A group of soldiers unleashed a hail of fire upon a single target - a petite, if inappropriately dressed Japanese girl - and not a single one of them hit its mark. The girl, “Sakura”, simply danced around them, blew some kisses in their general direction, and then knocked them all out by performing a gravity-defying helicopter kick while walking on her hands at about the same speed Lelouch could comfortably jog.
At which point, she appeared to become aware of the camera and - while standing in the middle of the trained soldiers she’d effortlessly knocked out - performed a cutesy mocking pose for a moment before clasping her hands behind her back and skipping off down the street to cause a whole lot more mayhem.
The video rewound and replayed the last ten seconds. Cutesy pose, skipping away. Again. Rewind, replay. Rewind, replay. Rewind, replay.
“Hmm? What’s this all of a sudden? Why, Lelouch! It’s so inappropriate to view such content in the presence of a lady!”
“Then be sure to let me know if you see one, witch. And what do you mean by inappropriate? This is not pornographic. It is surveillance footage a contact sent to the Black Knights regarding today’s mysterious event. A most intriguing young woman, don’t you think?”
“Well, I didn’t realise she was your type at all,” C.C. said. “She seemed a little too flighty to be of any interest to someone like you.”
“I’m not interested in her mind, I’m more interested in her physical abilities.”
“That is the implication I was aiming for; you don’t need to be quite so blunt about it.”
Lelouch chuckled under his breath. Oh, but the witch always did have to play these little games, didn’t she? Well, it was fun playing along, but time to bring an end to this particular match. “I was more meaning this.” Lelouch rewound the footage to the appropriate point, showing how the girl effortlessly dodged and weaved through a wall of bullets in just another example of how she defied the laws of reality, never mind probability. “Remarkable, isn’t it? For all her flighty nature, this Sakura exhibits an amazing strength and speed. She effortlessly eluded rising Britannian efforts to capture her, humiliated them over the course of a day, and then slipped quietly into the shadows without anyone seeming to have the faintest clue where she is. Someone like that could be a useful ally.
Or a dangerous opponent.”
Which was why he was reviewing this footage in the first place. Naturally. How else could he discover the truth about this mystery girl? There was such precious little data to work on. No obvious motivation behind the attack, no sign of where she came from or where she went… Or at least, that’s what the officials appeared to believe. Whatever the case may be, Lelouch was going to discover -
<hr>
What on Earth happened today? The question was likely to plague Nina all day. It was almost as though she’d completely blacked out at some point, and trying to concentrate on what little she did remember gave her such a crushing headache.
Alright. Deep breaths. Think back for a moment, Nina. You’re supposed to be a Britannian, right? Something like this shouldn’t get you down so easily. You are strong enough, smart enough to work this out. Just relax and breathe…
The calculations had been completed last night. Yes. That’s right. The final simulations had been run. Which had meant that she’d felt confident in trying the experiment out. She’d gotten her equipment together, taken all the precautions… Then nothing but a vague sense of victory.
Maybe she was trying too hard? Maybe she should let it come through naturally. Unfortunately, it seemed like the only thing on the news was some report or other of the shocking behaviour of this Sakura girl. Nina scowled at her. Look at what that Eleven was wearing! How could she go out in public like that? It was as though she was deliberately trying to tease people with her figure, with no sense of shame or decency.
People behaving like that and thinking they could get away with it, well, it’s clear who was to blame. Zero and his Black Knights. Whoever they were and whatever they were really up to, it was people like them that influenced such sexy, rebellious behaviour. Nina unconsciously wiggled her hips a little in a similar way to how Sakura did onscreen, and leaned forward in a similar manner as well.
Yes, there was no doubt in Nina’s mind that -
<hr>
Cornelia would be investigating this as well, no doubt. A humiliation like this could hardly be allowed under her watch, particularly if she thought Zero might try to make an alliance with someone that powerful. It might well be the perfect opportunity to set a trap for two birds with one stone…
Which of course meant that even if Lelouch did figure out a way to lure Sakura out into the open so they could talk a little, Cornelia would descend upon them with hellfire at her heels and thunder in her fists. Ah, but there was the rub! Cornelia was the kind of person who would expect the great Zero to have prepared for such an event, and would have her own contingencies in place to ensure her prey could not escape so easily. Which was why he would layer his plan thricefold, and -
“How goes your circuitous mind?” C.C. interrupted his thoughts. Lelouch scowled at her, but all C.C. did in response was scarf down another slice of cheese pizza. “Have you made any headway into determining the best way to meet her?”
Lelouch shrugged. “After reviewing all the tapes I have come to the conclusion -”
<hr>
That she was on the verge of noticing something. An obvious fact dangling before her very eyes, but all she could see was Sakura flirtatiously disarming an irate Britannian that had attempted to pull out a shotgun on the obviously dangerous criminal. All she could see was an innocent, cutesy Eleven skipping and playing through the streets, dodging danger and causing mayhem for only those that would try to stop her having fun.
Nina shook her head, but the pounding was growing stronger with each passing moment. Wait, no, that wasn’t what the television showed at all. It had moved on to a report about the cost of damages incurred over the course of the day. So why did she so vividly remember seeing Sakura do these things? And why was she seeing them unfold as if from her point of -
“Urgh!” she moaned. “It - It hurts so much! Make it stop! What- what’s happening to me?! What’s - What’s happening to… to me… I…”
Nina stumbled around her room, clutching at her head and trying to make the pain go away. She stumbled against her wardrobe, unable to place this bizarre headache for what it was. Not a migraine. The symptoms didn’t fit, nor did they for any kind she’d ever heard of before. What was happening to her? She cracked open an eye, and began to shake in fear.
“M-My skirt! It - It’s shrinking! Ah! My blouse! What’s happening to the sleeves? No! Stop it, I… M-My eyes! My hair! It’s changing too! I - It’s not possible! I’m- I’m turning into -
<“Sakura-chan is here to play!”> The bubbly suddenly Japanese girl giggled, and skipped over to the door but was stopped by a deep yawn . <“Aw… Sakura-chan is too sleepy to have fun.”> She skipped over to the bed and delicately tucked herself in. Tomorrow would be a fun-filled, energetic day! Priority one: Work out how to control the changes!
<hr>
It wasn’t particularly surprising that the school would be buzzing with gossip about the events of the day before, but for now Nina felt completely exhausted. Almost as if she’d not caught a wink of sleep last night at all, which she knew couldn’t have been the case. She distinctly remembered turning in early, and woke up a little later than usual. So why could she barely keep herself from yawning?
“I’ve heard rumours she’s a genetic experiment Zero commissioned in secret to act as a superweapon!”
“Get real! Zero may be a terrorist, but that doesn’t seem his style. It’s probably some faction of some other group, like the Japanese Liberation Front making one last attempt to sow a little chaos.”
“Or maybe it’s some new group we’ve never even heard of. Maybe someone that wants us to think the Japanese are responsible, meaning we’re all distracted from the real threat!”
… Ugh! Nina couldn’t help but cower away from the gossip. She hated rumours at the best of times, and it seemed as though the only thing anyone could even talk about was this superpowered Eleven girl. Just great! That must be why she was so tired. Fitful nightmares of that Sakura girl rampaging through the city. It was everything she’d ever feared.
Well, for now there was little else to do except approach the student council room and try to get on with her day. If she was lucky, maybe she could get away without -
“Nina, did you see the report yesterday?” Milly asked the moment Nina set foot inside the door. “Such terribly interesting news, don’t you think, hon?”
Nina nodded and took her seat. Nope. No escape. What was she thinking, of course Milly would find this subject endlessly fascinating.
“The council’s top priority should be the students’ safety,” the Eleven boy said. Probably knew Sakura, didn’t tell his superiors or anyone to keep her safe. “I recommend we issue a standard warning to all students regarding dangerous criminals. If they encounter Sakura they must not attempt to apprehend her, and should contact authorities as soon as it is safe to do so.”
“Given her behaviour yesterday, I would say that she does not appear to be interested in taking hostages,” Lelouch observed. “In that area, the students are likely to be safe. At least so long as they do not behave aggressively towards her.”
“Alright, great work, the pair of you!” Milly said. “That’s the guts I want to see! Now, I want you two to work together on what to tell the student body, since you seem to have the greatest grasp of what’s what. Next order of business!”
“There was a dispute between the comics club and the theatrical club over allocation of resources,” Rivalz said, and Nina started to tune out the rest of the meeting. It was so strange. She should be grateful that the topic of conversation had shifted away from Sakura for the first time yet today, but even so… Even so, her mind kept drifting back to it on its own. How much damage had that apparently innocent Eleven inflicted upon the city? How much more would she do? Would she go back on Lelouch’s observation, and take a hostage? What did she <i>want</I>, where did she come from, and why did her head hurt so much all of a sudden?
“Nina, are you feeling alright?” Shirley asked. Nina felt a hand being pressed to her forehead, and heard a gasp from the seat next to her. “Goodness! You’re burning up! If you’re sick, you shouldn’t have come to school today!”
“I-I’m fine, really!” Nina insisted, but that was probably a lie at this point. “I’m j-just a little worried about that Eleven girl running around, that’s all.”
“Hm, well, it wouldn’t do if you were to faint here. President’s orders! Infirmary, now!”
“I’ll take her,” the Eleven boy volunteered. “I think Lelouch has the right general idea for the warning, and it shouldn’t take me long to take her there.”
A thousand complaints died in the face of her inherently shy nature. An Eleven would help her to the infirmary? No! She couldn’t be seen like that! What sort of image would that make, a Britannian being forced to rely on an Eleven for assistance? Nina rose to her feet and made it all of two steps before stumbling and being caught by his surprisingly strong hands.
“Easy, Nina! You shouldn’t force yourself if you’re sick. It’ll only make things worse for yourself.”
What, did he expect a thank you?
…
Well. Fine. He probably didn’t mean anything about it, he was just trying to be helpful. Suzaku was just sort of like that, if she was honest with herself. She looked up at him and was startled to notice that even through the Eleven features there was something she recognised as handsome in there. “Th-thanks,” she whispered, uncertain and uncaring of whether he heard it or not.
Just then, she stopped and turned to look behind her. Suzaku stopped in turn and looked down at her in concern.
“Something wrong?” he asked.
“No, it’s nothing,” Nina replied, still staring down at the corridor in confusion. “I just thought… I heard someone giggling.”
<hr>
“I do hope you have something positive to report,” Cornelia sneered at a General. Look at him. The fat slob probably thought he was hot shit. Probably couldn’t pick up a gun without his hand trembling. Probably had nightmares about being sent out to fight among his men. Probably irate at having to take orders from a woman, too. She knew the type, even if she hadn’t seen corroborating evidence for her suspicions. All for the good, as he’d have likely wound up having a much less pleasant time of it if she did.
“Forgive me, my lady. My men have worked tirelessly in their investigations, and can find no trace of the elusive nuisance of yesterday. They are at present performing door-to-door investigations, and offering lucrative rewards to anyone with verifiable information that could lead to an arrest, as well as harsh punishments for those caught assisting her in any way. It is as though she were a ghost and vanished into the night.”
Disappointing, but she could hardly blame him for that. He had obviously done everything he could think of doing, which wasn’t much, but if even that much had turned up nothing… “Very well,” she said, making quite sure to sound as terse as she felt. “Continue your investigation until you do uncover something. Report back to me immediately if you find any word of her, and do not attempt to apprehend until I give the word. Observe from a distance, learn everything you can. Once we have uncovered where she disappears to, then we can plan appropriately. Fools rush in, and we shall not be played for fools again! Understood? Dismissed!”
Off the fat man scurried, leaving Cornelia deep in thought. Another complication, it seemed. Was this related to Zero in some manner? Perhaps. She had reviewed the videos herself and discovered nothing usable in a tactical sense besides the transparently obvious. This little Eleven girl was as strong as a tank, as nimble as a squirrel and every bit as hyperactive. Nothing about her motivations or goals or where she came from. A mysterious appearance followed by a mysterious disappearance. There was little else for it but to wait for her to appear once again and try to ascertain additional information.
If she was lucky, and she hated to rely on luck, then tonight’s activities might prove useful in drawing the ghost out from the shadows. Just as she was certain it would draw out Zero as well.
<hr>
“This street has fallen under suspicion of hiding yesterday’s rogue Eleven, Sakura!” Cornelia declared on the news that night. “Therefore, all Elevens living within will submit to interrogation, and shall be imprisoned until such time as the suspect is discovered!”
Lelouch switched the television off and shook his head underneath his mask. Oh, Cornelia. Such a blatant invitation only serves to speak volumes about your intention. Why, you might as well have lit up the sky with the word “trap”.
“What do you make of it?” Kallen asked. “I mean, do you really think they have her?”
“Not at all! My own investigations have not turned up hide nor hair of this girl. There is not enough information to reliably determine where she came from or where she went. It is much more likely an attempt to act as a lure. For her. For us.
“And I say, if she has gone to the trouble of making such a gracious invitation, who are we to deny her? Trap or no, she is abusing her authority to detain Elevens for no good reason at all! What is more, they shall certainly be forced to make false confessions, whether Cornelia orders it or not. Such bullying tactics cannot be ignored!”
Which is probably what she was relying on, all truth told. Such is life. For now, let us take a guess at what sort of trap you intend to set this time.
<hr>
The longer the wait, the worse it got. Given the kind of adversary Zero was, no matter how well you thought you’d prepared… He was quite adept at guessing strategy. The sort of arrogance that came from almost deserving to be. Almost. That was the key word here. Almost. He was a smart and creative enough tactician to predict likely strategies in advance, which meant that the longer it went before the snare was pulled that meant it was all the longer to sit there and think, and spot holes in your reasoning that Zero might pick up on immediately. No trap was absolute until the target was dangling by a noose. Until the very moment Zero was dead, no plan could be guaranteed to succeed. That was the kind of enemy he was. That was the kind of game they had to play to catch him.
Which meant that he could not be permitted to contact someone so dangerous as Sakura by any means. An entity like that was dangerous on her own. But in the hands of Zero -
“My lady! We have detected motion in the opposite building!”
Showtime.
“Attacks coming in from the west. It’s the Black Knights! Damn. They’re employing hit-and-run attacks. Permission to pursue?”
“Denied!” Cornelia ordered. “It is either a transparent distraction attempt or an ambush. If they wish to test our defenses, let them wail and scream all they like.”
So that was your opening gambit? Very well. Then the next attack would come from -
“Enemy Knightmares sighted approaching from the east.”
- All in an attempt to make it appear as though they were being surrounded. Oh, Zero! So disappointing. That mask would be torn from your dismembered head by dawn’s light.
“Allow them to approach your line, then reveal platoon 5 as discussed.”
To separate his smaller forces in such a manner was not a mistake Zero would make. No. This was a distraction, designed to test out the limits of her patience and preparation. Try to keep her distracted with hit-and-run tactics, while the real major force struck from another location. For example -
“Movement detected within the underground tunnel!”
“Close off both ends and box them in. Whatever numbers they have, they’ll be too surrounded by our troops to launch their intended surprise attack.”
And that’s when the building opposite them exploded, toppling over in an attempt to flatten them where they stood. Cornelia herself was well out of the blast range. Now it really was showtime.
“I am disappointed, Cornelia!” Zero declared from a nearby rooftop. “I expected better of you!”
All around Cornelia stood enough of the Black Knights to make her a little worried. As expected, her radio was jammed. As expected, all of her units were off chasing wild geese. As expected, Zero himself had come to taunt her.
“And I expected better of you. Did you really think such a transparent attempt to distract me would work?”
As if rising from the grave, her reinforcements had arrived. They surrounded the square in impenetrable formation. This time Zero would not be able to find or create any kind of escape route. Every possible avenue for reinforcements was cut off. This time he really was trapped.
“Banzai!”
Ban what?
Right about then Cornelia felt the rather interesting experience of being lifted into the air while still in her Knightmare Frame. What the hell was this, now?
<“Sakura-chan wants to pla~ay!”> a ditzy voice yelled in Japanese. Sakura! She really was here after all? <“When mean old Cornelia starts talking ’bout cutey little me, I just can’t say no!”>
“Put me down! This instant! Dammit! Controls won’t respond! Get her out from under me, you idiots!”
She couldn’t see what happened from this angle, but viewed the recording later on from multiple angles to growing irritation. Zero reached into the air and snapped his fingers. Whereupon Knightmare Frames swarmed out of the underground tunnels, which seemed impossible until she learned that the movement detected within them was a trap set at the other entrance, allowing the Black Knights to easily ambush the other side while pretending to be Britannian units. The “diversion” was anything but, and Zero had once again somehow squeaked through…
Not that either of their planning particularly seemed to matter in the long run. Even if Zero had not thought of this escape route, Sakura would have humiliated them anyway. By the end of the night, her Frame was a wreck. Cornelia’s automatic eject activated, ensuring she would not be captured after this humiliation. Only then did her surrounding platoons manage to surround the area, only to discover it empty of all enemy units. Zero had outwitted them again, and worse yet, it would appear that he had made contact with the enemy.
- Sakura is made a member of the Black Knights after a conversation with Zero.
- Sakura declines membership of the Black Knights, claiming she has her own goals.
- The next day, Nina reviews her experimental footage and transforms at school.
- Sakura uses her experimental footage to transform someone.
- Something else
Sakura's like the love child of a tornado and Pinkie Pie.
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