Marcus took the newest addition to his crew to one of the small meeting rooms in the brig areas. This is because if the girl continues to be naughty, he will need to keep her in a cell.
"What are you going to do to me? Ayano Kosaka asked. As she was feeling a certain dread now that she was aboard a flying warship! How could she escape!? Not only was she aboard a place where technology itself terrified.
These guys were wielding lasers that could melt metal like it was nothing!
"I haven't decided yet," Marcus replied after pondering a bit.
"I got you as extra to make the whole thing happen with Gene Smilas. If he is smart, the trick will work." The Prince replied with a small smile.
"So it's just a trick! You can let me go afterwards!" Ayano looked hopeful.
"Don't, silly girl. Do you realise that if you appear on the streets of Paris, the General of the EU army will have a target on your back? He will literally try to make you disappear to make his new alibi stick."
Marcus was making a bit up. But that is to make her behave.
"Besides, I collected this before I flew away." He showed her wakizachi.
"G-Give that back!"
"And make my men shoot you?" He asked with a raised eyebrow.
"!"
"You are aboard a military vessel. While not part of the military. Just by allowing you to be here, I am vouching for you. If you mess up, it's on me." He explained with a sigh.
"Then don't let me off the ship."
"And let you die? No thanks. I will take you to Japan, where you can be with your fellow countrymen."
"As if it matters! All of my relatives are dead thanks to the occupation. Even if I go there, I don't know anyone.
The only family I've got left is Ryo and Yukiya." She narrowed her eyes.
"The Glasgow pilot?"
She stiffly nodded.
"And the other one who was hiding. The question is if both are still alive. You guys attacked a general on top of that; they are related to our plot.
You do realise that this General is power hungry. He will make sure everything plays out so that he ends up in Anaheim as the Governor of Europe." Marcus explained to her. What most likely will happen.
Ayano's eyes widened as she understood what he meant!
"Y-You mean they could die!?"
"A very high percentage." He seriously nodded.
"T-Then… you must save them!" She exclaimed in panic.
"Do tell me why I should do that?" The Prince rolled his eyes. Why should he bother with such a thing!
"..."
For a few moments, she said nothing, but then the girl got desperate.
"I will follow your orders! I can fight for you… a-and do other things if you want!"
"Is that so?" Marcus hummed, not that he had any idea where to put her.
"Well, I could delegate you to the space fleet." He hummed while saying that. She could join Marika and Liliana in space and wait for the invasion.
'Wait, since I am skipping EU, that means Britannia is next.' The Prince pondered. He realised that he was pretty close to complete world domination.
By this point, he should start to prepare for transitioning to interstellar life.
"...I-Is that what you want?" Ayano said, a bit nervously. This was unfamiliar stuff to her. From what her limited knowledge of space is telling us is that a dark place is dangerous for human life. People can easily die there.
"Don't worry. I take care of my people. Those who perform well will receive more than enough money, land and all that stuff."
"I don't need any of that. I want Ryo and Yukiya alive and well." The girl declared with a serious tone.
"Hmm…" He summoned a hologram and composed a message. It took a while; the girl didn't complain; she simply watched as he wrote on a floating glass surface.
This was literally sci-fi stuff to the girl.
After a while, he dismissed the window and looked at her.
"I have requested Gene Smilas to capture your friends and hand them to me.
That is all I can help."
"...But… you have all the fancy technology you could use your flying robot to do all that," Ayano said with a frown.
"I could, but like I said, I don't have any reason to invest more time than necessary."
"I-Isn't this because I tried to attack you? In that case, I apologise! I promise I won't do it again."
Ayano knew that after attacking a literal general, their lives were doomed. Not that she trusts a simple message sent, but it would be far more reassuring if Marcus left with his mobile suit!
"Hmm… you are that desperate." He sighed before scratching his head.
"Why don't you go?" At that moment, Anna walked in as she smiled at him, before she looked at Ayano.
"If you go, Ayano will dedicate her life to you and your cause. What do you think?" The pinkette spoke for the girl, who in turn nodded several times! This was what she meant!
"Hmm, if this is the case, fine."
Marcus got up from his seat.
"I do it." He made a sharp turn as he left the room.
"...T-That was easier than I expected." The short sword-wielding girl looked at Anna. This was impressive!
Anna gave her a small smile and made a peace sign with her fingers.
"How did you do it?" Ayano asked with a surprised tone.
"A perk of being a girlfriend. Once you become close, such small requests become easy. Besides, I offered him a cute girl as a bonus." The nerdy girl explained to Ayano, who frowned as she didn't understand something.
"You are… okay with him thinking about other females."
Anna's smile faltered.
"You do realise that this is not a normal situation." The pinkette girl slightly frowned.
"People like him… are well known in history to have many lovers and wives. That part of humanity will never change.
Do you think… You could contain him?"
That question caused Ayano to pale! Why does this girl even ask her? She didn't even consider something like this!
"See."
"I never even considered something like that. Marcus Goldman was a goddamn Britannian celebrity to me. I only saw him in ads and on TV in shops." Ayano didn't even have such thoughts, or possible hopes; she was a terrorist and someone who was running with gangs.
"Indeed. Same here… but one day he appeared in my research facility and kidnapped me."
"..." Ayano dumbly stared at her. Is she speaking nonsense, or is this true!?
"It's true. After all, he was building a faction to oppose his father and pursuing his dreams." Anna honestly tried to explain how it was!
'Dreams'
The girl still remembers the live broadcast. Whatever it was, she felt how her heart clenched, and at that moment she desired…something better.
A new frontier, a new land, someone in a space with endless freedom.
Sadly for her, that hope swiftly disappeared as she was in the EU and Marcus' Anaheim was in the Far East. In lands which she ran away from.
"So he kidnapped you and you still ended up as his woman…" The sword-wielding girl tried to understand this part.
"...Well… it sort of… I always had a crush on him…" 'it's even worse now…' she thought that part to herself.
Especially after two steamy days in the hotel she had.
"I see. Well, somehow it worked out for you." Ayano replied, thinking that this pinkette was a lucky one.
"In a way? I worked my butt off." Anna giggled while saying that.
"The mass production mobile suits you see were partially made by me, and the space colonies you see in the night sky. Those were mostly me as well." The girl smiled while explaining.
Now that was something the sword girl didn't expect to hear! This glasses-girl did this much!?
"T-Then no wonder…"
'If she did all that for Anaheim, then this girl is good. No wonder he listens to her when she asks.'
"When what will you get from me if I enter the picture?" Ayano asked her. Unlike this Pinkette, all she could do was fight.
"I can tell that you know how to fight. You are quite natural at it. I have witnessed more than a few people who pilot machines with less natural talent than you." Anna explained to her.
"...You want me to pilot one of those Setanta models for you two?" Ayano concluded. That made sense. She was quite good in simulations she tried a while back.
"That depends on Marcus. My Prince has his way of figuring out such things. Though… don't cut yourself short.
We do have a great mobile suit pilot. Have you seen that bulky machine with horns and sharp claws? The so-called beast?"
Ayano stiffly nodded! Who didn't see that thing utterly destroying city garrisons, military bases, all of that stuff! The EU gleefully showed the world how the Chinese Federation fell in a matter of days.
That was until they realised that they were next and stopped showing the war effort to the people. Instead, it became sort of a joke, telling everyone propaganda that Anaheim is only interested in corrupt governments like Euro Britannia and Britannia itself.
What a joke. They heard it from Marcus himself: he will take over the world to usher in a new age for mankind.
'Might as well give my all to see this new age.' Some of the girl's hope returned to her fighting spirit.
"Well, that machine is piloted by a girl whose only talent is to pilot, and guess what, she is one of his girlfriends."
"...I see. So not all need to build colonies in space to attract his attention."
'Good to know.' Internally, she rolled her eyes at this wild situation.
"For now, focus on what you can do. I suggest jumping into one of the simulators to see how well you stack up."
"Are they on board this warship?" Ayano perked up. She wants to see if they are similar to knightmares.
"Yes. There are two simulation spheres in the hangar area." Anna recalled two spheres in the hangar.
"...Can I try one?"
"Sure."
~~~~~~Meanwhile~~~~~~
'This is shit. How am I supposed to find them in a city that has several million people?
Marcus looked down as he saw Paris. He was at a considerable height.
'This won't do.'
"Tiranis, send a word to my flagship, tell them to send me my Ecne. Otherwise, this will be like finding a needle in a haystack."
[Understood, sir. Message sent.]
With Ecne, he can scan brainwaves in the whole city. No one can escape from that!
As he pondered in the SWORD ONE colony, aboard a Sirius Class Carrier, which had number one on its hull.
In the hangar of this dreadnought of a ship, one of the mobile suit's eyes glowed as the mech moved out from its pedestal.
This was KK-61/DA01 Ecne, the Prototype Geass Knightmare Killer, a mech designed to fight people's minds more than actually to kill Knightmares.
One could say that this is the ultimate form of an Assassin.
As it targets the 'heart' of a Knightmare or a Mobile suit.
Taking out the pilot would take out the mobile suit.
Well, that's if the mobile suit is not of Anaheim. Because in Anaheim, when the pilot is out, the machine can keep fighting.
"W-What the!? Why Prince's machine turned on!?" The mechanics in the hangar exclaimed in worry.
Moments later, the alarms blared through the ship.
"Attention hangar! Clear the catapult deck! His Highness has issued an order for his Mobile Suit to launch!" The comms officer's voice spread through the hangar as the men scrambled to give space for Ecne, which moved into the catapult deck by itself.
'Goddam the AI… always scares the shit out of me when they just do things by themselves!' One of the mechanics almost had a heart attack; he was still getting used to Anaheim's technology.
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A.N: The Fic finally caught up with Discord and FF.net. From Tommorow one chapter per day (except weekends)
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