I Order you, Suzaku Kururugi (episode)

I Order you, Suzaku Kururugi is the eighteenth episode of Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion.

Summary
As Euphemia knights Suzaku, Lelouch establishes the hierarchy of the Black Knights. Diethard Reid suggests assassinating Suzaku, but Lelouch has other plans for him. He launches an operation to capture Suzaku and the Lancelot at a Britannia military base on Shikine Island. It almost succeeds, but Second Prince Schneizel el Britannia appears and orders his floating battleship, the Avalon, to bombard the island, intending to sacrifice Suzaku in order to kill Zero.

Plot
The Black Knights drive a submarine through the waters, with Inoue as the lookout. Inside, Zero begins reorganizing the positions of the core members of the group. He places Tohdoh in charge of military affairs and Diethard in charge of intelligence, espionage, and public relations; Chiba and some others object to the latter, but Zero says it does not matter who they are as long as they can work together. He then places Ohgi as the Deputy Director (to the joy of the original resistance members) and Rakshata as head of Research and Development. He then announces the Zero Squad, his elite personal force, and puts Kallen in charge; he then has Asahina, Senba, and Kagesaki be in charge of the first, second, and third divisions respectively, and puts Tamaki in charge of Second Special Forces; Kallen feels honored, but questions why C.C. has no position. Diethard then brings up another matter.

Meanwhile, Suzaku's Knighting ceremony begins. As he walks down the aisle, the people around him begin exchanging racial slurs about him with each other, questioning why an Eleven should be Knighted, why they need to broadcast it, and even wondering if Euphemia has sexual "needs" for Suzaku. At Ashford Academy, the other students become outraged at the idea of an Eleven also instantly becoming a Major in the army, with Nina cowering nearby. Euphemia then goes to the ceremony and makes Suzaku and Knight, Sir Suzaku Kururugi. After this, he turns around to depart, but no one claps for him except Lloyd (as Cecile reveals, it is because he will still be with them); however, when Darlton also claps, everyone else reluctantly follows suit. Diethard later explains to Zero that now that Suzaku is a Knight, he is seen as a symbol for Japanese that support Britannia as well as Britannians who want to pose as Eleven supporters, and requests that he be assassinated. Rakshata agrees with him, but Ohgi and Tohdoh, not wanting to kill the truly innocent under impossible circumstances, oppose him. Diethard decides to leave it to Zero. Zero takes time to reflect in his room, and C.C. uses the opportunity to question why he stubbornly refuses to Geass Suzaku. Zero admits that it is because of pride and friendship, and C.C. claims that he might have to kill him.

Euphemia later contacts Cornelia after she appears to shut her out following Suzaku's ceremony. Cornelia acknowledges that it was Euphemia's decision, but that she should have discriminated per Britannia's national policy. Euphemia, however, affirms that, due to Suzaku's Honorary citizenship and capabilities, he is more than worthy, and she is willing to go against the system. Cornelia retorts by saying she can only ever do that if she is Empress. Charles, meanwhile, is overseeing construction on a floating palace-like piece of architecture called the Thought Elevator when someone named Schneizel appears behind him, and Charles tells him to stay put against "him". At Ashford, Nunnally and Milly throw a party for Suzaku for his Knighting, and get started when Rivalz does a toast. However, Nina is still in the Student Council room, and is shown to be extremely jealous that Suzaku has become Euphemia's Knight, and Knights are typically lovers of the people they serve, resorting to looking at pictures of her again. Just then Lloyd appears in the room wanting to take part in the party, and sees that Nina is researching Uranium-235 and how to replicate it. Amazed at Lloyd's intellect, Nina quickly begins rambling about her research.

As Milly and Shirley wonder where Nina is, Kallen arrives at the party, prepared to use her pouch to stab Suzaku to death. Ignoring Shirley's request for help serving pizza, Kallen raises the pouch, but her hand is grabbed by Lelouch, who makes the excuse that Shirley wants help. He offers to help with Kallen's thing, stalling her enough for Suzaku to see them. As Kallen leaves (making Shirley suspicious), Suzaku goes up to Lelouch to ask him what he wanted to say the other day; Lelouch asks him to forget about it. At that moment Lloyd and Nina arrive, the former saying that Suzaku has work, and Suzaku tells Lelouch who he is. Milly approaches him and asks if anything is wrong; when Nina asks about their relationship, Lloyd bluntly states that he and "Honey Bunch" are engaged (essentially announcing it to the world), much to Milly's embarrassment and everyone else's shock (except Suzaku who knew all along). Rivalz then approaches them and, after learning who Lloyd is and hearing from Lloyd that they are already "betrothed" screams in dismay. Lloyd then informs Suzaku that he has duties with Euphemia, who is meeting with someone else, which Lelouch catches on to.

The mission takes them to Shikine Island, although they have no idea why exactly it is on the island, and everyone now being fully aware thanks to Lloyd's announcement of the events leaking onto the Internet. Underneath the waves, the Black Knights' submarine makes plans to capture Suzaku, to Tohdoh and Kallen's relief, and Zero announces he will deal with Suzaku himself once he's captured. Meanwhile, Diethard is watching Rakshata manage the radar defense system when Zero approaches him, having guessed that Diethard told Kallen to kill Suzaku. Diethard eventually admits it, saying that if Suzaku had been killed discreetly that way, the media could have diverted attention away from the Black Knights, and that you can't change the world without getting your hands dirty. Zero asks him what he is really after since he has nothing to gain from joining the Black Knights' cause. Diethard finally admits that the real reason he is there is to make a documentary on Zero as an eyewitness to history, and believes in Zero's cause enough to believe it will come true. Zero says that he will just fabricate stuff, and that if he wants to do it, he must not interfere with military matters.

Euphemia and Suzaku's group arrives on schedule when terrorists arrive and begin bombing the area nearby. Tohdoh gives the squad orders and Kallen begins wiping out Sutherlands. Zero and others watch from above, and he decides to go talk to Euphemia. Euphemia, meanwhile, is informed of the attack, and can't have a escort to evacuate her. Suzaku prepares to protect her, but Euphemia suggests he go fight with the others. One of the other soldiers proclaims that Suzaku will just betray him if that happens, but Lloyd says that by saying that he is criticizing a person of royalty, allowing Suzaku to go on. Suzaku quickly defeats Tamaki when he notices Zero above, who taunts him to come. Suzaku does, and the other units begin to fall back. As another Britannian receives some disturbing orders from "Your Highness", Zero flees from Suzaku and leads them both into a sandpit. Suzaku prepares to run Zero through with a red sword he has, but Rakshata activates a switch that disables both of their Knightmares, called a Gefjun Disturber, causing Lloyd to realize that Rakshata is with the Black Knights. Zero then requests that they talk and he will gun him down otherwise.

Suzaku reluctantly complies, and Zero asks him to join the Black Knights again. Suzaku again refuses for the same reasons. Zero, however, tells Suzaku that if that were true, then Britannia's occupation of Japan would be just, since if Japan's army had been wiped out than the Chinese Federation and Europia United would have claimed their own land, then fight for more among themselves, yet both are inherently evil, and reveals he knows that Genbu Kururugi was killed, and that the killer (not mentioning he knows his identity) is a criminal. Zero then says that there is only one way for Suzaku to redeem himself now: let the Japanese fight Britannia. He also says that reformism is for egotists who don't understand urgency, and that they are not living in peace. Before Suzaku can respond, he gets a call from the earlier Britannian, the military controller of Shikine Island, who shakedly says that they are going to bomb the island to kill Zero, and that Suzaku needs to hold Zero in place at the cost of both of their lives. Suzaku complies and wrestles Zero's gun so that it points at his neck, with the others unable to interfere or risk getting caught in the Gefjun. Euphemia learns of what is happening, and demands to know who ordered it. They will order say it was an order that can only be overturn by three generals or Cornelia, so Euphemia steals a Portman, intending to be in the missile's path and prevent its launch.

The missiles come in, provoking Kallen to try and save Zero, only to get caught in the Gefjun. Suzaku throws Zero into the Lancelot while holding him at gunpoint, and Zero questions why he doesn't have a problem with dying right there, while the Britannians lie that Suzaku will be a hero. Tohdoh orders the others to destroy the missiles with gunfire, while Kallen gets out of the Guren and runs toward Suzaku in an attempt to dissuade him. Zero again questions why Suzaku would follow orders over heart, and as Suzaku responds a giant floating ship appears and blocks both the missile and gun paths, with the also-arriving Euphemia recognizes as the Avalon. The person inside orders a gigantic cannon to be aimed at them. In a last ditch attempt, Zero opens his Geass eyeslot. As Euphemia rushes in on foot, Kallen screams for mercy, and a young boy stands still while C.C. looks on, the cannon of Schneizel el Britannia fires, eradicating Zero, Suzaku, Kallen, and Euphemia off the map.

Battles

 * Battle of Shikine Island (Concluded)

Powers or Abilities used

 * Lelouch's Geass (though it is not revealed until the next episode)

Quotes

 * Conversation between Lelouch and C.C.
 * "What's so complicated? Just use your Geass on Kururugi." -C.C.
 * "Drop it." -Lelouch
 * "So stubborn. Why not? Because he's your friend? Or is it pride?" -C.C.
 * "All of it." -Lelouch
 * "You might have to kill him otherwise." -C.C.


 * Conversation between Diethard and Zero
 * "Diethard. What did you talk Kallen into doing?" -Lelouch
 * "I told her to dig up what she could on Kururugi. Maybe I implied a little more than that." -Diethard
 * "Don't overstep your bounds. I don't recall ordering his assassination." -Lelouch
 * "You want us to be the hammer of justice right? We can't have people thinking of us as cold blooded killers I know, but we can hide the truth using the media. You can't change the world without getting your hands dirty. Am I wrong?" -Diethard
 * "Diethard, what are you really after? You may have been demoted but you're still a Britannian. You don't need to join the Black Knights to change the world. Do you?" -Lelouch
 * "I never mentioned this but the first time I ever saw you was that night you rescued Kururugi. And, I trembled. It was like a new era had appeared and taken form before me. I wish to document you Zero. As you build your organization and topple over the empire to take this world for your own. I wish to be there, documenting history as it is created. Nothing has ever made my heart dance more." -Diethard
 * "There is no such thing as objective information, Zero. Journalism is, after all, a human creation." -Diethard


 * "My Geass is the power to command others, none can disobey. Those I turn it on find their ethics, their thoughts, and their feelings crushed beneath its power. And knowing all of that I use it, on Suzaku." -Lelouch (Preview for the next episode)