The events at Lake Kawaguchi were suppressed; no television channel reported it, but people do talk. Not that Marcus expected this to remain silent.
His goal was simply to delay the inevitable.
But there are some people who are simply obsessed…
"...Lloyd…"
"Shhh, look at this!" The nerd showed an image. It was blurry, but he could make out the content.
"There were four machines on the roof at the same time! Not only that…" Lancelot's creator realised something midway.
'Viceroy knows more about these machines!!!'
The guy realised that something was severely wrong!
The machines attacked Britannian forces and even severely depleted Cornelia's forces!
Yet, now she is allowing information suppression of this?
"...Lloyd?" Cecile looked confused, but she saw Lloyd's face turn white, as if he realised something.
"...The Viceroy knows more than she has revealed to us…"
But at that moment, the lights in the whole place turned off, the computers froze, the information disappeared, and was replaced by texts.
[You know too much.]
"...Cecile…we need to run." The creator of Lancelot looked at her with worry.
"...what?"
The next moment, they heard loud footsteps as doors blasted open.
"Suzaku, get into Lancelot immediately!" Lloyd swiftly instructed the pilot, who was resting after working on his machine.
The brown-haired teen followed the instructions as he boarded the knightmare, as he saw black armoured men in tactical gear get into the command centre of Camelot.
"This is Special R&D of Britannian Forces financed and supported by the Prime Minister himself! Identify yourself!" Suzaku tried to pull the 'Do you know who we are' card.
But the main exit for the Knightmare of their truck ripped open by claws… revealing a red, orange and golden mobile suit.
Suzaku's eyes widened in horror as he was face-to-face with another of those machines.
'...T-These Britannians…even the Viceroy defected to these machines' sides!?'
This was something he never even imagined happening!
The guns pointed at Lloyd and Cecile caused Suzaku to stop in his tracks.
"What is it going to be, white one? Are you going to resist?" The machine before him asked.
Lancelot's pilot gnashed his teeth.
"I surrender."
~~~
"...To think that this would happen." Lloyd, who was behind bars, commented while sighting.
"This is what happens when you dig too deep." A voice said before them. Dressed in black casual clothes, a teen revealed himself.
"...Lelouch…" Suzaku gawked as he saw his childhood friend before him.
Behind him were two soldiers in black tactical gear and futuristic rifles.
"Suzaku, do you remember our promise?" He asked his friend.
"...Of course, I won't forget something like that." The pilot of the experimental Knightmare replied.
"Good. However, it was a competition. If you change it before I crush it, then I can't crush it anymore."
"..."
"Then it means I had to do it before you can do it. Don't you agree?" Lelouch replied.
"...Then…they are yours?" Suzaku realised… now it made sense why he was still alive! That machine back then!
"My mobile suit. My ideals are stronger than your…Was it Lancelot?" He looked at the white machine in the back of the hangar, then back at Suzaku.
"Do you know the legend of Lancelot? The knight who betrayed his King? I wonder why you named a knightmare after a traitor." He looked at the head scientist.
"...As if you believe legends…" The guy snorted at such remarks.
"Names have power. Especially named after legends. That is why I named my machines after Celtic Gods." Marcus snorted before changing the theme of the conversation.
"Now the question is if you wish to join my rebellion."
"I knew it! Viceroy is rebelling!" Lloyd exclaimed as he looked like he had found a treasure.
"My sister joined my cause." Marcus nodded as he looked at them.
"After all, the Emperor is planning to end the world as we know it." He said with a serious tone.
"...What are you talking about?" The trio looked confused by what they heard.
"Hmm, instead of explaining." One of the black armoured soldiers brought a laptop.
"Here, read it yourself." He handed over a laptop with a memory stick.
"Do your own research and conclude things yourself," Marcus explained before walking away.
He was joined by a red-haired girl who looked at their exchange curiously.
As Lloyd was checking the data to satisfy his curiosity, Suzaku looked at the machine standing next to Lancelot. The Lancelot looked like a little brother before the 'the Beast'.
~~~
"..."
"..."
"..."
Lloyd and Cecile looked horrified by what they were seeing.
"...Ancient civilisation and supernatural were not something I was expecting!
But this does make sense… why one would build a capital in the Arizona desert…" Lloyd was reeling in back by this!
"...If this is true. The theory alone… it would mean that people can't die anymore."
"...What are you two talking about?" Suzaku asked as he wasn't paying attention. Instead, he was looking at the Beast.
Being locked in a cage, in a hangar… of a plane is a bit too much… not that they know that this is a plane since it doesn't make any of the traditional noises associated with planes.
"Look at this, Suzaku!" Cecile pulled him closer and showed him the laptop and the information.
"Britannia is conquering lands by the will of the Emperor. This is not a simple expansion. According to this data, they are conquering land to add what is something called Thought Elevators, these are temples built by a prehistoric civilisation that existed more than 10 thousand years ago.
These elevators take people to places where collective consciousness exists. It's a place where people end up when they die.
The so-called afterlife. What the Emperor wants to do is kill it. If he does that, then it could lead to a world where no death exists… or even worse… people won't have identity.
Those are theories that could possibly happen." Cecile explained to him.
Perfectly honest… Suzaku was shellshocked.
But if it is…true. Then it makes sense why someone like Cornelia would join Lelouch in his rebellion.
"And what is Lelouch's plan?"
"Lelouch?"
"That black dressed teen was Lelouch Vi Britannia, the eleventh Prince of Britannia." The brown-haired teen explained who that guy was.
"So Marcus Goldman IS in fact Lelouch Vi Britannia." Lloyd pondered as he stroked his chin.
"Yes. What I am concerned about is what is his plan AFTER?" Suzaku was pondering that since he had these machines, their power was absurd. They can overrun the whole world; there are very few who can oppose him.
"Well, that is something you need to ask him in person," Lloyd replied as he looked at Lancelot's pilot.
"I intend to do that."
~~~
"You know that Japanese guy? Why is he dressed in a Britannian Pilot uniform?" Kallen asked Marcus as they left the hangar and got into the crew quarters.
"That's Suzaku Kururugi. When I was first exiled with Nuna, we ended up in his family's estate."
"...Wait… He is Genbu Kururugi's son!? But…"
Kallen's brain short-circuits for a second. That is something she didn't expect! The last Prime Minister's son is a pilot of an experimental Knightmare for their enemy and conqueror!
That alone made her tremble from pure anger; she was feeling that very moment!
"That bastard! I want to skin him alive!"
Before she could stroll away and deliver her version of justice, Marcus grabbed her shoulder and stopped her.
"Relax. No need to throw a hissy fit." Marcus tried to calm her down. His words did have an effect as she calmed a bit.
"...But he is a disgrace! He stands against everything his father and his nation stand!" She said with righteous fury!
"And so am I?"
"..."
Her brain once again halted for a second.
"...N-No way!" Kallen swiftly shook her head in denial.
"Well, use your brain for a second. I am a Britannian Prince who is about to rebel against his father and nation. I am the biggest disgrace in Britannian eyes." He pointed out.
"T-That's wrong! Britannians are evil! They conquer and destroy, and your father wants to kill the goddamn god!"
"Ah, that's where you use perception of your side. In Britannian eyes, they are right, because they look at the weak with disgust, and constantly pursue strength and perfection.
They are the progress of humanity, just look how much they improved technology, health care, and how much they helped the environment."
The girl's simple perception at that moment stopped.
"Instead of branding things good or bad, look at things through different filters of shades of grey.
Because humans are not the best moral compass when it comes to evil or good."
"After all, we are going to do evil things soon. Declare a global conflict so that humanity could be on every single planet in the cosmos.
We are going to force humans to enter a new age." He explained to her.
"...But it's a… grand goal. No one did that before. It's a good goal." Kallen said with a frown. She realised that he was right. They are going to do evil so that they can give humanity a new, far grander stage.
"Precisely. That is why you should focus on what you think is good and pursue it, even if people think that you are evil." He clarified to her, making her finally understand him.
"...I see… so that's why."
"Indeed, that is why, instead of raging at Suzaku, you should ask why, and if you think it's stupid, then by all means beat him up. But first, understand why." He smiled at her, making her smile.
Her smile slowly grew to a blush. The girl has been having a hard time resisting him; the longer she was around him, the harder it was getting for her.
~~~~~~A Couple Hours Later~~~~~~
As the plane landed in Solomon's base, there was quite a bit of activity on the base's surface.
There is a considerable number of people who were moving in. Not only were there five knight-like mobile suits parked on the side of the runway.
These were the KKS-01 Setanta—first five mass-produced Anaheim machines.
The bedrock model was finished in two days, and it recently passed the stress tests. The moment they were done, the mass production immediately began.
The first pilots were the purist pilots who were having a blast piloting these far superior machines to their Sutherlands.
However, there was some friction as JLF soldiers joined the bases.
Thankfully, after several fist fights, they had this begrudging respect, as some of the JLF men were decent mobile suit pilots after passing the initial simulation tests.
Especially Tohdoh, even the Britannians had respect for him.
The guy was so good that Legion suggested a custom KK model.
Regardless, as the Blackbird arrived, the hangar doors lowered, and the tropical heat slammed into the people being held in the cage.
"W-Where are we? This place is hot!" The nerdy Earl complained, the soldiers pulled them out, sure enough, they saw tropical forests in the distance, and the sun was directly above them.
"...Equatorial rainforests!?" Lloyd exclaimed in shock.
"...It would seem so… at least the temperature confirms that."
Before long, Marcus, with a red-haired girl, walked over.
"Welcome to Solomon's base. I hope you like the temperature, because this is where you three will remain for a considerable amount of time." The Inventor Prince said with a bright smile.
"Lelouch! What is your goal?" Suzaku asked all of a sudden.
"Global dominance, uniting humanity and then pushing mankind into space. To achieve the final frontier and put humankind on every single planet in the cosmos.
There is no greater goal, is there?" He replied without beating around the bush.
"..."
"..."
"..."
This was not what Suzaku, Lloyd or Cecile thought! Honestly, they can't argue against such a lofty goal!
"...And you planning to wage war on the whole world if need be?" He asked, while looking at the machine.
"I will try to have a dialogue, like I did with Cornelia. But in the end, there should only be a single banner, because we can't have conflicts in the space.
Unless it's against an alien lifeform, humanity's wars should be solved on our birth soil." He explained to his childhood friend.
"I only have a single question…" Lloyd, all of a sudden, asked the Exiled Prince.
"And that is?" Marcus looked at Lancelot's creator.
"I will join you, but… will be able to work on your machines?"
Lloyd showed him a look of a small child; it was like his first Christmas all over again!