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Specially Administrated Zone of Japan, 8:00 a.m. Suzaku and Euphemia looked at the numerous lines that were applying to be part of the Special Zone's populace.

Suzaku: 200,000. Over 200,000 people have applied for this. At this rate, there's gonna be a whole lot more.
Euphemia: Thanks to my efforts, alongside yours. The Japanese desire revolution, and I'm giving it to them. With this, Zero and Alistair should be able to stand a chance.
Suzaku: You're...sure you want to do this, Pri-?
Euphemia: Suzaku. What did I say?
Suzaku: Uh, you're sure you want to do this, Euphy?
Euphemia: Damn sure. This is the exact kind of uproar that Alistair needs to stick it to the Emperor of Ego. I'm sure he'll take the bait.
Suzaku: You're okay with going against your own father?
Euphemia: He doesn't have the right to be a father. Not anymore. Phase one of the plan is pretty much at the halfway point.
Suzaku: Phase one?
Euphemia: Establish benevolent unity against Britannia, and take the territory back, for Japan. That's the easy part.
Suzaku: I assume there's a second phase?
Euphemia: Phase two's the hard part. The first half is that the Special Zone will take over Tokyo, and the entire country revert back to being Japan.
Suzaku: And, the other half?
Euphemia: The complete eradication of the Renegades and Primebloods. We can't have any more Hawking wannabes, walking around. Freaking dick.
Suzaku: I'm sorry, you met the asshole in question?
Euphemia: Oh, yes. I now know what Alistair had to put up with...

2009 a.t.b., Britannian palace. Euphemia and Cornelia were walking through one of the vacant gardens and noticed that all the pillars were set up, next to each other.

Euphemia (Age 8): What's this?
Cornelia (Age 19): I have no idea.

Immediately, Cornelia saw the pillars falling over, like dominoes, and pushed Euphemia away from the pillars that were about to fall on them.

Euphemia: What?!
Hawking: Oh, man! (while laughing) Can you believe it?! (stops laughing) They were so close to crushing you!

Cornelia and Euphemia looked to the garden entrance and saw Hawking, leaning on the gate, and the two of them stood up.

Hawking: Wanna do it, again?
Cornelia: What the hell!?
Hawking: Hey, don't get mad. Just havin' fun.
Euphemia: What's your idea of "fun", exactly!?
Hawking: (looks at Euphemia) Huh? Who are you? Haven't seen you, before.
Cornelia: She's my sister, you monster!
Euphemia: "Monster"?
Hawking: What, she's Euphy? (sniffs) Ew. She smells like a white sheep, much like you do, Indigo.
Cornelia: What the hell are you talking about?
Hawking: A white sheep is a type of black sheep, rebellious against the family, job or organization. Yet, the white sheep is someone who rebels against the evil standards of such, which is the stupidest thing. One of the grossest things I've ever seen.
Cornelia: You're a sick man, Hawking.
Euphemia: Hawking?! This man is Samuel Hawking?!
Hawking: In the flesh. I'm sure I'll kill both of you, at some point.
Cornelia: You wouldn't kill Carine, though.
Hawking: Of course not! Just a perfect example of evil, in a tiny little body.
Euphemia: Are you...obsessed with evil?
Hawking: Obsessed with it? I am it! Every single evil action you could think of, I have done. Any insult you can think of is a compliment. Any conspiracy that you can come up with...will probably be true.
Euphemia: Huh?
Hawking: There's been lots of speculations about me. Go ahead! Guess who I am!
Cornelia: Samuel Hawking. Date of birth: unknown. Age: unknown. Affiliates: unknown. Education: unknown. Medical and dental records: unknown. Reason how he became Vice President of the United States...unknown.
Hawking: Exactly. You can't figure me out. I'm Keyser Soze, bitch!
Euphemia: What?
Cornelia: We don't get it.
Hawking: Okay, uh, I'll put it to you in a different way. "The greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was convincing the world that he didn't exist."
Cornelia: You literally have no sense of identity, in any sense, form or standard?
Euphemia: How do you function?
Hawking: Hmm... Well, I killed the entire orphanage I was raised in, killed a bunch more people, out of boredom, became a lawyer, to kill more people, killed Lyndon B. Johnson- What the hell do you think? Only I know who I am, and who I am is none of your damn business.
Euphemia: If you won't explain who you are, then explain to us what you are.
Hawking: If anything... I'd say I'm a glitch.
Cornelia: A..."glitch"?
Hawking: Common sense states that I shouldn't have been born, under any circumstances, yet I exist, here, now, today. I guess you could call me a glitch in reality's matrix.
Euphemia: Does that mean you don't know who your own parents are?
Hawking: Correct. I don't know. Then again, I don't care. All that matters is me, and what I want is evil to reign supreme, as I've always desired.
Euphemia: ...Why!?
Hawking: It's just who I am, you goody-goody bitches. You ever learn of Faust? That one guy who made a deal with some devil?
Cornelia: Yeah. Why do you ask?
Hawking: One speculation about me states that I just so happen to be a reincarnation of that same devil that Faust made a deal with: Mephistopheles. One I chose to make true. Because of this little action, I made a cult. A bunch of Faustian fanboys, everywhere I went. Criers, street gangs, internet chatrooms... I was really famous. Speaking of chatrooms, I should really get back to torturing those saps that keep coming back.
Cornelia: You're a sadist.
Hawking: Exactly. I'm also a troll. A manipulative, Machiavellian troll.
Euphemia: Machi-what?
Cornelia: Niccolo Machiavelli. Infamous for writing "The Prince". Apparently, Hawking, here, is a big fan.
Hawking: Oh, hell yeah. His books are my favorite. Alongside "Nineteen Eighty-Four", the "Twilight" series and "Fifty Shades of Grey".
Cornelia: You really are a sadist. Those last two are some really shitty books.
Lelouch (Age 10): What's going on, here!?

Lelouch and Nunnally joined Cornelia and Euphemia, standing next to their siblings.

Hawking: Oh, look! Another white sheep, and her grey sheep brother!
Lelouch: Oh, look. A dead man, hiding behind insufferable smarm!
Hawking: Kid...(grins evilly) You can't even begin to fathom the amount of dead men behind me.
Lelouch: You...bastard...!
Hawking: (pulls out book) I'll just get back to my reading. (opens book and walks off)
Lelouch: I'd rather burn every single copy of that book, than read a single word of it.

2017 a.t.b., Tokyo Mavericks Warehouse, 6:00 p.m. Rakshata entered the warehouse, accompanied by Black Knight pilots and stopped right in front of Holiday.

Rakshata: So, you're Sharon Holiday.
Holiday: Nowadays, it's Sharon "Doc" Holiday.
Rakshata: I actually liked Tombstone. Good movie.
Holiday: I take it that you're here for the upgrades?
Rakshata: Of course.
Holiday: Well, I've been pretty busy, making new weapons, rather than just having SMGs, all the time.
Rakshata: Fair enough. Developments?
Holiday: (hands Rakshata clipboard) It's mostly what I've seen from science fiction. Kind of explains the designs.
Rakshata: No, what kind of weapons are we talking about?
Holiday: Try not to laugh, but... Heavy assault rifles, rocket launchers, chainguns, gauss cannons, ballistic fists, shotguns, sniper rifles...
Rakshata: You are smarter than the average scientist and engineer. I see that the heavy variant of assault rifle has a nifty feature of having better precision, than the normal, infantry model.
Holiday: Gotta hit hard, without wasting bullets.
Rakshata: (flips page) Rocket launchers look pretty neat.
Holiday: Comes with a lock-on program, for hitting multiple targets, or one target, with multiple rockets.
Rakshata: Good thing the Britannian military didn't hire you. (flips page) A...chaingun? I thought they were called miniguns?
Holiday: Different things, entirely. Chainguns were essentially used as turrets, stationary guns, but I fixed that issue with new ammo and installing a clip. Doesn't include a backpack, like miniguns do.
Rakshata: Fair enough. (flips page) Gauss cannon, huh? What's this? Some kind of attachments?
Holiday: It's the same way for the shotguns. With the gauss cannon, you can either use it to hit multiple targets, with a single blast or go for sniper shots, at a max charge.
Rakshata: That's just beautiful. (flips page) Shotguns sound nice... A grenade attachment and a burst mode?
Holiday: Three shots, for the burst. It's also more accurate, but needs time to cool down, much like the grenade shot.
Rakshata: I don't know why I didn't meet you, before. You have a wonderful mind.
Holiday: Yeah, well I'm still trying to figure out how to get a specific energy to work, the way I want it to.
Rakshata: (releases pages) What, you've got Hadron?
Holiday: No, Tesla.
Rakshata: Tesla energy? That's basically electricity. Why would you want to use that? Railguns?
Holiday: Hey, when I get that stuff to work, you'll be the first to know about the lightsabers.
Rakshata: We'll test out the weapons, tomorrow. You'd best keep that promise. Gear up, people!
Holiday: Wait, what's going on, tomorrow?
Rakshata: Making sure that the Special Zone of Japan becomes reality. If the order's given, that is.

Meanwhile, at Ashford Academy, Lelouch was having dinner with Nunnally, his mind racing with worry for Euphemia.

Lelouch: (thinking) Gotta make sure she's safe. Can't let anyone die. Can't let her die. I'm so gonna have a freaking headache for thinking this fast...
Nunnally: Lelouch?
Lelouch: (out loud) Yeah?
Nunnally: Are you going to go to the Special Zone, tomorrow?
Lelouch: Maybe. I don't know. It's, uh...complicated. It's a good idea, but...not a good time for it.
Nunnally: Maybe not. But, it's still worth a shot.
Lelouch: I know...
Nunnally: (yawns) I'm done. I'll head for bed, now.
Lelouch: Alright. See you in the morning, Nunnally.

When Nunnally left the dining room, Lelouch looked out the window and hurriedly dialed Kallen's number.

Kallen: (over phone) What is it, Zero?
Lelouch: We have to be backup for the Special Zone, tomorrow. We have to make sure that Euphemia survives, at all costs!
Kallen: She's gonna live, anyway.
Ohgi: (over phone) You sound worried.
Lelouch: I figured you'd put me on speakerphone. Anyway, you're failing to understand the situation...

Meanwhile, at the Black Knights' mobile base, Kallen and the rest of the Black Knights heard Zero's explanation.

Kallen: You can't be serious!
Zero: (over phone) Dead serious. If she goes through with this, she will die, along with everyone attending!
Diethard: Damn! I didn't factor that!
Ohgi: We sent Rakshata to get some new Knightmare equipment from the Mavericks.
Zero: Good! Be prepared! I'll send the plan, in the morning! We can't afford for the worst to happen!