"W-What are these machines made of!?" The rebels panicked as they turned pale.
The dark purple machine pointed one of the rifles at the boss and pressed the trigger. A blue beam erased the leader of the group.
There was nothing left! Only a scorch mark. This caused a chain reaction as the rest of the rebels began to panic as they tried to escape.
But the machine next to Marcus moved, the feminine mobile suit's wings moved, and segments removed themselves and turned into smaller feather-like constructs that rushed to intercept and destroy escaping rebels.
Before long, the sounds of beams and screams spread through the whole area.
Marcus was speechless when he saw that. He was on the fence when it came to Leila pulling something like that.
After all, she was his Joan of Arc. A good girl, but what he saw here was a bit different.
'I guess a woman's wrath transcends such things.' He commented to himself as he was thinking about using his drones to self-destruct with these guys…
But it was of no need, Leila took care of them with her funnels.
"They are all dealt with. No one will know that we were here." Leila's picture appeared on the screen.
"Indeed, I was thinking of using the self-destruct function on the drones. But this is fine as well." Marcus replied as he sent word to Jeremiah to collect his metal.
"Waste of resources. My machine was designed to deal with this kind of thing." As she said that, the funnels returned to her.
"I am more concerned to know what they did to get on your bad side?" He asked, a bit concerned.
Leila smiled, seeing his worried expression.
"Interfered in my life. After seeing that your technology is what will bring true peace, this kind of sacrifice means nothing." The girl replied with a smile at him.
'So she saw the light at the end of the tunnel.'
Marcus recalled that Leila is like Lelouch, not him, but the original; once she made up her mind, she would pursue it ruthlessly. That is, if she found that route.
"I see. Well, we are done here." Marcus' mobile suit looked around. The four Glasgows were scrap metal by this point, as people tried to board the machine, but it was destroyed before the freedom fighters could even get close.
"...Can we fly around? There is a place that I wish to see." The girl asked as she looked hopeful.
"Sure."
Marcus' finger went to holograms before him as he pressed on 'solid' buttons, ordering his drones to return to the carrier and then return to the workshop for repairs and upgrades.
"Where do you want to go?" He asked as the triangle-shaped plane-like machines flew out through the open ceiling, leaving the pair behind.
"Alps." She said, hoping that he won't flip.
[Hold! You two are going on a date or something!] Milly's face popped up on their screens.
"What if I do?" Leila rolled her eyes.
[...]
"Sure, I was thinking of flying around to relax." The Inventor Prince nodded at her request. He was thinking of flying just to relax. He built these machines, so might as well use them.
"Great! Then let's go!" The Andraste began to ascend, the machine's thrusters glowed with greater intensity as the mobile suit rushed into the sky.
Marcus smiled, seeing her having fun, he followed as his Tiranis folded into a plane and rushed after her.
The pair swiftly left the atmosphere. Leila looked at the Earth from space. It made her smile a bit, simply gazing at the blue marble, making her resolve even stronger.
The Inventor Prince joined a few seconds later.
"Doesn't beat any view that I know." He said to her.
"Yes. I wonder how many people saw this with their own eyes." She wondered for a second. The girl recalled a short space race with E.U. before it just… ended like that.
A short competition to put a flag on the moon. Britannians were the first ones to do it; that much is given with their absurd drive.
But then, it was quiet on space exploration; the last frontier was forgotten.
Now, however, it was a different thing. Marcus singlehandedly is bringing it back with what one would expect from a Britannian Prince.
Only this time, this frontier won't be forgotten.
"It will become a common day occurrence." The Prince declared with steel in his voice as he began to check a route to the Alps.
"Do you have a specific place you want to visit?" He asked her as he located the mountains in Europe.
"One moment."
A couple of seconds later, she sent him a place she wants to visit.
"Alright, let's go."
The pair of machines began to rush towards the location Leila had selected.
~~~~~~Meanwhile~~~~~~
Sometimes over-eagerness could cost one his sanity. That's what happened.
Some of the members of the purist faction were eager to please their new boss. Working for Anaheim and being in the military is a lucrative deal for the Nobles who serve in the army.
Money is not an issue for them; what they seek is recognition and status.
Anaheim improves their machines; better machines mean more chances to be promoted, and promotion is what they seek.
But what half of them saw from a distance made their world turn upside down.
Strange flying machines, absurd destructive power…
Their factspheres couldn't pick these machines up; only a regular camera could display them, but the images were blurry.
Such unknown… made them scared.
"What the hell! Jeremiah! What is that!?" Kewell was losing his marbles; he didn't care about rank and status anymore! He was scared shitless!
Even the man who saw these machines up close was left speechless. The sheer destructive force they can bring to the table.
Levelling a mountain with a rifle? What the hell! That's stronger than a battleship's main cannon!
"We need to talk." He seriously said, making the rest of them calm down for a bit. It would seem Jeremiah knows something!
A couple of moments later, the knight took them aside. Everyone left their Knightmares and waited for the Margrave to talk.
"The machines you see are called Mobile Suits."
"..."
"..."
"..."
"...Who made them? They are far greater than anything Britannia has created to this day!" Kewell asked. He looked stressed! Just recalling them flying and using weapons that can erase mountain tops… It's made him terrified.
"...they are made by His Highness, the Eleventh Prince, Lelouch Vi Britannia."
"!!!"
"!!!"
"!!!"
The whole group looked shocked; they gazed at each other before looking at Jeremiah.
"...the Eleventh Prince? Wasn't he…"
"Exiled, yes." The Knight nodded in response.
"The reason I am explaining to you all is that I am His Highness Knight."
"..."
"When he was in exile, and Britannia attacked, special forces attacked him and the Princess. I can assume that someone in His Majesty's circle has betrayed him and killed the Empress Consort, as we all know he loved Empress Marrianne."
The Knight explained to them. The group started to wonder about the whole plot.
"This is the reason why the Prince took an alias and created Anaheim Robotics."
"...A cover to develop those machines…" Kewell realised what was going on.
"Indeed. You all have the opportunity now to serve Eleventh Prince. There is no other Prince who has such advanced technologies.
And his goals are not simple either."
The group perked up, serving the Prince? It's a common tradition in Britannia that when the Emperor dies, a bloodbath begins for the throne.
Everyone has power bases. The current Second Prince and Second Princess are the best candidates to ascend to the Throne.
But… they didn't expect something like this to exist.
A prince who develops advanced machines capable of such power.
Even a small group with those machines could threaten Britannia!
"You want us to follow the Eleventh Prince?" Kewell asked.
"Indeed, you already know what technology he can produce; your Sutherland received basic upgrades, you could get far better things. Maybe… even a fully customised machine."
At that moment, all the pilots gulped down. Feeling like it's a great opportunity, excitement was slowly starting to build up.
"For now, we simply follow Viceroy's commands until our Prince needs us." Jeremiah declared, and the pilots, with motivated steps, rushed back into their Sutherlands.
The group continued forward into the destroyed base carved into the mountain's interior. What they found inside made them stop for a second.
It was a sea of corpses. While the Britanians are used to corpses, it comes with the profession, but what they saw was diced up bodies, burned to ashes, only a leg or a hand was left.
The whole scene was a reminder of what those two machines could do.
"What kind of technology did His Highness create? These were terrorists with weapons, yet they were killed instantaneously!" The purist pilots observed how these people died.
The way the corpses were lying, it looked like they were trying to fight, and then the next moment, all of them were killed.
A method that can kill all of them at once… it was like there were many of these attackers.
"Each of those machines has a specification. As far as I can tell, His Highness developed a machine for his female associate." Jeremiah wasn't sure about the relationship between those, so he is being cautious about how he is calling their relationship.
"I see…"
The guys were wondering if he makes machines for his girls, what about knights? If they are to become his official knights, wouldn't he make powerful mechs to defend his honour!?
An exciting idea for the purist faction pilots.
After inspecting the aftermath, the knights began to clean up, removing the crates with high-grade metal, collecting the broken Glasgows as the metal can be reused and then setting fire to the corpses.
It took a while, but the place was cleaned up and the knights left with the loot.
~~~~~~Meanwhile~~~~~~
In the Alps, overlooking sprawling grasslands, the pair were looking at the sunset. The pair attacked the rebels in the middle of the night, but in Western Europe, it was sunset.
The best time to relax and enjoy the view was when Marcus had his blonde girl in his lap, gazing at the orange and red clouds.
The pair of machines was kneeling around them, keeping the cold air from reaching them.
"Is this what you wanted to see?" He asked her as he was hugging Leila.
"Yes." She slowly nodded, enjoying the scenery.
"I lived in Paris most of my life. I remember…some of the time before, but it was always the city life. That was until I joined the military, but even then, all I saw were European plains. Never the mountains." She said with a satisfied voice.
"The height we are at… reminds me of freedom, away from all of the problems…" She said while looking down at the sprawling grasslands and a few patches of forests in the distance.
"...Yes, I know that feeling very well. That is why I love technology. To me, technology is like magic to a wizard.
It can solve all of my problems and grant me true freedom." He said with a confident tone, making her think.
"...Do you truly think we can achieve your dream?" She asked, this time she was asking seriously, wondering if he was not speaking nonsense.
Space travel? Placing humans… people on different worlds, making humanity a multiplanetary species.
To her, it was a wild fantasy, people can't come together on one world… yet he wants humans to achieve multiplanetary status!
"It's not that we can or can't. I will simply build, and build and build, until I have what I want. If regular people want to come with me, it's fine; if they don't, it's fine as well.
I will simply make more people." His reply was not a brag. He was 100% certain he would do it!
"...make people?" For a second, she blushed. Is he planning to make a huge harem and impregnate all of them!?
She believes that! After all, he was the son of a man who had over a hundred children…
"Of course. Genetics are not different from regular programming, I can make people at some point if I need humans to colonise a planet."
"...oh…"
It was worse than she had imagined…