HOME | DD

Description
6:45 p.m., Narita. C.C. was asking about Shirley's whereabouts, but the person she was asking had no clue.

Man: Why don't you ask the police, or the soldiers, for that matter?
C.C.: I'd rather not. I've been told not to trust them, for now.
Man: Honestly, I agree. You should head up higher, maybe you'll find her, that way.

As C.C. thanked the man on the ATV, she noticed the cable car heading up the mountain, and saw Alistair, Lelouch and a familiar person inside.

C.C.: (thinking) Oh, shit! Mao!
Man: By the way, about your outfit...

Inside the cable car, Lelouch and Mao were playing a game of chess, while Alistair observed the game.

Lelouch: (thinking) He has to be the one. The other eyewitness. Or, maybe, someone else. Either way, this chess game has to be a ploy. His real goal is to get me somewhere. Then, there's the bigger question: Why?
Mao: This is my first time playing, you know.
Lelouch: He had Shirley's phone. He can't be the other witness, otherwise he would've taken a dip in the ocean. He's winging this whole encounter, the cocky son of a bitch.
Mao: You think you can find an opening? You should focus on the game, pal. You could lose, in an instant.
Lelouch: (out loud) You have played, before.
Mao: I don't know...
Lelouch: (thinking) Dammit! Trapped, already?!
Mao: Shall we call this my game, Lelouch?
Alistair: What, this? I can beat it. Step aside, Lelouch.

Lelouch and Alistair switch places in the cable car, and the smile on Mao's face began to disappear.

Alistair: Where's the confidence, pal?
Mao: (grunts, moves chess piece)
Alistair: Bold move. (moves chess piece) That is what I call a checkmate reversal, bitch.
Mao: What?! But, how?!
Alistair: Simple. You didn't have Lelouch to cheat off of. I figured some things out, Mao. You're a mind reader. Technically, that should be impossible... Unless, you've got an ancient magic at your disposal.
Mao: Your point being?
Alistair: You're a Geass user.
Mao: (pauses, then laughs) Very clever, Alistair. (lowers sunglasses, reveals Geass on both eyes) Very clever, indeed.
Lelouch: He has Geass, too?!
Mao: (puts sunglasses back on) I can only guess that you learned about Geass from a girl with green hair and baggy clothes?
Alistair: Yes and no. She stopped with the whole baggy clothes thing. Currently, she looks like the cross between a French maid and a Vietnamese hooker.

Immediately, the cable car stopped at the station at the top of the mountain, knocking over the standing chess pieces.

Lelouch: (out loud) What have you done with Shirley, you bastard!?
Alistair: (looks outside) Oh, hey! It's Shirley! With a gun...
Lelouch: Oh, hell...

Meanwhile, at Port Yokosuka, Ohgi was contemplating about Zero's behavior, the past few days.

Ohgi: Zero... You haven't been yourself... Does America's suffering really get to you?

At that point, Ohgi saw a wounded woman at the drained ship dock and got down to where she was as quickly as he could. He held the woman in his arms and noticed that she was still breathing.

Ohgi: Hey! Are you alright!? Say something!
Villetta: Sexist...bigots... Perverts... No...bulletproof vest...
Ohgi: Huh?

Back at Narita, Alistair, Lelouch and Mao exited the cable car, looking at Shirley, who was aiming a gun at Lelouch.

Lelouch: Shirley...!
Alistair: Where the hell did you get that gun? Never mind. Hand it over, and I can dismantle it.
Shirley: Why are you here, Alistair?
Alistair: Because, I give a damn. That's my job, basically.
Mao: Quite the job. (pulls out pistol, aims it at Lelouch and Alistair)
Alistair: Fantastical.
Shirley: How can you help Lulu? How can you help a murderer? How can you help Zero?
Alistair: (looks at Lelouch) You were cosplaying!?
Lelouch: I can explain!
Alistair: There's a time and place for cosplay! Now is not the time! (looks at Shirley) Shirley, Lelouch isn't Zero.
Shirley: Yes, he is! He killed my father!
Alistair: I highly doubt that. If Zero did want to destroy the city, then why did the landslide slow down, then speed back up?
Mao: (confused) Hold on, what?
Shirley: Don't pull logic on me! You don't know anything!
Mao: How does a landslide slow down, then speed up? That doesn't make any sense!
Alistair: I know full well that Lelouch isn't Zero.
Shirley: Shut up! I'm atoning for my sins, and so will Lulu!
Alistair: Shirley, I've killed sin, before, along with war and the biggest asshole in the history of the world and God, combined.
Shirley: Drop the act! You're just a spoiled rich kid, who loves his mommy and daddy so much, that he gets everything he wants! You have a father, and I don't!
Alistair: (pauses) Yeah. You're right. I mean, sure, I've watched both my parents die, due to said asshole letting Britannia test out the Knightmares on 50,000 defenseless people, when I was 6. Then, those pilots shot my arm and leg off, and left me in a crater, with 75 other dead bodies. Basically, I've lived in a pseudo post-apocalyptic nightmare.
Shirley: (lowers pistol, horrified) What...?

Alistair took off his hat and gloves and dropped his coat-length jacket to the floor, revealing his prosthetic left arm.

Shirley: Oh, my God. We did that? To you?
Alistair: Samuel Hawking's fault, really.
Mao: Samuel Hawking? Who the hell's Samuel Hawking? And, how come I can't read your freaking mind!?
Shirley: You... You literally watched your own parents die?
Alistair: Yep.
Shirley: Alistair, I... (drops pistol)
Lelouch: Shirley! (holds Shirley)
Shirley: Lelouch...
Mao: Okay... Not what I was expecting. Oh, well. In for a penny. (fires pistol)
Alistair: (catches bullet with prosthetic arm's index and middle fingers) Don't think so, pal.
Mao: Ah, shit! Didn't expect that. (tosses gun aside) Well, I'll just be on my way-
Alistair: (crushes bullet) Don't count on it.

Immediately, Alistair jumped down the stairs and kicked Mao towards the closed cable car doors, and collided with them.

Mao: (grunts) Wait, when did the doors close?

At that point, Alistair jumped off the metal railings and Speared Mao through the cable car doors, knocking them down in the process.

Mao: (grunts in pain) How the hell-? (sees Alistair, frightened) Oh, no.
Alistair: (cracks right hand's knuckles, smiling) You are in a lot of trouble.

Outside the cable car, Lelouch and Shirley could hear the sound of Alistair striking Mao, repeatedly, alongside Mao's pained reactions.

Lelouch: Shirley, are you okay?
Shirley: Yeah. Lulu... Are you really Zero?
Lelouch: ...Yes.
Shirley: You didn't kill my father, did you?
Lelouch: No.
Shirley: It was "Civility," right?
Lelouch: Alistair's tangled with them, before. Cyborgs. Well, cybernetic corpses, run by artificial intelligence. Your father was almost a victim of that, if it weren't for Alistair cremating his body.
Shirley: God... If I saw my father, as a Civility slave... I think the psychological damage would have been... Oh, that is a horrible tactic...
Lelouch: Uh, Alistair...?
Alistair: I'm in the middle of a Lou Thesz Press!
Shirley: Don't worry, Lulu. Your secret's safe with me.
Lelouch: Really?
Shirley: Mm-hmm. It's alright, now.
Lelouch: I'm glad. Alistair?
Alistair: Stomping a mudhole!
Shirley: Tell Alistair that the two of you can find me at the memorial. I've got something to do.
Lelouch: Something to do?
Shirley: It's like Alistair said: Mourning isn't the hard part. It's letting go. And...tell him I said thanks. For caring about me. For caring about, well, everyone. (walks away)
Lelouch: Alistair! We're done, here!

Alistair slammed Mao onto every bar inside the cable car, then booted him to the ground.

Alistair: I don't suggest getting up. (kicks Mao, again) The cops will take care of you. (notices shotgun on the floor) Oh, hey, a shotgun! (picks up shotgun) Yoink!
Mao: (in pain) Why...?
Alistair: (exits cable car, cracks neck) He's going nowhere.
Lelouch: I could hear.
Alistair: Where's Shirley?
Lelouch: Back at the memorial. You keeping that shotgun?
Alistair: Britannian model, so, I'll sell it.

Immediately, the cable car began moving down the mountain, and C.C. exited the control room. As she joined Alistair and Lelouch, Mao got up in the cable car and looked at C.C., excitedly, as he descended.

C.C.: You beat him down, impressively.
Alistair: You sound pissed.
C.C.: Turns out that you were right.
Alistair: Preaching to the choir.
C.C.: Remind me to burn this outfit, later.
Alistair: Can do.
C.C.: (hands Alistair jacket) Please, put this back on. You're pythons are showing. As well as your six-pack, past that shirt.
Lelouch: Wait, you're ripped?!
Alistair: One. I have one python. The other one's probably reduced to nothing.
C.C.: I don't care about your logic. You have two arms and legs, to me.
Lelouch: And, to me.
Alistair: Whatever.

Meanwhile, at a town outside of Urausu, Jeremiah and Knight Cross were seeking directions from the local Japanese populace, after the others forgot where the police station was.

Knight Cross: This is the most unbelievable thing that's ever happened, in my career.
Jeremiah: Let's ask that vendor, over there. (approaches vendor) Excuse me, sir.
Japanese Vendor: Yeah?
Jeremiah: We need some directions to Sunagawa. We're with the Tokyo Mavericks.
Japanese Vendor: Mavericks, huh? You look like Britannians, to me.
Jeremiah: Good thing the military thinks I'm KIA, huh?
Japanese Vendor: You egg suckers ruined this country, you know that?
Jeremiah: I plan on redeeming myself, for that bullshit.
Japanese Vendor: Redemption? Please. What's your business with Sunagawa, huh?
Jeremiah: Renegades took over a police station, over there. We need to deal with those asswipes.
Japanese Vendor: Really? And ruin all the disorder we've got? It's basically a paradise.
Jeremiah: What?
Knight Cross: Uh, Jeremiah?

Jeremiah looked around and saw that he and Cross were surrounded by men aiming mysterious firearms at them.

Jeremiah: Ah... Bandits.
Bandit Leader: Selling food isn't even my business. (slams cleaver into cart) Dystopia justifies the means, and all that.
Knight Cross: (whispering) We need backup.
Bandit Leader: Here's how it's gonna go, do-gooders. You're either handing over everything you've got, or you're handing over your heads. Your choice.
Maverick Paladin: (over speakerphone) I don't know.

Immediately, a Mavericks Sutherland appeared and aimed its SMG at the bandits.

Maverick Paladin: How about you quit, now?
Bandits: Kill them all!

The bandits started shooting at the Sutherland, while Jeremiah and Cross took cover behind the food cart.

Knight Cross: (normal tone) This is not what I thought would happen!
Jeremiah: Really!? You didn't expect bandits to show up!?
Bandit Leader: I wholeheartedly agree. You can never expect that to happen.
Jeremiah: (looks at bandit leader) You are literally the guy that is trying to kill us!
Bandit Leader: Yeah. And, I'm having fun with it. Now, quietly sit there, and die!

Immediately, Cross shot the bandit leader in the head, with her revolver.

Jeremiah: Nice gun.
Knight Cross: Thank you.
Jeremiah: (searches corpse) Let's see what he's got. (pulls out strange revolver) What's with this?
Knight Cross: Never seen a model like that, before. What's with the glowing green outline?
Jeremiah: Now, I've got a gun.

As Jeremiah shot at one of the bandits with his new revolver, the bullet connected, and the bandit began to decompose into a strange green substance, while smoking.

Jeremiah: (genuinely shocked) What?!
Knight Cross: What the hell is that gun?!
Jeremiah: It shoots acid?!
Knight Cross: It's these weird guns! That explains the reports! It's like they have some sort of elemental effect to them!
Jeremiah: IT SHOOTS ACID?!
Knight Cross: When the fighting's done, we're mounting these on our walls.
Jeremiah: Why acid?!
Knight Cross: Look at it this way: Armor is now your bitch, with that gun.
Jeremiah: (pauses) Okay... Now, I'm happy.
Knight Cross: Hey, is it getting dark, to you?
Jeremiah: (looks at sky) Hey, there's the moon.
Knight Cross: Look at that. By the way, you make glasses look good.
Jeremiah: Why, thank you.
Mavericks Paladin: Hey, guys? You missed all the fun!
Jeremiah: Well, we dealt with the boss, who had an acid revolver!
Mavericks Paladin: ...What?!

Back at Narita, Alistair and Lelouch arrived at the memorial, where Shirley was waiting for them.

Shirley: Hey. Sorry for all the trouble I caused.
Alistair: No sweat. I'm always used to these sorts of situations.
Lelouch: Truer words have never been spoken.
Shirley: And, Alistair?
Alistair: What's up?
Shirley: I'm sorry about your parents...
Alistair: Don't worry. It was Hawking's fault, not yours.
Shirley: Still... Was there a girl that loved you, back in America?
Alistair: Uh... (rubs right side of forehead) I... I don't know. The forceful amputation kinda screwed up my memory.

Shirley approached Alistair and stopped him from rubbing his forehead. She moved his fingers out of the way, and kissed the spot where he had been stomped by high heels, time and time again.

Shirley: There you go. Now, you have a better memory. I'll see you guys, at the station. (walks away)
Lelouch: Yeah. (looks at Alistair) That was nice of her, huh?
Alistair: (says nothing)
Lelouch: Alistair?
Alistair: (says nothing, tears fall down left eye)
Lelouch: Alistair?!
Alistair: (wakes up) Huh? What? What's going on?
Lelouch: Did you just black out?!
Alistair: That's the second time, too. (notices tears, wipes them away) Huh. Must be something with my subconscious.
Lelouch: Your subconscious reacted to Shirley kissing that spot on your forehead?
Alistair: Yeah. I think it's because it's the nicest thing a girl has ever done for me.
Lelouch: C.C. slept with you, and kissed you on the back of your neck. You cried to that, too.
Alistair: Well... Back in elementary school, I was the student council president, and the vice president was a girl. An African American girl. I... I think she had a crush on me.
Lelouch: You wouldn't return her feelings, would you?
Alistair: No, this kind of crush was more of a kindness thing, a romantic relationship that would leave on a good note. Unfortunately, she didn't get the chance to tell me. (chuckles) How did she know that I would enjoy an interracial romance?
Lelouch: Interracial?
Alistair: Like my parents. My mom was Native American, and my dad was half-Scottish, half-Irish, with one hell of an American accent.
Lelouch: I swear, if a girl doesn't tackle you to the ground and cuddle with you, I'm gonna have to take matters into my own hands.
Alistair: You'll have your ass kicked trying.