Code Geass: Kallen the Pampered Chapter 1

Chapter I: A Troublesome Home Life

“You can’t stop me from going anywhere!” Kallen called, her tone spiking as her level of anger rose. She couldn’t believe her stepmother would try to stop her from leaving the Estate, let alone to do something so benign as trying to see a friend.

She'd regularly snuck out to do covert operations with her revolutionary group, The Order of the Black Knights, in secret. This was the one time she was attempting to leave openly and her stepmother had stopped her before she could walk out the door.

"I expect you won't be going anywhere," Mrs. Stradtfeld said with a narrowed gaze, descending the estate’s grand staircase, “this is my house and you’ll listen to me. Won’t you, adopted daughter?”

The blonde’s words cut like a knife, but Kallen suspected it was a bigger blow to her than the redhead. Her father had married this woman as a Britainnian noble while also fathering Kallen and her brother with a Japanese woman. All and all it was a very sordid affair in their little aristocratic world, but in the long run Mrs. Stradtfeld adopted both children to save face. The woman’s horrid attitude towards her step-daughter showed in every interaction they had though. After so many years, both her and Kallen were reaching the end of their patience with the toxic relationship they'd built.

"I'll go where I like," Kallen said with a sneer, "it's not like you're going to come down here and stop me." The redhead was getting dangerously close to dropping the facade of her sickness in favor of the strong will she displayed as a freedom fighter.

Hidden underneath her loose clothes and a soft face hid a determined attitude and a strong body, both gained through hard training and devotion to her cause. She could feel her straight chin-length red hair bristle in her anger.

Her stepmother on the other hand was a more slender individual and Kallen was fairly certain Mrs. Stradtfeld wasn’t strong enough to physically stop her from leaving. From the top of the grand staircase, The blond woman shook her head, her towering updo quivering with each disapproving shake. She turned her attention to something behind Kallen and motioned toward her defiant stepdaughter.

There wasn’t enough time for Kallen to turn around before she felt two hands grasp her upper arms. The strength of the grip caused her to gasp. Her head whipped to either side to see a butler and a maid clutching her arms. “H-Hey!” Kallen called looking up at her stepmother who stared back at her with a smug grin.

“Your constant sneaking out and running around have left you with shamefully poor grades.” Mrs. Stradtfeld said, shaking her head. “I receive reports from the school you know. Of course they’d let me know that you can’t keep up.”

Kallen struggled against the grip of the estate’s staff, dropping more of her pretend sickly nature. None of this sounded right–she thought she’d balanced her school life and secret life very well. With all that was coming at her suddenly the rebellious redhead wasn’t sure how to react. In a flustered state fell back on her usual insult.

“How could you pay attention to my grades?” Kallen asked with a shout, “You’re so busy being unfaithful to dad while he’s gone.”

“What a brat.” Mrs. Stradtfeld scoffed, descending the stairs to her restrained step-daughter “I’m tired of your obviously spoiled attitude. Your father and I have let you run wild for far too long and that officially ends now. I was hoping not to have to do this, but it looks like that school I found is the only solution.”

While her tone projected disappointment, the blond couldn’t hide her slight smile from Kallen and the redhead tugged against the two people holding her back more. She was using her full strength now but these two together were too much stronger than her and kept her rooted in place. “Another school?!” Kallen thought, realizing just how bad things were about to get.

After looking at the two people holding her in place she realized she didn’t recognize them. The maid had straight black hair and a blank look. Her dark eyes betrayed no information as she stared straight ahead, standing like a statue. The butler on Kallen’s other side was similarly silent, though he seemed to constantly have his side-eye trained on her, the malice in his gaze palpable. His sharp greying goatee and neatly combed hair were typical of a britannian butler→as was the maid’s appearance–but their strength was unusual for the estate’s staff. They were a complete unknown to her and she came to the assumption that her step-mother had hired them for this exact purpose, meaning that this was a planned event.

“What school do you mean?” Kallen asked, looking into the eyes of the woman who now stood in front of her with a harsh glare.

Mrs. Stradtfield brought her face very close to Kallen's, her icy eyes locking with her stepdaughter’s. “I found you an etiquette school” she scoffed, “Somewhere that’ll teach you to behave like a proper Britainnian.”

Kallen opened her mouth to protest but with a gesture from Mrs. Stradtfeld she was lifted into the air. Before she could object the butler and maid were guiding her through the front door and out to a waiting car.

It was like nothing for the two to toss her into the empty back seat of the luxurious vehicle before slamming the door shut in her face. *THUNK* *CLUNK* Without any input the doors locked and Kallen was stuck alone in the back seat. A tinted glass window separated the front from the back and her side of the doors had no handles or locks for her to manipulate.

“Fully stuck,” she sighed after giving the glass a hard kick, “of course I can’t get out…” Kallen kept looking for an escape as she watched two figures slide into the front seat of the car through the tinted glass. She couldn’t see who, but it hardly mattered. “The minute those doors open, I’ll be gone." she muttered, "If I can clear the maid and butler I can find my way out to a knight safepoint.”

With special attention paid to every single turn and twist the car made, Kallen sat back for the ride, resigning herself to the fact that there was no escape until the vehicle came to a stop. Keeping track of the turns and twists of the trip became increasingly difficult after a while as it seemed to take ages before the car stopped.

The tires skidded against blacktop as the vehicle came to a stop, and through the window Kallen got a look at her destination. Outside the car was a massive building surrounded by woods with seemingly nothing else around. It stood as a featureless concrete monolith with most of the square footage disappearing into the woods behind the rectangular front entrance.

“This is a school?” Kallen asked quietly, unable to believe what she was seeing. No windows lined any space that she could see, nor was there a sign anywhere on the forgettable grey stone face that answered what this place’s purpose was

From the rear seat she watched the two figures slide out of the car. The butler and maid from before stood in front of the car door, forming a wall to stop Kallen’s escape. “It’s gonna be tight.” Kallen thought watching the pair, “I’ll only have a second where the opening is large enough for me to slip out.”

The sharp butler reached for the door handle, creating an escape from Kallen’s moving prison. As the door creaked open she watched and waited for a gap to appear between her stepmother’s brutes.

“There!” Kallen launched herself from the other door that was still closed. The athleticism from her mech piloting was nothing to scoff at and in a flash she dove between the butler’s legs, just barely brushing his creased black slacks as she passed through.

A thud, then a roll on the hard concrete placed her just beyond the two aiming to bring her in. With nowhere else to run Kallen took off towards the building, hoping somebody inside could help her if she explained the situation. Behind her, she could hear the footsteps of the two silent servants chasing her. She didn’t dare look back: not taking your eyes off the target was one of the first rules of mech combat and the stone building was almost within reach.

Her attention was so focused on the sound behind her and the building in front of her that Kallen didn't hear the sound of rolling rubber on concrete till it was too late. Suddenly a black sedan, similar to the one that’d brought her here, pulled in front of her, blocking her path to the front door of the school.

From the back seat Mrs. Stradtfeld stepped out, brushing away the dust kicked up from the car off of her royal purple dress. “I’m glad you’re excited to see your new etiquette school, but I think proper admittance is in order.” she said. Even though she and Kallen were roughly the same height, the woman’s aura of authority made it feel like she was towering over her stepdaughter. “I’d prefer if you let our excellent staff escort you in. You’ll also need a parent for admittance, which is where I come in.”

When the car pulled in front of her Kallen had stopped short and she’d made the mistake of standing and waiting to listen to the blonde’s speech. It gave her pursuers a chance to catch up and she felt each one take a grip of her upper arms again.

“Dammit!” Kallen cursed, “I was so close…” She weighed her options, with the maid and butler at her side she more than likely wasn't going to squirm away and without knowing where she was, running could be a waste of energy. Instead, she rationalized that her next chance to escape would likely be from inside of the facility so it’d be best to enter without a fight. “Once inside I’m sure I can outsmart whoever is running the place.” she thought, following behind her stepmother as they approached the smooth, brutalist structure. “Maybe I can even explain the situation and they’ll let me go.”

The group approached the stone surface, with Kallen dragged along unwillingly behind her stepmother. She noted that the front doors of the building almost blended into the structure, only slight seams indicating that it opened at all. A small speaker sat next to the rectangular outline, and Mrs. Stradtfeld spoke into it while her goons stood back with Kallen. “Hello, I have a student I’d like to admit.” she said.

As far back as she was Kallen couldn’t catch what the staticky voice on the other end said, but her stepmother nodded along approvingly.

“I consent to the terms and conditions.” she said, her voice taking on a more serious tone. “The student’s name is Kallen Stradtfeld.”

Kallen cringed, unhappy that her father’s name would be her permanent registry here. Normally she went by Stradtfeld, but she preferred to go by her mother’s maiden name, Kōzuki, in private. Not even being given the option felt annoying to her.

There was another response from the speaker and the outline of the door swung open with a hiss, almost like an airlock opening. Kallen caught the instructions from the speaker this time and shuttered at how mechanical they sounded.

“Deposit the student inside the welcome area and step away.”

The maid and butler complied with the orders, depositing Kallen just inside the door and retreating quickly. The redhead let out a sigh of relief when she felt the oppressive aura of the pair pull away from her. She briefly considered trying to run through the slowly closing front door of the strange ‘school’, but trying to go toe to toe with her stepmother and her unusually strong servants again seemed like a poor idea.

She turned to look back at the closing doors to just in time see Mrs. Stradtfeld's wicked smile and her waving. Kallen sneered back before turning her attention to the room she'd entered.

“Alright,” Kallen sighed, looking around the room, “Let’s see what this school has in store for me.”