Alarms blared as the forward base of Europia United.
The Europeans were confused, as there were no directions! From where did the attack come!?
As the troops were running around like headless chickens, streaks of blue began to rain from the sky, and all of their Gardmare machines blew up one after another, causing panic to increase exponentially.
"What the fuck is going on!? Who is attacking!? And from where!?" A pale blue uniform-wearing soldier demanded to know.
But at that moment, another soldier grabbed him by the shoulders and forced him to look upwards.
What he saw was a blue and white humanoid machine with wings; the sections of the wings were separated as they were filled up by blue energy of some sort.
"...W-What is that thing!?"
Panic gave way to horror as he had never seen anything like this!
Was this a new Britannian Knightmare!? But even for them, this thing looked far too advanced!
It was a proper humanoid! Nothing like the Sutherland!
"God knows. It destroyed Britannian troops and now did the same to ours!"
But then pure horror happened as the machine opened fire!
The sections on the chest were mounted with CIWS, which began to spray bullets!
"RUN!"
The troops began to scatter, but then the machine stopped after killing half of them.
The European troops stopped for a second, as they were curious and terrified at the same time.
This time, curiosity won over as they stopped and looked.
What they saw was the machine floating down and picking up a blond-haired girl, with the girl in hand, the machine simply flew away at absurd speed.
"What is even going on!? I don't know what to do anymore!" The soldiers began to have panic attacks.
Not only were they far from home, but their supplies were scarce, and the support they were getting was minimal.
All of those things, combined with this alien-like machine attack that destroyed everything, made them snap from fear and horror.
It was like the final straw in a long list of things…
~~~
Marcus finally snapped from his killing frenzy when he almost killed a beautiful blonde-haired girl.
He recalled that Europia United had only one thing that was decent from this embarrassing version of Europe, and that was Leila Malcal.
Someone he nearly killed, by the way.
So, without wasting a second, he kidnapped her and took her away.
It was quite a small price for Euro Britannia and Europia United to pay to calm his rage.
As he landed his Mobile Suit at a specific derelict suburban house, he got out and took the girl from his mech's hands.
The Inventor Prince barged into a quite familiar house, but it was in ruins.
There are holes in the brick walls, and the roof is in a bad state.
Honestly, it made his body twitch just from looking at it, but first, he prepared a place for the girl to lie down.
As she lay in a makeshift bed he made from spare clothing he had, the black haired prince began to patch her bullet wounds.
Thankfully, only her right hand was hit; even then, the wounds were superficial.
However, just doing that made her wake up.
~~~
Leila's eyes trembled as she gnashed her teeth. Her eyes snapped open as she wondered why it was hurting so much.
"Don't move. I am in no mood for games."
The girl stopped in her tracks; she could feel something cold pointing at her throat.
Her eyes finally focused. She could see a blade was pointing at her neck.
Realising her situation, she stiffly nodded, making him pull his sword aside and return to his work on fixing her hand.
She looked at him for a bit. Wondering who he was, and where she was as well.
Eventually, the blonde realised that she had seen him somewhere.
"You are that Britannian entrepreneur, why are you helping a European soldier?" She asked, confused.
The girl wondered why… but then she saw the pilot uniform he had.
"..."
"..."
"..."
Her eyes went to the other side, through the cracks of the wall, and she could see a knightmare-like machine kneeling on one knee.
"You are the pilot of that machine! T-Then why you let me live!?" She asked, terrified, confused, curious and all sorts of emotions.
That was before he touched her wound.
"Agh!?"
"Calm down." He rolled his eyes before returning to his task.
After a couple of moments, her breathing calmed down. Fear was replaced by dreadful curiosity.
"...Why then?" She asked, not able to control herself.
"That's because you are the best thing that came out from Europia United, but then again, your roots are not with E.U. but Britannia, so it's arguable." He shrugged.
"What are you talking about?" She was both confused and terrified.
*Sigh*
"Let's go through the whole roster. From Government type, that will implode soon thanks to Britannian assault, to how pathetic the war machines you guys have, to many talentless soldiers…
Honestly, you are the best thing, like I said." He repeated what he said a moment ago.
"Y-You are crazy." She said with disbelief. This guy is mental, he glossed her nation like it was something on a paper sheet…
"I need to be crazy to build something, like my Taranis. Would you build a miniature sun in your basement?" He asked in turn.
"..."
Her words stuck at the tip of her tongue.
"Precisely, the world belongs to the mad. Every scientist to date was unstable to some degree, from overflowing ego to kinks that would make most promiscuous women blush. They all are in that category." He shrugged as he finished fixing her hand.
The blonde looked at his handywork. He was a meticulous guy; he made sure it was bandaged up to perfection.
"...True. Then why are you here? You are thousands of miles away from your base of operations, unless you are helping the Britannians…" Midway, she realised that he attacked both sides!
What the—
"What ARE you doing?" She asked him.
"I came to see an important town to me, but when I saw it in ruins."
She grimaced hearing that. Eastern Europe has been a warzone for several years now. With the frontlines shifting almost daily, most of the cities are utterly destroyed.
In record time with the new Knightmare and Knightmare-like machines, no less!
"I haven't done anything of this sort… I am an officer related to CIC in a military mission." She tried to explain herself.
But Marcus simply laughed. His hand went to her the blue uniform, and he pulled on it for a second, making her look where his hand was.
"The moment you put on this blue uniform, you are carrying the cross of E.U. soldiers. Or, in layman's terms, you are already responsible for all of it. That's the whole purpose of it.
This uniform unifies soldiers, gives them the same purpose, and at the same time, it shares all of the responsibility.
Just like I do with mine." He shrugged while saying the last part.
"..." She frowned for a second. But then slowly nodded, accepting it.
"...I suppose, when you put it like that." Liela resigned to what he said.
"So, what are you going to do to me?" She asked, accepting that he would eventually do something to her.
"I am going to keep you. From now on, you are mine." He said with finality in his voice, before standing up and sheathing his Katana.
"...so a slave?" She frowned. The girl is pretty sure such a thing is banned in Britannia.
"Don't be ridiculous. You are going to be my follower. That's about it."
"...Isn't it dangerous for you?" The girl frowned even more. Isn't he a bit… reckless? He doesn't know her…
"You desire peace; that's why you are in the military. At the same time, you did it to escape what your adopted family is planning. Malcal's took you in because of your Britannian noble blood."
"..." Her eyes trembled from shock. How the hell!?
"I know… everything about you, that is why you will accept my offer, because I am the key to TRUE world peace."
Her gaze hardened.
Eventually, looking to the side. Where his machine was waiting for them.
"My Taranis has more energy than 50 knightmares put together, the raw punching force without any weapon is five times that of any current machine, it can cross the void of space, and cross the whole planet in less than a few hours.
And this machine is not even the final model, but a prototype of a prototype."
Her eyes widened to absurd levels.
"That's right. I am planning to terrify everyone into obedience." He said with a smirk.
"...Will that even…work?" She was on the fence when it came to this 'solution'.
"It doesn't matter now, does it? You are coming with me, Leila. That's all there is, and if you don't believe, you will see soon enough."
As he said that, he offered his hand to her.
"...Your courting skills… for better or worse require a lot of work." In the end, she took his hand and eventually stood up.
"Courting? I suppose. I've been spending too much time making my machine; I forgot that you ladies require a softer touch." He chuckled before starting to walk towards the broken doors, with Leila in tow; he didn't let go of her hand.
Eventually, they were outside where the machine was waiting for them.
The Knightmare-like machine's eyes glowed as it activated and soon offered its hand.
"...It can move on its own?" Leila commented, wondering how that works.
"More than that." He replied, not getting into many details, as Marcus got into his seat, he offered her to sit on his lap.
"...You can't be serious…" The blonde replied, but he motioned to get in.
"..."
"..."
She closed her eyes for a second. She was already most likely regarded as MIA and most likely would need to explain herself a lot.
If people would even believe her tale if she were to escape somehow miraculously.
"..."
After waiting for another second, she got into the cockpit, and the hatch sealed behind them. Then the monitors around them came alive, and she could see 360 degrees around her.
The holograms appeared around the pilot seat, and a male voice began to speak from all directions.
Notifications about the machine popped up, they swiftly disappeared, and all that is left is a couple of control sticks, a lever, and pedals…
How is one supposed to control this thing with so few controls?
Before long, the machine took off as it began to fly upwards, then Marcus moved the right control stick to the middle…
[Switching to plane mode]
The machine midair folded and became a plane before accelerating into the sky.
"..."
Her eyes began to widen as she realised that the vehicle was not stopping! It kept climbing at absurd speed!
'Was he serious about space travel!?' A random idea popped into her mind, as she realised that he was not making up!
Before long, she felt weightlessness! The girl began to float up, but Marcus pulled her back in.
They were in space!
"No— way we reached this high so quickly!? What kind of thrust does this machine have?" Leila commented as she ignored the fact that she was getting hugged like that.
"Ion technology, my machine is invisible to radar because of the magnetic field it has, it's not for show either, as the field lowers the resistance of air exponentially.
That makes it move like it was in water." He explained to her.
"...I-If it's true… then it can move faster than Sutherland in on landdpinners."
Marcus chuckled hearing that comparison.
"Just because my mobile suit is bigger doesn't mean it loses in speed comparison, it's made from a lighter and far more durable alloy." He smirked while saying that.
"...I see…"
Her eyes looked at the horizon. The girl can see the curvature of the planet.
"Legion, set next coordinates."
[Loading coordinates. Calculating route.]
"..."
The girl listened, realising that even the machine itself is smart; if that is true, then in combat it can assist, too.
The blonde began to believe that his plan…could be possible, and it only took her less than five minutes to be inside one of them.