"Are you sure you want me to pilot your machine?" Suzaku, dressed in a white pilot suit, asked the pair about it.
One was a lanky-looking nerd named Lloyd Asplund, who was an Earl, not that he cares, as this man was a Scientist and Knightmare Engineer.
The other individual was a beautiful lady and Lloyd's assistant. Her name is Cecile Croomy. She is a fellow engineer and scientist as well.
However, not as a loose cannon like Lloyd, who only cares for Knightmares.
"Of course! Just look at your compatibility rating!" The nerd scientist nearly glided to the brown-haired teen's side and showed him a laptop with percentages in it.
It showed the compatibility rating, and Suzaku was at 94%...
"...Still, isn't it your creation? What if I break it?" He was a bit nervous; this machine looked expensive!
"Well, then I will have to kill you." Lloyd plainly said, but Cecile, next to him, pulled the scientist by the ear.
"Ignore him, Suzaku." She said, in annoyance, while looking at Lloyd before gazing at the teen with a smile.
"Lancelot was built to be used in a fight. It's a prototype that needs combat experience and data so that we can improve it further." The lady explained in a gentle voice, making Suzaku slowly nod. These two are polar opposites.
"I understand, then I will try my best." He got serious before thinking about his current situation.
If he becomes a test pilot for this experimental machine, he can begin climbing the promotion ladder and towards his goal of changing Britannia from within.
'Just you wait, Lelouch! I will find you. I hope nothing has happened to you at that place.'
Suzaku recalled Lloyd's words: all the Royal Guards have melted and burned away… their tops were missing! Like a hot knife sliced their upper body halves away!
'On top of that… He is not Lelouch anymore…'
The soldier recalled that face and look on the TV screen. He is certain! Lelouch is now Marcus Goldman, a genius inventor of prosthetics and exoskeleton technology and the CEO of Anaheim Robotics.
"Wonderful, then start reading the manual, you don't have much time."
Lloyd swiftly recovered as he handed over a book to the teen. The engineer was already ready! He knew Suzaku would pilot his Lancelot.
"Please hurry and get into Lancelot, Suzaku." Cecile reminded him that he didn't have much time.
"R-Right." The Brown-Haired soldier rushed to the machine.
~~~
Marcus hummed as he pressed a trigger, and a blue beam slammed into Sutherland's lower half, melting the legs away. The damage caused a reaction as the cockpit was ejected from the frame.
"Twenty-Four…" The Inventor counted his streak.
"..."
"Why hello there." He looked to his side and saw yellow eyes looking at him.
"..."
She didn't respond; instead, she was looking at him.
So, to get a reaction, his right hand went from one of the control sticks and went to her cheeks. He poked it.
"...What are you doing?" The girl finally responded, her tone was hostile, clearly not liking what he had just done.
"Isn't ir obvious? I am poking your cheek." He rolled his eyes at her question.
"Why? Don't you have better things to do?" She replied, ignoring his pokes.
Before he can reply, his A.I notified him.
[Sir, Z-1 Lancelot has joined the battle. It's moving towards your location.]
"It would seem I do have other things to do." He chuckled a bit before getting her to sit comfortably in his lap.
The girl frowned. She was confused. Why was he like that? What is going on?
"Hold on. Someone wants to fight me."
As he said that, the girl looked at him, then at the screen. She was curious, What is this machine? She doesn't even know how she escaped from the lab!
Was he the one who rescued her? But why? Does he know her?
As she was confused, the girl watched what would happen next.
~~~
'What is this thing!?'
"T-The screen! The enemy Knightmare is blurry for some reason!" Suzaku said via radio to the control.
"Let me see!"
The nerd scientist checked the direct video footage.
"Interesting…"
"It's like there is some sort of force field that is causing such a reaction," Cecile commented as she was also looking at the video.
"I will take it down regardless!" The brown haired teen jumped as his slash harkens launched at the machine.
There was a contact, but the Harkens, which should have cut the flying machine, simply bounced off…
"..."
"..."
"..."
"Is this supposed to do something?" The machine spoke.
"According to my data, this machine is the next-generation prototype. So far, I have not seen any improvements." The beam rifle pointed at Suzaku as he grimaced for a second, launching himself away from the beam rifle's range.
But the enemy machine's hand moved after him, as it ignored physics!
'Fast! How can it move so fast in the air?' Suzaku's thoughts raced fast as he tried to think of a way to get close! He has no other weapons but Slash Harkens!
However, this machine rushed after him, getting very close, and suddenly, a blue energy sword moved towards him.
'I-I can't dodge it in time!'
Suzaku moved just enough, the very last second, as the vertical slash went through one of his hands. Slicing off Lancelot's limb.
The alarms flared inside Lancelot's cockpit as he tried to get some distance, but then the other hand of the machine moved, and a blue beam shredded one of Lancelot's legs.
'S-Shit! He got me!'
The white machine was about to collapse, but then Suzaku used the Slash Harkens to try to move away from the enemy. The idea was to move like a monkey through the derelict buildings.
But the flying machine was already next to him.
'What is with this speed!?' Suzaku paled as a kick slammed him into the ground, and the Knightmare ended up lying on his back.
Inside the cockpit, the brown haired teen grimaced as he felt like shit. He might not have been shot before in the tunnel, but he has a huge bruise on his side.
And now he is getting thrown around like a toy.
~~~
"NOOOOO! MY BABY! HOW DARE YOU TO TREAT MY LANCELOT LIKE THIS!!!" Lloyd was pulling his hair as he couldn't believe his Lancelot was being treated like this!
"...Incredible, I have never seen anything like this…" On the other hand, Cecile was checking the data she was getting from Lancelot.
"What?" Lloyd stopped all of a sudden and checked Cecile's computer screen.
"The reader inside Lancelot is showing me something…weird." She showed the diagrams.
"...Electromagnetic interference?" He asked, fixing his glasses.
"Yes… It's like this machine had a magnetic field on its own…"
"Like a planet?" Lloyd questioned, only planets or suns with active cores have magnetic fields.
"...Probably…" Cecile replied, wondering the same thing.
The pair were awed by this development, as they even ignored Lancelot getting dismantled.
But then… the video stopped as the consoles lost connection with Lancelot.
"Hmm?" Lloyd's eyes widened as his expression morphed into horror.
"NOOOO!!! Lancelot!!!!" The guy realised that his machine was out!
~~~
Marcus looked at the pile of parts that was the white machine. The only thing intact was the cockpit.
"...You are one sadistic man. Is there a reason why you did all of this?" The girl in his hands commented.
"I am an engineer and inventor, figuring out how things work is part of my job description." He explained his reasons.
"...Right…" She sighed. "But that sadistic grin says otherwise." The green-haired girl pointed THAT out.
*Snort*
"It's called enjoying the end result of hard work, my dear."
"Don't call me that." She frowned before asking.
"What do you mean by that?" Regardless, she asked.
"What I mean is that I worked for this for more than six years." He looked at her before poking her cheek.
"Sleepless nights, headaches, tiredness… all of that is worth it when the most advanced Knightmare in the world is beneath my feet.
It means that the machine that I created is leagues above anything Britannia could produce." He explained to her before Tiranis' hand moved to the cockpit, slowly he opened it and looked at Suzaku, who was out cold.
"And just like that, my prize has been acquired," Marcus said with a smile, before connecting to Jeremiah.
"Collect my loot, keep the pilot alive, or more like place him somewhere safe so that he can leave once he wakes up."
"Understood."
"Is there a reason why you kept him alive?" The girl asked.
"And why not? He is a talented pilot. The only issue is that his machine was primitive. If he had something at my level, it would be a different tale."
"So, you acknowledging your limitations?" She asked, very curious.
"Of course." He scoffed at her.
"My talent is to build; if I see a mountain in my path, I will build something to overcome it."
"...In other words, you will build yourself and overcome your father's empire." The girl reasoned.
"Hah. Indeed, my dear." He poked her cheek, once more.
"You won't ask how I know your identity?" The green-haired girl asked, very curious. "Aren't you afraid I will tell people?" She asked, moving her head to the side.
"Not at all. For one, you need to be away from me to speak to someone. Second, you need to have the means to do that. For the third, I won't allow that, now that you are mine."
"...Is that right?" She hummed, wondering what was going on in his head.
"Relax, and let me do my thing." He smiled before leaning forward and whispering into her ear.
"You do want to get back at the man who did all those experiments on you, right?"
Her eyes widened for a second before a sadistic glint took over.
"...If you can do that, then I will be very grateful." Her tone got softer all of a sudden.
"I will, because that is what we are doing now," Marcus said before he contacted Liela and Milly.
"Do you need to hold her like that?" Leila asked, her eyes a bit narrowed.
"Oh My, Leila, this newcomer will take your spot as favourite." Milly joked, as she found this amusing.
"Can we skip this?" The Inventor Prince sighed. It was a tired one.
"..."
"..."
The pair didn't comment further as they waited for his command.
"We are proceeding to G-1 to take out Clovis."
"...are you sure? Clovis is your brother, Lelouch." Milly asked with a worried tone.
"I am not the one doing it." He replied while looking at the girl in his hands.
"...You letting me do it?" She looked surprised.
"Do you want to, though? I can make him disappear in different ways." He shrugged.
"He is standing in my way for galactic conquest. One thing is certain: I need him gone for my Knight to take over as Temporary Viceroy."
"...I see… then you leave him to me?" The girl in his lap asked to be sure.
"Indeed."
"Good, very GOOD! You don't need to worry about what I will do to him." Her smile sent shivers down Leila and Milly as they were afraid for Clovis.
"In that case, let's proceed." Marcus stroked her long green hair.
~~~
"T-There are three of those machines!!!" One of the officers responded with horror as he saw machines rushing towards them from a distance.
They saw the two 'originals', but then all of a sudden the third one appeared! A green and white model with a huge rifle!
Most likely a sniper! Just thinking that something like that exists makes them feel chills! How are they supposed to fight it?
What is the range of this thing!?
"Another one!?" Clovis nearly passed out.
"W-Where are my Knightmares!?" The Viceroy roared with a terrified look. Shit makes no sense anymore! He lost his entire garrison in a matter of minutes. How is he supposed to fight now!?
Nothing makes sense!
~~~
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