When the broadcast suddenly cut out, Shirley remembered how to breath again. The entire scene had played out, and the instant it had everyone around them had stopped to pay attention. Even the Elevens that had seemed beaten down earlier paid attention to this, watching as though expecting their lives to somehow be worse by the end of it while merely being curious about what manner “worse” would take.

Two tenths. Those monsters were threatening two tenths of everyone. It made her feel rather unwell, and Schizoid Man was nearby making a rather thorough dismantling of a half ruined wall. The image of those three people on the roof. The things floating around them… The little children dressed like monsters, that heart with the crying face growing out of it, and that figure floating in the air. It looked like it had four faces at right angles around its head, though the details were difficult to make out from the angle of the shot. It hadn’t done much. Just sort of stood in the air behind the leader with its arms folded across its chest. Something about it seemed so much more… Imposing, dangerous than the others but she didn’t know exactly what it was.

But now she knew what they were. They were Stands. These people, these monsters had the same kind of powers as she and Lelouch did. Except they were using them for much worse things. Much, much worse.

“Prince Clovis would never have stood for this,” she whispered. “This… This is a perversion of justice! They’re little more than - Than criminals!”

“That’s right,” Lelouch said. “And I’m pretty sure they’re just using Clovis’ death as an excuse. They’re making a power grab under a flimsy pretense of justice Do you see, Shirley? This is our future opening up ahead of us. People like them, using this kind of power to take what they want while trampling all over everybody else. Abusing their power for its own sake and killing anyone that gets in their way!

“Unless people like us do something about it.”

He reached out and took her hand, and Shirley knew that he was trying to manipulate her, but, like all true masters of manipulation that didn’t really matter or influence the outcome in the slightest. “People like us,” he continued, “That want to help those that can’t help themselves. Evil only triumphs when good people do nothing. Right? Do you want to let them get away with murder? Or do you want to help me fight, for real justice?”

The answer should have been harder for her to reach, but she knew the answer before he even asked. Schizoid Man had drifted back over towards them, hovering just behind her. “That’s all he needed to say,” Schizoid Man whispered. “He didn’t need to show you this. He didn’t need to do anything more than ask. When it comes to this boy, you’ll do just about anything. Why… All he needs to do is ask…”

“I’ll do it,” Shirley said. It felt like a weight lifting from her soul as she said it. Her thoughts felt more clear than they had since it all started. A goal. An aspiration. A mission. “I’ll help you.”

“... And you would pluck every star from the sky.”

-Lulu's Bizarre Rebellion Chapter 12