Two days later, Marcus finally asked the magic question after they checked out of the hotel.
"So, when are we going to collect your ex-collegues?" The Inventor, as the pinkette who was hugging his hand.
"R-Right… about that. They are part of the military. Soo…" Anna blushed a bit as she forgot about them.
"In other words… I would need to use my Tiranis anyway." Marcus deadpanned a bit.
"Yes. I'm afraid so." She fiddled with her shirt as she replied.
Marcus smiled after hearing that as he used his free hand to pat her.
"No worries."
He took her away as they walked towards a park not far from the Eiffel Tower.
The Prince pulled out an earpiece and put it on.
"Tiranis to my side."
[At once, sir.]
He then put it aside and looked at Anna, who was looking around. The girl looked a bit sad that their time together was coming to an end.
Seeing that he hugged her made her smile a bit.
"No worries, we will do something like this again. I did have my fun." He said that while squeezing her rear. That caused her to blush heavily.
"...Yes…"
A few moments later, the wind picked up as a mobile suit landed before them.
The regular people who saw this scrambled away in fear, as they had seen this machine before.
The pair got inside, and the machine rose into the sky.
Marcus got comfortable inside as he accessed the data available.
'Well-Well… I won't be able to do anything more stealthy.' He commented as he saw that he was noticed. The AA weaponry picked him up alongside missile systems.
"Interesting, they somehow are able to track you down." Anna noticed that the AA guns in the city, along with the missile pod systems, are tracking him. The regular radar should not be able to find them.
"They use heat instead of the usual radio systems. I suppose they did their homework, but what about it?" Marcus' rifles unfolded from the wings as Tiranis picked them and began to target as well.
Before long, alarms began to blare as people scrambled for protection, missiles and anti-air guns started to shoot at Marcus' machine.
But the KK-unit simply shot the beam rifles, and everything was erased.
"You guys need much more than mere physical bullets and explosives to do something." The Inventor commented as he pressed the triggers once more, shooting blue beams at the military installations.
One by one, the weapons were erased.
"Shall we try recruiting them?" Marcus said to his girl as he used his hacking skills to get into the cell towers and get hold of the numbers of several people.
"Try to message them." He summoned a keyboard hologram so she could write to the people she knew.
"...Right." The girl didn't realise she could do this, as she began writing messages while the Prince continued to cause the EU millions in damage.
Sadly, the defensive weapons didn't last long, as after several more attempts, they went down, and there was no more protection for the city.
"Hmm?" Tiranis' systems picked up something as the mech flew over and noticed a raid was happening on a highway.
"Oh my. This is my lucky day."
The KK-Unit flew over and landed on the road, then pointed his rifle at the raiders. It was a girl in a hoodie, and someone was piloting one of those primitive knightmares.
"Hold up, this is a raid." Marcus declared in an amused tone.
Anna deadpanned for a second, then smiled in amusement… this was hilarious, in a way.
The girl stopped mid-way as she looked at the mech before her! Her eyes were wide as she could not believe what was standing before her.
"That is right. Don't move, guys." Tiranis looked around as he stopped a limo. It was a heavily fortified car.
Then, all of a sudden, the car doors opened, and a tall man walked out. He looked at Tiranis with interest.
"Your Highness, Prince Lelouch, or should I call you Marcus Goldman. What do I own such pleasure of meeting the most notorious man in the whole world?"
Marcus smiled a bit after hearing that. He was the most notorious person in the world? That is new to him.
Then again, he doesn't check online or something like that. After all, he has his own network. Filtering such useless things out.
"You must be the head of the military of the EU."
"Not quite. But close enough. I doubt an Imperialist like you understands how democracy is run."
Marcus laughed after hearing that.
"Well, entertain me, Gene Smilas. Because I do suppose I have a proposal for you."
After saying that, Marcus moved out of his seat as he allowed the confused Anna to take over.
"Stay here for now. I want to speak with him. If things go the way I want, we will get your friend with us in a flash." He said to her while gently stroking her chin.
The girl was a bit confused, but in the end slowly nodded as soon as the mech lowered Marcus on the street.
The terrorists who tried to kidnap Gene Smilas were confused. Like what is going on here!? Shouldn't they run away, but that mech is absurdly strong! It could destroy them in a flash!
"You two." Marcus looked at the girl and the guy in Glasgow, a relic machine by this point.
"You can return to Japan if you want to. With my sister running things there, you two can have a normal life there. We have special programs that can assist in returning things to how they were before the occupation."
"...As if it's any better under Anaheim!" The girl with wakizachi exclaimed.
"Is it? And you've been there and seen with your own eyes?" Marcus replied with an eye roll before looking at the man before him.
"I do have an offer for you."
"You desire for Europia United to surrender." The man was not stupid and not born yesterday. There is not much that someone like Lelouch before him would want.
"Indeed, and you could help me." Marcus smiled a bit as he had some ideas for using this situation to his advantage and saving a bit of time.
"Depends on what you could offer." The man didn't decline outright.
"Anaheim's focus from the very beginning was space. We already have one out of five colonies operational, and the speed of the development is only getting faster.
We are already gathering resources for terraforming Venus and Mars.
Before long, in our lifetime, we will have worlds in which humanity can live without much trouble; those worlds would require people with talent who can assist in their government."
"...Sounds fascinating, but that is in the future; I don't have time to wait." It sounded great and all, but that will take years and a long distance to travel.
By all means, what he is hearing are empty promises.
"Indeed, think of it as your retirement destination. Until then, you can assist in Europe's government." Marcus said with a smile.
Now that sounded much better!
"This one I can accept. However, there are things that we must discuss first if you want me to assist in the EU handover."
Marcus' smile slowly morphed into a grin as this was what he was aiming for.
"Good enough. I shall contact you in a bit more discreet location.
Until then, have a nice day, General Smilas."
The Inventor turned around and walked to his machine that picked him up. Once he was inside the mech, he faced the Glasgow.
"Shall we go? We do need to give General an alibi." Marcus spoke in an amused tone as the mech walked over.
The pilot inside of Glasgow tried to fight him as he realised that he was about to get kidnapped.
"Like Hell Britannian!"
"This again…" The Prince sounded bored when he heard that his nationality was being thrown around like some slur.
"Can you people learn something new?" Marcus pointed a rifle at the Glasgow, making the pilot of Knightmare start sweating bullets as he saw more than enough videos of these Anaheim machines melt knightmares in the most literal sense.
The green Glasgow tried to move out of the targeting sight, but the Tiranis predicted where he would move, so the shot went right for the legs of the Knightmare.
The girl with the sword looked horrified by how effortlessly the Glasgow was defeated.
The ejection system was activated, and the cockpit was ejected.
The girl panicked when she realised her support was gone.
"Ryo!!!"
Before she could move, the mobile suit dropped on one knee and pointed the beam rifle at the girl.
"Don't move, sweetheart."
The girl dropped her short sword on instinct just from being in front of the muzzle of such a weapon.
"You will be coming with us~." With that said, he took the girl with his mech's free hand and then flew away.
"Hold it! Where do you think you are going!?!" A teenager emerged, exclaiming at the sky as Tiranis flew away.
General looked at the boy, for now ignoring him, as Gene Smilas recalled the mobile suit's performance with keen interest. He was very impressed, to say the least.
'No wonder they control nearly half of the world in mere months. Truly monstrous machines.'
He sighed, realising that his schemes won't be going anywhere. Instead, he should take the safe route and join Anaheim.
From there, he can see how things will progress.
"Well, he did give me an alibi. Once again, Lelouch vi Britannia took fancy on a girl and took her while ignoring one of the Generals of Europia United." He nodded to himself.
Sounds preposterous, but it happened twice already.
So people would believe it.
"H-He can't do it! Damn it! He can't just kidnap people like that!" The teen said with an angry tone.
"That's Britannian Royals, they can do whatever they want with the power they wield." Gene Smilas said to the teen.
"No one asked you!" The teen gnashed his teeth before running away towards where the Glasgow cockpit should have landed.
~~~
"What are you going to do with the girl?" Anna asked with narrowed eyes.
"Who knows. I haven't decided yet." Marcus shrugged as he looked at the terrified girl who was holding Tiranis' thumb finger like her life depended on it.
"And my ex-collegues?" She asked, wondering how he would make it happen.
"Well, since you didn't give me a concrete plan, I will improvise
I will use Gene Smilas to collect them before getting shipped to me." Marcus explained as he took his Tiranis to the Atlantic Ocean, where the Centauri-class support warship was.
'Shipped… like some cargo?' She deadpanned for a second.
Well, it's better than nothing. Considering she had no plan apart from having information on her ex-colleagues.
As the mobile suit landed, the crew were already waiting for them. Anna realised she had forced these guys to wait for them aimlessly above the Atlantic Ocean.
The cockpit opened as Marcus and Anna came out. Next moment, the girl who was hugging Tiranis' thumb finger lunged at the Inventor Prince.
But the Prince easily dodged her before flipping her over and then pinning her to the ground.
"Look what I caught, a naughty girl." He teased her with an amused tone.
"...Ugh…let go of me!" She complained as the girl tried to struggle.
"If you promise to behave, I will let you go."
"..." For a second, she pondered, but then pain washed over her as she could feel her arm was bending too much!
"Aghhh!" The girl screamed for a second.
"I give up! I give up!" She grimaced as she could not take it anymore. Marcus then let her go as she scrambled to move away.
"What? So now you are nervous?" He teased her when, moments later, black-armoured soldiers entered the hangar and pointed their futuristic rifles at the girl.
"Relax, she is with me." Marcus motioned for his troops to lower their guns.
The black soldiers nodded as they lowered their rifles and got back to their positions.
"Isn't it right? Ayano?" He smiled while saying her name. The girl paled as she could not believe he knew about her! How? Why?