A group of Sutherlands dropped to one knee when two machines descended from the sky.
"Your Highness! We are at your command."
When Marcus saw this scene before him, he knew that Jeremiah had told them that he was the Eleventh Prince.
'Well, it is to be expected, I am not trying very hard to hide my true identity.'
"Well, this was unexpected," Leila commented from her machine. The girl wasn't expecting the reveal of his identity so soon.
As the mechs landed in Anaheim's factory's backyard, the pilots of Sutherlands were waiting for him. Jeremiah specifically told him that there are some things to discuss.
"Well, things happen." He said with a sigh as he left the cockpit.
Taranis' hand moved over to the cockpit area as he could stand on the machine's palm.
The mech lowered him to the ground.
Sure enough, the Sutherland pilots didn't hesitate as they followed his lead and left their machines.
They all swiftly lined up before him, and leading the front was Jeremiah.
"I assume that you told them about me?" Marcus commented with a knowing tone.
"It was a great chance, My Prince! The awe of your Mobile Suits… it made me realise that it would be a great opportunity to gain followers." His Knight explained to him.
"Hmm…" He looked at the gathered group. They all looked nervous, wondering what the prince would say.
"Since this is the case." The Inventor Prince took a step forward. His inherited charisma surged as he began to speak.
"I want you all to understand something. Following me means that you will face the Britannians on the battlefield.
My enemy is someone from the high echelons of Britannian nobility. Someone who can hire Britannian special forces.
If you all can agree to this, then by all means. You can follow me."
"We don't mind, Your Highness!"
To these guys, the most important thing is following a strong leader; if they are strong, riches and status will follow.
Regardless of the era, if they have machines for mounts or wield bronze weapons, people would want the same thing, and that is wealth or status. For these purists who are descended from pureblood britannians, they want nobility status!
If they follow a prince who is extremely talented like this, they will have what they want!
"Is that so? Then follow me." He turned around and walked back to his Taranis. The mech picked him up, and the prince was back in the cockpit.
"Follow me to my workshop, and we shall iron out the details. You boys and girls are signing your lives, just remember that.
I am, after all, my father's son."
The pilots gulped nerviously, but the Prince's knight could only grin from excitement.
Finally!
As Tiranis folded into the plane, it began to fly towards a specific location, and the pilots scrambled to follow him! They needed to get into their machines first!
The other machine didn't wait either!
"Quickly! Don't waste your time!" Jeremiah exclaimed as his Sutherland powered up and they rushed to their machines.
Before long, their machines were following a blue streak of light.
~~~
The purists gawked at the things in the workshop. Robots, holograms, experimental tech, they have no idea what it is…
This was what they were expecting after seeing the machines, but… being this close caused them to get out of character and gawk like small kids.
"First." Marcus got into his chair as it turned around and allowed the inventor to speak to his new followers.
"My goals." A hologram manifested behind him, showing Earth.
This symbolism made everyone know what he meant!
He was truly his father's son! Prince Lelouch desires Earth! That means World Domination.
"I desire to claim this world as mine. But it's only the beginning, what I truly want…is this."
The hologram zoomed out from Earth and showed the solar system, but it continued to zoom out, revealing the entire Milky Way Galaxy.
"..."
"..."
"..."
"...My Prince."
Marcus didn't stop as he showed a hologram of the KK-01 Tiranis Mobile Suit.
"This is KK-01 Tiranis, it's equipped to fly through the void of emptiness. The sheer gap between Sutherland and Tiranis is that one is at the Interstellar Age, and the other is built at a time when a machine can't even fly."
"..." The group lost their voice. They tried to reason that the prince's goal was…absurd!
"I already have the entire infrastructure set up. All I need is to gather resources and build my base. Once the base is set, I will start building my space infrastructure and send resources down to the planet's surface.
It's not the matter if I can, but when."
The new group gulped down what they were hearing was sci-fi…
Only Marcus' knight was grinning like a silly person; he was ready for this!
"All of you shall be my knights. I expect loyalty." Marcus got serious.
"What I am doing is bringing in a new age, an interstellar age; nothing happening on Earth at the moment compares to my mission to put humanity on other planets." He spoke while standing up.
"That means all of you have a chance to leave an eternal mark on an Interstellar Empire. Continents, Planets, and even Solar Systems can be named after you; that is what you are joining.
On the other hand, if my trust is broken, I will know that, since my Artificial Intelligence is already embedded in Britannian systems."
He smiled, making them feel a chill pass through their bodies.
However, it only lasted for a second as they all felt excitement wash over them. It was a grand mission! The group started to feel pride swell; they were like the explorers who discovered the Americas.
But on a greater scale! Forget a new continent! They will be knights to the Emperor, who will rule space itself!
At the moment, all of them dropped to one knee. The group began to swear their allegiance.
"Good. Then let's start with upgrades to your machines."
Marcus looked at the group of Sutherlands that took up a considerable amount of space in his workshop.
~~~
Around Mt. Fuji, there is a set of houses built in the old Japanese style, which were the Six Houses of Kyoto. The remnants of the old Japanese government that are responsible for
Several influential families that survived the invasion by surrendering to Britannia never gave up on the hope that they could gain independence.
Their plan from the beginning was to support rebel groups throughout Japan. Give them money and even Knightmares, like restored Glasgows.
But…
Even they felt for the trick concerning Anaheim, assuming that it was a Britannian military scrapyard.
These plutocrats and industrialists decided to support rebels in attacking these so that they could utilise resources that Britannia is not aware of that they had.
It was a scheme to gain more resources for the independence movement.
But what they were considered was that it could have been something far grander than a simple Britannian scrapyard dedicated to the military.
Six people were drinking tea while discussing recent happenings in Japan.
"The Remnant Samurai cell has stopped responding." One of them said.
"I thought Clovis didn't interfere with cells that are far from Tokyo Settlement." Another one responded.
"It was not Clovis." A girl replied; she was quite young, the only female in the group. Dressed in a traditional Kimono, she had long, free-falling black hair and green eyes.
"Observers said that it was two machines that were nothing like Britannian Knightmares. They can fly and wield weaponry beyond observers' understanding." She repeated what was written in her report.
"...Makes no sense. Who provoked such an enemy? And more advanced than Sutherlands? Impossible, we need better observers." A bald man said while shaking his head.
"My people don't make up things." The girl got snappy before sharing something else.
"Besides, this machine was exactly like the one that caused the collapse of the Eastern European frontline." She quite smugly dropped this bombshell.
The Eastern European frontline is somewhat of a mystery; it can cause people to wonder if magic is real.
The whole event made no sense. At one moment, the war rages on, the next moment, people are terrified shitless, running away from a monster, the next moment, almost all soldiers are dead.
It doesn't help that the machine is not visible on the radar. It can't be properly photographed either!
"..."
"Then what is it doing here? Half of the world away." The leader of the group replied as his tone was heavy, and worry was visible in his eyes.
"No idea. I am simply reporting what I was given." The black haired girl took a sip of her tea after promptly replying.
The group continued with their daily meeting, that was until one of the black-suited bodyguards rushed into the room.
"S-Sir!" The bodyguard looked at the old bald man. "W-We have a problem!"
"..."
"..."
"..."
"..."
"What kind of problem?" The old man raised his eyebrows as he looked at his security.
"A flying machine landed in the backyard!" The sweaty guard replied. He was worried!
"!"
"!"
"!"
Everyone got on the edge, that machine is in THEIR yard!?
What is going on!?
"How does it look like!?" The bald man asked, even more worried!
"Dark purple, with black parts, it has some sort of wings that emit blue energy light…"
Everyone's breathing heavy in the room. It was evident that they were worried!
"...Shouldn't we go and check?" The only girl in the room asked. She had the most courage compared to the room full of geezers.
"...fine. Let's go."
Eventually, all of them stood up and walked through the doors into the corridor and then outside. Where a machine was just standing there. But then, their eyes ended up on another machine, which was floating there, observing what was going on.
"Six Houses of Kyoto. It has been a while."
Machine's words perked up. Has it been a while? Did they meet somewhere?
The cockpit hatch opened as the machine's hand moved, assisting the pilot to exit the mobile suit and then lowering him down.
"...You are Marcus Goldman!"
It was immediately clear why those rebels were blown up! They stole from him! Never did they in their wildest dreams think that Anaheim had such machines!
"Indeed. But we met before." He smirked while looking at them. Kaguya, who was staring at him, finally realised something!
"Y-You are Lelouch! I am sure of it!" The girl clapped her hands. After shamelessly staring at him, she made the connection!
"Well, well. So you do remember me, Princess Kaguya." He smiled at her, making her blush.
"K-Kaguya is fine! N-No need to call me Princess or anything." She waved her hands, fighting her embarrassment!
"So you ARE alive." The bald man, Taizo Kirihara, acknowledged that he remembered the prince; he had met him before.
"I assume you took the identity of Marcus Goldman, the genius prosthetics inventor, and created Anaheim Robotics, to build…these…" The man's gaze went to the machine that was kneeling on one leg.
"Is it for the revenge?" Eventually, he asked, making the other five look at the Fallen Prince.
"Among other things. I will figure out who did it. It's only a matter of time."
Taizo Kirihara expected him to seethe in anger to get revenge, but such a nonchalant reaction only made him feel fear.
The scariest people are the unhinged ones!
"...I see…"
"I am here to discuss my resources, which your Freedom fighters have been 'confiscating'." The Inventor Prince smiled while saying that.
"Please, come with us, we can discuss these things inside." The old man motioned for him to come with him and have some tea.
"Very well." He nodded before looking at the other machine still in the air.
"Land, Leila. Join me for a cup of tea."
Moments later, the other machine landed, and a blonde girl came out.
Seeing the girl, the black haired girl puffed her cheeks. The blonde girl was beautiful and well-developed!
The feminine machine lowered the girl as Marcus took her hand and began to walk towards the Japanese-style house.
The bald man looked at the pair and then at the machines. He is wondering if the exiled prince was willing to fight for Japan's freedom.
After all, the Japanese never treated him badly.