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Ashford Academy, 8:30 a.m. Lelouch woke up in his bed, yawned, and checked his heartbeat.

Lelouch: Nice and normal. Good to have you back, normal heartbeat.
Rolo: You alright, now?
Lelouch: Very. I'm back in the game.
Rolo: Good, because we've got a problem.
Lelouch: What kind of problem?

Rolo handed Lelouch his cell phone, and Lelouch saw that a voicemail was left for him.

Sears: (over phone) Lelouch Lamperouge. As a contact for the Black Knights, I will give you one chance to redeem yourself, on behalf of the Confederate Enclave. Return Zero to the Britannian authorities, as well as his accomplice, C.C. If these conditions are not met, then Japan will be reclaimed, for Britannia. This is your only warning.
Lelouch: (closes phone) That's not a warning. It's an ultimatum.
Rolo: I guess Sears isn't a fan of requests.
Lelouch: Could be the Stockholm Syndrome. Either way, we need to stop the Enclave's attack.
Rolo: Even if we do, the Black Knights will be marked. The Enclave will just hound you, until they get what they want, possibly destroying the Black Knights, in the process.
Lelouch: They'll keep attacking, again and again, and we won't get anything done. Japan's already free, and the Emperor of Ego hasn't been lured here. What can we do...?
Rolo: Should we show this to Alistair?
Lelouch: Yeah. We'll need all the help we can get, and Alistair knows how to fight the Enclave.

Meanwhile, at a Britannian laboratory, Nina was overseeing an experiment, when Schneizel and his assistant, Kanon, walked in.

Nina Einstein: Kanon! And, Prince Schneizel!
Schneizel Chopin Redgrave: Just Schneizel, Nina.
Kanon Maldini: Good to see you, again, Nina.
Schneizel: So, how's the therapy been treating you? You have been going to therapy, haven't you?
Nina: Of course! I've never been better!
Schneizel: Why don't you take a break from all this nonstop scientific work? Let's hang out.
Nina: Right away! (runs out door)
Kanon: She's lying, isn't she?
Schneizel: Kanon, I could smell the bullshit, through her teeth. I mean, look at this experiment. (pulls out shotgun, shoots console) She's clearly forgotten that weapons of mass destruction are banned, worldwide.
Kanon: She clearly won't believe that Euphemia's alive, either. The doctors said that she hit her head, pretty hard. Like she fell down a flight of stairs.
Schneizel: And, with her physique, pain tolerance is pretty much none.
Kanon: She's so fixated on killing Zero. And, she's fixated on Euphemia. It's like she...
Schneizel: Kanon, one of the things I've learned, in my life, is that you can't force a different sexuality onto a different person. I told Euphy that, myself.
Kanon: She said that she had a conversation with Euphemia.
Schneizel: The fall down the stairs blocked off that part of the conversation, or overwrote it, entirely.
Kanon: What do you think it'll take, to fix her back to the way she was?
Schneizel: Hell if I know. But, if it takes a kiss from Alistair Wake, I owe Zero a lot of money.
Kanon: That's a weird way of betting. (pauses) But, that would be an intriguing sight to see.
Schneizel: Much better than when we found Nina, all those months ago.

2017 a.t.b., Ashford Academy. Milly, Shirley and Rivalz were trying to get Nina into the school building, but Nina kept resisting them, in anger.

Nina: (angrily) Let me go! I have to kill him! I have to kill Zero!
Shirley: Nina, calm down!
Rivalz: How is she so strong!?
Milly: Nina, Euphemia's alive!
Nina: Shut up! ZERO!

Nina broke out of the grasp of her friends and dashed toward the exit of the school, bumping into Schneizel.

Nina: Out of my way! Princess Euphemia will be avenged-!

Schneizel shot Nina in the neck with a tranquilizer pistol, knocking Nina unconscious.

Schneizel: Well, there won't be any hospitals, here, for now. (picks up Nina, looks at student council) You're not gonna blame her, for almost being hated by the entire world, right?
Milly: I forgive her.
Rivalz: She really didn't seem like her normal self.
Shirley: Please, help her!
Schneizel: Sure thing. I'll definitely try my damnedest.

2018 a.t.b., Ashford Academy, Mavericks control room. Alistair and Seth sat in their seats, listening to the voicemail Sears left for Lelouch.

Alistair: Yeah, this ain't good. With the Enclave's designs and Britannia's tech, they can keep coming, no matter what.
Seth: They'll primarily target Tokyo. The Hadron Gatling Cannons won't help us win, forever. It couldn't even stop the Yorktown.
Lelouch: I've been wondering about their flagship. What even is the Yorktown?
Alistair: It was an aircraft carrier that Hawking stole from the military. Now, it's been remade into an airship, with combat capabilities. Just like the Yatagarasu.
Lelouch: Shit! We can't fight them, like this! We don't have enough time for Rakshata to get those new Knightmares!
Alistair: Until you get the Knightmares, leave the fighting to us.
Lelouch: I agree with that. But, the fact remains that me and C.C. are marked. We can't deal with the Emperor of Ego, stuck here! (lowers head, then brings it back up) That's it. The Black Knights have to move on to other countries.
Alistair: I can get behind that. I can try to follow behind you, in case you need help. But, where will you go?
Lelouch: (thinks, then snaps his fingers in revelation) China.
Alistair: Xingke's from China, right? Some crap's going down, out there.
Lelouch: And, Kaguya's friends with the Empress.
Alistair: Well, that leads the Enclave elsewhere, but how will you get your entire faction to China?
Lelouch: I'll figure that out.
Seth: I'll help. It beats sitting on my ass and doing nothing.
Alistair: Don't you have paperwork to sign?
Seth: Screw that. I'd rather help my friends.
Lelouch: Guess that's why you're President.
Seth: Exactly. By the way, Alistair, where's that new Gawain you were working on? I'd like to see it.
Alistair: Uh... Good luck finding that thing, in the dark, underground. I forgot all about that thing. Plus, I don't even know how to get it back to ground level.
Seth: I'll find a way. So, you'll come up with a way to leave, and we'll come up with a plan of attack, for Hawking's cronies.
Lelouch: Thank you. Both of you.
Seth: Oh, and I managed to get you that custom outfit you asked for.
Lelouch: I... I was asking out of curiosity, not literally.
Seth: I got it for you, anyway.
Lelouch: Again, thanks. Maybe, it should be a thing, for Knightmare pilots, not just the skintight suits.
Seth: Way, way ahead of you. They'll be done, tomorrow.
Lelouch: How do you-?
Alistair: It looks kickass. Who wouldn't wonder what it'd be like to wear it?
Lelouch: (chuckles) Fair enough. Break?
Seth and Alistair: (in unison) Break!