Code Geass Heroes' Awakening R2: Turn 7 Part 2

Tokyo, 7:00 p.m. Lelouch was sitting on a train, by himself, still stressed from the previous day.

Lelouch: Damn... I can't stop shaking. Why...? Why won't it stop...?

Lelouch's cell phone rang, and he recognized the number on the caller ID as Kallen's.

Lelouch: (opens cell phone) Please, don't call me, right now. I'm not...good for it, right now. (hangs up) Dammit... Is it still haunting me?

Lelouch's cell phone rang, again, and he answered it, without looking at the caller ID.

Lelouch: I said, now's not a good time.
Sears: (over phone) Lelouch Lamperouge.
Lelouch: ...Marsh Sears.
Sears: We finally have the chance to speak. Hawking told me much about you.
Lelouch: Yeah, well, he was a piece of shit, anyway. He can stay dead, for all I care.
Sears: You can keep your opinions to yourself- (grunts) Dammit, not now! Not...again! (grunts, then chuckles) Evenin'.
Lelouch: What, do you have an urban alter ego, or something?
Sears: Ooh! A guess from the gray sheep turned white sheep! How interesting! But...don't tell me you forgot all about me...Lelouch.
Lelouch: (eyes widen in rage) Samuel Hawking.
Samuel Hawking: Bingo! Can't really project my voice, through Sears' body, so his voice'll do.
Lelouch: How...? How are you here?
Hawking: You know that little blonde kid C.C. probably told ya about, V.V.? Well, he gave Sears a Geass, and got lucky enough to bring me back here.
Lelouch: How would you even figure that C.C. would tell me about him?
Hawking: 'Cause, she's the only one you know that knows about him. Aside from daddy dearest.
Lelouch: What do you want?
Hawking: Obviously, the apocalypse. Your dad's probably got some shitty plan, in the making, so I'll have to...rethink some things.
Lelouch: Including the Last Battalion?
Hawking: They're actually a living relic of the past. So, unless they conform to my rules, their asses are grass.
Lelouch: This is all just a game, to you. You see everyone as a piece on a chess board!
Hawking: See, it ain't solely about the pieces and their roles. It's about who the pieces are. How they fit into life, and how well they can adapt to its recreation, by my hands.
Lelouch: You're the same as when we met, all those years ago. You're still just a childish, sociopathic murderer.
Hawking: Aw, is the rebel who killed people turning hypocritical?
Lelouch: I killed because there weren't any options left, in those situations.
Hawking: And, that's the difference, between you and me. You don't like the fact that people have to die, while I prefer watching people suffer as I walk through the streets.
Lelouch: You're a sickening man, you nihilistic shit!
Hawking: Nihilist? Me? (laughs) Bitch, I'm an idealist!
Lelouch: ...What?
Hawking: Kid, you have no idea what it was like for me, as a kid. Being stuck in a cynical little orphanage, with cynical kids and adults, in a shitty-ass cynical neighborhood, with people constantly complaining about how life's unfair. Day after day, they would keep bitching and moaning and bitching and bitching and bitching, on and on and on and on and on, until I couldn't take it anymore! Life wasn't as shitty as they thought! Not until I was through with them! Cynics think the world's bad? Well, I'll give 'em bad! Let's see ya whine, when you're dead, you shit! (takes a deep breath) So, no. I don't have a negative view of the world. In fact, I view the world in a positive view. And, it makes me sick. Hope is an abomination, a blight on this planet. It scares me. It kills my buzz. I don't have an excuse for killing all the people I've killed. And, I don't need one. I don't do what I do for some good cause, just my own indulgence. I never cared if I lived or died, as long as I had fun with the amount of time I spent alive. I have no dreams, no sense of worth, no identity. I'm just who I am. I'm who that neighborhood made me out to be.
Lelouch: ...You're a sad excuse for a human being. I still don't like you.
Hawking: Kid, you were never supposed to. Nobody was supposed to like me. (hangs up)
Lelouch: Christ... He's a bigger asshole than I thought. And, he's the source of the world's problems. All this...just because of a tantrum?

Meanwhile, aboard the Yatagarasu, Alistair led Seth to the bridge, where people assigned to it were working.

Seth: So big... This was the Blackbird?
Alistair: Yep. Oh, Captain!
Nunnally: Coming, Alistair!

Nunnally was elevated down to Alistair and Seth's level and approached them.

Alistair: God, that looks adorable on you, Nunnally.
Nunnally: (giggles) Thanks. (looks at Seth) Are you one of Alistair's friends?
Alistair: This is-

Seth interrupted Alistair, by signaling him to be quiet. Seth extended his hand toward Nunnally.

Nunnally: Oh. (shakes Seth's hand) Nice...to meet you.
Seth: The pleasure's all mine, Nunnally.
Nunnally: (gasps) That voice...! Seth!
Seth: In the flesh.
Nunnally: Your voice is so deep.
Seth: Yeah... Really didn't figure that it would, though. Don't you worry about a thing, Nunnally. You've got loads of new friends, now, and they're eager to help you.
Nunnally: I'm glad. So, Alistair, where's Lelouch?
Alistair: I dunno. It's nighttime, so it's pretty peculiar that he's out, this long.
Nunnally: Does it have to do with-?
Alistair: Yes, actually. Yes, it does.
Nunnally: You're certain?
Alistair: Slightly bloodshot eyes, receded pupils, almost strained speaking patterns... Yeah, I'm certain. Considering what happened...rationality's gonna be shot.

A few minutes later, Lelouch stepped off the train and walked through the crowd, slightly calmed by the posters of the Tokyo Mavericks' return, with a depiction of Zero shaking hands with Alistair.

Lelouch: (thinking) Can't think straight... Still, this beating...

As night fell, a shady group was beating down a Japanese man.

Japanese Citizen: Please, stop!
Thug A: Cough it up!
Thug B: We'll give what you ask, if you give us the money.
Japanese Citizen: I never asked for anything! You're Japanese, too, aren't you!?
Noble: If you call them that, again, there won't be any mercy, for you. This is supposed to be a Britannian city, after all. Those revolutionary ruffians won't last, much longer. You definitely look like you could use some Refrain...for a price.

Lelouch stumbled into the alley, and he looked at the scene before him.

Lelouch: Is there an exact reason, for this?
Thug A: Get lost, schoolboy!
Thug B: He's Britannian, too... Why's he...?
Lelouch: Those don't sound like answers. Why are Japanese working for some loser with shitty clothes?
Noble: How vulgar. And, did you just say "Japanese"?
Lelouch: That's the factual name, yes. As far as I can see, you've got their lives on a tight leash. How about you loosen it? All the way? Forever.
Noble: It appears this generation has fallen behind on Britannia's ideals. These Elevens are supposed to be under our thumbs, as with everyone else. It's the law.
Lelouch: It's the bullshit distortion.
Noble: It's our way of life.
Lelouch: It's what makes dickless haughty assholes, like you. That's the cliché that pride creates: major shrinkage. No wonder you're such a loser, trying to bully your way through life.
Noble: I just use these fine gentlemen to do my bidding. Is that so wrong?

The noble went to touch Lelouch's face, but Lelouch grabbed his wrist, twisting it away.

Noble: Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow...!
Lelouch: You have no idea how wrong it is. Also...no touching. (activates Geass) Why don't you start off by going bankrupt?
Noble: As you like.
Thug A: Huh?!
Lelouch: Next, you'll release every person you've been screwing over to do your bidding.
Noble: Absolutely.
Lelouch: Finally, go confess your crimes to the cops. (releases noble's wrist)
Noble: Done and done. (walks away, drops Refrain)
Thug A: (pauses) Thanks, kid.
Thug B: (picks up citizen) Come on, buddy. Let's get you someplace safe.


As the Japanese men left, Lelouch saw the Refrain injector that the noble dropped, and picked it up.

Lelouch: (sighs deeply) Where to, next, brain? Where to, next?