It took around a day for the two Geass Users to return to Britannia.
The pair were taken to the Emperor, who was waiting for them.
In the Throne Room, the pair of tired-looking teenagers dropped to one knee in front of Charles.
"Your Majesty, we have returned with the data." The brown-haired teen offered several vials and a thumb drive.
"Schneizel, take it and give it to your research team." The Britannian Emperor instructed the blonde who was in the room.
The blonde walked over and took the offered items.
"You two may leave. Take a few days off." Charles instructed them to leave.
The pair slowly nodded before getting up and leaving the throne room.
"...We may have gained something, but this took an enormous amount of effort. I am certain that Euro Britannia realised that we left them in the cold." The blonde began speaking the moment the geass users left the room.
"Even if they did, what of it? They will accept that we can't babysit them anymore." The Emperor scoffed.
"...More importantly, I have intelligence that Lelouch has discovered some sort of ancient city in Antarctica's Wasteland.
The sheer scale of his activities there are my concern."
Charles sounded concerned, and that made Schneizel even more concerned! The Emperor rarely shows such an expression!
"...Ancient City… there?" The blonde was a bit baffled. What could possibly be there!?
"Humanity has been on this world for nearly… a million years. Maybe even more. Do you think that we are the only civilisation, Schneizel?" The old man before him had this smile… that told the Prince he knew something, and the blonde did not.
"...If humanity was around for that long…"
"Indeed. Interesting, isn't it?" The Emperor tapped the throne's armrest.
"...If Lelouch invested a considerable amount of manpower into such a place, then it should be valuable." The Prince frowned.
'Is this why he is not seeing in the Indochina region when it felt? Or that he is making any serious moves?'
The blonde began to worry about the unknown variables this could bring.
"If I may… what do we know? What is Lelouch looking for?" Schneizel asked with a concerned voice.
They are already way behind Anaheim! This sounds as if they are about to fall behind even more, and that could spell their doom.
"What he is looking for is something that I don't know.
But what I know is certain secrets of this precurson human civilisation." The old man smiled.
"...your ruins…"
"My ruins? Is that what you call? A bit naive of your Schneizel." Charles snorted in amusement.
"These ruins and their power are what kept Britannia at the top of the world since we were exiled from Britain."
The Prince's eyes widened for a second as he just learned this bombshell.
"What is concerning is that Lelouch has the entire city to study on top of his advanced faction.
That is why I offered you the help of two of my best secret service agents."
'Those two teenagers were agents of the Secret Services!?'
"Surprised? They have special… powers that made the mission possible."
The prince looked a bit concerned. What the hell is going on!?
He is slowly starting to feel that certain things are slipping away from him. He is learning the hidden sides of the world.
"...Do we have more of such people?"
Charles grew pensive when he heard that.
"...Remember the crater?" That's all he needed to tell the Prince, as the reaction on Schneizel's face told it all.
"...That attack from space… it was to blow up some sort of base that belonged to Britannia."
"...Indeed. Lelouch's attack has crippled us… severely." The Emperor looked a bit annoyed.
Not a bit… a lot. But he is good at controlling his emotions, so even seeing an annoyed Emperor like that is already considered impressive.
The war is getting to the Emperor!
"...So…that's how it…"
It was surprising to say the least! Britannian special services base was deeply in Asia! That is something else!
"Now you know Schneizel. The coming months will tell if Britannia is worthy to survive. Do what you can with the technology that we acquire.
Hold nothing back, mobilise all you can, because we know that Lelouch is coming and you know what he is capable of."
"...Yes. Your Majesty!
"You may mobilise my Knights of the Round Table. I will instruct them to listen to your orders. Don't disappoint me."
With that said. The Prince knew that the Emperor had branded Lelouch as an existential threat when the Round Table Knights would be listening to him…
"Understood, My Emperor, I shall leave for California at once to deliver the data we have collected."
"Do so. I demand custom machines for our best knights if we wish to fight Anaheim's KK machines!" Charles barked the orders as the Prince solemnly nodded.
"As you wish."
'It won't be easy. We just ended Zaku's test runs. Sadly, we lost those two machines and their combat data.'
~~~
Schneizel didn't waste his time as he swiftly took his private plane to California, where the base of new mobile suit development is located.
The information they acquired from the raid was handed over to their head of R&D.
In the main office, it was as quiet as in a graveyard as the top developer was reading over the files. On the opposite side, the blonde prince was waiting patiently.
*Sigh*
"Do you want to hear the bad news or the good news?" Rakshata finally spoke as she puffed her kiseru pipe.
"Let's start with good news, then." The Prince wanted to hear something positive… before getting his hopes crushed.
"The good news is that I can recreate this." She waived the papers. It was pictures of the Batteries.
"And the bad news?"
"I can't mass produce this… not yet, at least. I would need at least a couple of years of infrastructure development to make something like this into mainstream batteries to replace the current energy fillers." She explained to him, making Schneizel frown even more.
"...Even with all this data… we still can't make these?" The Prince complained, frustration starting to surface on his face.
"...You do realise, Prince Schneizel, that your little brother developed the resources first, then infrastructure for those resources, followed by the technology…you understand that, don't you?
It's like giving a modern car to a medieval society; they could recreate parts of it because they know how to process iron and make steel.
You do understand where I am going with this?" She asked him.
"...So we simply don't know…"
"The thing is, we know or have ideas, but we simply do not have time.
This is more or less intentional. You could, and I believe that this was done intentionally by your little brother."
"..." Schneizel's eyes slowly widened as he realised that Lelouch created this technology like this on purpose.
By the time they understand in and out, Anaheim would overrun them.
"Truly… He thought this out to such a degree…" The blonde prince mumbled under his breath.
While the Prime Minister intended to play the chess… his little brother was literally the one who not only created the table on which the chess can be played but even made the rules…
It was a setup from the very beginning.
Instead of focusing on their own technology and its advancement, they threw themselves into this new, unknown technology that is a setup!
"So it's a setup by Lelouch."
"Yes and no. He is forcing you to play by his rules… while he is the game master. You were never intended to win in first place."
"...Hmph. That is maybe so, but we don't give up without trying." Schneizel won't accept defeat like this!
"Focus this technology on round table knights. Rebuilt them any way you see fit. Do your best… Rakshata."
The Prince instructed that, as he was ready to leave, the blonde woman stopped him.
"I will do my best. But do remember our deal, Prince.".
"Do not worry, India is the first to get the shipments of the experimental Linear Railgun Rifles. The issue is whether they can use them." The blonde Prime Minister has already sent the containers of weapons to India.
Compared to keeping the genius, these weapons are dirt poor.
"Don't worry. India is on their way to roll out their Mobile Suits." The woman smiled, making Schneizel frown.
"...You shared technology…"
"I didn't share. I send them the things that I developed, not what Britannia created." She explained, it was semantics…
But this is where Prince smiled.
"You'd better send all the data and make them develop their own Zakus. Just don't forget to collect the data."
The woman frowned in turn. But in the end, it was a good idea.
Even if it means Britannia will use India as a testing ground for their Zakus
"Very well."
~~~~~~Meanwhile, South Pole~~~~~~
"Is it true? Euro Britannia is asking for a ceasefire?" Marcus asked the girl responsible for the diplomatic side of things.
Kaguya is quite versatile when it comes to interactions with people, from PR to HR to diplomacy. She took the whole thing like a storm.
And for Marcus, who simply doesn't give a damn about those things. He would rather build a robotic army than employ people.
This is where this Sumeragi Princess comes to play. She was good enough that he relegated her to the majority of those works.
Sure, there is Milly, but she is more or less a bodyguard for Nunally and a Talent Scout.
"Yes. They sent it to us via official channels. They want a ceasefire." Kaguya replied as she sipped her warm tea.
It was cold in the South Pole, even when she was dressed in several layers of clothing.
"Is that so? They do know that I want the whole world. Not part of it." The Inventor Prince replied with a small frown.
"You could accept it, for a while, my spies are telling me that Indian is getting a considerable amount of military shipments from Britannia.
Some of the containers they found are of a very specific size.
Mobile suit size." Kaguya said with a small frown.
That made Marcus furrow his eyebrows a bit. He needs to make Legion keep its eyes on cargo ships now. He summoned his AI hologram and checked the ports in India. He noticed a bit of variation in the shipment containers.
'So after I blew up your planes, now you do it the old-fashioned way…'
"Strange that Britannia of all people would give their military hardware to other nations." He commented, there was a bit of a mocking smile on his lips.
The high and mighty, Darwinian-obsessed nation that would never accept something like 'allies' is sending military aid and support to a foreign nation.
'Oh, how mighty has fallen. They barely have any supplies after I destroyed them, but now they are sending their recently built Zakus…
Yeah Zakus… It would seem I have triggered something that this world right now is changing into a Gundam World.
As hilarious as this is.
But, yes. My sweet and amazing father is adapting to the situation. I am impressed.'
"...Are you okay? I haven't seen so many expressions on a face change so much." Kaguya looked worried for a second.
"Relax. I am just… happy that my dearest father is growing up. Even when he is over 60 now." Marcus chuckled while saying that.
"I don't know if I should take this as a joke or if you are serious." The girl was confused, to say the least.
"Both. Because we forced Britannian to lower its head, my father is sending aid to another nation that has never happened.
They are not doing that to Euro Britannia but India instead."
"Yes, that is something I do not understand," Kaguya asked, confused about this as well.
"Simple, India had a military industrial complex. They are making a mobile suit. Most likely using this as an opportunity to test their machines in a field."
As Marcus said, he got an idea.
Why doesn't he just crush India and, in turn, Britannian hopes instead?
This will be the perfect opportunity to deploy all of his KK units at once.
It will crush whatever resistance they think they could muster.
'Perfect, let's do just that.'
"So what is your answer? What should we do with Euro Britannia?" Kaguya asked, but by this point, Marcus shoved them aside.
"Hmm? Oh, right."