Chapter 22
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When Euphie entered the tent, it was with Gottwald, and the man was eyeing me like I was an alien.
"Hello Mister Pi. I am surprised you decided to contact me directly like this so soon, as it sounded like more things needed to happen before you could give me more information? And why you insisted Lord Jeremiah accompany me to meet you?" Euphie said, a curious look on her face.
"Your Highness, My Lord, time is not on any of our sides at this moment, so I will be brief; I didn't plan to get caught up in the civie evacuation. My plan was to reconnoiter the town to see that the evac was done, then relay observations, and handle this after the battle. Now I cannot give either of you the information I want to pass along just yet, as there is one final condition that needs to be met. Now I will need..." I was saying before Jeremiah interrupted me.
"Your Highness, you should not allow this commoner to address you so casually or make demands of you. It is beneath you, and can you imagine what the Viceroy would say." Gottwald said, looking at me with barely disguised contempt.
"Lord Jeremiah, please, this is not just a commoner. He is a private intelligence source for myself and has information I want to know." Euphie said plainly.
"Ah, pardon my ignorance, your Highness." Jeremiah said deferentially.
"Now before you ask me anymore questions Your Highness, no, I cannot reveal what Iyou want to know till the final condition is fulfilled. I need Your Highness to detach Lord Jeremiah to assist me in Tokyo post-haste, as what needs doing is beyond my ability to do alone. I also need him to leave behind any communication equipment that could be tracked; not for my safety, but for both of yours. Now My Lord, I assume you are at least semi-proficient in long distance marksmanship, and have access to a rifle that can make a 600 yard shot somewhere you can get it or have it fetched on short notice, correct? I ask, because simply put, there is a man who needs to die before I can safely say more, and the shot most be done from more than a 600 yards away for reasons I cannot disclose." I said to Orange.
"I am some what skilled in that regard. Getting the rifle is as simple as requesting one from the armory aboard her Highness's headquarters. Though, your Highness, I am needed here more, in case the JLF puts up more of a fight than expected, not on a private assassination mission. And going without a means to communicate is insane." Jeremiah said to Euphie.
"I have a private line to Mister Pi, so communications are covered. One pilot less is unlikely to make any difference, even if the JLF are more capable than the Viceroy expects. I do not approve or like this sort of violence, but the information Mister Pi has promised me is...beyond valuable, to both me and likely the Viceroy herself. So I will swallow my bile and allow this. Lord Jeremiah, I hereby order you to escort and assist Mister Pi in Tokyo with his mission. He has been trustworthy to this point and I am going to trust him on this as well." Euphie said to Jeremiah, who bowed in acknowledgement of the order.
"As Your Highness wills it. Now, Mister Pi, I do not expect we can both fit on that scooter of yours, so I will requisition a transport for our purposes." Jeremiah said before starting to walk out of the tent.
"Hold on My Lord, this matter is complicated and using an official transport could endanger my ability to give the Princess the knowledge she desires. A civilian vehicle would be safer." I said, knowing that a military transport in the civie areas of the Tokyo Settlement could, at this point, be odd enough that Mao takes note of it and changes his time-table. He was due to be on the grounds of Ashford the next day, which was the first and best chance to get at him before he got going with his manipulation of Shirley. Speaking of...
"Hmm, actually, one other request I would like an answer to. Your Highness, could you have your guards check for a middle aged, red haired man by the name of Joeseph Fennette among the civilians evacuated from the town? He's the father of a friend of a good customer of mine, and I wanted to make sure he's ok in return." I said, not technically lying; CC had been a very good tipper, and it was Lelouch's cash.
The Princess chuckled a little at that, before replying "I will, in exchange for one bit of information from you. Lord Jeremiah, I want you to go fetch a car from one of the doctors in the field hospital; tell them that Princess Euphemia will reimburse them for any damages or loss of transportation." Jeremiah bowed before leaving the tent.
"Ok, deal, but if I cannot answer you safely yet, I will say so." I said, wondering what she was going to ask.
"Why Pi for your alias?" the Princess asked.
"Oh, that. Well, my boss calls himself after a number, and I wanted an alias that went with his theme. I picked Pi because I represent an irrational element in a otherwise semi-rational world." I said with a grin.
"What's so irrational about you, besides being a Britannian inside the Black Knights?" she asked.
"...more than I can safely say now, and frankly more than you would ever likely believe." I said, looking her dead in the eyes.
"Hmm, well, I guess I'll keep trusting you for now. I must return to my duties in the command center; when you and Lord Jeremiah return, I want my trust repaid." She said, in a much more serious tone than she usually used.
"You have my word, Your Highness. Thank you for honoring my request and being patient about this." I said, this time sweeping into a low bow.
"Very well; I will inform Lord Jeremiah to pick you up from this tent when he has procured the vehicle. I will have your scooter secured till you return. Good day, Mister Pi." Euphie said, before exiting the tent.
"Hmm, well, wonder how much trust she'll have left for me when Zero blows the mountain and goes after Cornelia."
Jeremiah returned several minutes later with an unobtrusive looking sedan sized car with a large rifle and spotter set-up in the trunk in a pair of dufflebags. We had been on the road about 15 minutes, riding in silence with me in the back, when we passed 2 trucks headed into town.
"That's probably Tohdoh and company; banzai colonel, you're in for some nasty shocks in a little while."
Euphie texted me shortly after this.
"Did you know the mountain would explode and Zero would be there?" the text read.
"Ah, looks like Zero's kicked his gambit off."
"I had knowledge that the Black Knights were in the area and that the town may be in danger, but Zero had not shared with me the specifics of his plan." I texted back; I received no reply, which was expected given what Euphie was likely dealing with and how she may have felt about my involvement.
The drive into Tokyo took a bit, but eventually Jeremiah and I entered the Settlement proper.
"Ok, Lord Jeremiah, you have a better tactical mind than myself and likely know the Settlement better as well. We need to find a spot more than 600 meters, but no more than 700 meters, from the Ashford Academy campus to set up on. Do you know of a location that would fit?" I asked.
"...there are several large office building that could work, but would require us to deal with curious commoners potentially interfering in whatever it is that must be done here. Our other option is a maintenance gantry on one of the solar collectors; far more secure and I can get us in with my military credentials. Finally, if that will not suffice, I could requisition a police aircraft to suite your needs." Jeremiah said with barely disguised disgruntlement. He was definitely not happy being stuck on this assignment.
"Lord Jeremiah, I think the solar collector is a best choice. However, I also understand that you are not happy about the order the Princess gave you, so I will give you reason to want to do this. But only if I have your word you will not ask further questions till we have informed the Princess that the task has been accomplished." I said evenly.
"You have my word as a Knight, a Margrave, and a man that I will not question you further if you are willing to give me a reason to trust you and see this mission through with my whole conviction." Jeremiah said, in a surprisingly genuine tone.
"I'll take it. The information the Princess wants, and I have, relates to the Ares Villa incident and the real attacker who killed Empress Marianne. That's all you are getting for now, but I hope it is enough-ack, what?!" I hollered as Jeremiah threw the car onto the shoulder of the road and slammed the breaks, before looking back at me with an intensity that actually was sort of frightening.
He just looked at me for a minute, not saying anything, while I silently wondered if I had misread him, before restarted the car and pulled back onto the road.
"I gave you my word, and I will keep my promise, but know this; I was a guard at Ares Villa the night that horrible event occurred. The second our task is accomplished and you have informed the Princess, you will give me answers or you will be missing more fingers." Jeremiah stated in a tone that was full of barely contained anger and grief as he drove us towards on to the solar collector arrays.
"You drive a hard bargain...how about a compromise. I will show you evidence of what I am talking about while we wait for the target to appear, and you get one question when I point it out." I said, deciding that Jeremiah seeing Nunnally through a sniper scope would be safe enough.
"...I will accept that
. When we get to the gate, just be quiet and I will handle things. Your cover will be as an efficiency inspector who is here to do a spot inspection of the arrays maintenance.
" Jeremiah said to me as we moved into more official looking buildings near the arrays.
"You do realize we could be up there for 1 or 2 days, right. Our targets time-frame for being on campus is not exact." I mentioned.
"The spot I've chosen has access to a rudimentary washroom for technicians. There are a couple protein bars and water bottles in with the spotter kit; that will have to suffice till we are finished here. Or are you commoners too soft for such hardships?" He snarked at me.
"I will adapt to the conditions we are faced with; this is too important to let personal comfort get in the way." I replied.
Getting through the gate was easy, as no one wanted to hassle an inspector and his escort, even if a few officers did seem to chuckle at the great Jeremiah Gottwald being stuck with this duty
.
About 30 minutes after we reached the arrays, the two of us were safely ensconced in a maintenance shed part way up one of the catwalks. It wasn't a perfect view of Ashford, but given Mao was shown to be on the roof when he first appeared on campus, it was less of a hassle than it could be. However, getting a view on the clubhouse, and Nunnally, was more difficult.
"My Lord, I am not sure when the evidence I spoke of will present itself, or if it will be visible from here. If it is visible at all, it will be near or within the small clubhouse structure off to the side of the main buildings. Can you see into that area right now?" I asked when we had the equipment fully set up and were in our positions.
"I believe I can, though only one side of the building and a few windows. What am I looking for?" He asked, surveying the campus.
"A young girl in a motorized wheelchair, either coming from or exiting that building." I replied calmly, as examined the different gates of the school, in order figure out Mao's most likely entry point.
"And the target you need killed? What am I looking for." Jeremiah asked reasonably.
"Sorry, but for the same reasons we need to take this shot from so far away, I cannot divulge that information till I have the target sighted. I will tell you, to ease your mind, that it is not a child, student, or fellow Britannian who is the target. Keep your eyes on the roofs and open spaces, I'll monitor the entrances to the campus." I said, taking a risk because I had no idea which direction Mao would approach the school from, or if he would pass by the array close enough to possibly here Jeremiah's or my thoughts.
We had been up there for about 3 hours when Jeremiah started.
"I'm seeing a group of girls exiting the clubhouse, one of them's in a wheelchair." Jeremiah said. I immediately shifted my view over to the same area, and confirmed what he was seeing.
"Ok, My Lord, that girl in the wheelchair, does she look at all familar to you?" I asked, not knowing if Jeremiah had ever had a chance to see her at Ares Villa before the attack.
"...there is something about her...I feel like I've seen that head of hair before somewhere." Jeremiah said, looking intently at the group.
I took a deep breath, then took the verbal plunge. "Well if you were a guard at Ares Villa for any length of time, you probably did. That young girl is Nunnally Vi Britannia."
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AN: This chapter was a pain to write, and went through 3 revisions before I was happy with it. Hope I did Euphie's and Jeremiah's personalities justice
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