Chapter 6: Consultant (First Part) (Patreon)

Kal’tsit has been studying Oripathy and Originum for a long time now, since the moment the Feline woman swore to herself she would find a cure and eradicate this disease from the face of Terra. Many times in the past, though less so in the present, that promise was the only thing that kept her going forward in spite of everything. That was why Kal’tsit considered herself the foremost expert of Oripathy on the whole planet: she had no troubles admitting there were people who know more than her about the technological applications of Originium, like the Rhine Lab folks, but when it comes to Oripathy and the ways it manifests no one can teach her anything new.

At least, that was what Kal’tsit thought until recently. Now, she watched from behind a solid foot of glass and other protective materials as the young Kallen Kozuki-nee-Stadtfeld sat within the quarantine room, slowly but steadily going from irritation to real anger. Silence and Ptilopsis, wearing hazmat suits made to protect from more than just Originium (the fact they were also made by Rhine Lab said a lot about that organization for those who can read between the lines) were inside with Kallen to acquire first-hand data, though the young redhead was clearly handling the necessary prodding poorly. On the other side of the observation room Warfarin and Folinic were watching the data scrolling down their terminal’s screens, furiously taking notes and occasionally requesting new types of tests.

Seeing all this, the Feline woman was forced to admit Oripathy still had some ways to surprise her. It was not a good feeling, and this was not a good situation.

“Isn’t this, you know, way too fast?” The Doctor asked aloud, mask visor briefly checking on the nearby terminals before going back to observe the redhead. There was some levity in his voice, but the straight back and hands kept firmly within his pockets proved he was taking this very seriously. “It’s not like she inhaled Originium dust or ingested crystals. Yes, Blaze has a high blood-crystal density, but what got inside were at most a few drops and not a whole blood pack. So, no matter how you spin it, this is too strange.”

“You’re right, this is anomalous.” Kal’tsit scowled. “The results of Miss Kozuki’s blood test show the very first stage of Oripathy infection, crystals are still forming within her blood vessels. She was born and lived in a completely Originium-free environment. By all accounts, such a violent Arts manifestation is completely illogical.”

“Maybe that’s why?” Amiya was looking at Kallen with a forlorn gaze, saddened by the reminder that, despite no longer being on Terra, Oripathy remained a very harsh problem all of them had to deal with. “Since neither she nor her ancestors ever came into contact with Originium before, she has no inborn resistance?”

The Feline woman bit her lip. Admittedly this wasn’t the first time they met a person who had an impossibly low Originium count in their body, or even a complete absence of it. Rhodes Island had several of them on their payroll. However, all of them were special cases. Furthermore... “No. While a lack of resistance is plausible for her infection, it doesn’t explain the scale of her mutation; the level of energy Miss Kozuki is releasing defies explanation. There is simply not enough Originium within her body to convert, and there are no signs she is cannibalizing her own body as an alternative.”

It was like the energy just came from nothing. It was absurd, it was happening, it was one of Kal’tsit’s very few pet peeves and it was maddening.

The door to the outside slid open with a light hiss. Turning around to see who it was, though the list of possibilities was so low it allowed her to make reasonable guesses, Kal’tsit blinked. Holding back the sudden urge to turn back and check if a certain someone managed to sneak away while she wasn’t looking was easy, but the simple fact the Feline woman felt it in first place was another oddity in a now long, long list.

Lelouch walked inside the observation room, a deep scowl seemingly carved on his lips. Judging by the messy hair and faint whiff of sanitizer he just came out of a Class-3 decontamination process, which explained his new clothes since the old ones, shoes included, were now ash. Since it has been a sudden emergency, Kal’tsit guessed they gave him the first set of available clothes that fit... which apparently was a RI medical suit.

There were differences, of course: to start with, Lelouch was a full ten cm taller than the Doctor and his body shape was leaner. His head was uncovered, and the front of his suit left open. And yet... something in the way he walked, or maybe just his presence, almost made Kal’tsit mistake Lelouch for a younger Doctor.

“I need a tailor immediately.” Was the first thing that came out of the exiled prince’s mouth as he joined them, speaking those words as if they were a matter of life or death. Though his eyes softened slightly when he saw Kallen on the other side of the glass.

“I don’t know, I think you look quite spiffy!” The Doctor chuckled, sounding far too amused at the whole situation that he had any right to be.

Amiya, bless her soul, kept moving her gaze between Lelouch and the Doctor in undeniable curiosity. “I have a bit of double vision myself...”

Lelouch took a deep breath before releasing a long-suffering sight. His eyes met with Kallen, the redhead acknowledging his presence with a nod before harshly jabbing her chin towards the people on his side. The message was clear. “I have been told I have only a few hours before I start puking out even my soul. Could you please hurry with the briefing?”

“A long time between radiation exposure and the onset of vomiting means you absorbed a small dose.” Kal’tsit explained. Luckily Rhodes Island was equipped to handle all kinds of medical emergencies, things like Leithanien Blue and potassium iodide are, if not exactly hard to produce, rarely part of medical stocks on Terra.

After all, the advent of Originium-based industrialization made radioactive materials a dead field of study. The knowledge they had was, even if not minimal, still very limited: Rhodes had the means to cure exposure, but not to fix the underlying causes. They had the assistance of renowned, cutting-edge scientists like Silence and Saria, but they both already told her that even Rhine Lab was still taking its first steps before they left and got transported to Earth. Rhodes Island needed an expert in radioactivity to help them understand why Kallen’s Oripathy was reacting this way, but where to find them?

“About that: exactly what kind of radiation are we dealing with?” He asked with a harsher tone, clearly fed up with the lack of true answers so far. After doing so Lelouch stopped for a few instants, swallowing heavily before continuing with a more subdued tone. “You’re not talking of stuff like radio waves or infrared, right? That they can cause health problems like sunburn and skin melanomas is a well-known scientific fact, but only over long periods of time.”

“No. Do you know the difference between ionizing and non-ionizing radiation?” Seeing Lelouch shake his head Kal’tsit continued. “Ionizing radiation consists of subatomic particles or electromagnetic waves that have sufficient energy to ionize atoms by detaching electrons from them. Not-ionizing radiation, meanwhile, has sufficient energy only to energize atoms.”

“Ionizing radiation causes much more cell damage.” The black-haired boy immediately deduces, jaw clenching.

“Correct. Back on Terra, we discovered a few materials that go through what we dubbed ‘radioactive decay’: their atomic nucleus is unstable, and so constantly releases energy. Initially studied for the phosphorescent properties, we soon found out exposure to them caused severe health problems. Like cancer.” The feline woman grimly stated. While she has not been part of the original teams, she was among those called to deal with the sick. It was no less horrible than the worst cases of advanced Oripathy. “After adequate protections were developed, radioactive materials were briefly considered as a potential source of energy, but then the market soon ended up dominated by Originium.”

Lelouch wanted to point out that, by Kal’tsit’s words, the difference between the two wasn’t so great. But he could tell the Feline woman was perfectly aware of it. “So, Kallen’s Oripathy is making her release ionizing radiation. Despite the fact Originium and radioactive materials should be two different things?”

“Apparently.” Kal’tsit looked at her colleague and her student. “Warfarin, Folinic: have you narrowed it down?”

“Not yet, Dr. Kal’tsit.” The young Medic Operator shook her head with a regretful look. “None of our sensors were made for this, we even had to rewrite the code. So far we excluded only the very upper and lower end of the electromagnetic spectrum.”

“Keep going. If you find a match, even a partial one, inform me immediately!”

Lelouch looked at Amiya with a tired gaze, who could only reply with one of her own, before turning to the Doctor. “Are you waiting for more data too?” After all, surely everyone called him ‘Doctor’ for a reason.

“Actually, I would like to but I don’t think I can offer much aid.” The man rubbed the back of his head, the visor showing a ‘>.<’ emoji. “Apparently I have a doctorate in neurology with a major in Theoretical Originium Applications?”

“What do you mean, ‘apparently’?”

Meanwhile, within the containment room a certain redhead was quickly losing her patience again. It was not like Kallen couldn’t see Lelouch talking with the people of Rhodes Island after her silent request, but with the room being soundproof she had no idea what they were saying and in the present circumstances that irritated her. It reminded her, uncomfortably so, of worse times: before and after the war, when Naoto and her parents would shout at each other and send Kallen back to her room when they caught her eavesdropping. She had been too young at the time to truly understand, but even a child can see when their family is hurting.

She had felt the same now as she had then: hurt and confused and with no idea what to do. That was why being excluded stung so much, why reassurances that everything would turn out alright rang so hollow. Because the last time she’d heard them... had been the last time she’d seen Naoto.

“Initiating social interaction protocols. Patient Kallen, I am in need of your cooperation.” Ptilopsis stepped in front of Kallen with a suddenness that almost made the redhead jump back in alarm. The woman who, for some probably inane reason, spoke half the time like a normal person and the other half like a robot had a cotton swab in her hand and was holding it very close to Kallen’s face. “I require biological samples.”

Kallen scowled. “You already took them.”

“Negative. My colleague Silence collected oral cavity samples.” She blinked slowly, eyes wide like an owl. The large hazmat suit and the thin glass visor only reinforced said impression. “I am in need of intranasal samples.”

Oh yes, because what she needed right now was someone digging within her nostrils. “Pass.” Kallen said blithely and looked away.

Undeterred the orange-eyed woman moved to the side, only for Kallen to look away again. “Patient Kallen, you are behaving irrationally. Requesting cooperation.”

“Leave me alone!” Kallen clenched her teeth so hard, hearing them crack would not have surprised her. She was quickly finding out that being treated like an object or an helpless infant was even worse than just being straight-up ignored. If only she was allowed to blow off some steam. But no, she was apparently a walking hazard now and needed to sit tight and still and just obediently nod her head like a-

“I apologize for Ptilopsis’ bluntness. Kallen, if now is not a good time we can wait until you’re feeling better.” Silence entered the conversation and put a comforting hand on Kallen’s shoulder, having plenty of experience with Ifrit’s moods.

Sadly, the Liberi forgot that what worked for a person didn’t necessarily do the same for someone else. Kallen reeled around at the physical contact, glaring so hotly at the doctor Silence could almost feel the heat on her skin. “Feeling better? How, exactly, I am supposed to feel better without any idea what’s going on!?” Kallen shrieked.

And then there was a loud, shrill sizzle as the smell of burnt rubber filled the room. The eyes of both scientists widened in alarm as the outer layers of Silence’s suit started to darken where her hand touched the redhead’s shoulder. Not to mention the monitoring devices on the wrists blaring loudly and flashing the words ‘EMERGENCY’ in bright red.

“Evacuate the room! Now!” Kal’tsit shouted through the intercoms. Beside her Lelouch was looking just as grimly concerned, and the others weren’t faring any better. “Kallen you need to calm down! The radia—the heat appears linked to your emotions: the more agitated you feel, the higher the temperature rises. For your safety, and ours, you need to control your temper!”

The Feline’s very rational argument went completely ignored. Kallen just glared harder as Silence and Ptilopsis ran out of the quarantine room and the door slammed shut behind them. She then shoved herself to her feet, palms slapping on the hospital cot hard enough to throw it backward and leaving scorch marks where her body touched it, and began pacing around the room. The scowl on her face was a full-blown snarl at this point as she started cursing viciously under her breath, and her gait that of a caged beast who was plotting the bloody murder of their captors.

“Something’s not right. Everyone at school believes Kallen is shy and meek, there is no way she could have fooled all of them for so long with such a bad temper.” Lelouch said. Not to mention it also went against what he observed of Kallen so far: the raven-haired boy considered himself a good judge of character, and this degree of rage certainly appeared out of the ordinary for her. “Oripathy again?”

“Maybe. Violent mood swings are an uncommon symptom, but Oripathy has been observed to alter brain chemistry in past cases. Still...” Kal’tsit bit her lower lip. Moving in front of a computer station she quickly went through the last observations made without even sitting down, but at the end shook her head. “Warfarin, Folinic: keep looking through the data we got so far, I’m going to make a call.”

“Yes Dr. Kal’tsit!”

“Are you going to have someone else leave cryosleep?” Amiya asked, mentally going through her mental list of Rhodes personnel to guess who could help them now. The Doctor would have been her first choice in the past, thanks to his doctorate in neurology, but sadly so far only his tactical genius had returned at full force. Sure he picked up things fast, but medicine remained a complicated field of study that requires years of study and practice to master.

“No, I’m calling someone who knows Kallen better than us and for much longer. We need to confirm if something similar happened in the past or not.” The Feline woman picked up the landship’s internal phone and began typing the number. “Lelouch, he’s part of Kallen’s group. If you don’t want to reveal your identity to them feel free to leave or wear a mask.”

The raven-haired boy didn’t answer immediately, one hand covering his mouth as he considered all possible choices before him. He spoke again only after Kal’tsit finished her call. “I’ll stay. I already shown my face to you and many others, at this point keeping it a secret from Kallen’s resistance group would be both unnecessary and needlessly complicated to enforce.”

The fact so many people knew about his identity bothered him, that was for sure. But only the people of Rhodes were aware of his past as a prince, to Kallen and her group he would be just Lelouch Lamperouge: simply a Britannian student who decided to fight against his birth country for very valid reasons. There would likely still be some measure of friction, but hopefully between Kallen’s situation and the presence of Rhodes’ operators it could be smoothed over relatively quickly.

And beside. Leaving right now, when Kallen’s problem was still without a possible solution, would leave a bad taste in his mouth. Lelouch saw it began, so he ought to stick along until the end. As long as he physically can, at least: already he could feel a hint of discomfort slowly building up at the bottom of his stomach, and it was only going to grow worse.

It didn’t take too long for the people Kal’tsit called to arrive, the guards outside the door confirming their identities before letting them through: the first was Ohgi, the brown-haired man looking like he hardly slept or changed clothes since the battle of Shinjuku, followed by Tamaki.

“You’re here, good.” The Feline doctor greeted Ohgi with a nod, then shot a glance at Tamaki. “I remember only calling you though.”

“Ah, sorry about it. Tamaki insisted on coming with me.” He shrugged, the gesture perfectly conveying the unique mix of resignation and fondness that comes from having Shinichiro Tamaki as an old buddy.

“What’s a Britannian brat doing here?” Said redhead interrupted, glaring suspiciously at Lelouch.

“Hello P-8, R-1. I’m glad to see both of you survived.” Lelouch spoke back with a pleasant tone and a smile, all the while narrowing his eyes in clear annoyance. “As you may guess by my voice I’m the second person that directed you in battle against the Britannian army, leading to the death of several Britannian soldiers, the destruction of a much bigger amount of their military hardware and the first victory of Japanese people against Britannia since the Miracle of Itsukushima. Which, I hope, proves I am not in the employ of the Britannian government or any civilian institution and that I represent neither their interests nor their culture of oppression and social darwinism.”

Tamaki opened his mouth, then closed it without uttering a sound as a look of intense concentration fell on his face. Sadly, Ohgi knew his friend was not reflecting on the logic within the raven-haired boy’s speech but simply slowly going through every word in an effort to understand it.

“Naturally, if you’re in search of cheap retribution for the crimes of my ex-countrymen you’re free to stick around until the medicines I took to avoid dying run their full course and make me puke everything I ate in the last few months, along with the symptoms of a terrible hangover. I’m sure it will be quite the sight.” Lelouch’s smile widened, but there was nothing positive about it. “In the meantime, how about we focus back on the reason you’re here: the possible help you can provide in regard to Kallen’s problem?”

The exiled prince waved his hand at the glass wall: on the other side of it Kallen had stopped to glare at her friends, snorting at Tamaki’s dumbfounded expression before going back to pace around the room as if they didn’t even exist. The reaction didn’t escape Ohgi’s gaze, his eyes widening in surprise. He put a hand on Tamaki’s shoulder and slightly pulled him back, a shake of the head telling the redhead to drop it. “He’s right, we’re here to help Kallen. Sorry about that, I’m Ohgi Kaname and he’s Tamaki Shinichiro.”

The raven-haired boy’s expression lost most of its previous edge. “My name is Lelouch Lamperouge, I go to the same school as Kallen’s. We’re in the same class, actually. She tried to shank me to keep her cover, but I was able to persuade her I’m not an enemy. You can ask her about it.”

“I can’t tell if he wanted to distract them from the topic of his identity, or if he just loves proving himself smarter than other people.” The Doctor whispered to Amiya.

“It’s... a mix of both? Maybe?” The Cautus replied with a hesitant tone, unwilling to talk behind people’s backs even if there was some truth to the Doctor’s words.

Ohgi looked pained at the mention of attempted murder through a sharp blade, as if it was the last thing he wanted to see happening. Deciding that it could wait too for a better, less stressful time he looked at Kal’tsit. “What can we do?”

“Talk with her.” She handed him a microphone. “I want to know if being so angry is normal for her. Not being angry in general, only if the current intensity is abnormal. And if so, how much.”

Nodding in understanding, Ohgi activated the device and faced the angry redhead through the glass wall. “Kallen. It’s me, Ohgi.”

“I saw.” She snapped with a curt tone, not even bothering to slow down or look at him.

The older man reeled back, alarm now coloring his expression. Kallen had a temper, true, but she never went so far as to outright ignore him. “Kallen, what’s wrong? Are you not feeling well?”

“Not feeling well?” She finally stopped and glared at Ohgi, though he could see the cracks at the edges. “Ohgi, I have not felt even remotely well since I woke up this morning. And then things started burning around me! And I swear to GOD, if I hear one crack about me having a ‘fiery disposition’, I am going to—”

“What? What? Things started burning?” Tamaki butted into their conversation, leaning close to speak into the microphone. “Is that, like, some kinda euphemism? Kallen, I get wanting to shank Brits but what exactly are you getting up at that prissy school of—”

“OH SHUT THE HELL UP TAMAKI!!” Kallen roared, eyes narrowed and pupils shrinking slightly as she slammed her palms against the observation room’s glass. An action which left very prominent palm marks scorched on the surface. Another alarm blared as she stalked back to the center of the room and began pacing again, hand lashing out to slap away a nearby bottle of medical gel. The plastic container melted, while the gel started to broil right on whatever surfaces it landed on.

“Another radiation spike!” Warfarin informed everyone as she turned off the alarm. “At this pace quarantine is going to be compromised; I highly recommend we relocate to a remote viewing room.”

“Negative.” The Doctor denied, chopping his hand down in a flat denial. “We’re not leaving her, both because we don’t abandon our allies on principle, and because the absolute last thing we want is for Kallen to feel any more isolated at the moment.”

“I take it you noticed as well?” Kal’tsit noted as she side-eyed him.

“Hard not to, at this point...” the masked-man grumbled as he crossed his arms, his helmet displaying a distinct scowl.

“What’s going on? This is completely unlike Kallen.” Ohgi said, him and Tamaki looking at Kallen with wide eyes. “Yes, wanting to rip Tamaki’s head off is pretty normal—”

“Hey!”

“—and yes, Kallen’s always had a temper. But not this bad!” Ohgi shook his head. “You said there was a... a spike? Is she acting like that because she’s feeling too hot?”

Kal’tsit and the Doctor shared a grim look for a moment before the former spoke. “...In so many words, yes.” The Feline physician nodded grimly. “The temperature is influencing Kallen’s mood.”

“But I thought you said her mood was influencing her temperature?” Lelouch remarked.

“It’s both. She’s trapped in a feedback loop: the angrier Kallen becomes, the hotter she burns and the more she becomes infuriated, and so on and so forth.” Kal’tsit explained her theory. “Originium Arts being connected to a person’s emotions is not unheard of, but this kind of feedback loop is. That’s why I didn't realize it until now.”

“Origi-what?” Ohgi asked. “Is this related to this ‘Oripathy’ you thought Kallen had?”

“Has. Which she has. And you’re presently looking at the extreme end of what this disease can cause.” The Feline doctor made a sharp gesture towards the two palm marks on the glass.

“B-But, you can cure Kallen, right? You’re medics!”

“Rest assured we will treat her. This is Rhodes Island’s creed and mission.” Amiya told Ohgi. Right now was really not the best time to reveal they didn’t yet have a cure for Oripathy, the current problem was much more urgent. “For the moment, we need a way to distract Kallen. Some way to cool her head-”

The girl’s speech was cut off by a commotion... coming from the speakers connected to the quarantine room. Even Kallen, who was close enough to hear the muffled voices much better, stopped to stare at the air-locked door. Until, with a hiss of displaced air and a mechanical whirring, the entrance slid open.

“What are they doing? I haven’t rescinded the order to evacuate!” Kal’tsit complained. Then she saw the one stepping inside the room and squinted her eyes. Because it was the last person she expected to see disobeying an order. “Mudrock?”

Indeed, it was the hammer-wielding and earth-manipulating Sarkaz woman in her full-body containment suit. Or rather, the Feline doctor quickly realized, someone wearing Mudrock’s suit or a spare: the Sarkaz moves slowly but firmly when wearing the large suit, owning it to years of practice, while the newcomer waddled forward in clear discomfort. Also, they had no hammer with them.

“Hey Red! Sorry I’m late!” A voice the people of Rhodes Island, and Kallen, easily recognized even through the helmet’s distortion boomed as the door closed shut behind the figure.

“...Blaze?” The redhead blinked in disbelief. “What are you doing here?”

“Chafing, and mighty so. I chose the first suit on hand, but I miscalculated the measurements. It’s too tight!” She tugged at the sleeves and collar before shrugging and assuming a boxing stance. “Anyway, let’s spar.”

“What.” Kallen and the rest of those listening said at the same time upon hearing those words. Except Kal’tsit, lidded eyes staring in disapproval at the scene and once again silently bemoaning the fact the majority of Rhodes’ Operators all shared the same characteristic: the more reliable they were, the more they had a discipline problem. At least Blaze was wearing a proper suit, otherwise she would have put a stop to this immediately instead of watching how it goes.

“Let’s spar.” Blaze repeated, punching the air a few times. “You’ve been cooped up here for hours with nothing to do, right? You must be feeling restless. A good workout is the best remedy for that.”

Kallen stared blankly at the Feline before snorting through her nostrils. “Blaze, I really don’t feel like it. Just leave me alone for now.”

“Oh, then I guess yesterday was all smoke and no fire. And here I thought you a fellow fiery spirit, what a shame.” The light mocking within Blaze’s voice made it obvious she knew very well what kind of reaction that particular choice of words was likely to provoke. And by the way Kallen stood ramrod straight it worked all too well. “Come on Red! Don’t you feel your blood boil in anticipation?!”

“SMARTASS!” Kallen yelled. She dashed forward and punched, the fist sailing towards Blaze’s face before the Operator caught it with a gloved hand. Without missing a beat the redhead pulled back, spun on one heel and delivered an uppercut with the other arm; the blow was once again caught. “You think you’re funny?!”

“I’m not funny, I’m hilarious. And is that really all you got? Come on, one-two, one-two. And don’t just stick with your fists, how about—whoa!” Blaze let out a laugh as she narrowly blocked a kick to her side with her forearm. “There we go! Alright, keep it coming, work the center! Show me what you got, Red!”

And so the exchange went, with the blows coming harder and faster by the second... but far less sloppily, and far less heated as well.

“...Warfarin. Status?” Kal’tsit asked out after a few seconds of silence.

“The temperature level is stable... No, it just went down a bit.” The Vampire remarked with wonder. “I can’t believe it. We just needed to get her tired?”

“Well duh, it’s Kallen. She’s happiest when she’s beating into something with her fists.” Tamaki said, as if he thought it was obvious and anyone who couldn’t immediately see it was an idiot. Said words earned him a withering glare from Warfarin, so naturally he took cover behind Ohgi.

“Regardless of how, unorthodox Blaze’s approach is—” Kal’tsit’s tone conveyed a desire for coffee and the intention to have words with the Feline Operator once things were more stable. “We found a method to keep Kallen’s condition from deteriorating further and made important steps forward in understanding her case. But Blaze has a limited amount of time in there before we have to pull her out for her own health and safety, at which point we’ll be back to square one. Options?”

“Standard protocol is to administer the proper Oripathy suppressants so that the patient’s condition can be stabilized, and in the worst case to try and excise the worst of their lesions...” Folinic posited hesitantly, before shaking her head in dismay. “But... that’s not so easily done here. Because of the radiation Miss Kozuki is putting out, any medication we attempt to give her will be rendered ineffective at best. At worst? It could kill her. And no medication means no anesthesia either, so that excludes surgery as well.”

“It all comes back around to her Arts,” the Doctor summarized grimly, bringing a hand up to rub at the chin of his helmet. “Until we can neutralize them, we can’t properly treat her, and Kallen will remain a threat to herself and others.”

“I don’t suppose something as convenient as an all-purpose Arts suppression device exists?” Lelouch asked semi-hopefully. The bark of derisive laughter from Warfarin was answer enough.

“There are devices to interfere with the working of Arts. But those need to be tuned to the specific type, and even if we knew enough to do so, they aren’t strong enough for what we need.” The Doctor elaborated, gazing upwards thoughtfully. “Maybe if we also had someone who can manipulate ice to help... No, we already saw that the radiation released by Kallen does not act like normal heat. We need to understand what it is and how it behaves first.”

“Were Silence and Ptilopsis able to get anything in the short time they had?” Amiya asked Folinic.

“Something, yes. Ptilopsis even wrote a few speculative equations for the radiation reading in record time, based on what she remembers from recording data for Rhine Labs’ Energy Department.” She disconnected a tablet from the computer and handed it to Kal’tsit. “Though she warned the probability of them being correct is lower than 30%.”

“Better than what we had so far.” The older Medic scrolled down the pages, gaze taking on the listen equations and quickly going through them within her head. She grimaced. “I see some similarities to what we know, but I don’t recognize the rest.”

“I do.” Lelouch said suddenly, having looked over the Feline’s shoulders together with the others. When everyone looked at him he held out a hand. ”May I?”

Wordlessly Kal’tsit gave him the tablet. Creating a new page in the document, Lelouch hummed and then began to write on the touchscreen. Slow at first, as if recalling a memory, and then faster and faster. Once done he gave the tablet back to the Medic.

“...They fit. The theory is incomplete, but it’s still much more accurate than Ptilopsis’s equations.” Kal’tsit declared after checking the math Lelouch wrote. She handed the device back to Folinic. “Send the file to Silence and the others from Rhine, have them double-check it!”

“Yes Doctor Kal’tsit!”

“I thought you said you knew nothing about radioactive materials?” The older woman asked Lelouch after Folinic left.

“I don’t. But I have seen similar equations in the past, and I wrote down what I could remember of them.” The exiled prince explained. He didn’t mention he’d trained himself to have a photographic memory: some tricks were better kept in his pocket, just in case. “There’s a student at my school called Nina Einstein with a science scholarship, she’s working on a personal project about possible new energy sources. She’s shown me her work on occasion, that’s where I saw those equations.”

Admittedly, that was only because he once caught her working alone in the Student Council Room and Nina was so focused on it she only realized his presence after several minutes. And only after Lelouch proved he could follow the high mathematics involved did Nina shyly agree to explain more of her project. Which was more than anyone else at Ashford could boast beside a few professors: it had been an interesting mental challenge at the time, but since full understanding required knowledge Lelouch had no need for he quickly pushed it aside for more important matters. Like acquiring reliable contacts in the weapon black market and a scapegoat nobody would mourn in case the police got too inquisitive or lucky.

“Oh? If it has such brilliant students in its ranks, then Ashford Academy must be a very prestigious school.” The Doctor commented while stroking his chin, the tone suggesting neutral interest. However, those who knew him well recognized it as the hint the masked man was developing an idea: usually they turn out to have a positive outcome, but on the other hand they almost always involve a lot of headaches and extra paperwork.

“It is: eccentric because of the headmaster and current student council president, and the usual Britannian biases are still present, but Ashford has been recognized as Tokyo’s best school.” Lelouch nodded. While it could do little to change Britannia’s Social Darwinism, as any history lesson there could attest, the raven-haired boy had to admit the school did its job well. Now, if only Milly could graduate already and grant everyone some amount of peace.

Even if a small part of Lelouch feared he would find the absence of the excitable blonde and the chaos she sows in her wake inexplicably boring.

“If this is just a part of her research, then she must be much further ahead than any of us. No, probably this whole world...” Kal’tsit muttered to herself before nodding and looking at the exiled prince. “Lelouch, we need to bring this Nina Einstein here. She can be the key to understanding Kallen’s condition and develop an appropriate countermeasure.”

An understandable request considering the gravity of the current situation, Lelouch had no desire to see what would happen if Kallen’s already volatile condition degenerated even further. However, they were talking about Nina. “I hope you realize we’re talking about involving, intelligence aside, a completely normal student into this. Furthermore, Nina is very shy and withdrawn: she’s not the target of bullying only because she’s part of the student council and is friends with the president. Even then, unless forced, she prefers to spend much of her time alone.”

“So, rather than betraying us to the authorities, she’s more likely to have a panic attack?” Lelouch wordlessly nodded. “I understand, but we don’t have a better option. Can you persuade her to help us?”

Could he? Normally Lelouch had the utmost confidence in his ability to make people do whatever he wanted with just a few carefully chosen words. The very fact Rhodes Island was now helping him against Britannia attested to that. But with such prowess also came the understanding of how much he can realistically push it. Dragging Nina out of her comfort zone, not for something normal like attending a get-together but to help a secret anti-Britannian organization that came from another world and possesses what could be rightfully classified as alien technology... Well, now this was sounding like a movie. And not the type that Nina enjoys, if she watches them as all.

But to be perfectly honest, Lelouch worried the only way this could work without forcing Nina at gunpoint was to reveal his heritage and take advantage of Britannia’s social norms towards royalty. For a few moments the youth considered the power within his right eye... No, no. It would solve a small problem but open up a much bigger one, and Lelouch wouldn’t leave something to his future self to handle just because it was much easier in the short-term.

Even if the rolling at the bottom of his stomach made the temptation very real.

“I can, though it will probably help if some of you, like Doctor Kal’tsit, are there with me. To speak to Nina as fellow scientists.” No reason to do everything by himself. Next Lelouch eyed Ohgi and Tamaki. “When she gets here, it’s probably for the better if you two... aren’t around.”

“What, you saying she’s got a problem with us Japanese?” The redhead scowled. Considering they were talking about another Brit that wasn’t surprising, but like hell he would leave just to make someone like that feel better.

“Well, considering how she and her family immigrated here within a year of Japan’s conquest...” Lelouch’s tone was perfectly flat and dry. Because while he really wanted to be sarcastic, this was not a topic to make fun of.

Both Ohgi and Tamaki winced at the reminder of how much of an utter shitstorm those twelve months have been. Japan’s army may have been defeated, but the civilians were unsurprisingly less than enthused about the army of a foreign country who they only heard bad things about rolling in, killing people and acting like the survivors should kiss the ground they walked on. So naturally they objected, with everything that was at hand. Towards anyone unlucky enough to be within reach.

The less said about it the better, but even Tamaki admitted they didn’t exactly cover themselves in glory during those days. Only the hardcore fanatics viewed said time in a positive light, and that sure as hell didn’t include anyone in their cell.

“You’re saying she was...?” Ohgi asked, dreading the answer. Young and female? There were horror stories that started like that.

“Nothing quite that bad, but she was eleven years old: an impression was made and never corrected.” Lelouch didn’t know the exact details, but he made a habit of looking into the backstory of everyone who he associated with. And everyone who had an excuse to step within five hundred meters of Nunnally, of course. “She and her family got caught up in a riot, they all escaped with a few bruises but there were a lot of dead on both sides. And her parents... well, I never got the impression they cared about anything beside her grades.”

Which still made them better than Charles bloody zi Britannia. Not that it was such a high bar to clear. “On the other hand, she lives alone so we don’t need to worry about her parents.”

“Good. Then let’s move on: time is of the essence.”

====

Another day of classes was over. Another day of education at one of Tokyo’s most prestigious schools that Nina Einstein politely doubted would help her often in life, if at all. Scientific subjects? She already mastered them past what even an assistant professor would study. Humanities? Either unrelated to her chosen path in life, completely uninteresting to Nina or, in the case of history, actually bloody suspicious.

Not that she even mentioned as such to anyone. Nina was a polite and quiet young woman that never caused problems. She never made a nuisance of herself and everyone knew she didn’t care much about interpersonal drama, so they never interacted with her besides when absolutely necessary. Most days she was basically part of the decor: something supposed to be there and so completely ignored.

She was not bitter about it. Not at all. And even if she was... well, doing something to change the status quo would necessitate Nina address certain issues. Issues she wanted to keep buried as deep as possible in the farthest, most solitary corner of creation to never see the light of the day ever again so that Nina could continue her life while pretending they never existed in the first place.

Maybe one day she would change that. Maybe. But it was not today, or any of the days in the foreseeable future.

Stepping out of the subway train Nina quickly left the station, breathing a small sigh of relief when she was outside and free from the cage of human bodies constantly pushing against each other within an enclosed space never designed to hold so many of them. But the sky was almost completely dark, so walking as quickly as possible without it looking strange she made a beeline towards her house. Nina had been too engrossed in her work to notice the time, the student council room after everyone else left was a good place to work but the young green-haired woman liked being out at night even less than being forced to rub shoulders with a complete stranger that smelled of sweat, coffee and sheer apathy.

Bad things happened at night. Bad things happened in the day too, but Nina drew the line at staying cooped up inside her house all the time. Mostly because it was not sustainable in the long run, and some scraps of her self-esteem, but mostly the ‘not sustainable’ part: living cost money, her experiments cost money, and money didn’t grow on trees. So she would take the lesser of two evils and act as society demanded.

Nina lived in an apartment building, as was the case for all not-noble Britannian citizens living in Tokyo. For most of them it was a matter of money, but even those who earn a lot like the green-haired girl’s parents had next to no chance to own a single story house. That was because the Tokyo Settlement’s best residential areas had been reserved and sold to nobles through back-room deals before the documents about their existence reached real estate agencies. Which meant the remaining terrain had to be covered in tall apartment buildings in order to accommodate the immense influx of people transfering from the Homeland in search of new opportunities in the newly conquered Area. A new, better life.

Sometimes she wondered how many of them knew they were lying to themselves. Her parents certainly didn’t.

But again, those were some of the issues she had no intention to deal with today. So she shoved them back into a mental pit and took the elevator to her apartment’s floor. Luckily it was empty and remained so until her destination, so with a brief sigh of relief Nina left the metal box.

Only to come to an abrupt stop, eyes widening in disbelief behind her glasses at the sight of someone standing in front of the door to her apartment. Someone she knew very well. “L-Lelouch?! Are... you alright?” Nina stuttered, other very important questions like ‘how’ and ‘why’ taking a back seat because the boy looked, well, horrible: his skin was pale and clammy, normally luscious hair having lost most of its luster and his eyes looked feverish. It’s not like he has never been sick before, some of those absences had to be true, but Lelouch never showed himself at school at anything but his best.

“Hello Nina. I would say I’m fine, but that would be too obvious of a lie.” For a moment Lelouch grimaced, then forcefully pulled his lips into a strained smile. “Those are just the after-effects of a medicine I took, it’s nothing serious.”

Nina was under the impression medicines were supposed to make one feel better, not worse. Even if it was none of her business what Lelouch got up during-that’s right Lelouch was in front of her house! “H-How do you know where I live?!”

He didn’t answer immediately, seemingly mulling over his answer. “Not to worry you, but I have access to many of the school’s files.”

Well she thought that was plenty worrying!

“I’ll be frank: Nina, I need your help.” Taking a step to the side Lelouch gestured to the door to Nina’s apartment. “But the details are better discussed in private. If you could?”

Lelouch Lamperouge wanted to go inside her house, with the two of them alone? Nina knew girls that would kill for such privilege. More specifically, they would kill her. Did he even know what it sounded like?

...Knowing Lelouch, either it flew over his head like Shirley’s absolutely obvious signals or he knew and just didn’t care. That was another reason she preferred numbers over people: unlike the latter, they made sense.

It was only because Lelouch was one of the few people at school that expressed interest in her work, even if he lacked the background to fully understand it, and the fact he was between Nina and her home that the green-haired girl made her next decision. “Al... Alright. This sounds serious, so I guess I can hear you out.”

Taking out her key and opening the door while Lelouch watched her somehow felt incredibly awkward, as if Nina was showing a very private part of her life to a complete stranger. Hopefully she was just overthinking it. Pushing the door open she took a few steps inside, noticing with annoyance that she left the light on. What a waste of—

There was a woman in her house. Sitting at her table, and reading through what Nina would recognize everywhere as her notes. The stranger had very pale green hair, bordering on silver, and green eyes. She was wearing a sleeveless one-piece dress, a semi-transparent doctor coat and a black shoulder cape. More eye-catching were the cat ears on the unknown woman’s head, proving her another follower of that asinine and wasteful fad, and the fact a stranger was in her house and was reading through her notes!!!

“W-W-Who are you?” Nine shrieked in fright. The door slammed shut at the same time, the loud sound covering the shout and startling the frightened girl. Looking behind her shoulders Nina saw Lelouch, for who else could be the culprit, leaning against the door with his arms crossed. Blocking the only escape route, a cynical and very loud part of her mind pointed out.

“Someone who’s impressed by your work.” The woman replied without looking up. There was something in her voice that gave the impression she was older than appearance suggested, wiser too.

That was... nice to hear, but also kind of creepy. Because, again, Nina opened her locked door and found a stranger in her apartment! She believed that was worth stressing, because it was!

“It’s clear you can predict fluctuations in the data well in advance, adjusting the settings to keep the reaction stable. By contrast, stabilizing the output and minimizing the waste is slower, but thanks to your ability progress is consistent.” The green-haired woman continued, leaving Nina more gobsmacked than afraid because this was the first time someone understood her work to such a degree. Beyond the few university professors to whom Nina sent selected and without context parts of her work, making it so they would be unable to gain a full understanding of her discoveries and steal them.

Yes, it happened and more times than the tabloids admitted. Nina was an introvert, and that led to searching for new stuff to read in the unlikeliest of places. “You... you understand nuclear physics?”

“After a fashion. I have a passable knowledge of exotic energies, but my specialty lies in biology.” The cat-eared woman admitted, which was plausible due to nuclear radiation’s effects on living beings. A secure containment system was one of the more difficult challenges, but a necessary one to overcome. “Which is why we’ve come to you. Please, sit down. You too Lelouch.”

Nina didn’t react immediately, still paralyzed by the strangeness and suddenness of everything. Lelouch walked past her, slightly dragging his feet and with a hand over his stomach, and sat next to the still unnamed woman. It may look like he was giving Nina some trust, but again they were inside her house. What were her alternatives, going back to her parents?

Fat chance of that happening.

With a reasonable amount of trepidation Nina slowly made her way to the table and sat on the opposite face, facing both Lelouch and the cat-eared woman. She kept her blouse firmly on her lap, ready to grab the pepper spray within. Not that she even tried to use it before, which didn’t speak well of her chances of success, but it was far too late to complain. “W-Who are you?”

“I am Doctor Kal’tsit, you can leave the ‘doctor’ part out if it’s easier. A pleasure to meet you, Nina Einstein.” The cat-eared woman finally introduced herself, putting down Nina’s notes and gazing at her with eyes that... calling them piercing didn’t give them justice. More like dissecting, as if the mousy girl was a new and intriguing object to take apart and analyze. “And I was told you and Lelouch are already acquainted with each other. Like I said before, your expertise in nuclear physics is the reason we are here. You may wonder who I mean with ‘we’. Unfortunately, I am not at liberty to discuss that at this time, but suffice to say that my organization is very confidential and our work of the utmost importance. Simply put, this is a matter of national security.”

Nina’s eyes widened as she made the only leap she could have, given the circumstances: the OSI. The Office of Secret Intelligence, the Britannian Empire’s intelligence agency that answers only to the Emperor. Basically the watchdogs that hunted the whole nation for any sign of disloyalty and then signed death warrants for the military to execute. Nina was unaware if there was another agency handling Britannian Intelligence, but she supposed not letting people know of their existence was also part of their job.

It also made things go from scary to absolutely terrifying. Nina had only Kal’tsit’s word, but no matter how remote just the possibility she was telling the truth was enough to send Nina’s heart beating faster than a racing car driven by a blind drunk. And to the bespectacled girl’s surprise, she realized it wasn’t just out of fear but also excitement: wasn’t this something she’s been dreaming about all her life? To escape this mundane life and gain a position where she could use her knowledge to enact real changes? So what if her fantasies to be a brilliant inventor in a spy movie never saw the light of the day outside of some very secret notebooks and she later settled for the far more realistic goal of being a scientist? She was allowed to have secrets that would make her die of embarrassment if they were ever revealed, even if their absence would make things so much easier!

Except. There was just one tiny detail that didn’t fit. Something that Nina couldn’t ignore even if she really should. “You?” She moved her head to stare at Lelouch, eyes full of disbelief. “You’re... involved with people like this? But... but you’re just—ah,” she coughed, hastily rethinking what she was saying. “I-I mean, no offense Lelouch, but... the biggest accomplishment I can think of with you is that you’re the student council VP. How...?”

The black-haired boy didn’t answer immediately, his grimace gaining a thoughtful air. Fingers tapped harshly on the table’s surface for a few seconds, then with the expression of someone who wished they could take this decision with all of their mental faculties intact Lelouch reached into jacket and took out his wallet. Opening it he searched for something before taking out what looked like an old photograph and putting it on the table facing Nina. Understanding the gesture the green-haired girl looked at it, and to her surprise it showed someone who came up many times when Nina studied Britannia’s history of Sakuradite usage. “I-Imperial Consort Marianne vi Britannia? The first Knightmare pilot?”

Lelouch raised an eyebrow. Nina was not an expert in reading people’s expressions beyond the obvious, but he looked almost impressed. “Not many people know of her name and deeds nowadays, as she fell out of public interest a few years after her death. But look closer.”

Closer? Well she was wearing a nice dress, and smiling for the camera while standing in the middle of a beautiful garden. Oh, and at her side were two children... children that looked very—!

Feeling her blood turning to ice, a now very pale Nina raised her head to stare at Lelouch. When she read how Queen Marianne was a former Knight of the Round and almost single-handedly allowed the Ashford Foundation to develop the Third Generation of Knightmare Frames she looked up the woman’s history, hoping to find something else that could help with her work. That was how she knew Queen Marianne had two children, who were declared dead after being sent to... “You and Nunnally aren’t named after the lost prince and princess, are you?”

“However much it would make my life easier... no.” Lelouch said those words as if pulling out a bad tooth, just like the times he was forced to agree with one of Milly’s most outlandish ideas. “My birth name is Lelouch vi Britannia, mine and Nunnally’s mother was Queen Marianne.”

Oh. So all this time she’s been schoolmates and friends with royalty-HOW?! ”Y-y-your Highness...” Out of sheer instinct and panic Nina’s body began to stand up and kneel, a response ingrained into her very being by centuries-old social norms. She was a Commoner, not even a lower Noble, so it was only logical to-

“Don’t.” Lelouch barked out with more authority than she ever heard him use. He wasn’t even looking at her, eyes closed with fingertips pressed over them and one hand raised to show his open palm, but Nina nonetheless obeyed immediately and returned to her previous position. When he recovered Lelouch looked more tired than before, but there was a hard glint in his eyes. “I’m sorry Nina, but there’s a reason Nunnally and I are living under false names. My mother was murdered, and I have reasons to believe the culprits are looking out to finish the job. Anonymity is the only real shield that can protect us at the moment.”

She wanted to point out that members of the Royal Family were the most protected people in the whole empire. Except. Queen Marianne died in a terrorist attack, there were many people outside of the empire willing to pay their weight in gold for the chance to kill a prince or princess and the Emblem of Blood was a well documented (if slightly embarassing) historical event where the whole Royal Family slaughtered each other to a single man in a bid for the crown.

Oh. So that was what having a giant target painted on your back felt like. Suddenly a lot of things about Lelouch made sense in hindsight.

“That is one of the reasons why Lelouch is working with us.” Kal’tsit re-joined the conversation, still looking as calm as ever. “Now, Miss Einstein, can I count on your collaboration?”

Nina could only wordlessly nod. Really, what other possible response there was?

“Excellent. Now, we need your knowledge of nuclear physics to help a patient.” Nina blinked in confusion. “This isn’t about the negative effects of radiation on people, we already know how to treat them. No, this patient’s circumstances are much more... complicated. We need to understand the hows and whys behind a few of the radiation’s odd behaviors in order to properly help the patient.”

They needed her for medical purposes? That was, uh, Nina was working towards a new energy source but she would be happy too if her research also helped medicine. And hey, scientific advancements often come from the unlikeliest of places. Maybe a never before seen form of mutation? Or maybe this patient was somehow resistant to radiation? The more Nina’s mind went to familiar shores the weaker the panic became... well, to an extent. “I... Alright, yes I will help. If you send me the data-”

“Rejected.” The cat-eared woman denied Nina’s proposal immediately. “We can’t risk the data being intercepted. And it needs to be live data, not just recorded, given how volatile the situation is. Let me stress this, Miss Einstein: if we don’t do something soon, the patient will die. And from what we saw so far, it is not certain their will be the only death.”

...Was she talking about a person with a health problem, or a power plant close to a meltdown? Yes all the secrecy made sense if an intelligence agency secretly sheltering a prince and princess thought dead was involved, but Kal’tsit was sending Nina more than a few mixed signals. The details didn’t add up, she needed context.

And it seemed there was only a single way this could continue. “You want me to come with you. To see this patient.”

“That is correct.” The woman replied, with Lelouch nodding next to her.

Surprising even herself, Nina nodded back. Like they said, in for a penny...

====

Being a secret agent must pay a lot, Nina mused to herself as she followed Kal’tsit and Lelouch through the corridor of what she was reasonably sure was an underground facility, past yet another worker with animal parts cosmetics (she forgot the name the media were using, nor had she any desire to recall it). Animal ears, animal tails, horns and one even had a halo with light-like wings on their back! Nina had no idea how it worked, save that they must have made a surgeon very rich.

Oh and they kept her blindfolded until they reached the entrance to the base, which was a giant hole in the wall of an abandoned room leading downward. That was why she said ‘reasonably sure’ about the base being underground.

Oh, and the logo occasionally appearing on the walls and standard uniforms: she didn’t recall reading about a ‘Rhodes Island’ in her studies, but the one below was part of the Hippocratic Oath. Her earlier assumption about intelligent services felt, if not wrong, more nuanced than she initially assumed.

Lelouch almost tripped, steading himself against the wall to avoid falling over. His skin was paler than before, sweating a lot more, and his breathing was ragged. He looked ready to faint any moment now. “You’re at your limit.” Kal’tsit looked closer at Lelouch’s face. “Go to the infirmary, after emptying your stomach and sleeping for a few hours you’ll feel much better.”

“Not... Not yet.” With seemingly supreme effort Lelouch straightened his posture, as if trying to browbeat his body into compliance through sheer will. Which was not outside of the realm of possibility, the black-haired boy was as stubborn as Milly was eccentric. “At least, not until you find a more permanent solution. I need to see this through to the end.”

“Stubborn boy.” The cat-eared woman clicked her tongue. Nina was not an expert in human language, quite the contrary, but for a moment there was more than exasperation on Kal’tsit’s face: she didn’t know what it was, but it made her wonder for how long the two had know each other.

Still, it seemed to Nina as if Lelouch really cared about this patient. Could it be... No, if it was Nunnally he would be much more restless. And he would not have waited for Nina to arrive home, let alone asked.

Finally they arrived at what looked like an observation room, split in two by a thick wall of transparent glass: the half they entered was full of computers (she didn't recognize the type. A custom one?) and other devices, while the other... uh. Like a hospital room that someone trashed, there was a single bed still standing and over it a red-headed girl around Nina’s age was drowsing off.

Kal’tsit looked to the side before fixing a couple of women, the only ones in the observation half before their arrival, with a glare. “Weren’t they just training?”

“Don’t look at me.” The one with very, very red eyes and pointed ears protested. “Kallen mentioned it was getting boring, so Blaze kicked it up a notch... But the temperature went even further down!”

“It’s true, Doctor Kal’tsit.” Another woman with cat ears, through hers were positioned by the sides, added.

“Because she’s too tired to be angry.” Kal’tsit nodded, still visibly angry but more controlled. “Miss Einstein, they are Warfarin and Folinic.” She gestured first to the red-eyed woman and then to the second one. “The patient is Kallen Stadtfeldt, and as you can see she’s in isolation for her own safety and that of others. For now we have a temporal window of calm, but it will not last long.”

On a second look Kallen looked kind of familiar, but... no, if they met before it had been too little interaction for Nina to remember. Though that may be due to the newfound rising panic at being the center of attention. “H-Hello! So, uhm, the data...?”

“Here.” Folinic typed something on a keyboard before offering Nina the seat. The green-haired girl gulped and looked back at Lelouch, but he had both hands on his knees and was taking deep breaths. “In for a pound...” Nina whispered under her breath before sitting down and looking at the screen.

She stared. Anxiety, panic and every other issue swept away by the sheer absurdity of what she was reading. Nina scrolled down to the next page. And the next. And the next. The whole premise was absurd and some words had been censored but the readings made too much sense to be fictional. At the end she switched between staring at the screen and the drowsing redhead a few times before looking up at the three women looming over her shoulders. “She is the one emitting the radiation? How?!”

“That’s why we called you here.” Warfarin drawled.

“No you don’t understand!” Nina hissed through clenched teeth. Social anxiety? What was that? Nothing else mattered in front of this scientific impossibility but rightful indignation. “Biological matter do not work that way. It can absorb radiation like inorganic matter, but it does not naturally include atoms heavy enough to be subjected to radioactive decay. The heaviest element within the human body is iodine! And yet Kallen is... I, I honestly can’t believe she isn’t dead yet! Being subjected to that much radiation, for so long—!”

She should be a puddle of melted cancerous flesh, that was what Nina would have said if the mental image wasn’t too horrible to contemplate.

“The circumstances and exact cause for Miss Stadtfedt’s present condition are within the remit of our knowledge, and we are capable of effectively neutralizing the threat it poses to her health.“ Kal’tsit said, trying to reassure Nina but actually explaining nothing. “The radiation itself, however, is beyond the scope of our knowledge. We require an effective means of neutralizing it, before we can begin to properly treat the patient. We believe those same circumstances have given her a measure of resistance to her selfsame affliction. But this resistance has its limits, and should she push them too hard...”

Nina just stared back with a blank expression. She tossed another glance at the screen before facing the cat-eared woman again. “What are those circumstances?”

“Classified.” Kal’tsit replied immediately. “Discovering Lelouch’s past was necessary to prove our legitimacy, but—”

“Is this related to the micro-crystals in her blood slowly cannibalizing her cells to spread?” Nina interrupted, feeling more brave and daring than ever. She knew it was temporary and the aftermath would be horrible, but that sounded like a problem for future Nina. “For goodness’ sake, if you need to censor a text don’t just use the Find and Replace function. People can extrapolate from the context.”

“Warfarin!” Kal’tsit frowned at the red-eyes woman, as if contemplating a horrible and humiliating punishment.

“I didn’t have enough time! I did the best I could!” Warfarin defended herself, arms crossed over her chest and stepping back.

“Miss Einstein.” Folinic put a hand over her chest. “Listen, I realize this is a very stressful situation for you, and I am so sorry about that, but you’re a woman of science like us. You know that the purpose of science is to help people! Your research and knowledge can help someone, right here, right now.”

“I know!” Nina screamed back, throwing her hands in the air. That was the whole point of all her efforts: to make the world a better place. Sure the consequent recognition would be nice, and the fame scary, but all she truly wanted was to help other people while doing what she loved. However! “What are those crystals? How are they related to the case? Why did you never expect to meet radiation? I can’t work if you hide critical important data from me! Do you know how dangerous that is?”

“I do! Truly! But I swear we have a good reason for keeping those secrets. Please, you’re the best hope that Miss Kozuki ha—!” Folinic cut herself off as she slapped a hand over her own mouth, her expression absolutely stricken, but it was too late. The damage was already done.

And just like that Nina’s mind came to a screeching halt. Before restarting again, pedal to the metal and adrenaline flooding her bloodstream as she quickly put the pieces together. Fake name. Or both true and one hidden. Kozuki was not a Britannian surname, but an Eleven’s.

“Miss Einstein?”

Screams. Blood. Shots. People running and crying and murdering each other everywhere, Mom dragging her into an alcove and ordering her to be silent while she tends to Dad’s swollen ankle.

“She’s having a panic attack!”

But Mom doesn’t tell her to avert her gaze, doesn’t even look at her unless to reprimand her when she starts whimpering. So she scurries into a corner, closing her eyes and blocking her ears with her hands.

“Nina, listen to me! You’re safe here! There’s no danger!”

No danger she says. No danger, even if the screams and shots and explosions are too loud to be blocked and the smell of blood and burning things make her gag but if she covers her nose she can’t cover her ear so what’s the lesser of two evils? But they care, don’t they? They care about Kallen living or dying even if she’s an Eleven and what kind of Britannian researcher would actually give a rat’s ass if a Number is comfortable or not? What intelligence services they never actually said that did they she just assumed stupid Nina stupid stupid she needs to leave she needs to leave now!

“NO!” She leaped to her feet, eyes widened in fright, and tried to run toward the exit but Warfarin and Folinic grabbed her. “Let me go!”

“Can you please just. Stop. Screaming?!” Lelouch shouted, looking even more feverish than before. He was trembling, and his eyes were unable to focus on Nina for long. “You just need to read the data, not talk with Kallen! That isn’t so difficult!”

“Lelouch, she’s having a panic attack.” Kal’tsit scowled harder. Mostly because she realized neither of the two youths was really listening to her. “Warfarin, go and prepare a shot of antidepressant.”

Nina began struggling even harder. “I can’t stay here! Not with an Eleven! No no no!”

“Oh for the love of—!” In the middle of all the turmoil Nina and Lelouch locked their gaze for a few seconds. A distant part of her brain noticed in confusion his left eye suddenly turning red. “Nina, get over it already!”

And then Nina’s world turned into an incredibly fast ride down a tunnel of light that seemed to go on forever.

“Woah!” Warfarin exclaimed when the green-haired girl suddenly went slack into her arms, then started shaking— “Woahshit!” the vampire hissed out a curse, holding Nina’s jaw shut as she started to seize. Turning Nina’s head around she saw the pupils had grown so much they nearly swallowed the iris, and... was she even breathing?!

“Lelouch.” Kal’tsit’s voice was frosty as she glared at the dumbstruck black-haired boy. “We need to talk about your Geass and when it’s not appropriate to use it.”

He remained frozen still for a moment longer. Then his eyes almost rolled into his head as he fell on all four and began to violently expunge the contents into his stomach. Both Warfarin and Folinic winced at the sight, as medics they were used to much worse sights but it never grew easy. If anything, they more easily sympathized with what Lelouch was going through.

“...Not a single concern for your health. You really are just like...” Kal’tsit rubbed the bridge of her nose, voice softening even if still heavy with disapproval. Uncaring of the growing puddle of vomit she kneeled down next to him and began rubbing Lelouch’s back with circular motions. “I guess I can wait until you have enough presence of mind to properly reflect on what you’ve done and how to avoid doing it again.”

Folinic raised her hand nervously as she leaned in to examine their new patient. “Uh, Doctor Kal’tsit? What should we do with—?”

“Guuugh!”

“Woah!” Folinic reared back as, out of the blue, Nina abruptly shot upright into a sitting position with a deep, desperate gasp of air that led into her huffing and wheezing tiredly. The feline quickly recomposed herself, however, and made to check on the girl. “Miss Einstein? Are you alright?”

“Huh? Oh, no, I’m perfectly fine, thank you. Just a bit of headache, that’s all.” It was to the shock of all those present that Nina pushed herself to her feet and stood up straight, appearing perfectly calm and collected, with not even a trace of her previous panic to be seen. The only anomalous -and thoroughly concerning- part of the experience that remained was the thin trail of blood coming out of her right nostril, but she just absent-mindedly wiped it away with her sleeve like it wasn’t even there. “Now, let’s go back to helping Miss... Kozuki, right? Assuming that’s the name she prefers? I already have a few possible ideas to deal with the radiation in the short term, but I’ll need to check what materials and engineering capabilities you have on hand first before we can more properly discuss long-term treatment.”

Everyone blinked in shock, save for Kal’tsit who just raised an eyebrow. “And you have no issue with helping an Eleven?”

“What does any of that matter?! She’s a human being, isn’t she? It’s like Doctor Folinic said: as women of science, it’s our duty to use our knowledge for the betterment of mankind, and that includes her!” Nina declared, her posture and tone brimming with confidence. “So, that resource list? Oh, but first thing’s first.”

Before they could stop her she walked up to the observation panel and after a moment of deliberation, hit the button for the intercom. “Hello Kallen Kozuki!” She cheerfully exclaimed, causing the redhead to jolt awake with an undignified squeak and swing around to glare, then boggle at the room’s window. “My name is Nina Einstein and I’ll be helping Rhodes Island save your life!”