~~~~~~Meanwhile~~~~~~
"Lloyd, sorry for… well…" Suzaku tried to come up with words. But honestly, what can he say? He broke the only 7th-generation Knightmare.
But what could he possibly do? That machine…
Just thinking about it… how it moves…
"It's okay. You were dealing with an alien machine after all." The nerd scientist laughed while dismissively waving his hand.
"Alien? You mean…as if from a different world?" The brown-haired teen was baffled, trying to be on the same page in this conversation.
"Indeed." Cecile got his attention.
"I've been trying to combine images to create a proper image of this Knightmare-like machine."
She showed them a neatly recreated image of the machine that faced Suzaku on the computer screen, which was a decent 3d image.
"... It's exactly like what I saw! Or some of it… because it was strange… when I am a distance away, the machine becomes blurry, but once I am close, I can see it properly." The pilot explained what he experienced.
"That's because we believe this machine is generating some sort of electromagnetic field that disrupts technology," Lloyd explained with a raised finger.
"Like a planet." He clarified what that could mean.
"Or a sun." Cecile chipped in with a smile.
"If this is true…" Suzaku looked at them both.
"Then this machine's output is on a completely different level compared to Lancelot." Lloyd sighs. He couldn't believe he was beaten in this category.
"I-I see…"
'Even better than Lancelot? But…'
When the brown-haired pilot got into the machine, he felt that he finally had true power. That he could start his journey to change Britannia from within!
"Indeed. First, we will fix Lancelot, then we will delve into the battle data." The nerd scientist pushed his glasses up before grinning at Suzaku.
"Prepare yourself, since you helped to break it down like that, you will help me put it back together." His eyes gleamed with mirth.
"...S-Sure… I mean… after breaking it like that… I thought I would lose my job!" Suzaku was relieved! Even after his catastrophic first launch, he would keep on piloting Lancelot!
"Relax, you are the best devicer we've got." Lloyd patted his shoulder for a second.
"For now, we need to deal with the death of the Viceroy, you two!" Cecile reminded them about that!
"What is going to happen?" Suzaku, for now, shoved aside the alien machine.
"That." Lloyd pointed at the TV. On the screen was Jeremiah with his Purists faction, which had taken over the government.
"We of the Purist faction shall take over until the new Viceroy is chosen by His Majesty!" The Margrave proudly declared with his huge number of followers.
It was like an army itself!
"That is a huge amount of soldiers…" Suzaku is surprised to see them. It wasn't a joke; this Jeremiah was popular.
"Purists… well, hard to call them purists, I call them the private army of Anaheim." Lloyd joked. Well, it was an inner army joke, which only a few could understand.
"...A-Anaheim?" The Pilot exclaimed in surprise! Wasn't the company made by Lelouch!?
"Indeed. The Robotics they made is… well, far better than I have imagined." The nerd replied that he wasn't eager to proclaim that someone better at making military frames for Knightmares exists.
"He still can't accept that those custom-made Sutherlands have better robotics than Lancelot." Cecile joked, but Lloyd began to throw a fit.
"They don't! My Lancelot has pure Sakuradite joints! Do you understand the sheer explosive power of my Knightmare!?" The nerd was defending itself.
"And yet, Marcus Goldman can achieve 70% of that with regular metal alloys." Cecile pointed that out!
"Who cares! Why would you want that anyway!?" The engineer of Lancelot puffed his cheeks like a spoiled brat.
"Cheaper, that's why." Cecile got a counterattack ready…
"Hmph."
"Anyway, what about Anaheim and these Purists?" Suzaku wanted to know the details.
"To put it simply, Anaheim customises their Sutherlands; in turn, they assist in Anaheim's defences outside Tokyo Settlement.
That is why I am calling it a private army. My guess is that Anaheim told them to grab power so that nothing could happen to Anaheim's resources at the moment." Lloyd reasoned.
He was not wrong. It was in Marcus' interest to protect his scrapyards, but there was a more sinister plot to expand his assets to the Colonial Government before Cornelia came here.
The poor Witch of Britannia has no idea what is waiting for her. The Princess is quite busy at the moment. After all, they killed Clovis a year early.
And just like that, it could take weeks, if not months, until the change happens.
Or something else could happen entirely.
"Is that so…"
'Lelouch is not staying still, that's for sure, and I should not be idle either.' Suzaku got serious all of a sudden. He needs to keep up with Lelouch's pace!
As he thought about it, he watched the speech given by Jeremiah about machines that took the life of Clovis, how it was an offence to Britannia and how they will do everything in their power to find who is responsible and put those individuals to justice!
Until then, the knight asked for patience.
"He does know how to talk. I wonder who prepared his speech." Lloyd wondered as he was drinking his extra-sweet coffee.
"I wonder who we will be getting as Viceroy."
"Who knows?" The nerd shrugged, but then the girl who was building a 3D image of the Alien craft saw a notification pop up on her screen. Her eyes widened as shock took over.
"LLOYD! Prince Schneizel is calling us for a meeting!" Cecile exclaimed as she got up and was ready to rush out from the command centre and into the barracks, where a huge monitor for communication was waiting for them..
"S-Should I go as well?" Suzaku got self-conscious; this was the first time meeting a royal! Excluding Lelouch and Nunnally, that is.
"Yes, you are Lancelot's pilot after all!"
With that said, the trio rushed out and went to the barracks, where the army allowed them to use the communication centre.
Sure enough, a blonde man's face appeared on screen.
"Ah, there you are. It's good to see you two." He then noticed a third person.
"And you must be…"
"Suzaku Kururugi, the pilot of Z-01 Lancelot." Suzaku dropped to one knee. He was dressed in a brown engineering corps uniform.
"Oh, I see. Then you finally got your pilot, Lloyd." The blonde man looked satisfied to see that this black hole is finally paying off.
"Indeed. My Prince, Suzaku, can push my Lancelot to the limit." Lloyd smiled before it faded away.
"I can feel 'but' coming all the way here in Pendragon."
"...The alien craft has completely wrecked it on the battlefield," Cecile responded first, her comment made Lloyd grumpy just mentioning that.
"Alien? Is it perhaps this?" The screen split in half, on one side it was the blonde Prince and on the other was a video of a familiar machine utterly wrecking the entire battlefield in Eastern Europe.
"Yes! Exactly the same!" Suzaku responded; he was awed by sheer destructive capability! This thing was raining death from above!
It was clear that this machine was holding back against him!
"Send me all the available data you have on it." He ordered them.
"Understood, we will send all we acquired from the combat," Cecile replied, making the man nod.
"Do that. This machine became the most wanted craft in the whole of Britannia after killing my brother."
"...We understand." The trio nodded.
"I've been working on a 3D model of the machine, because of its electromagnetic field, this machine is hard to capture in pictures and videos." The engineer lady explained to the Prince.
"Yes, I was wondering why the footage is that bad."
"Indeed. The machine's power source is nothing like ours. Not only that, but it has a strange propulsion system. It's similar to the jet fighters we discontinued from using.
But I'm doubtful about using fossil fuels. I am more inclined that it's using higher forms of solar energy." Lloyd explained his theory.
"If it's true…"
"Like I said, an alien craft, no one in the world has this kind of technology. Only recently, sakuradite became mainstream, to build something like this—"
Lloyd stopped midway as he looked in realisation.
'But to do that…'
He got a glimpse… his brain began to think rapidly.
"...Lloyd…"
"I just realised something!" The nerd scientist waved his finger.
"Oh?"
"That's right! The power source!" He clapped his hands as he looked at Cecile.
"The power source of that thing has to be a miniature sun!"
"Is that even possible?" His assistant only joked that it was a planet or a sun!
"Think about it!" He grinned for a second.
"The heat of those beams, if it's potent like the sun, could melt anything! Even the propulsion it emits could be flames of the sun!
Not to mention the material used to contain such a thing!"
"..."
"..."
"..."
"If it's true, then such a machine would technically have an infinite amount of energy." Prince Schneizel reasoned as he realised what kind of opponent this could be!
How is one supposed to fight the sun itself?
"Indeed!"
"In that case, continue your development of Lancelot, and fight this machine as many times as necessary if you are gaining new data. Just be careful. We want to gain data, not destroy our resources."
"Of course, my Prince." Cecile smiled.
"Then, I shall be waiting for that data."
With that said, the conversation has ended, and Lloyd, like a torpedo, dashed out from the meeting room. He wants to double-check the data and begin developing countermeasures against this machine.
So far, he needs some sort of material that is anti-melting and anti-heat.
But developing anything like that…
He needs a new and different alloy altogether! Tungsten is useless! He already saw how weak and fragile it is against this alien craft!
Like a crazy man, he was digging into this new information.
Suzaku and Cecile finally caught up to him. The Lancelot pilot finally saw the mad face of the scientist who made his Knightmare.
"It has been a while since Lloyd was like that." The assistant looked surprised to see that.
"Is it fine?" The brown-haired teen asked with concern.
"Oh, it's fine. Don't worry. He just found something groundbreaking, and it will take a while for him to digest this information." She smiled at him, saying that it was okay.
"I see…"
'I guess to build something like Lancelot, one needs a bit of crazy…' Suzaku internally wryly smiled.
"We should begin with Lancelot's rebuild." Cecile looked at the pile of white and golden knightmare parts.
The Z-01 Lancelot was literally a pile of scrap metal… extremely valuable scrap metal that is.
"Right." The newly promoted Lancelot pilot first needs to put his Lancelot together…
~~~
The death of Clovis has sent ripples through the whole World. A Britannian Royal was killed inside Area 11, not by terrorists or Freedom Fighters, but by a mysterious machine or Machines. There are no photos of other machines, but survivors and witnesses talk.
There was some footage of this machine online; while it was scarce, it was circulating through social media…
Even curious people began to join in to figure out what it was supposed to look like.
In the meantime, Prince Schneizel got his data. The Prince's eyes gleamed as he finally saw the light at the end of the tunnel.
'This technology… if I could get access to it… I could finally achieve the peace I desired so much.'
The blonde prince has his version of peace that he desires.
For it to happen, he needs overwhelming power.
That is why he is funding Camelot and all of its crazy endeavours.
But even they lack what this machine can do.
'Generation 7th Knightmare, turned into scrap metal… we haven't even stepped into this generation properly, yet it's already obsolete.'
Prince Schneizel frowned. While he wanted to put his hands on this machine, the opposite does exist…
He is nervous. What does this machine want? Where does it come from? Who are its creators?
"My Prince, Princess Cornelia is calling you. She says she wants details on Clovis' death." The Prince's assistant notified him.
"I see. Well, we can't let the Princess wait, now can we?" The blonde chuckled as he closed the windows with all the data and reorganised his thoughts.