“His name was Joestar,” Ohgi said. “He had dark hair, blue eyes a star on the back of his neck and fangs on either side of his mouth. He said something about saving the world and left a folder full of details about Stands. What do you make of it?”

A memory leaped to the front of his mind in a moment. A towering ominous figure leaning over a chessboard to pick up the white queen. The man rolled the piece around in his hand while staring him in the eyes as though judging the depths of his soul, and in the process leaving what he found less clean than when he’d first looked. “Lelouch,” the man said. “Let me tell you about our greatest enemy. Some say that he is a terrible beast, a creature that feeds on blood…”

“Then you have little to worry about,” Lelouch said. “Tonight, you had the privilege of meeting the one and only person that hates Britannia more than I do. We shall go over the details in person tomorrow night. If anything else comes up, contact me immediately.”

“Problem?” C.C. asked while Lelouch’s mind was already working around the new information. How he could use it. What level of threat it possessed. The nature of the threat. How to neutralise it. “It looks like your life is becoming an ever increasing string of complications. It won’t get any better, either should you continue on this path.”

And it was as if he had solved a multi-dimensional jigsaw with a single moment of insight. He had two problems to solve. So why not solve them by pointing one towards the other?

“Quite possibly,” Lelouch said, turning towards the annoying witch. “But I fail to see why it’s any of your business. After all, you are not a member of our organisation.”

“I see,” C.C. chuckled. “Trying to punish me for not answering your questions? How childish. You won’t win me over that way.”

“How very true,” Lelouch conceded, but that was never his goal in any event. “Though I am curious about one matter. Is it true that vampires exist within this world?”

The reaction was exactly as he was expecting. No. Even better. She had been about to make the final slice of pizza vanish from this world without trace, but as soon as he said that word her expression completely changed and the pizza slipped from her fingers. As he expected. This woman was -

“Yes,” was the suddenly stern and serious response to his query. “Is there any particular reason for that question, or are you simply fishing for information?”

“Oh, no reason at all,” Lelouch said in what was the most deliberately obvious lie he could remember telling. “I was merely wondering what would be the best options ahead of me if, for example, a vampire called JOJO happened to involve himself in this situation. Purely hypothetical, nothing for a non member of the Black Knights to worry themselves over.”

C.C. unclenched her fist and stared at the ruined pizza slice she’d grabbed hold of. It is likely she only noticed because the sauce burned her hand, but she wasted no time in cleaning the mess, quite obviously enjoying it even though her eyes were trying their best to form daggers to fire at him.

“So this is how you would have taken on the Empire,” C.C. said. “Manipulation. Half truths. Deception on a grand scale and a personal one. At the very least, answer this question honestly: Did your minion encounter a vampire tonight and somehow escape unscathed?”

“That is his claim. You might also be interested to note that he might have a Stand.”

“Then I shall join your rebellion,” C.C. said. “After all, one can hardly leave vampires - particularly Stand using vampires - to run amok, and your organisation is less inclined to keep me prisoner than the military. However. My first priority is your sister’s well being. Remember that.”

“Of course.” Lelouch grinned triumphantly. “That seems only fair. After all, we are accomplices now. Aren’t we?”

-Lulu's Bizarre Rebellion Chapter 21