily, now that it's too late to do anything about it.

As Zexis take the field, Holland and Talho confirm to themselves that if worse comes to worse, they've got to grab Renton and Eureka and bug out: this Ally of Justice business is just a sham. Sionny and Carlos are watching too from a safe distance -- the Limonecian president is currently somewhere else after Sionny explained to him what she's embroiled the nation in (the mysterious Project Vortex). Sionny implies that "somewhere else" means "sleeping with the fishes". Eim just wishes that Zexis and WLF would kill each other off to leave him with a free hand, but Carlos tells him not to worry: if Project Vortex succeeds, they'll have the moxie to alter the world's military balance as they see fit. Eim says that the time to open the Door will be when the battle concludes, and thanks Sionna for providing the DEC to make that happen.

 The WLF's resistance is short-lived, and for a while the Zexis feel like
 the conquering heros, about to lay bare Limonecia and Axion's treachery for
 the world to see.  Even the cautious Crow and Zero are beginning to belive
 that Eim had their best interests at heart, and it's pretty certain that the
 team has just banked some credit against interference by the Federation.

 The glee comes to an abrupt halt when Carlos pops out in a mobile fortress
 he calls the "Great Axion".  Eim sorties too, and the two units quickly
 set up some sort of spacetime resonance that looks like the beginnings of a
 Tremor.  _This_ is what Axion has been after: its own Fold System.

The pilots scramble back to the flagship as waves of energy engulph the team. The damage isn't severe enough to take out the propulsion systems, but sensors are basically useless. However, the team _is_ able to pick up something emerging from the center of what Eim calls the "Gate of Insalaum": a person!

CHAPTER 23. Dawn of a New World

If Zexis' machinery is having a hard time with the outpouring of spacetime energy, you can imagine how badly Limonecia itself is faring. Even Carlos isn't quite sure this was part of the plan, but Eim smugly comforts them: this is either a "minor" amount of feedback from the Fold system, or His power. "Him" being the "Lord Who Destroys the World". ...Anyone else dubious yet?

Zexis are dubious, having seen that minor feedback reduce the beautiful Limonecian countryside to one _ginormous_ crater. At the center of the crater is the figure of a man, who quickly proves himself to be some kind of demon when, barehanded, he starts blasting the Zexis fleet from a distance. Zero cries out for the taem to open fire, unarmed opponent or not, and Jeffrey authorizes weapons-free.

As the smoke clears, there's no further sign of the man. Instead, a massive mech emerges: a Dimensional Beast, with the man aboard it. His words are clearly audible over the radio as he challenges the team to come with everything they've got. Though his power is clearly unknown, what is known is that he isn't going to let the team simply run away. In which case...

 This mystery dude is one _serious_ menace, and from his standpoitn Zexis
 aren't all that appetizing as prey.  Still, he tells Eim that he receives
 passing marks for this little fiasco.  As despair grips Zexis, Crow demands
 that Eim tell them who the hell this dude is.  Eim gamely informs him that
 he's facing He Who Destroys Worlds, the leaker of all the Dimensional Beasts.
 Eim implores him to open the Gate of Insalaum, and the Lord agrees to
 summon "them".  "Them" is a bunch of new DBs, as well as mecha that aren't
 obviously of DB origin, and jets off about whatever business the Destroyer
 of Worlds might have.  After seeing that He means to leave Zexis alive, he
 follows too, leaving a hysterical Sionny to survey the nuclear wasteland
 that used to be her country.  Carlos shrugs, having not expected things to
 get this bad, and mildly advises her to not cry over spilt milk.

 At the last, Eim laments that Crow feels nothing when faced with the
 primordial power of their lord.  Looks like Crow wasn't worth his effort to
 kill after all.  Eim summons a bunch of DBs, telling Crow that Eim's a liar
 and that the whole business about Nein Industries was false.  Things are so
 grim that even Zero pales for a second, but then gathers himself and directs
 the team how to make the quickest path out of this bloodbath.

 As the battle slogs on, yet another new player appears, "dragged back" from
 somewhere according to his mutterings.  One of the DBs snarls in his
 direction, and the man asks why it hates him so much.  Upon closer
 inspection, he finds that it, like him, is bound by the "Infinite Beasts".
 Time to free its soul then!  He says not a word to Zexis, but as he sees
 Crow if finally makes sense to him what's going on here.

If ever there was a Phyrric victory, this is it: a nation (and all its inhabitants) laid waste, hordes of newer and dangerous-er monsters unleashed, new levels of smack being talked by the bad guys (who got away Scott-free, by the way), and nothing more to show for it than a few dead DBs. Oh, and a possible new ally, who provisionally names himself "Asakim Dorwen". He tells Crow to consider himself lucky that his enemies don't (yet) consider him worth killing, and announces that he's going to continue his journey in search of spiritual peace. His mech then vanishes in a black whirlwind, as all the world's communication systems suddenly resound with the following message:

It's Sionny again, announcing that her mobile fortress Great Axion is to be considered an independent country, the "Imperium". Anyone who impedes the Great Axion's course will be considered as a threat to that independence, and dealt with with force... for example, the Harness Federation that lies between her and her current destination at Point 1271 (wherever that is). She claims that her warpower includes DBs, the implications of which she will make clear to the world in two hours when Harness is eradicated.

Cornelia is incensed at this declaration, but beyond her fury her reason is working. Upon hearing that Britannia itself is doing nothing, she orders the pureblooded Knights to be recalled from the Federation at once. Dalton protests that this would need permission from the Security Council, but she snaps back that if this delcaration can be taken as fact, all national borders just lost their meaning. The old world order has just fallen, and if everyone isn't very careful it will be replaced by Hell on Earth!

These thoughts are echoed back at Ashford academy, whose student council can only hope that Lelouch, Hiiro and the others can salvage something from this mess. Kinue and Isabelle are also considering their response, and Isabelle advises her colleague to not be too hasty to rush into this new warzone. This "Imperium" is as a stone -- nay, a boulder -- dropped into the pond that is the world. The ripples will spread everywhere, possibly bursting the pond's boundaries, and they need to take a wider view of this accelerating situation if they are to have any hope as journalists of bringing the truth to the public.

What can the two singers, currently in a Paris hotel, do at a time like this? Sing, and believe in Alto and the others.

Sionny was being modest: it takes only an hour and fifty-five minutes to reduce Harness to ruins. Treize is very quiet, finally asking Lady Une if using the Federation troops stationed near Limonecia could have averted the catastrophe. Not averted, but maybe postponed a little... during which time maybe a few lives could have been saved. Alejandro sniffs that none of them are gods, and that there are things they simply cannot do. Schneizer tells him that there _is_ no god, and that nothing should be thought impossible for this group.

Treize solemnly swears to never let a day like this pass again, and Schneizer muses that this alliance will dissolve as the various nations look to their own response to the Imperium. Britannia's king is cloistered away in his personal chambers, though _not_ -- in Schneizer's private estimation -- in fear the way Alejandro suspects. Even if the world changes the way these men might want, the process of change will be far bloodier than any had hoped. Could Zexis be the force that rescues the world from chaos?

Speaking of King Charles, he's... umm... preoccupied? He muses that war and desire are meaningless, as Schneizer and this upstart Imperium will learn soon enough. Soon the day will come when mankind obtains everything! Elgan too is in contact with another power, understanding what he must do now and what the Imperium's show of force portends. In fact, he expected this to happen, and believed it was important enough to let it transpire that he deliberately let Sionny live long enough to pull it off, despite the death toll it would cause. It's all in the interest of winning a more distant battle, a battle in which failure means death for the entire world. After all, the last thing in Pandora's Box was hope... though some have it that "hope" never existed, no matter how much huamns want to cling to it. Elgan himself will be doing some of that clinging, to Zexis and the visitors from afar.

Eim meanwhile takes a very perverse joy in the things he's made Sionny do, including annihilating her beloved homeland. Sionny will prbably need to be fitted for a _long_-sleeved jacket at this rate, but even Carlos wasn't exactly envisioning this as the "energy from a parallel universe" that Project Vortex was meant to call upon. Carlos has to sigh and blame himself for not realizing that the Lord is the power Eim was speaking of, and isn't going to back out now. He does insist on one thing though: the Lord _so_ needs a new name: Gaiou, with "Gerltilan" as his mech. Gaiou himself is willing to go along with this, having lost all memory of his identity or past. The one and only thing he's got left is the desire to fight, and he means to use this whole world as his battleground. He orders Eim and the others to bring him worthy opponents, whose flesh and even souls he means to devour!!!

CHAPTER 24. (Route Split)

 Project Vortex: Limonecia's bid to open a portal to parallel worlds.  Gaiou,
 the Destroyer of Worlds, stepped through that portal and declared the whole
 of the world to be his battleground.  None then knew how far this
 battleground would extend, least of all Gaiou himself.

 "Calamity Birth", as this incident became known, deepened the chaos gripping
 the world.  Fighting ensued wherever the new nation of Imperium traveled,
 and with it fear and rage.  Yet there were those determined to resist, whose
 resolve was quietly renewed.

 Faced with this storm of violence, mankind will now be forced to make a
 number of choices...

Zero has made the first of these already: the Black Knights will part with Zexis and return to Japan. Defeating the WLF has given the group the legitimacy he wanted, and there's no better time to return to liberating Japan from Britannia. Besides, someone's got to help defend the place should the Imperium decide to head that way. Sumeragi was thinking along similar lines, intending to take the CB into hiding in space while they replan their anti-war terrorism. Jeffrey will be happy to take them there, anxious as he is to get the SMS back to the Frontier fleet.

Holland feels a debt to Elgan, and intends to hang around and use the Security Council as cover until that debt is repaid. That sounds to Zero like a three- way split, the first of which will be based around the free Japan's teams -- including Getter, who's been ordered back for reoutfitting -- and will continue the Security Council work. The second team will go to space, adding Team D's might to the CBs and SMS. And the third team, in charge of Area Eleven, will involve the Black Knights and the Colonial Gundams. The freelance Crow is free to go wherever he wants. As the commanders bid each other farewell, possibly forever, Zero is furiously fretting over what he and Zexis can do to save the world from the Imperium's tyrrany...

Crow briefs Traia on the situation and asks how things are going inside of Axion (whose president has just declared war on the whole world). Traia smiles thinly and says that any commotion is well-hidden: it's all ostensibly business as usual around the office. If nothing else, nobody at Axion wants to get their campus leveled like Harness by running their mouth. Traia isn't too worried about her own lab, counting on Carlos being unwilling to nuke the place until his intellectual duel with her is over. And in the meantime, she's still planning to fortify the Blaster and help slaughter as many DBs as possible. That's one of the things Crow wanted to hear, the other being how much he's gonna earn for continuing as a pilot -- he fully believes the world will _not_ end, and is planning as it were for life after the Imperium.

[You get to pick which of the three branches to take. If the UN Security Council, go to 24U. If space, 24S. If Area Eleven, 24E.]

In any case, there will be DBs worldwide, and the lurking threat of Eim waiting for a rematch. Ester isn't in good shape after seeing what happened to Harness, having shut herself away in her room ever since. Crow tells Traia to pass along that he hasn't forgotten his promise to her, and assures Traia with a smirk that he's not the type to die without discharging his debts.

Word of Zexis' division reaches the Imperium, where Sionny and Carlos aren't sure what to make of the move. Eim chuckles a little, planning to send teams to keep an eye on the three branches. For better or for worse, the Zexis members now bear the "stigma" of what they've done, as indeed do Carlos and Sionny themselves. This makes little sense, but Eim excuses himself for an errand without explaining further. He's got some big prey to hunt, bigger than Crow: a cursed wanderer drawn to this world by his soul...

CHAPTER 24U. A Foreigner Arrives

The Imperium is currently in Southern Europe, heading West like some kind of natural disaster in a game of Civilization. And unlike a natural disaster, it's led by human will -- a fact that has Akagi and Kamina eager to go kick its ass. In the week since the mess in Harness, the Three Great Nations have contented themselves with minor skirmishes along the Imperium's path (the purpose of which is unknown), seemingly okay with letting the world burn. As sentiment rises among the pilots that the time is now to strike back, Ryouma finally yells at them all to shut the fuck up. Zexis at its full strength couldn't face the Imperium head on, so what good could a third of it do now?

Nada, _now_. Crow catches onto Ryouma's drift quickly: the team has to make itself stronger, so that eventually it _will_ be equal to the task of trashing the Imperium. He's got more in mind than just powering up the team's mecha: the pilots themselves have to forge themselves, they must sniff out the enemy's weak spots, and ideally gather even more sympathetic participants to the cause. Maybe not Aaskim though: he's scary and he's from another dimension (though probably not the same on Gaiou came from).

Ootsuka and the other leaders present the team with its new mission: resuming the survey of the Dark Continent. The world's dimensional horizon has been greatly weakened by the Calamity Birth, and there's no telling when another entity as powerful as Gaiou might pop up. Since the majority of spacetime disturbances are in the Dark Continent, that's a logical place to set up surveillance.

In the time left before departure, Kouji decides to swing by Kurogane-ya and get a bit more training as Ryouma suggested. He means to get stronger at all costs, and it's already clear that Akagi won't be his "senpai" for much longer. Watta won't get much of a break either, as his teachers have sent a batch of homework to keep the young CEO from falling too much farther behind in class. Takeru will also have to say goodbye to his Earth mother, his promise to his brother heavy in his heart.

Sure enough, strange things are afoot in the Dark Continent, whose patrols of Beastmen are restless. Out of nowhere materializes Zanbot-3, whose pilots seemingly got plucked out of their own homes and dressed in their pilot suits in no time flat. Upon seeing the human mech, the Beastmen immediately open fire and force Kappei and the others to fire back.

 The Zexis forces show up a little while later, and Kappei and Watta almost
 immediately start quarreling.  Kamina doesn't care: he's home, and he's ready
 to kick some Beastman ass.

 It turns out however that there are bigger fish to fry than just the
 Beastmen: a group of DBs shows up, and the Beastman in charge orders the
 troops to withdraw -- his orders are to not actually fight the DBs.

No hope for the DBs against this bunch. As the troops withdraw from the battlefield, Zanbot-3 in tow, it turns out that Kappei and friends know the Gekkostate... from a parallel universe, where they're comrades as part of a team named "Zeuth". This has Holland and Talho very concerned: they know of the world Zanbot-3 must be from: a world whose dimensions had been remade with the power of Myths...

CHAPTER 24S. Incompatible Executors

The Imperium's steady march across the globe is one of the worst things mankind could face psychologically: a foe both powerful and enigmagic, and constantly in sight of the entire world. The strain on those in its path is immense, and terrorism and looting spread from its path like cancer. Nobody seems willing to confront it head-on, and all resistance so far has been suspiciously token. To make the picture even rosier, those nations who have been reduced to so much landfill by the endless hordes of DBs are now prime targets for their still-healthy neighbors' land-grabbing ambitions. The Great Nations are staying silent for now, hoping to avoid the Imperium's ire until such time as they can think up an effective countermeasure...

...leaving the map of the world to be systematically rewritten in the meantime. Though there are rumors of various nations attempting to curry favor with the Imperium, Lockon doubts that Imperium's current behavior is the best way to take over the world. One thing that the team can agree on is that the Imperium must be stopped, even if that seems like a very tall order. Certainly that's why Crow chose to come along with this branch of Zexis, though it should be noted that if the team wipes out the Imperium and its legions of DBs, Crow will technically be out of a job.

That some AEU nations would try to contact the Imperium suggests cracks in the AEU's structure, cracks probably echoed in the other Great Nations. Jeffrey thinks the most logical thing to do is for the Frontier fleet to help battle the Imperium with its full strength, even though that call technically belongs to the president to make. Cathy for one intends to help him state his case via her report to the Frontier government. The real question is, what to do about all the _other_ troubles facing the world, both internal and external.

Deliberations are cut short when a passel of DBs actually attacks, seemingly undeterred by the challenge of getting to outer space. The team quickly sorties to fight back, and have the distinct feeling they're being watched.

 The team is in fact being watched, by a bunch of Federation forces who only
 step in after the DBs are dealt with.  Their mission is taking out
 international terrorists (that would be the CBs), and they totally disregard
 Jeffrey's plea for reason and for consulting the chain of command before
 doing something stupid.  Unfortunately, a third party intervenes: several
 new Gundams, plus the scarlet Dancougar.  They immediately open fire on the
 Federation forces, who of course turn their guns on the Zexis forces.  No
 choice but to counterattack then...

The interlopers request permission to board the Ptolemeios and maybe clear up some of the misunderstandings the team may have about them, and Sumeragi grants the request in the interest of having some questions of her own answered. The R-Daigun flies off at once, leaving the new Gundams -- for they are powered by GN particles just like the current CBs' mecha -- to join up in peace.

The mecha are not of the first or second generation of Gundams, and Veda knows nothing of them. At least they don't appear to be equipped with Solar Reactors. All except the CBs have been excused from the meeting in the hopes of encouraging these new folks to speak openly. They are, by name: Johann Trinity, Mihael Trinity and Neina Trinity -- blood siblings and extremely odd to boot. Case in point: the first thing Neina does is kiss Setsuna on the lips, to the dismay of everyone else including Setsuna himself. The Trinity siblings have a Haro of their own which claims to be the long-lost sibling of the CBs'... which in turn professes to know nothing of the sort.

Relations quickly break down between the rank and file, leaving the commanders to try to salvage some semblance of order. The Trinities won't say how they come to own Gundams or where they got GN Drives, but Johann does say that the scarlet Dancougar is a "collaborator" of theirs, much like the CBs joined forces with Zexis. He says that their mission is the same as that of the CBs: rooting out the causes and means of war. Mihael, who seems to have something like Aspberger's, makes it clear that he finds the CBs' methods for doing this waaaay too slow. Johann won't go that far, merely conjecturing that the entity who gave him his mission may have similar doubts. He requests that the CBs keep doing what they've been doing, while his people go about things in their own way, meaning armed interventions just as the CBs themselves were doing at the start. He tells them to think of this as the result of their focusing on terrorists and aliens, instead of the bigger human nations, but Lockon and Sumeragi aren't convinced. Sumeragi asks if these newcomers are essential to Ioria Schenberg's plan, and Johann says that she should be able to judge that from their actions going forward.

Elsewhere in the Veda terminal room, Tielia is astonished to find Neina there ahead of her. When asked how Neina got into this highly secure area, Neina says that she walked in through the door. As for who she is... well, it's a secret. Duh. So uhh, just who are these Gundam Trinity folks anyway?

The Trinities depart, and the Macross folks wonder what must be going through the CBs' heads at this revelation about their organization's secrets. Bobby certainly sympathizes with the shock Setsuna suffered, though he adds with a smirk that he's so much more into Tielia, who he _totally_ wants to transform into a woman with his makeup artistry skills. There's little time to dwell on the cross-dressing though, as Tanaka radios in with word of a rash of Quakes in the center of the Dark Continent. Multiple entitles from other worlds have arrived, bringing their weaponry with them, all members of something called "Zeuth". There's a chance that some more could emerge in space, and Takana advises Jeffrey to keep his eyes open.

CHAPTER 24E. The Battle of Narita

Nanaly welcomes Lelouch back home, going to fetch some tea after recognizing him from his footsteps alone. C.C. is about too, keeping an eye on her as instructed. She tells Lelouch that nothing unusual's been going on, noting that Nanaly's stronger than Lelouch believes and that he worries about her too much. Of course Lelouch doesn't like hearing that, or that between him and Nanaly, he's the one more likely in need of protection. What is she, his mother now?

She then asks him why he's "Lelouch", not a merely philsophical question since that really is his given name from before he changed his surname to "Lamperouge". It would seem that he can't fully put his past behind him. So what about her moniker "C.C." -- hardly a human name either, eh? She answers this question with a rhetorical question of her own: why is snow white? Answer: ...Because it forgot what color it used to be....

Away from this deepening emotional tableau, the rest of the pilots are yucking it up with their long-lost comrades in the Shinjuku Ghetto. Kiriko is his usual blank-slate self outwardly, accepting only a cup of coffee as a token of "welcome home". _Not_ yucking it up is Wufei, who's only agreed to hang with the crew in order to figure out who Zero really is -- he doesn't trust Zero's chicanery any farther than he could throw the helmeted impressario. His instincts tell him that Zero is using the weak of this nation as pawns to serve his own ambition, though he freely admits he has no proof yet.

Zero walks in as Wufei finishes speaking his peace. He knows there's nothing he can do to assuage his doubts (could this be because they're in part true?), and also knows that there's nothing Wufei can do to advance his suspicions without letting Zero operate, at least for a while. Hiiro asks what Zero plans to do should proof of his malfeasance surface, and Zero asks in turn what Hiiro would do then. Kill him, like as in some Aku-Soku-Zan shit. Zero believes Hiiro, and says that he'll do what he can to not be worthy of such a death sentence. That's do for Wufei at any rate.

Now, the news! Diethart explains that Area Eleven has been in a state of orderly martial law, braced for an attack by the Imperium at any moment. Cornelia has skillfully squashed the various resistance groups under the banner of avoiding Imperium-related panic, and only the Japan Liberation Front have any appreciable strength left. They've disavowed the hotel-jacking incident as the work of a few radicals, and continue their operations under the direction of "Miracle Toujou", the leader of Japan's only successful armed resistance to Britannia to date.

Toujou's forces have been forced to retreat into their distant mountain stronghold, and the proud Cornelia has been forced to summon extra help in preparation for launching a counter-offensive: this is the ultimate proof of just how formidable the JLF is. Toujou's defeat would finally break the will of the resistance throughout Area Eleven, so the obvious course for the Black Knights is to go fend Cornelia off and get Toujou to join the Knights. This will surely entail a major showdown with Britannian forces, including reinforcements from the mainland, which doesn't seem optimal when all mankind faces such a slate of common threats. All the same, Zero is adamant that the Japanese should protect their own land against these menaces going forward, and that if they don't stand up now they may as well resign themselves to eternal Britannian rule. He assures the team that he's got a surefire plan to save the day.

Having said "hi" to everyone else, Lelouch then rejoins his fellow Student Council members. Nina's now infatuated with Euphie and is begging Milly to help her meet the princess so she can say "thank you" for her help during the hotel-jacking. Shoji's been very busy and not spending much time with Louise (though of course he's saving up for something for her), and Suzaku has been away from school a lot due to his mililtary job. Karen is of course out with a "prolonged" illness. Lelouch is nothing if not good at making excuses to avoid, for instance, Shirley's attempt to invite him to a classical music concert. But hey, at least Lelouch is alive and well, right? Rilina assures Louise that Shoji is thinking of her as he works his pizza delivery job, and urges her to have faith. C.C. does the same for Shoji when he delivers today's pizza, having saved up enough points for the third of the special prizes the pizzeria offers.

The big operation happens the following day, with Cornelia's composite force deployed to Toujou's stronghold in the Narita mountains. Graham's specially requested to come along for the ride, intrigued at participating in the end of arguably the last of the "samurai". Said "samurai" are more than willing to die here if they can go out gloriously, and hopefully take a number of the Britannians with them.

 As the battle begins, Bartley is trying to hastily evacuate the staff of his
 secret research facility.  The "Code-R" data must not fall into the
 military's hands!  The evacuation will be tricky, given that the Black
 Knights are on the scene too.  Zero greets Toujou, not as an idolator of
 the "miracle" he performed, but as an admirer of the info-gathering and
 strategizing that everyone else thinks of as a miracle.  Zero wants Toujou
 on his team, and he wants them to defeat Britannia together, but Toujou has
 seemingly already resigned himself to death.  Zero yells at him to snap out
 of it, reminding him why Area Eleven has resisted Britannia's incursion
 so much more successfully than any of the other Areas: it surrendered with
 all its infrastructure essentially intact.  Belief in the "miracle" that
 Toujou pulled off is one of the things that's been keeping the dream alive,
 and the Japanese spirit will remain alive so long as people like Toujou
 don't give up till their very last drop of blood is shed.  This speech gets
 through to Toujou and his men, and the Black Knights now have a few new
 pilots on the payroll.

 They'll need them, since Cornelia's forces are surely lurking in the wings
 in case the first wave of Britannian troops are defeated.  Zero's got a plan
 which involves a separate mission for Karen and her scary KMF, and orders the
 main force to mount a frontal assault that's sure to draw Cornelia's
 attention.

 This works all too well, given the collosal size of Cornelia's main force.
 She's deployed in the best tactical spot possible, and Zero has to commend
 her command of her troops.  With odds like this, it would take a "miracle" to
 come out on top -- and if Christ could pull that off, why not Zero?  Err,
 Zero didn't deliberately put his people at a disadvantage, did he?  In any
 case there are only two choices left: die with him, or _live_ with him!

 I'm betting on "living", thanks to Zero's aforementioned surefire plan.
 He's scouted the geology of the area, and noticed that Cornelia's likely
 troop rallying point is situated right over the main confluence of the
 water tables.  Karen's mech is outfitted with an energy radiator gizmo that
 can be aimed at said water table, turning it to steam and causing an
 instant explosion.  The blast is massive, and what few troops remain rush
 to protect Cornelia from Zero's counterattack.  If she falls here, Japan is
 as good as independent.

 It turns out Zero has another reason for wanting Cornelia to surrender: she's
 one of two people who may know the truth about his mother's death.  Cornelia
 is prepared to take her own life rather than fall into her enemy's hands,
 and before Zero can stop her Suzaku shows up!  Euphie's given him special
 permission to help out, and his Lancelot instantly takes Zero's mech down.
 Suzaku concedes that he owes Zero a debt of gratitude for saving Eleven
 lives and getting them to work together, but adds that Zero's going about
 things the wrong way.  Zero is faced with the prospect of his perfect
 strategies being vanquished in an instant by this do-gooder, but just then
 C.C. appears, walking right up to the Lancelot and laying hands on it.

 Suzaku starts screaming, and C.C. tells Zero that she's shown him a shocking
 image (though she herself has no idea what that image is).  Zero doesn't want
 to just escape with a debt to C.C. hanging over his head, and makes the
 mistake of touching her and getting imaged too.  Punishment, scars, malice,
 hatred, loneliness all wash over him as Suzaku relives his anguish over not
 being able to save his father.

 He goes berserk, and in the process blows a hole in the terrain Zero and
 C.C. are standing on.  They fall underground, and it's Wufei who tells the
 team they should go search for Zero rather than finish Cornelia off (she
 would just be replaced, after all).  As the team bug out, Cornelia herself
 is awestruck, wondering what happened to Suzaku.

Lelouch and C.C. managed to stay together, and C.C. took the brunt of the damage. Her wounds are closing before Lelouch's eyes, and it's pretty clear she's not a normal human. Clovis seemingly was researching her on his own, meaning she's likely not connected to anything at the all-Britannia level, but just who is this woman who conferred on him his Geass? She comes to, and berates him for not getting himself to a safer place in the meantime. He needn't have bothered tending to her wounds, obviously, but Lelouch knows that she still feels pain from all the crying out she was doing while under.

He also heard her speak her real name, which he thinks is far more human than "C.C.". C.C. is about to snap at him for eavesdropping, but surprisingly breaks down in tears at the mention of her name. She tells Lelouch that she's lost all her memories, and is obviously anything but human -- so why should she need a human name? All the dreadful things Lelouch experienced are actually the burden she bears constantly. He solemnly thanks her for saving him and for giving him the Geass: an expression of gratitude he won't tender more than once. She asks him in return to call her by her real name, as tenderly as he can, and wryly criticizes the tenderness coefficient when he does. Lelouch replies that he doesn't know why snow is white, but does know that it's beautiful to him. And as for the escaped Cornelia, he assures C.C. that he and his "miraculous" strategems will bring her to heel soon enough.

Lloyd certainly thanks Euphie for authorizing Suzaku's sortie, despite all the stress it put on Suzaku. The other royals keep overlooking the Lancelot, but this will go a long way to prove its worth.

Lelouch finds another problem awaiting back at school: it turns out that Shirley's father was in the area of the steam explosion, part of the collateral damage that he had written off in advance as insignificant. Why did Zero do it, she wants to know, when he's says he's the ally of the weak? Crying profusely, she begs Lelouch to save her...

CHAPTER 25U. A Distant World

It's pretty odd that characters from the previous game^W^W^Wa parallel Earth have arrived in the Dark Continent. Even odder that they're not alone: "Zeuth" members (and their mecha) are popping up all over the world, and not a moment too soon given their former roles as warriors for the good of all mankind. Lucky that _only_ the good guys have showed up, eh? Ootsuka tells Tanaka to continue scanning the Dark Continent for more visitors, and to meet up with a transport ship he's sent. It contains a very... "eccentric" passenger.

This world is far closer to its major dimensional catastrophe than the Zeuthers' world, and governmentally in far worse shape. Not that the other world was a walk in the park, what with political intrigues and murderous aliens and whatnot. Still, Zeuth set things to rights, and not a moment too soon. In fact, they had their own experience with people from parallel worlds when replacements for Setsuko's teammates turned up -- everyone in Zeuth vowed then and there not to try to compare different versions of the "same" person. A good idea, thinks _*MUSASHI*_, who muses that it would suck to find out that something bad happened onesself elsewhere. This is of course the height of subtlety.

The one major personality shift the Zanbot team has noticed is in Holland. Soemthing about the way Holland keeps his distance, little looks out of the corners of his eyes at the rest of the team, has Ryouma's instincts on edge. That's what Shikishima, the aforementioned eccentric passenger, likes to hear: a mad scientist specializing in cybernetics with a special love of warfare. With him is Saotome's daughter Michiru and Getter's backup pilot Benkei [SUBTLE!!! Exclamation Point.] Shikishima's come to do maintenance on Getter, and passes along orders for Ryouma and friends to phone home.

What follows is a gentle pep talk, seasoned with advice on how to best optimize the fusion of man and machine that is Getter Robo. ...Except that given the personalities involved, it sounds like the preliminaries to World War III. The mission Saotome gave Shikishima is overhauling the Getter Machines' combination system, decreasing link-up time by 0.2 seconds. If Ryouma thinks he can grow as a pilot, he'd better master this new wrinkle before bitching to the good doctor any more. And by the time he's mastered that, Saotome vows to have a whole new robot waiting -- he just hopes it won't take three frigging years to come to that. Hmm, suspiciously specific number, even though the eminent scientist declares that he'll never kick the bucket till he unlocks all the Getter Rays' secrets.

Well, the Getter Team certainly have their work cut out for them. The rest of the pilots, watching the exchange from the sidelines, are pretty amazed at the bombastic (berserk?) scientist. Nobody less could have assembled this group of reprobates as Getter's pilots, and nobody else would enjoy their mutual trust. Ryouma growls that that mushy stuff can wait: his blood is now up and he wants to start mastering the new controls PRONTO. And lo and behold, Crow radios in word of a fight going on nearby! GUDDO TAIMINGU!

So who's fighting? The Xabungle team, of all people, abruptly shifted from chasing Timp to battling Beastmen. Gainer and friends are also on hand, plucked with astounding plot convenience from their regular lives onto the battlefield, suited up and in their mecha no less. But hey, "what has gone before is prologue": it's throwdown time! As Timp himself has gotten dragged to this world too, he and Jiron have to form an alliance of convenience (brokered by Gainer) so that both of them have some chance to make it home alive.

 The Black Siblings show up in short order, and despite some mutually
 unfamiliar terminology between them and the newcomers, they team up quickly
 to hose over the Beastmen.  Things get better when Zexis arrives, despite
 Kamina's friendly rivalry with Kitan.  Kamina's rivalry with Viral is the
 more urgent one, and if Viral is to be believed only one of the two of them
 is leaving here alive.

 The Beastmen don't go down without something of a fight, requiring Gainer
 to stage a heroic display of his Overskill to save Kyou and Kinon.  Viral
 is clearly not going to prevail against the Zexis and Zeuth forces, but it
 so happens that he's got another deeper mission: obtain a sample of the
 humans brought by the Quakes.  When Timp tries to abandon Jiron and strike
 out on his own, Viral handily ensnares him and flies off, vowing bloody death
 to Kamina the next time they fight.

 Unfortunately, the fracas isn't done: Ashura shows up with Mechabeasts, and
 Gishin reinforcements led by Saghoul.  He tells Mars that Zhul has decided
 this planet is worth using after all, which means a whole lot of world
 domination in the Earth's future.  Unless, of course, Ashura's forces get
 pulverized first.  Since Saghoul is busy with some nefarious errand or
 other, Ashura takes on Getter with Vargas V5.  It seems for a moment that
 Getter is at a disadvantage, but Ryouma and the boys quickly restore order.
 Ashura really ought to learn when to quit sometime...

The newcomers are briefed on the whole parallel-world business, and Gainer will have to get used to how this Renton isn't best buds with him like back in his own world. Gainer is still Mr. Popularity, with Sara and Cynthia leading the list of would-be girlfriends. Gain slyly informs Zexis that Gainer has "taken down 200 people", making it sound like he's a scandalous womanizer and gleefully not explaining himself. Of course, everyone decides to join forces in facing off against the Beastmen (and Timp, who almost certainly isn't going to die in their custody). Even the Black Siblings are onboard, looking for some payback for all those generations of being forced to live underground.

Shikishima however isn't going to stick around, having business back at the Saotome lab. Ryouma tells him to tell the old geezer not to underestimate his ass, and Shikishima chuckles that that should get the scientist even more amped up for his research. Looking at these noble reprobates, Shikishima thinks to himself that they might just be man enough to pilot "it"... assuming mankind lasts that long.

Timp is taken before the Spiral Lord, Lowgenone im the flesh. Timp isn't the sort to be intimidated by such an imposing dude (or his retinue of irate lieutenants), and quickly negotiates a trade of information for his life. If Lowgenome intends to eradicate mankind, he'll need that info to face Jiron and the other do-gooders. Chimilf will be Timp's new boss once the questioning is over, and Timp is already salivating over how easy it will be to get this dumb beast doing his bidding. Lowgenome isn't surprised to hear that increasing numbes of DBs are appearing in his lands, and sternly forbids his people from laying a finger on them... for now anyway.

CHAPTER 25S. New Foreigners

Orumi is on the phone with one of the Guardians (Alejandro, in fact) to find out if _he_ knew anything about these new Gundams. Alejandro only knows what Veda allows him to know, and that amounts to two pieces of information: the newcomers are called Team Trinity, and their mecha are the Gundam Thrones. Alejandro can only conjecture that they must be part of the CBs' master plan, given what they're driving, and asks Orumi what the CBs plan to do about the Imperium. Obviously not just let it run loose, but specific details are under development. Alejandro tells her he's counting on the CBs and hangs up, only fuming afterwards that the girl would think to question him. Ribbons smiles and says that no doubts of hers can stop what Alejandro has planned: the Pseudo-Solar Reactor. It will, in Alejandro's imagination, be the engine that fuels his desire to take over the world. He thanks God for meeting Ribbons in the first place, as well as for his becoming a Guardian of the CBS. For a "mere observer", he's got plenty of plans for regulating the political scene, some of which seem to involve his emperor, and the UN Security Council chief...

Back at the Frontier fleet, the pilots are conferring about their new collaborators. Sure the CBs practiced "assisted mutually-assured destruction" before, but doing so now is a) a recipe for weakened nations to get eaten by their fellows, and b) an open invitation for the alien invaders to walk all over humanity. This is why the CBs have been prioritizing alien ass-kicking: it's the sanest way to get circumstances back to the kind of equilibrium where their brand of military intervention is safe. Not so the Trinities, who Crow would love to see help out in the fight with the Imperium. Let's face it: the entire team needs to step up their game, and probably expand their roster, if they want to win in the end. The "Zeuth" visitors from another world might avail there, assuming they really are friendly and that hostile powers don't turn them to their own ends first.

Heck, visitors from other worlds aren't that rare these days, at least if the Quake near the Frontier fleet is any indication. Out of that Quake come several familiar Gundam SEED folks, who immediately come under fire from Oz troops (who, to be fair, had their transport ship blasted by some other Gundams not that long ago). The SEED folks briefly consider fighting back in self- defense before deciding to disarm and avoid unnecessary bloodshed... only to have the Oz folks destroyed by DBs. Time to fight back!

 No sooner does battle begin than Camille and Fa materialize, getting caught
 up in the fighting in no time flat.  Not far behind are Zexis, who quickly
 forge a temporary alliance with the newcomers until they can sort out what's
 really going on.

 No sooner do the DBs get beaten off then a bunch of Vajra appear!  Were
 these newly gated in, or have they been here all along?  No time to find out
 now...

The newcomers decide to trust the Zexis folks, which is of course what the plot would demand anyway. Introductions are made and the sad realization that the Zeuth folks won't be going home any time soon sinks in. It is also not lost on the Zeuth that the Zexis Gundams seem to be thought of as terrorists in at laest some quarters, but it seems better to hang with them and figure out what's really going on than to simply wander around at random. The question on Camille's mind is where the other members of Zeuth are: are Amuro and Quatro going to be summoned to this world too? What about Lacus?

Well, Amuro and Quatro are indeed in this world, and have been invited as "guests" by Treize. He tells them he wants them to help clear up a certain doubt of his by telling him how they -- warriors from another world -- perceive this one. He doubts their coming together is coincidence, and intends to divine the hidden meaning behind it. And from what Amuro and Quatro can sense in his eyes, he might just be capable of doing so...

CHAPTER 25E. Bonds

Elgan has been doing his "Boatman" schtick with the Kyouto resistance group, and his latest report to them is that Toujou has joined Zero's merry little band. Elgan takes no credit for this, attributing it all to Zero's prowess. The Kyouto representative Kirihara is playing a dangerous game, officially representing the Elevens' meager self-governance as part of the Britannian occupation government. His position is no more secure than Elgan's would be if either of them chose to make their little dealings public. In any case, Elgan wants Kirihara's people to support the Black Knights, especially on the theory that Zero is a certain erstwhile Britannian prince with a deadly grudge against the emperor. Elgan as much as admits that his main interest is in keeping Zero alive and well as part of the big-picture defense of the world; what happens to Japan because of Zero's immediate actions is still important, but nowhere near as much.

Kagura comes in after the conversation finishes, terribly interested in what this masked man and his miraculous strategems are aiming at. Kirihara can't tell even her who he believes Zero really is, but odds are good that they'll be meeting soon enough.

Shirley's friends accompany her to her father's funeral, and emotions are running high. The consensus seems to be that Zero and the Black Knights aren't very noble any more, and Suzaku in particular rails against Zero's practice of getting others to do his dirty work -- nothing is ever accomplished, he thinks, unless someone does things themself. As the group leave, Lelouch asks Suzaku to let him stay behind alone a while. Lurking in the shadows is C.C., who rather harshly tells him that it's vastly too late to claim he didn't know this would happen. Every life taken on his watch represents a web of grief for some group of loved ones, makes what he's doing so much more than one of his board games. He's got no right to take his foot off the proverbial accelerator, and he'd damn well not disappoint her by proving himself a spineless intellectual now.

Zero's not the only one grappling with the aftermath of Narita: the pilots helping the Black Knights have grave doubts about how civilians and even soldiers of the resistance lost their lives in Zero's "miracle". Wufei believes that Zero's only objective was recruiting Toujou, and that everyone else was expendable. Trois counters that the incident has clearly restarted the fires of resistance, bringing Japan a step or two closer to liberation. Crow is determined not to be part of anything this mercenary again, and tells a waivering Quatre that it will be the role of the rest of the team to keep Zero from going too far from now on. Crow expects an eventual showdown with the Imperium, and knows that Zero's strategizing will be crucial to winning.

Maybe Zero's "Allies of Justice" thing is just cover for some deeper ambition. But if he can use Zexis, Crow thinks Zexis can "use" him back by making him enact Justice for real. For starters, instead of winning by such roundabout means, how about getting Zero to think them up a casualty-free victory where the enemy get engaged head-on? That's the sort of thing they'll eventually need for the Imperium after all. Crow just hopes that the team can really get Zero to come around and that they won't need... contingency plans.

Kiriko will go along with whatever, claiming to have no care beyond his immediate foes. Inwardly though, he's got a bad Blade Runner-esque narration track running, and right now he's reflecting on how it's never occured to him to wonder why he's doing all this combat. The only glimmer of meaning, the only speck of light, is that woman from the capsule. Now woudln't it be cool if he actually knew who she was?

Or, more relevantly, who she is now? Borou has received a contract from Britannia to get rid of the Black Knights once and for all, and "Phantom Lady" is a key part of the plan. Also known as "Proto One", she's been made into the "perfect soldier"... but not so perfect as to accept an order to go kill Kiriko. Iskui and Borou promise her that all she'll have to do is destroy Kiriko's mech and capture him, convincing her to take the mission, but of course they've got their own plans for after he's in their possession. It turns out that the Perfect Soldier (PS for short) plan was an actual program the Gilgamesh Army was running to create soldiers with abnormally enhanced gunnery skills and physical endurance -- and "Proto One" was the prototype which the Gilgamesh's foes kidnapped to be the nucleus of their own program.

The problem is that Kiriko managed to wake the girl up before her mind was programmed, resulting in a "shadow" that all the psychological manipulation they can must couldn't erase. He is literally always on her mind. The plan therefore is simple: kill the Kiriko off inside of her and complete her training. Besides, Kiriko could be a Gilgamesh spy, and should have died back on that asteroid anyway...

Meanwhile, Viletta Nu has been busily investigating who Zero might be, and has homed in on a potential suspect: Lelouch! She wants proof before going public, and she wants credit so nobody knows her suspicions yet. And to get that proof, she's enlisting (more like demanding) Shirley's help, going so far as to give her a gun to protect herself. She's bound and determined not to go the same disgraceful way that Jeremiah did -- if Lelouch really is Zero, there is no way he'll elude her grasp!

Word has arrived that the military police intend to burn down Shinjuku Ghetto, and Zero has brought the Black Knights out to face them. Karen's confidence has been shaken by the previous operation, and Zero opens a private channel to her to tell her in no uncertain terms what his position is. He acknowledges that some innocent blood has been spilled, and knows only to spill even more of it lest it all be in vain. He offers her the chance to turn back of her own free will, but Karen decides to stick with him. Diethart meanwhile wants to see more of the uninhibited mad genius: chaos is what floats his boat.

As the enemy appear, Zero ponders his options. He knows that the Gundam pilots are keeping their distance after Narita, and while they aren't likely to defeat on the spot, it's worth keeping a lid on. He orders Kiriko to act as his personal guard for the battle, and tells the rest of the team to fight to save civilian lives. Sounds okay by Crow...

 Shortly after battle begins, Kiriko's "stalker" appears.  Zero initially
 reminds Kiriko that he's supposed to focus on guarding him, but Kiriko says
 that this enemy is sure to focus on Kiriko himself: sticking close to Zero
 would only put Zero in danger.  Zero digests this and agrees, and the other
 pilots warn Kiriko that the enemy mech is clearly a breed apart from the
 rest of their opponents...

 Phantom Lady's resistance doesn't last long, and she quickly retreats from
 Kiriko's onslaught.  Kiriko has the strange sensation that she's not trying
 to kill him unlike everyone else around here, and dashes off in pursuit.
 Both of them fall into Shinjuku's substantial underground depths when part
 of the roadway collapses.

 At that moment, Britannian reinforcements appear -- including Suzaku, who's
 being told from on high that this is his chance to prove his loyalty to the
 empire.  Will he be equal to smiting fellow Elevens?  Suzaku tells Lloyd that
 he has no problem going in against Zero and his reprehensible methods, but
 Lloyd has a different question for him: why, if he hates killing so much, is
 he in the army?  Suzaku replies that he's in the army to _stop_ killings
 from happening, and Lloyd warns him that this is a great way to get himself
 killed.

 Suzaku makes a beeline for Zero, and Zero orders his troops to counterattack
 the Lancelot... leaving recovery of Kiriko as a second priority.  Suzaku
 can't battle his way through the entire Zexis force unscathed, but even in
 near defeat he makes a last-ditch effort to take Zero with him.  His final
 act is to knock out Zero's controls, making him crash some distance from
 the fighting, before he has to eject from his Lancelot.  Zexis realies that
 their only chance to rescue him is to take out all the remaining Britannian
 forces and pray that he's okay in the meantime.  At least one observer,
 however, smirks to himself that Zero's nowhere near worthy of C.C. at this
 rate...

Kiriko's made it to Phantom Lady's mech, and safely extracts her unconscious form from the cockpit. She comes to unbound (though unarmed), and asks why Kiriko isn't killing or emprisoning her. He asks in return if she wants to kill him (she doesn't), and further asks her name. "Proto One" isn't a name as such, but it's all anyone's called her for years. Kiriko tells her that he's seen her twice before, once back on Lid and once near Area Eleven. She says that she always pictures him, and for whatever reason can't bring herself to carry out her orders to do him in. She doesn't even remember her own name, much less what was being done to her back on Lid, and their conversation is interrupted by Astrageus pursuers making their way into the area. Kiriko tells her they'll see each other again and runs off. The revelation that this pivotal woman isn't his enemy has given him a newfound desire to live on...

Zero's not having an easy time of it either. His mech has crashed near Shirley as fate would have it, and he's at least partially unconscious. Will Shirley take revenge for her father's death? His helmet comes off to reveal Lelouch just as Viletta shows up. Viletta expected that this high schooler was connected to Zero, but never expected that he _was_ Zero. She figures that delivering this guy to Cornelia will get her elevated from Knight to full-blown _nobility_, and is already turning over in her mind what sort of execution would suit him best.

She turns to Shirley to congratulate her for her help when Shirley finds herself pointing her loaned gun at the ambitious young woman. She actually shoots Viletta, who hadn't expected Shirley to be his girlfriend, and runs off. Viletta desperately tries to get herself to safety so she can report the truth to Cornelia, but her consciousness is fading fast from blood loss...

CHAPTER 26U. Gathering Strength

Gainer finally gets a chance to explain the "200-person" business as relating to video gaming, turning his comrades jealousy to admiration in an instant. Ahh, youth. Crow (still young himself at 22) reveals that he's a fan of good beer when he's not under severe budgetary constraints, and Gain tells him to go make friends with the hot-blooded "Rand". Certainly the food around these parts is up to scratch for the Xabungle folks: tasty as hell, even though they have no idea what it is they're eating. Jiron tells his new friends that the team already know how terrifying the Quakes are, and doesn't expect to get back home any time soon; instead, they plan to get to know this world as best they can.

Word then comes in via some of Kitan's roving allies of unusual Gunmen battling Beastmen up ahead. Sure enough, it's Rolan and Garode and friends, again miraculously suited up and piloting their Gundams despite at least one of them (the Turn-A) being firmly buried in the vicinity of... you guessed it... Vicinity. Even Harry is here, having been teleported away from his post on the Moon(!!) keeping Diana's standin Kiel safe. They quickly realize that they're not in Kansas anymore, and resolve to find someone (maybe the pilots of those face-shaped mech that attacked them?) to help explain where they are.

Unfortunately there are Beastmen lurking nearby (which Tifa senses before they can pounce), who attack without giving the humans a chance to explain themselves. These humans aren't like the frightened sheep they're used to dealing with though: Garode, Harry and the others are quite ready and willing to make their assailants pay, and the Beastmen decide it'll be safer to run and ger their Gunmen.

The human pilots respond in kind, and with the moon out Garode figures his best option is to use his Satellite Cannon to blow the Beastmen away. A good plan, save for one small detail: the Moon Cradle, whose microwave transmission facility powers the Satellite Cannon, is not present in this universe! Oopsie. Guess the bad guys will have to get their ass-handing the old fashioned way.

 Timp and his new friends show up in short order.  Timp is kind(?) enough to
 tell the Gundam pilots that Jiron is wandering around somewhere, hopefully
 dead by this point, and informing them that they've gotta die so he can make
 good with his employers.  Before they can begin their attack though, a bunch
 of Invaders show up.  Viral orders a retreat, but Timp recommends using their
 assault on the humans as a nice sort of pincer move.  Viral hates the fact
 that the DBs don't even seem to notice the Beastmen exist, and pridefully
 refuses to include them in his battle strategy.  This is anathema to Timp,
 but since Viral's the one paying the bills, he has no choice but to pull out
 too.

 As the pilots get ready to defend themselves, Tifa suddenly senses someone,
 slumbering on the Moon.  She tells Garode he can use his Satellite Cannon
 after all, and although it's not the D.O.M.E. in this world, something sure
 as heck powers Garode's _twin_ Satellite Cannons to life.  Even better, the
 Zexis/Zeuth forces show up to help in no time flat.  Introductions,
 predicatbly, will have to wait.

Not that they have to wait long, given the rather token fight the Invaders put up. The pilots new and old compare notes, and Gainer is starting to think there's something special about "Gundams" that they would exist in both worlds. Garode quickly makes friends with this world's Renton, and Tifa even more quickly makes friends with both Renton and Eureka (despite Eureka's... special properties, which Tifa can see plainly through her special powers). By now, all the pilots are agreed on just how unnatural it is for all the Zeuth members to be plucked from their own lives and forcibly put bck in their mecha in this world. Who else that they know might have gotten the treatment? Diana herself, maybe?

Watching all this from the sidelines is Eim. Quite a motley team these Zexis folks are assembling, and all of them with the Stigma. "That man" is probably going to join them too at length, and Eim doesn't plan to just let that happen. Time to go send the Accursed Wanderer back to the Infinity Prison.

CHAPTER 26S. The Way Home, Severed

Introductions proceed with the new Gundam-using Zeuth members, and two things stick out. One: there seems to be surprisingly little variation in "humans", be they from another galaxy (e.g. Astrageus) or even another dimension. Two: an awful lot of people seem to use "Gundams" as their mecha, though the name seems to have negative connotations in this world. Shinn overrides Kira and asks for an explanation of why that is so, and after an uncomfortable pause Lockon says that he can't go into the details of his team's issues. Ozuma adds with some handwaving that a lot of people have the wrong idea about Zexis, which _is_ after all a direct report of the world's government. He gives his word that this bunch isn't up to no good, and with some urging from his fellows Shinn reluctantly lets the matter drop.

Camille and his crew obviously differ in character design^W^Wambiance from the rest of the bunch, and he explains that he's from yet another world from Shinn and friends; it was only thanks to the Quakes that he met them recently. Indeed: it's only been a year since the so-called Multidimensional World came into being. The heroic story of Zeuth is retold, including its not-so-heroic beginnings as a gathering of disparate interests, and the parallels with Zexis are beyond obvious. Zexis's interest is in world peace (among other things...) and as such, odds seem good for a productive collaboration with the Zeuth pilots.

The return to the Frontier fleet proper will not be a leisurely one though: Cathy's just gotten word of a major Defold in its vicinity, which can only mean one thing: the Vajra. Alto growls that these insectoid bastards are his team's job, and tells the newcomers they can watch him work.

The Frontier's regular army are getting their asses demolished by the Vajra, but before Mishima can recommend a full military deployment, a couple new mecha warp into the area. Again. This time it's Sol Gravion and Fei's Gran Trooper, along with her gaggle of assistants. The Gravion folks are pretty disoriented to find themelves amidst a firefight, but quickly get organized and fight back, hoping to get enough breathing room to figure out what's happened to them. And in the meantime, Mishima is scheming on getting the fleet out of danger (and hanging these newcomers out to dry).

 You know the formula by now: Zexis/Zeuth arrive, introductions get
 foreshortened till later, battle goes on.  Also according to the formula, a
 second wave of Vajra shows up once the first wave is defeated.  Luka is
 worried though; though they resemble the previous batch, his readouts
 indicate that they're more manuverable than any you've tangled with before.
 Does that mean that all of Crow's data to date is now obsolete?  If so,
 better start gathering new data on the double!

 Indeed, these new Vajra are both faster and stronger than their predecessors.
 As the team consider the possibility that the Vajra are evolving right before
 their eyes, the R-Daigun shows up.  Its pilot tells the Nova crew her mech's
 name as well as her mission, which is to defeat them.  This objective was
 important enough for the R-Daigun to split up with the Thrones folks, and
 the Nova crew think it only right that they respond in kind.  They'll handle
 the R-Daigun while the rest of the team hack away at the Vajra.

 Whoever is piloting the R-Daigun isn't willing to explain the whole scenario
 to Nova with this many other people around, even in defeat.  That will have
 to come another day.  The Vajra on the other hand seem fairly easy to
 explain: the Calamity Birth seems to have weakened this world's dimensional
 walls enough to all the Vajra to simply Fold in -- there were no nests on
 Earth itself despite a very thorough search by the Frontier fleet's
 scientists.

Jeffrey would love to discuss the details of these investigations in person, but Mishima won't allow the S.M.S. to rejoin the fleet so long as they're hanging with the CBs. _Unofficial_ endorsements from the Security Council chief do not equal official endorsements from the Earth's government, and the Frontier folks do have an image to uphold. Jeffrey tells his people that this is a reasonable stance for a sovereign nation to take, but adds that he isn't about to hang his comrades-in-arms out to dry either. He will continue acting alongside the CBs, and all the pilots are glad to follow suit. In return, the CBs agree to explain to their visitors just what it is they're doing to become so unpopular with some of this world's populace. As the groups part ways, Alto thinks about his dream of flying, sown in the bowles of the Frontier and brought to fruition in the skies of the Earth. He's beginning to understand what flying is really about, and promises the Frontier fleet that he'll be back when the world is at peace.

Mishima relays the revelation about the inter-world-travel-capable Vajra to Grace, who isn't thrilled to say the very least. She asks how Mishima, whose leak of Fold technology to Limonecia brought about this mess, intends to make ammends. The normally supercilious Mishima is shocked that she knows this much, and she smiles back that of course she's got her own sources of information. Not like the Fold Quartz he gave her could have come from too many different places on Earth anyway. She tells him she'll keep his little deal a secret, mainly because revealing how much she knows would raise uncomfortable questions as to her identity, and implies strongly that he'd damn well better do as she says from now on. For now, she wants more Fold Quartz, preferably extracted from all the defeated Vajra and not mined in what remains of Limonecia. What Grace ultimately wants is to sell the stuff to the highest bidder in the new race for alternative energy, and with _that_ money to further secure Cheryl's future as the world's top idol singer.

Grace is overjoyed that the inconvenience of the Vajra comes with a silver lining: her superdimensional walkie-talkie now works! That will let her get back in touch with the folks back at home, and with the Little Queen's development proceeding apace, she'll soon be ready to put her theories into practice. Cheryl walks in at this point, feeling a lot better after the medicine Grace gave her [which is totally not ominous or anything] and ready to kick off her Germany tour upon the morrow. The timing will align with the premiere of Bird-Human, which Ranka will be involved with too. Cheryl thanks her manager effusively, especially since she got Cheryl some info on how Zexis is getting along. Grace sends Cheryl off for a good night's sleep, intending to keep her alive and productive until her real plans are ripe...

Kira listens to the CBs' explanation quietly, finding much in their background similar to his own actions back home. That they've backed away from armed intervention in deference to the mess the world's in speaks well to their character in his eyes, and the other SEED pilots are inclined to agree. Eiji isn't a fan of armed interventions, but insofar as the CBs' ultimate goal is bringing peace to the world, he's all in favor of hanging with them. Zeuth and Zexis really aren't all that different, both fallible but both ultimately doing the whole Ally of Justice thing -- even Crow, whose need for cash stays unmentioned lest the mood get wrecked. The CBs' next move will be to head to Dragons' Hive to rejoin the rest of Zexis to get ready for the impending showdown with the Imperium. Maybe in the process someone can figure out what transcendental power is behind all the Zeuth members forcibly coming to this world, and MAYBE figure out a way to get all of them home.

Big things are brewing back at Dragons' Hive, with the original Dancougar team and Sandman planning something major. Sandman knows something about all the Zeuth teleportations, something to do with their "Stigma" being drawn to the Zexis team's Stigma. He refers to himself as an Accursed Wanderer, and at long last greets the Dragons' Hive commander, "F.S.", face to face.

As on the other path, Eim is watching all this from the shadows, and is determined to stuff the Accursed Wanderer back into the Infinity Prison.

CHAPTER 26E. Geass vs. Geass

Some time after the battle, Ougi is anxiously watching over a new guest of his: none other than Viletta! He encountered her, covered in her own blood, while heading to save Zero -- and when he heard her mumbling about knowing Zero's identity, he spirited her to his house in secret. When she comes to however, she's suffering from such extensive amnesia that her type-A personality has mellowed out. She's grateful to Ougi for his kindness, and isn't very shy about showing it. ...Conspicuous fade to black...

Meanwhile, Lelouch has resurfaced at school and puts in an appearance at the Student Council chambers. Suzaku is there already, happy as ever when he's not being chomped on by the Council's new adopted cat "Arthur". Shirley's been locked in her room ever since the previous battle, and Lelouch advises the other councilmen to leave her be for now. He takes off on an errand, asking that they phone him if Shirley comes out of her own accord.

This leaves the Council to confer over the Black Knights' actions, and Suzaku seems to be the thought leader that all the bloodshed they're causing is utterly unforgivable. He gets a counterargument from an unexpected source though: Rilina asks what other path the oppressed Elevens should take. This confuses Rival insofar as the Elevens "lost" to Britannia and therefore deserve their lot, but Rilina is far from convinced that "winners" and "losers" are what the world needs. Milly acts quickly to get the other Council members busy making afternoon tea to give Rilina a chance to compose herself, and Rilina is left wondering what Hiiro would say about his accompanying the Black Knights. In her conflict, she knows she couldn't face Shirley as things stand now... Nina then comes back for a forgotten handkerchief, telling Rilina that all Elevens terrify her, enemies of Britannia that they are. Rilina hits upon the idea of going to ask Euphemia for input, offering to take Nina along to meet her idol.

Lelouch returns to his room where C.C. is waiting for him. They're working on containing the potential fallout from Zero's identity being discovered, and from Suzaku's reaction Lelouch concludes that the Britannian army hasn't been informed. The question is what happened to the person whose blood was splattered near where C.C. found him -- the shooter and shootee were long gone by then, and analysis of the blood is nearly impossible. What concerns Lelouch is the vague memory of seeing Shirley, and he testily tells C.C. that he's taken steps to deal with the situation. He's Geassed Shirley's roommate to keep her under surveillance, and just then receives word that Shirley is heading for Narita. He means to follow her, but C.C. asks him if he likes, or hates, Shirley. Lelouch is noncommital, and C.C. asks if he's prepared to eliminate Shirley if she does in fact know his identity. This takes Lelouch aback, and C.C. tells him that if there are things he doesn't want to lose, he'd better keep his distance. Looking at her squarely now, he asks if that's the voice of experience speaking. More like a way of life. Lelouch tells her not to follow him to Narita, and she shrugs and agrees.

Shirley is at the memorial park in Narita, fretting over Lelouch being the person responsible for her father's death. Just then a strange dude with cool shades, Mao, shows up. He seems to know everything about both her and Lelouch, and says that they both need to be punished for sharing a romance despite Lelouch's dirty deeds. He mercilessly berates Shirley for shooting Viletta, having the gall to want someone to comfort him, and even trying to attach herself to Lelouch when she knows he's already got another woman. The emotional assault is cut short as Lelouch himself runs up and shouts at Mao to get the fuck away from her. Lelouch rapidly raelizes that this guy must somehow know who he is, reckoning that he can't have any sort of trap set as he couldn't have forecast Lelouch would come here. Mao challenges Lelouch to a little game, and drops little hints that let Lelouch know he can read his thoughts(!)

Lelouch immediately comes up with 14 possibilities of who this could be based on what C.C.'s told him, and in fact one of those possibilities is on the money: a fellow Geass-user! Even worse, Mao knows how Lelouch's Geass works and can therefore easily avoid making eye contact. His Geass turns out to be the ability to read others' thoughts (everyone's Geass is different), and that makes him terrifyingly good at manipulating others. As Lelouch feverishly tries to figure out what to do, Mao tells Shirley to use her gun to kill both Lelouch and then herself as a way of atoning for their sins. He tells Lelouch that he could Geass her, but he'd just kill the two of them instead. Lelouch realizes that Shirley's already shot one other person already (the other mystery person who knows his identity), and Shirley hesitates just long enough to fire that another player arrives. It's C.C., who approaches Mao so stealthily that he doesn't notice at first. When Mao sees her, he's nearly frantic with joy.

He's been looking for her ever since she left him, and C.C. confirms that it was her who gave him his Geass eleven years ago. He's a sad case study in what happens to Geass users: the more they use their power, the more it devours them as it grows in power. Few have the will to remain their own master -- Mao for instance cannot help but hear the thoughts of everyone within a half-kilometer radius, 24 hours a day. C.C. seems to be the only one who can give him a shred of peace, since his Geass cannot read her thoughts.

Lelouch demands to know if C.C. discarded Mao for failing to fulfill his contract with her. She makes no answer, nor will she answer what that contract entailed. Mao tells C.C. to come back to him, saying that he'll give up on his plans to punish the naughty little kittens. She denies having any feelings for him, and when Mao blames C.C.'s unfaithfulness on Lelouch, C.C. draws a gun, saying that she should have shot him in the first place.

Mao manages to shoot C.C. first, and she screams at Lelouch to stay back. Mao thinks C.C.'s failure to fire is proof that she loves him, but she shouts back that she's just been using him all along. Unfortunately she's badly injured, and Mao drags her off for some other punishment to come. Lelouch isn't in much shape to intervene, especially with Shirley still to worry about.

After the two of them leave, Lelouch tells Shirley that it's not her fault she shot someone -- it's his. She shouldn't blame herself for considering killing him, and needn't suffer from her father's death. He can make that possible for her. Shirley realizes what he's about to do, but her frantic words don't stop Lelouch from making good his apology the only way he knows how.

As this is going on, Britannia has sortied its troops and the Zexis forces are out to greet them. Ougi gets word that Zero is rushing to the scene, but the battle will have to start without him. He's preoccupied with Viletta, both concerned for her welfare and for what will happen when she remembers who Zero is -- better she be under his watchful eyes than anywhere else. The Britannian forces this time are studly, proof that Zexis has their attention, and the array against them includes, spontaneously, Kiriko. He tells a surprised Crow that he's finally found a reason to fight and to live on (though he's not going to say what that reason is). Karen vows inwardly to Zero that the team will hold out until he arrives.

 Zero does arrive on Turn 2, and immediately gets a phone call from Mao.
 After sardonically congratulating him on taking care of Shirley, he explains
 how he's decided to punish C.C.  He'll cut off her legs so she can't run
 away again, and her arms so she can never point a gun at him again.  He'll
 put out her eyes that looked at Lelouch, and crush her throat that spoke his
 name.  The punishment will be carried out an hour from now, and Mao
 challenges Zero to try to find him by then... though with his Geass, Zero
 won't be able to approach.  He tells Zero to focus on the battle or he'll
 get killed anyway, and hangs up.

 As his teammates wait in puzzlement, Zero furiously tries to figure out
 where Mao might be.  Not within 500 meters, or he'd have been reading Zero's
 thoughts directly.  Nor in the ghetto, where he'd be deluged by the
 residents' thoughts.  It's got to be somewhere remote yet able to see how
 the battle's going.  And what will he do once he finds out Mao's location?

 Seizing upon a plan, Zero dashes to the dead center of the battlefield,
 which Mao can't enter without getting himself caught in the crossfire.
 He tells his teammates that he's going to hold this suicidal pose for five
 minutes, won't explain why, and orders them to protect him.  This order
 quickly turns into a plea, and his teammates realize that Zero genuinely
 needs their help.  Even Wufei seems to go along with it, though he grouses
 that all he's doing is trying to end the battle faster.  As Suzaku plans to
 attack his hated foe, Zero budgets himself those five minutes to concentrate
 wholly on bringing Mao down and planning his next move.  He'll have to
 count on his teammates to give him that time...

 When Suzaku's Lancelot is defeated, its cockpit door is knocked ajar,
 allowing Zexis to see who's been giving them so much trouble.  To the
 non-surprise of some, it is Suzaku -- son of the man the Japanese accuse of
 selling their nation to Britannia.  Zero though is caught completely by
 surprise.  Toujou offers Suzaku a chance to surrender, not wanting to kill
 someone trained in the same martial school.  Suzaku replies to his old
 friend that he has no intention of surrendering: what this society needs is
 not flat denial, but for someone who understands it to have the power to
 change it.  _That_ is why he fights beneath the Britannian banner, and
 Toujou considers this for a moment.  He then tells Suzaku to follow that
 road as far as he can, and to believe that if he doesn't give his utmost,
 neither his personal life nor his country will change one damn bit!

 Suzaku is prepared to lay down his life to take out Zero and stop the
 fighting in this nation, but an unexpected voice stops him: Lloyd!  He
 tells Suzaku in no uncertain terms that he won't allow the Lancelot to be
 destroyed for Suzaku's selfishness, and with no other alternative Suzaku is
 forced to use what power he's got left to flee.  Zero claims that he's
 okay, but inwardly he's struggling to comprehend how things have so fallen
 out that Suzaku has become his enemy.

As the last of the Britannian units falls silent, Zero has enough perspective to snort at how shaken he's become by all the important people he's losing today. He knows that a great task still remains, and he'll need C.C.'s help if he's to accomplish it. As the other Zexis folks muse about how today's victory was not thanks to Zero so much as to all of them combined, Zero tells Ougi to summon all the Black Knights.

Somewhere in the bowels of Shinjuku's underground, the sounds of ongoing battle can still be heard. Mao takes this to mean that the vaunted Black Knights are having more trouble with the Britannians than their reputation would imply. While he fully intends to cut off C.C.'s limbs, it won't be as punishment as he told Lelouch: it will be out of "gratitude". Speaking of Lelouch, Mao figures the idiot has no idea where he is, and is about to start slicing when his cel phone rings.

It's a frantic Lelouch, who says that he gives up and begs Mao to spare C.C. Mao loves seeing Lelouch in defeat, and recommends he try burning the whole ghetto to the ground if Lelouch wants to locate him. Not that the "Allies of Justice" would do that. Lelouch's confounded expression suddenly turns devious, as he asks Mao if he knows C.C.'s real name... the name that she told him. The thought that C.C. shared something with Lelouch but not Mao sends Mao into an absolute panic, enough to drown out his Geass and let Lelouch approach with a squad of policemen.

Lelouch had in fact figured out precisely where Mao would be: the very same spot everyone avoids as the source of the "poison gas panic". Lelouch takes glee in pointing out that this is where he and C.C. made their contract, and tells the thunderstruck psychopath that the cel phone call he just received was nothing but a recording. And that sensation of interacting with the phone call was just the result of how predictable Mao's thought patterns are. Mao screams in fury that Lelouch hasn't won yet, especially after losing two friends today. That's right: Suzaku _wants_ to kill himself in taking Zero down -- he's completely wrapped up in his whole do-gooder thing.

Among the Very Bad Ideas(tm) in the world is insulting one of Lelouch's friends, especially when he's got a squad of armed men on tap. Lelouch orders them to open fire, and Mao is... somewhat the worse for wear afterwards.

Zero will not explain his odd 5-minute pause to the Zexis folks, and though this strains his credibility a bit, the leveler heads on the team recognize that they share a genuine bond of cameraderie with him, even if they're not his friends. Not friends, yet comrades... perhaps Lelouch gained something after all despite all he's lost today.

C.C. asks him at length why he went so far to save her. He tells her that she's his coconspirator, and will hear nothing of her backing out now. Plus, he owes her one. C.C. marvels at how he actually _asked_ the team for something, to which he claims he merely gave them a chance to see themselves as something other than pawns in his eyes... making it easier to interact with them from now on. C.C. tells him to drop the bullshit: she knows perfectly well that HE knows perfectly well he can't take down Britannia all by himself.

Zero changes the subject to Mao, who was all of six when C.C. contracted with him. He was an orphan who could neither read nor write, knew nothing of right or wrong, and had no experience with a parent's love. The power C.C. gave him forced him even farther away from everyone else, so she became his parent, his lover, and his "everybody else" -- his whole world. Lelouch digests this, and promises her that he will become the master of his power, and with it change the world. He'll grant both his wish and hers, and finish whatever business Mao had left too. C.C. asks if this is his attempt to comfort, or pity, her, and he replies that it's all about the Contract they share. C.C. agrees and reavows that contract, asking Lelouch if he still means to go to Narita.

It's night when he arrives, and runs into Shirley standing near a monument. Seemingly not recognizing him, she asks if he too has lost a family member. Not a family member, but a friend -- and a good one, too. He remarks that it was only after losing this friend that he realized how much her smile meant to him. That he will never quarrel with or laugh together with this person again is a lot to bear. Shirley remarks that he must have loved this person, and Lelouch says that he doesn't know any more. She then notes that morning is coming, that perhaps she came her to put a "period" on her sorrows in preparation for a new beginning. Perhaps so indeed.

She then gets a phonecall from Milly, telling her to be sure to come to school tomorrow for the party they'll be throwing. It seems that Suzaku has been named as Euphemia's personal knight! Lelouch knows that Suzaku means to follow the path he's chosen, and Lelouch is determined to follow his own path -- even if he loses friends, he's got comrades, and even without them, there's still much to accomplish...

Back in the Britannian settlement, Rilina has made good on her offer of taking Nina to meet Euphie. Euphie is on paper the Vice Governor of Area Eleven, but in reality this is a mostly ceremonial role that affords her enough time for the occasional tea with a fan. Getting Suzaku made her knight was rough though, and Euphie knows that Cornelia wasn't at all thrilled by her choice. Her thinking was to foster good relations between the two peoples living in this land, and that's given her another reason to have Rilina over. She has Suzaku usher in Marina, first princess of Azadistan and world- renowned exponent of non-violent means of achieving peace. Rilina, with some daring (or is it desperation), asks the two princesses what "peace" really is...

CHAPTER 27U. Accursed Wanderer

Whose fault is it that all the Zeuth folks got hoisted to this world? The Lord of Destruction, natch. Defeating him will sadly not put everything to rights again: _that_ will require some input from the no-good dude who generated the Quake that summoned him: Eim. Gainer and friends are a bit skeptical of joining onto a military(-ish) detachment until Eim finally comes to harrass Crow again, but Zexis promises to help reunite them with their fellow Zeuth refugees. Even Holland speaks up in favor of helping get them home, though he's so peevish when questioned that Gain and Gainer are reminded of what their Holland was like before he accepted Eureka and Renton being non-platonic friends.

Holland's mood doesn't improve when Garode lets it slip that Renton up and wrote Eureka's name on the MOON back in the other world. This Renton is pretty impressed with his alternate self, and resolvies happily to better himself and hold up this world's end. Holland and crew however are now convinced that the glimpse of another world they got during the Tragedy of Doha. _That_ is the world they believe they need to live in, and since they can't get their under their own steam, they've got to create something like it here -- or die horribly.

Speaking of Eim, the Imperium are currently parked off the East coast of North America, engaged in something of a staring match with Britannia. Do they really mean to take on the world's largest military power head on? Speculation is pointless now, and Elgan has conveniently instructed the far-flung branches of Zexis to regather for some new offensive. The Zeuth folks will get their reunion after all, and maybe they'll even see this "Asakim" guy again. ...WHOA THERE, Asakim?? As in their sort-of-kind-of-enemy that was killed off back in that epic fracas near the other Earth's Orbital Elevator? Yeah him.

Elsewhere in the Dark Continent, yet another series has been teleported in from SRWZ [let's be honest here]: Orguss. Kei is his usual easygoing self, even in the face of arriving in a new dimension -- and Atena is also her usual humorless self. The question now is, where's Orson? The answer turns out to be: "here's Asakim". WTF!!! He needs no introduction to Kei and Atena of course, and when asked if he's the one who teleported them here, he neither confirms nor denies it. To this now Accursed, immortal Wanderer (his description), the two concepts are equal. And by the way, the two of them are about to join the Accursed Wanderer club too.

This might have something to do with Eim, who turns up in pursuit of Asakim. Or more specifically, turns up because Asakim is in pursuit of him. That Eim has "awakened" makes things easier for Asakim, who is eager to claim the life of the "False Black Sheep". So eager in fact that he summons up his familiar mech Shloeger, which Eim counters with a herd of DBs. Asakim scowls, saying that the pitiable dead can't stop him, but Kei intervenes at this point. He asks Eim to give him and Asakim a moment alone before carnage ensues, and Eim is a bit too busy to do that -- or to allow Kei to walk out of here alive. That can only mean a truce with Asakim, who unlike Eim has all the time in the world. The Infinity Prison does that to people, which is why Asakim needs Eim's soul: he means to bust out of the joint.

 The cavalry arrive on turn 2, and the Zeuth stalwarts aren't happy having to
 fight on the same side as Asakim.  But there are larger considerations at
 work, and the largest is taking out the dreaded MD.

 The dreaded MD is in fact not so dreadable, but as Crow goes in for the
 kill a new player interferes: Margret Pistelle, Knight of Insalaum and
 Arksaber Number 7.  She asks Eim to withdraw the MD, which he does with a
 sardonic nod to her supposed prowess as a Guardian of Insalaum.  This
 greatly aggravates Crow, despite a substantial wound from Margret's mech,
 and there's nothing he can do about it now...

 Margret is an interesting sort, a warrior who -- in her mutterings to
 hserself -- has lost all pride and is left with nothing but battle, and this
 world as her battlefield.  As such, Crow's seemingly carefree mercenary
 affect drives her nutso.  It doesn't help that she's outgunned and soon
 forced to retreat.  Eim smoothly decides to do the same, telling Crow that
 he's of no account but that _Asakim_, well, let's just say that an ounce of
 caution is worth a pounding in the genital zone.

Though Eim tells Asakim on the way out that he won't go down as Asakim hopes, Asakim figures he can follow wherever Eim can run. He's about to do so in fact when Crow yells at him to stop and answer his questions. Questions from a man buffeted by fear and regret? Asakim defers any answer until Crow's scales finally tilt and he Awakens, returning instead to hunting the False Black Sheep.

Introductions, blah blah blah, you know the deal by now. As the team prepare to rejoin the rest of Zeuth, Kei relates how Asakim noted they're all part of the Accursed Wanderer brigade now. Crow's deep in thought about why Margret or anyone else would try to protect the MD -- she's clearly human(-ish) even if her mech is clearly from some other world. If she came with the Lord of Destruction, maybe their world is this "Insalaum" place? One way to find out: take on the Imperium. Crow can only hope he'll have a big bonus waiting for all this extra work he's gotten mixed up in...

Elgan is _not_ having Zexis converge on the Imperium's current position; rather, he's marshaling them in Europe so as to keep up appearances in advance of a little diplomatic summit with the Imperium he's going to try. He is adamant in his instructions to Ootsuka that he not even _mention_ the possibility of staying on as part of Zexis to the Zeuth folks; if they want to do so, it must be entirely of their own free will. That, Elgan says, is something no one should deprive another of.

After hanging up, Elgan awaits Asakim's arrival. Seeing that Elgan knows of him, Asakim figures him for one of the Accursed Wanderers too. How much of a "curse" it is depends on one's viewpoint perhaps, but the discussion gets disrupted when he receives word that some Gundams are attacking Britannia's Overflags base.

Eifmann has been studying the CB's Gundams, and thinks he's got their propulsion system figured out: an engine that harnesses Tropogical Defects... whatever those are. That there are so few of these Gundams could be explained by the fact that the only place the engines could have been made is Jupiter, and the colony fleet sent to Jupiter departed a good 120 years ago -- surely building the Gundams and getting them back to Earth would have consumed most of that interval. That would in turn reveal what Iolia Schenberg was up to...

His train of thought is interrupted by the aforementioned Gundam attack, and in particular by Gundams he's not seen before! The base takes a furious pounding from the Trinities, two of whom are still abused of the notion that they're mightier than the regular CBs and Zexis put together. That changes in a hurry when Graham finds out that Eifmann has been blown away. He savages Mihael's mech, but his teammates can't keep up in their Flags. Mihael levels Howard before finally agreeing to withdraw, which the Trinities do using powerful wide-area stealth technology. Graham knows it would be folly to pursue, and is left to howl at the cruel fate the Gundams keep dealing him.

With one of Britannia's most important bases destroyed, Alejandro expects that even Emperor Charles' personal knights will be mobilized to defend the homeland. They have no choice, really, given that the Imperium won't likely ignore the gaping hole in Britannia's defenses that's just been opened. Alejandro says it's time to reduce the entire East Coast, including the much-villified Elgan, to ash. Meanwhile, Alejandro is pinning his hopes on a little something Schneizer's been researching in Cambodia -- something that will neutralize the Imperium as a threat. Plus, there's always the thingie under construction in the orbital ring: thank goodness the Imperium consists solely of a single mobile fortress! Alejandro frankly can't understand why the unwashed masses insist on making such a fuss about the Imperium yahoos, but said masses will surely be under his control once all the dust settles.

CHAPTER 27S. The Hunter in Black

Ragna wants to know why the R-Daigun has been sent away from his main forces, and Urajiel reminds him that her team insisted on autonomy when they offered to help. Right, except that her company (Zolbrain) is now part of _his_ empire and he is effectively her boss. He's also one of the CBs' Observers, and in her view an unsalvageable egoist. If she's pinning her hopes on anything, it's what Dragons' Hive will do next.

That is a very good question, given how Imperium has drawn perilously close to the Britannian capital of Pendragon for UN negotiations. There's no way in hell that the UN will actually afford the Imperium nation status, especially after its declaration of world war. The Zeuth folks ask the Dragons' Hive's main computer, "WILL", if it knows of a way to send them back home, and with only two decades of reserach after the first Quake the sad fact is that it's beyond current technology to pull off. The preliminary research on craeting spacetime shockwaves has been deprecated after early attempts ended in the disaster known to the public as the "Tragedy of Dohar". It, like the "Prometheus Experiment" and "Project D" have had their true nature concealed from the public at large... and as far as WILL knows, none have yet reached a practical stage. The Zeuth folks' best bet is sticking with Zexis and making contact with Crow's nemesis Eim.

They will also get to rendezvous with the other Zeuth folks who other Zexis teams have picked up, and maybe even this "Asakim" guy that's turned up. That Asakim is still alive is pretty amazing given they themselves killed him off in the last game. But he and his solitary brand of self-interest are back, and maybe -- just maybe -- he's got something to do with the Quake that brought them all here. All that has to wait though, as WILL detects a new Quake some hundred klicks away from the base. Maybe it's some more Zeuth friends?

What were the chances. Let's see, who haven't we inexplicably resurrected yet? Ah yes, Aquarion! The crew are pretty much the same as ever, including Apollo's perpetual hunger and Commander Fudou's penchant for materializing out of thin air. His repository of cryptic wise(-ass) statements isn't depleted either, and he slyly informs his team that they'd better get busy acclimating to this strange world they suddenly find themselves in. Maybe it would help to meet an old acquaintance: Asakim! As in the previous path, he explains that the Aquarion folks have just joined the Accursed Wanderer club before getting into a fracas with Eim. Apollo's instincts tell him that Eim and his army of DBs are the biggest bad guys here, though he'll be happy to kill off Asakim too for his past misdeeds. Asakim smirks and says that he'd like nothing more than for Apollo to put him out of his misery... assuming that was actually possible.

 Zexis shows up on turn 2, and the usual "explanations later, combat now!"
 talk happens.  Asakim is hardly mister popularity, but the team has to put
 up with his help for now.

 See 27U for what happens when Margret interferes.  This time, Eim sends in
 the MD to finish off Crow, only to watch Crow's mech regenerate by the
 power of life^Wdeath and rebirth from Aquarion.  This is waaay too
 anti-scientific for Tielia, but there's no denying what the team jsust
 witnessed.

The newcomers' information dump finishes after the battle, and of course they join up with Zexis in the hopes of meeting their other Zeuth fellows and eventually finding a way back home. This will require a reckoning with Eim and the Imperium, and even if Eim no longer cares to pursue Crow, Crow is more than happy to pursue him. Fudou has disappeared during the battle, leaving the team to ponder for themselves what this whole Accursed Wanderer business is all about. They have no clue.

Back at UN HQ, Elgan tells Tanaka to have the SMS and CBs head to Europe, intending to reassemble the full power of Zexis while the parlay with the Imperium goes on. He specifically does _not_ want to provoke the Imperium by having Zexis nearby, at least, not yet. See the other path for his chat with Asakim and the raid that claims Eifmann's life.

CHAPTER 27E. Isle of the Gods

Cornelia and Euphemia are having a bit of a difference of opinion about Euphie appointing Suzaku as her knight. Cornelia doesn't officially approve of the Eleven filling the slot, though perhaps that's more her upholding the Empire's officially-sanctioned racism than her private views. Euphie resolves to have that policy of racism altered, and there's only one way to do that: become Emperor herself! ...But all that will have to wait; for now, Euphie will have to head to Shikinejima while Cornelia leads her forces to put down a rebellion in Kyuushuu. There's a certain person she's to meet there...

By this point it should be clear that Niina is a "connoisseur" (okay, actually onna-otaku to the N'th degree) of princess types, and she's got a new person to admire: Rilina! Rilina for her part is more than a little embarassed over her chat with the royals, but also enlightened in the fact that "peace" can legitimately mean many things to many people according to their circumstances. She's now resolved to determine for herself what "peace" means, hoping that her answer and and Hiiro's will align someday.

Shirley and Lelouch turn up independently, and Lelouch's Geass has worked to perfection: as far as she knows, she's never met him before. Lelouch checks whether Suzaku is around (he's not, probably busy knighting about) and quietly enlists Milly's aid in keeping up the ruse that he and Shirley shouldn't know each other (he claims they've had a big fight, which is sort of true).

Elsewhere, the Zexis troops muse over the Imperium's worldwide trail of chaos. Its meandering course follows no discernible logic, but everywhere it goes, warfare and rioting follow... and let's not forget the miserable dying for those forced to make a last stand instead of evacuating in advance. Nobody can withstand the unending stream of DBs, much less the scavenging militaries from the neighboring countries. The end result is a redrawing of the world's map, and dark rumors suggest that the Imperium's mayhem may be averted... for a price.

If even the Three Great Nations are hesitant to take the Imperium head-on, it seems like even reuniting Zexis might not be enough. Unless, that is, it can get even stronger -- which, from what Crow's heard, is exactly what's happening. The silver lining, if you can call it that, to the Destroyer's coming is that the dimensional walls have been permanently destabilized, letting a bunch of folks called the "Zeuth" in from a parallel Earth. The plan is for the Zeuth to gather in one place and decide for themselves whether to aid Zexis or to adopt some other course -- and of course Elgan thinks he can persuade them to help out the war effort.

The better question is, what about the Black Knights? Zero insists that liberating Japan comes first (neglecting to mention that this ultimately means overthrowing Britannia itself), promising to go and fight any number of evildoers once Japan is free. C.C. watches all this with a jaundiced eye, wondering if Lelouch is doing this for the Machiavellian thrill or if he simply doesn't want to be parted from Nanaly soon. The matter for now is what to next, and Diethart recommends assassinating Suzaku, Euphie's new rockstar Knight. Zero views Suzaku's nomination as a genuine goodwill gesture of peace toward the Elevens, rather than a PR stunt, and both Katou and Ougi view assassination as counter to the goal of appealing to the common people's sense of justice. Zero asks Diethart again why he's chosen to hang with the Black Knights, and Diethart give him some line about how thrilling it is to be in the presence of the one man obviously capable of altering the course of history. Zero, however, doubts how much "journalistic detachment" Diethart can have if he's advocating direct action.

Setting aside the question of whether _any_ story can be told without something of the teller sneaking in, Zero advocates a different plan: approach Suzaku once again and try to get him to help the Black Knights. Zero means to apprehend him in lightly-guarded Shikine, where Suzaku will be accompanying Euphemia to see a noble for the homeland. And though that sounds like a tall order, Zero's already got a plan. Enter Lakshata, the genius scientist who in a former life was a leading light in the fields of cybernetics and mecha design. She's now the mother hen for the Gekka and Guren, and tells Karen to keep up the kick-ass piloting so she can gather more data. She figures it's high time to bring the Lancelot to heel, having a bit of "history" with its designer. As Zero begins explaining the operation particulars, Crow finds himself fretting over the Black Knights' refusal to join the rest of Zexis. One can only hope these Zeuth folk can make up for the absence...

Katou's assignment is to pick a fight with the Britannian forces, drawing them toward Zero's trap. C.C. has chosen to tag along, interested in watching what's about to unfold, and reminds Zero that he's got a surefire way to ensure Suzaku joins him: his Geass. Zero refuses to Geass his friend, admitting that it's a mixture of pride, friendship, and stubbornness. Note that this will likely get at least one of them killed, but this isn't the time to ponder that.

Suzaku appears on cue, and obligingly charges toward Zero's mech... and right into the firing arc of the "Gefion Disturber", which can halt any Yggrasil Drive by interfering with the magnetism of its Sakuradite fuel. Zero tells the stricken pilot that he wants to talk to him, and promises to follow international law if Suzaku comes peacefully. If not, Zero's forces will be forced to fire. Suzaku considers this and dismounts, the Guren's guns trained on him in case he gets any funny ideas. Zero dismounts too and gets right to the point: he wants Suzaku to join forces with him. Suzaku still doesn't think Zero's ends justify his means, so Zero asks if Japan's current peace is any more meaningful. Suppose Japan had opted to fight to the last seven years ago -- the AEU and HPL would have joined in and would still likely be battling Britannia throughout Japan to this day. Suzaku claims to be fighting for the Britannians so that the peace his father bought can endure, but Zero insists that that's just a false peace.

His speech is interrupted by notice that Britannia has launched missiles at the site, meaning to take both him and Suzaku out in one fell swoop. Suzaku's been ordered to capture Zero, which he does with complete disregard for his own life. Zero demands to know why Suzaku is prepared to die on behalf of the same people who've treated him like shit his whole life, and Suzaku says that being a soldier means knowing how to follow orders. Zero screams at him that following is the EASY way out, and demands that he make an accounting for his own desires. Suzaku says that he's made it one of his rules to stick to the soldier thing, and is totally unwilling to break that rule even when Euphemia herself shows up and tells him he must not die.

This must be what Mao referred to as Suzaku's death-wish, and with no other option Zero Geasses Suzaku with the command to "Live!". The next moment the missiles strike, causing a dimensional rift that seemingly teleports Zero and Euphemia to a nearby island (Kaminejima, Island of the Roots of the Gods). When Zero regains consciousness, Euphie is nearby, having figured out his identity. She promises not to tell anyone, and after a moment Lelouch removes his helmet.

Back on Shikinejima, Schneizer gets word that both Euphemia and her knight are missing. He and Lloyd figure from the lack of debris that they must have teleported somewhere, and the conjecture is that Zero too must be still alive somewhere. Schneizer is the one who authorized the missile strike, and he knows Cecil (and presumably Lloyd too) can't be happy about it. He and Bartley have been conferring qutie extensively about many things (Clovis among them), and he explains that the missile strike was _supposed_ to give Suzaku an opening to escape. But not only did Suzaku decline to do so, Euphie went and got herself caught in the blast too -- extremely lamentable in any case. The good news is that Suzaku and Euphie are probably alive and waiting to be rescued, which is just what Lloyd has in mind.

Back on Kaminejima, Suzaku has run into Karen and taken her prisoner... for the time being, anyway. Both their mecha are broken, and Karen is in what could charitably be called a bad mood. Suzaku figures out that she doesn't really know who Zero is, and asks why she follows the guy. She won't say, answering instead that so long as he insists on seeking Zero's life, she'll seek his life first. Suzaku says there's there's no future in Zero's methods, and she snaps back that there's not much of a future in Suzaku's either, unless one likes being an Imperial lapdog eating scraps and sniffing shit every day. Not what one might have expected of the son of the Last Samurai, to say the laest. But Karen means to change this fucked up world, or else... or else her brother can never rest in peace. Best believe she'll do whatever that takes. Suzaku digests this a moment, then tells her to come with him to somewhere a bit more exposed in the hopes that they'll be easier for search parties to spot.

Meanwhile, Lelouch asks Euphie when she figured out he was Zero. She had her suspicions ever since the hotel-jacking, but only got confirmation just now. Lelouch has to smile ruefully at his imperfect disguise, and asks why she didn't tell Cornelia her suspicions. Euphie replies that Cornelia doesn't listen to her very often, and that she doesn't want to make things any sadder than they already are. Lelouch tells her that Nanaly is still living with him, and still stricken from their ordeal, and asks if Euphie knows anything about his mother's death. She apologizes for not knowing anything, saying that Cornelia _has_ been doing extensive checking into the matter -- Marianne was Cornelia's idol. She then asks him which is the real "him": Zero, or...? He smiles and says that he's Lelouch, the kid who grew up playing alongside her. The problem is that he'll have to go back to being Zero when he returns to Area Eleven, which means fighting against Britannia. But what if, she asks, Britannia were to change? As she told Lelouch's friend the other day, Area Eleven is anything but peaceful, and she blames widespread discrimination as the root cause. With mankind as a whole threatened from within and from without, it's quite clear that real peace isn't to be found in forceful supression of the people's liberty. She is quite certain that Japan and Britannia can actually interact on good terms, just as she and Lelouch are doing now that they've set their weaponry aside. This catches Lelouch genuinely off guard, giving him something to think about as he and Euphie hike into the jungle in search of food.

Unfortunately, Lelouch's wilderness survival skills are rubbish compared to his chess acumen, and no food presents itself. He wishes Suzaku were on hand: the twerp is one heck of a woodsman for being the son of a president. Suzaku was the only friend he had left when he came to Japan, but thanks to the war he's now Zero's bitter enemy. And speaking of which, the two pairs run into each other as if on cue. Zero gets Euphie to play along as he engineers a "prisoner trade" to get Karen back, in the process berating Suzaku for sticking to his terrorist-hunting rules when he has the chance to save his lord. As the two side switch back to normal, the light of another dimensional shockwave engulfs them...

It turns out that there's more going on on Kaminejima than meets the eye. Clovis had been in the process of excavating a certain set of underground ruins, among which is something Lloyd refers to as a "Logic Elevator". Lloyd smirks that this gadget is waaaay outside his area of expertise, and Schneizer tells him not to diss the relic too hard: the Emperor seems to have made these things -- dotted all over the globe and all but this one treated as sacrosanct -- a sort of hobby. Bartley goes so far as to conjecture that Britannia's invasion campaigns have all been geared to capture said locations. Schneizer means to use the Gawain's unproven Druid System to help in analyzing this occult contraption, which is why he's asked for Lloyd's help.

"Occult" is a good term, and when there's one spooky thingie there's probably more -- more in this case being Asakim. He shows up out of nowhere and directs the Britishists to keep their filthy paws off the Elevator, a key to defeating the only power in the world that can keep him down. Schneizer asks if he knows that the Elevator is and what it's used for (like duh!), but before Asakim can elaborate, Eim shows up too to taunt Asakim for not being able to touch said power, and as on the other two paths the two rapidly decide to throw down, neatly ignoring Lloyd and co. in the process.

Before fighting begins however, Zero and friends are teleported into the midst of it all. Asakim recognizes the bearer of the "Power of the King" straight away, introducing himself to Zero as the Accursed Wanderer -- much like the one who gave him his power(!!!!!!!!) And !!111! even! Zero seizes the initiative and steals the closest KMF in sight, enabling Karen to go retrieve her Guren. As he runs off, Zero promises Schneizer that he'll settle their score soon enough, Right, back to the part where Asakim tries to steal Eim's soul.

You know the deal by now: zillions of DBs, showdown between Eim and Asakim, etc. This time Zero's on the scene, having discovered by blind luck that the KMF he stole a) can fly and b) has basically the perfect strategic weaponry for him. The problem is learning to use it... C.C. just happens to be on hand, telling Zero she was "summoned". How, and by whom, he demands. She somewhat peevishly tells him that this is why she hates smart guys -- they always ask questions instead of just accepting what their senses tell them. Zero pointedly ignores this and orders her aboard, since in a further stroke of luck this mech is designed for two pilots. He handles the weaponry while she drives, making her feel ever more like his co-conspirator [translation: HOT LOVINGS FTW! or whatnot]. Asakim for his part tells C.C. that it's an honor to meet another of the criminals roaming around the Infinity Prison, which she doesn't respond to.

Karen and Suzaku appear on the battlefield then, and Suzaku's first thought is apprehending Zero. Umm, did you not notice the hordes of critters threatening to trash the cave where Euphemia is? Zero tells him it's time for a truce while they help Asakim take the DBs out.

 Again, Margret shows up and is left to tussle with the team while Eim goes
 off and does whatever it is he does.

This time as Zero gets the Zexis forces out of the area before Britannian reinforcements arrive, he gives Suzaku a message for Euphemia: Zero will believe in her. What does that mean?! And why is it that Suzaku is getting thrown into the slammer for violating military law?

Back at base, Zero announces that the latest battle has caused him to reevaluate the danger posed by the Imperium. Insofar as Japan is part of the world, it's clear that anything which threatens world peace in general threatens Japan in particular. The Black Knights will therefore seize this chance to act as Japan's representatives in the eyes of the world in facing this common threat. That's music to the pilots' ears, though Zero will not publically admit to anything more than cold, rational reazons for doing the morally right thing. He tells C.C. that she's to accompany him, choosing to believe that Nanaly will be safe as long as Euphie is around. C.C. is a bit surprised that Lelouch would believe Euphie's pledge to change Britannia, thinking that Euphie seems to be one of his weak spots. He shrugs this off and says that Nanaly needs a peaceful _world_ to live in -- he'll give Euphie some time to try to make it happen without his having to destroy Britannia first. Crow meanwhile is fretting over Margret, Eim and all the related mystery stuff.

It turns out that Suzaku has been imprisoned for essentially failing to follow orders that would have led to his death by the missile blast. This is all thanks to Zero's Geass, but none of the people reviewing the evidence from Suzaku's voice recorders know that of course. It will fall to Euphie to determine Suzaku's punishment, keeping in mind some info that Schneizer just happened to come by: the Black Knights have shipped out to rejoin Zexis. That gives her an idea...

Cue the meeting between Elgan and Asakim, and the assault on Overflags Base that claims Eifmann's life.

[I kept Chapter 27S.]

CHAPTER 28. Wandering Zeuth

Action starts with, what else, the big long-winded reunion of the Zeuth members! ...Read the above parallel paths if you want to know what they've all been up to since arriving from SRWZ1. Notable point #1: someone on the Moon is willing and able to power the Double-X's Satellite Cannon. Notable point #2: this is not the Renton/Eureka/etc. that the crew know from back home. Notable point #3: Zero has unexpectedly chipped in the Black Knights' support, on the theory that liberating Area Eleven can't happen while the world as a whole is in danger. Notable point #3A: Zero keeps stoutly denying that he and C.C. are lovers -- perhaps a bit too stoutly if you catch my drift. Then again, C.C.'s dry sense of humor seems optimized for tormenting her masked co-conspirator [Some say that he doesn't believe in the Kunrei-shiki Romanization system, and that he's wanted in Tokyo for stealing a Magician's outfit. All we know is, he's the Stig's long-lost third cousin!] C.C. deadpans to the inquisitive little kids that a "lover" is someone who cries over her partner's inadequacies, which pretty much says it all...

(Notable point #3B: Karen can't go back to Ashford Academny now that Suzaku knows her real identity. The silver lining is that this frees her to concentrate on making the Black Knights' -- making Zero's -- dreams come true.)

After some thought, the Zeuth folks have decided to travel separately from Zexis, believing they've got enough moxie to protect themselves long enough to build an independent impression of what's really going on in the world. They also hope to find any other members that might be floating around, and maybe ask a few questions of Asakim and Eim if they can be found. Jeffrey promises to keep the bureaucratic heat off them as long as he can, and as the pilots head to their mecha Aslan confides to Kira that he's afraid to be the cause of any new fighting.

A problem immediately arises: the Zeuth folks haven't the damnest idea what to do next. Should they blend in, maybe get jobs? How are they going to search for their friends? How will the avoid being used as tools in a new war? None of the usual leaderly folks are on hand with suggestions, but an offer does come from the most unlikely of sources: Patrick of the AEU! He wants them to join his country's military, promising a much better deal than they're getting with the UN. Of course, he has his people open fire when the Zeuth hesitate the slightest moment, saying that his superiors are desperate for any help they can get against the Imperium. He doesn't get to finish his threats though -- Ashura is on hand with a similar "offer" of incorporating the Zeuth into Dr. Hell's forces. Think they'll accept?

 Kill off a few bad guys and the mysterious "Final Dancougar" shows up and,
 equally mysteriously, offers to help.  Offsetting this is a batch of DBs that
 show up in short order.  Aslan's been fretting all this time about how to
 protect his friends and is about to rush in headlong when Kira stops him.
 Aslan needs to remember that Kira will always be by his side!! and stuff.
 Togetherness is a wonderful thing, especially where there's more than just
 one friend involved.

 Case in point: Zexis has actually sent help to its' would-be allies.  Can
 we agree that everyone will be traveling together from now on?  Apparently
 so, which is Final Dancougar's cue to split for now.  It'll be back though,
 as Ryo and its other crew are designated Accursed Wanderers now too.

Ashura is smart enough to flee before losing his/her latest mech, leaving Zeuth to ponder the power of teamwork. There was never really any other choice besdies siding with Zexis, even if doing so may enlarge the conflicts already swirling around the world. What are Zeuth after all if not a fighting force -- shouldn't they use that power to further world peace and eventually getting home? Of course they should. And when they do, Zexis will have enough power to take the Imperium head-on! Speaking of the Imperium, one has to wonder why they bothered responding to the UN's call for peace talks at all...

CHAPTER 29. The Signal to Counterattack

The talks are off to what could best be described as an incredibly rocky start. Question #1: does the Imperium even deserve to be afforded the dignity befitting a sovereign nation? The trail of violence and lame excuses about exercising "personal freedom" don't seem very encouraging. With things going nowhere fast, Sionny announces that she's going to burn around 10% of North America to ashes, and one might wonder why she's taking out on Britannia her personal fury with Elgan the U.N. representative. Sionny tells him to his face that as he speaks for the U.N., any one of the U.N.'s member nations is equally susceptible to his punishment. Elgan snorts that this shows just what level of mental (and legal) deficit the inhabitants of the Imperium are operating at, and Sionny shouts that if he wants to stop the order to attack, Elgan needs to beg on his hands and knees _now_!. She seems unprepared for him to actually do so, but before she can dream up some new feverish humiliation Gaiou bursts in.

He tells Sionny to sit down and shut up, pissed off that she's delaying prospects for a good fight. He tells Elgan the straight dope: he's come to this world to fight, and that's what he wants to do. Elgan can send whatever kind of killers he pleases -- they'll all get wasted on the spot. That sounds like a declaration of war to Elgan, and he pulls out a gun on the spot in a bid to blow Gaiou away. Annoyingly, Gaiou manages to catch the bullet with his teeth, a fine example of how he managed to barge into high-security talks uninvited. Rather than kill Elgan on the spot, Gaiou tells him to send in his troops so Gaiou can kill _them_... a far more meaningful battle in his view. Gaiou then walks off, leaving the humiliated Sionny to verbally spar with Elgan a bit longer. She vows to smash Elgan's dreams of world peace into little bitty bits, starting with Cinq Kingdom. That pathetic little country once advocated Absolute Pacifism, which was about as useful as a hole in the head with the way the world currently is. It's part of AEU, and will shortly be obliterated unless Elgan's crew can stop it. Gentlemen, place your bets...

The AEU's brave response to the threats is to evacuate the capital city of Cinq. Doubtless this doesn't sit well with the "Lightning Baron", scion of the former ruling Peacecraft family, but Trieze tells Schneizer that that name is still too heavy for Zechs to bear. Treize hopes that Schneizer will send some serious firepower to help out in the war effort, and after he hangs up we learn that he's got some of his own: Amuro and Quatro are at Zechs' side still.

Treize explains why the AEU are voluntarily giving up a little of their land: though they could stand up to the Imperium in a fair fight, it would leave them weakened and easy prey for the other two Great Nations. Treize can't fault the logic that reaches this dead end, but tells his guests that there is hope: Zexis. He offers them a chance to rejoin their Zeuth comrades there, but they say they'd rather stick with him a bit longer and learn more about this world. Treize thanks them, and says that he won't waste the educational value of Zexis _or_ the Imperium...

As the Imperium nears Sank Kingdom, Gaiou orders Sionna to get the place and the opponents lined up and to leave the goddamn fighting to him. She furiously passes on the love to Carlos, ordering him to stay in the rear and look sfter the supply lines. He smirks and replies that she shouldn't take it out on him that Eim isn't showing favor [in the Biblical sense, perhaps] any more. It's really a wonder that she hasn't lost her mind entirely by now.

Meanwhile Eim has a little pep talk for the troops about the value of destroying the world in order to fix it. Among the troops is Beck, who isn't down with de/re-construction but is very much down with not getting killed by refusing. Oh surely not, counters Eim -- he was going to simply let them leave, with the knowledge that they'd have no further chance of returning to their home world. Beck hates the inequality of this deal, but knows he will get no better elsewhere. His new teammate, Roger Smith, doesn't seem so sure...

The capital city is deserted as hell, which leads Carlos to wonder if their declaration of war actually back-fired. Gaiou knows better however: the table is set for Zeuth's arrival. Gaiou responds to Zeuth's bravery with a whole slew of DBs, and Sionny demands to know if Elgan's running dogs really intend to confront the Imperium, already knowing what it's capable of. The Zeuth pilots listen grimly, taking little joy in seeing the formerly hysterical bitch metamorphose into a MONUMENTALLY IMPERIOUS hysterical bitch now that she's gained a little political clout. Jeffrey calls the question absurd to her face -- did she what, think the team was here for a spot of backpacking? If Gaiou wants a fight, it's a fight he's gonna get. Zero is privately worried that the team still isn't strong enough to win, but as he tells C.C. retreat would be an even worse option as it would embolden their megalomaniacal foes even further. Crow doesn't know what Eim is up to, but hunting the DBs has been his job all along, as is settling his old scores. The plan is this: take down the DBs first, so the team can then concentrate on the mobile fortress.

 When the Zexis forces don't die immediately, Gaiou gets bored and sends out
 his knights: Shubal Reptail and the previously met Margret Pistail.
 Margret's been given orders she clearly doesn't like, and Shubal figures
 hes' far better suited to the task than that coward.  This is bad news for
 Crow, who the plot does not even give a chance to dodge or block.  Shubal
 doesn't even get to finish gloating, or Eim to egg him on, before Roger
 bursts forth in the Big O... and Beck of all people!  Roger has Eim pegged
 as one of those rare liars for whom falsehoods are like life's breath: a
 fiend in human guise.  The last thing the skilled Negotiator will stand for
 is being made a pawn in someone else's deranged schemes, and he's good
 enough at pissing Eim off that it affords time for Crow to be rescued and
 rushed to sickbay.  At that point, Roger (and the reluctant Beck) help out
 in the quest to take revenge for Crow's rather sorry exit.

 Crow or no, it's a seriously tall order taking on all these miscreants.
 Fortunately more help is on the way: Zechs... and Suzaku!  Both of them are
 of course representatives of powers hostile to current Zexis members, but
 there's little time to think and little reason to deny them the right to
 help fend of mankind's common enemies.

 After a colossal amount of throwdown, all Gaiou's pawns are demolished or
 sent packing.  Fascinating to Gaiou is the thought of a batallion capable
 of actually lasting this long.  He decides to withdraw for today, in the
 interest of building up Zexis' hopes -- the better to dash them to
 smithereens when he stages a sneak attack later!  Eim can't resist getting
 in one shot at the people who disgraced him so, and succeeds in blowing
 Beck's mech to bits.  Beck and his goons, perhaps lamentably, managed to
 eject in time and, according to Roger, should fit in great in this world.

This wasn't the most definitive of victories ever, but in Zero's view it's still a major step forward for the world: it's the first time anyone'e stood up to the Imperium and didn't get FedEx'ed home in pieces. Zechs prepares to return home, vowing that if he ever stands in this his homeland again, he'll refer to himself by his proper name once more.

No sooner has the Imperium headed for the hills than Gaiou goes on a little field trip of his own. His remaining subordinates don't have much to chat about, since Shubal shouts Gaiou's praises at the top of his lungs if given half the chance. Oh, thank the master for giving him, poor wretched dog that he is, a new purpose in life!! He does find a bit of time to berate Margret for not following Eim's personally-motivated order: Eim is none other than Gaiou's mouthpiece, and his words are the words of their king. Or some such bullshit. As Sionny cowers in fear at all the yelling, Eim assigns Margret the dishonorable task of going to make sure the worthless Crow is dead. Just to keep things interesting, he adds "him" (meaning Asakim) to her list of targets. He plays coy with Carlos about why he, not an Isalaumian, gets to order the real Insalaumians around, and what the whole deal with the VX is. Privately, Eim is resolved that Asakim will never gets his hands on Roger and all the other Singularities currently on the chessboard. It's all about the source of his life: the Sphere! [WELL WELL WELL, now the truth starts to come out...]

Suzaku owes Zero an explanation as to what he's doing joining Zexis, and since Suzaku isn't the most articulate of folks Lloyd (along for the ride with Cecil to keep an eye on things) explains in his stead. Lloyd smirks as he explains that the posting of the team is their punishment, for Suzaku _not_ dying with Zero in a blast of missile-fire back on Shikinejima. The Britannian military see this posting as something even more ignominious than capital punishment, but it's worth noting who suggested it: Euphemia herself. Zero knows Euphie well enough to know that this was an act of pure goodwill on her part, and tells Suzaku that here in Zexis, he's just another member of the team. He has no intention of turning Suzaku away, and neither he nor Karen will lift a finger against him as long as Suzaku follows the rules and respects their privacy.

Cool, a new team member! Lloyd gleefully says he wishes Suzaku would disobey orders more often so he could get away from Britannia like this, and asks Karen for a closer look at her mech. He recognizes Lakshata's handiwork, telling Karen that she and he have a long, and somewhat rough, history together. Zero meanwhile tells Suzaku to broaden his horizons with the rest of Zexis, and asys that the offer will always be open for him to join the Black Knights. Privately he's sorry for the trouble his Geass has caused his former best friend -- the one person he most wanted to avoid using his power on.

Is it a good thing to fend off the Imperium when they weren't even trying 50% of the way? Yes, if only for the fact that it's hardened the team's resolve to improve themselves and eventually get rid of the Imperium. And since Gaiou and his cronies aren't to be swayed by logical appeals to knock it the fuck off, that means bringing the fight to them in a big way. The Zeuth are known to be pretty good at that, even given that some of their mecha can't be fully repaired with this world's spare parts.

Roger reminds everyone that the Zeuth members are all Stigmatized and should be considered Singularities. This is in his view why they were preferentially caught up in the Quakes that brought them here. That's what they get for being present at all the major dimensional upheavals back home: they're now probably going to be forcibly sucked around from dimension to dimension as long as they live, and as long as jackasses insist on messing with the spacetime continuum here or there. Accursed indeed, but great for the frequent flyer miles!

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