Few secrets

Claudius p.o.v

After hearing he announcement earlierI can't help but smile. By this time Lelouch probably killed Clovis already. I felt pitiful about Clovis' death because I know where his Inferiority Complex came from. Schneizel, Cornelia and even me. Being outshined by his siblings even his younger brother of course you would feel Inferior but then again I don't regret anything about letting him be killed by Lelouch because regardless he would just self-destruct at this rate.

Sitting in the back of the nondescript black car driving through the Tokyo settlement towards an industrial section near the docks, where the safe house that housed one of the high valued targets was located.

The reason for the secrecy was that I wanted to keep my presence here need to know until I assume emergency control over the area after Clovis is killed.

Next to me was Mary in her purple officer's uniform that designated her as my knight and a member of the Ouroboros Corps.

Today I was planning to save a certain person in which I can use as a leverage in the future use.

She was looking over after action reports as the one who manages the Ouroboros Corps as well as intelligence on matters that I did not have the information on (or memory of).

Her help was invaluable starting off in help building my, no our organization.

It was thanks to her mostly that we had the intelligence on the whereabouts of the target now in our custody.

She also organized the details that led to his transfer from Clovis's people to the "OSI" or so they thought.

Unfortunately, the other target was unable to be found despite her distinctive features green hair, and mark on her forehead in which I have no expectations at all.

No matter, while it would have been interesting to see her, it seemed she already recovered from the gunshot to the brain and left to seek out Lelouch.

I'll just have to wait before I can get some answers from that woman.

Closing the file on the background of the target, which I was going to have a nice discussion hopefully resulting in a mutually beneficial agreement.

After coming across and saving a warehouse from a stray Britannian tank and soldiers indirectly saving Kallen and most of the future Black Knights there. I blame myself for delaying Lelouch to get the ceasefire from Clovis by increasing the pressure on him by attacking from the opposite side as the Lancelot would.

Once I returned to where my men and Mary were stationed I help organize arrangements for those with no shelter. Then I had to let Smith and his men off with a stern warning as they followed my orders after I put Smith in his place.

Overall the operation was a success saving thousands of lives that would have most likely perished.

But still after seeing the bodies of families all gunned down in mass executions made me sick to call myself a Britannian let alone a prince of the empire I despise.

But I swallowed my feelings knowing that I could do the best as I am now instead of acting out in self-satisfaction by rebelling now.

Now I know how Suzaku felt, stuck fighting for a cause he didn't believe in, to accomplish a greater goal. Our situations didn't seem so different, but I was prepared to go all the way to stop things from becoming the future I know of.

Still I allowed my younger brother killed my older brother just to allow things to move along their appropriate path because I remembered that my older brother Clovis had ordered an attempted genocide to hide his experiments on C.C.

Finally arriving to our destination the car stopped for inspections. We were immediately allowed to go through while guard quickly saluted to me.

"Sir the target has been prepared and treated as per your orders he is waiting in a safe room under guard. " The soldier in charge said in clear, disciplined manner.

"Very well lead on then." The soldier turned and led us to an ugly metal door.

Opening it the room was about the size of a medium sized conference room occupied by only a table bolted to the floor and two chairs, one of which was occupied.

The occupant looked up with a face covered in bandages and his skin looked pale from the lack of sunlight.

He had red hair, blue eyes, an athletic frame, and although it was hard to tell, he had a face with both Britannian and Japanese traits indicating a mixed parentage as expected he is the brother of Kallen.

I smiled lightly and said "Well, Naoto Kozuki let's have a little chat." The door was then closed leaving me with Mary and a man who should be dead alone to discuss his future.

Naoto p.o.v

I don't remember how much time has passed since I was captured and thrown in prison.

When I caught wind of the prince's secret project, Code R, which was described as a solution to the human condition. Add in all the equipment they had listed I feared that it was a chemical weapon. If they used it, then the resistance and all the people stuck in the ghettos are as good as dead so I had to do something.

While I was scouting the facility, I was caught trying to get a look at more of the details of the project.

It was a sneeze that did me in, a guard then saw me and raised the alarm. At first, I thought it was a miracle they didn't shoot me on sight. But since I was captured in possession of detailed maps and information on their project they wanted to extract as much information out of me as they could first.

They took me to a secret prison somewhere, where I was interrogated and tortured daily asking the same questions. But I never broke even as the pain slowly eroded my resolve and my body begged my mind to give in.

I would fall unconscious before I could give in, that was a small blessing I guess.I knew I was going to die, but at least, I would not die in vain.

The information I relayed to Ohgi and the others would save countless lives.

And Kallen would be safe.

Although part of me knew that she would carry on fighting for a free Japan, even when I just wished she would stay in school and stay away from this sort of life. Her skill in a Knightmare was the best I've ever seen, based on the simulator we had stolen from a transport one time, and Ohgi never could say no to her after all.

I never was close to my father as he mostly stayed in the homeland to run the family business. He expected me to be his heir since he couldn't have one on his own. While he said he loved my mother and had Kallen and me, he let his wife try to force my mother away.

Although I disagreed with my mother's decision to become a maid in our father's home to be close to us after Japan lost the war, I still loved her.

One day I just couldn't take it anymore, and I ran away to join the resistance to fight back for the rights of my people, which were stolen by Britannia. Eventually, I had a solid group behind me, although we were labeled as terrorists we never attacked civilians. I knew I could trust Ohgi to be a good leader in my stead in spite of his confidence issues.

So I made peace with my fate. I was going to die at peace with what I did was for the greater good of Japan. Or so I thought.

A week ago instead of the regular dose of interrogations and torture men in red colored uniforms came and took me away saying something about a transfer, but before I hear to where I was knocked out with the help of drugs using a syringe.

I then woke up in a hospital bed somewhere definitely not a hospital as instead of doctors and nurses they had the military equivalent.

While I was never allowed to die from the torture I was never treated for my injuries like these people were doing.

They also never called me an eleven or treated me in a derogatory manner. They just did their job as I recovered from my experience at the hands of my previous captors.

Today though they were on edge as I was taken from my bed to a room that looked between an office/conference room that was turned into an interrogation room.

I was left there sitting in the chair handcuffed for the first time since I was taken by these people, and was left there waiting for someone to arrive.

Thirty minutes later the door opened revealing a blonde man wearing a blue officer's uniform who looked at me with a hint of, recognition?

Following him through the door was a young woman of slightly shorter stature with black hair wearing a similar uniform although hers was purple instead of blue.

He smiled lightly and said "Well, Naoto Kozuki-kun let's have a little chat."

At that, my heart raced.

How did this man know my name?