(Last week's 500 stones chapter)
As two fleets have merged in Earth's Orbit. Marcus sent shuttles to Archangel to collect civilians.
The disguised Emperor looked at his son, who was sticking around after that chat he had with Cagalli.
"You know this is your last chance to leave. Otherwise, you will be bound to the military." He said to the brown-haired teen.
"I know, and I have decided to stay," Kira replied as he looked at his friends, who had decided to stay as well!
The guy, on purpose, looked at a specific girl in the distance. Marcus picked up who Kira was looking at. That girl was a piece of work.
"...You know you have a better choice than her. You felt it as much as I have about her real character." Marcus looked towards where he was looking.
"...I can't make girls as you can." Strike's pilot rolled his eyes at his father.
"All you need to do is ask, I CAN make one for you," Marcus smirked a bit as he replied.
"...I pass…" Kira declined.
"Well, then, good luck courting someone like her."
Marcus shook his head. It would seem his son hasn't got over Flay, though he doubts he will with how the events unfold.
For one, her father didn't die. Well, he got sentenced for treason for supporting Blue Cosmos.
As Kira went to check his Gundam, Marcus went to find someone else.
It was his Lacus who was with the younger Lacus.
"Well, it would seem you will be disembarking here." The disguised Emperor said to the younger pinkette.
"Many thanks for letting me stay." The girl slightly bowed to him.
"Don't think much about it. All I did was follow what my daughter wanted." Marcus shrugged; he was playing around since Cagalli wanted him to.
"...Yes…well…" The younger girl was a bit weirded out that what is considered her older version was, by all purposes, married to Kira's dad. It was… well, weird.
"Fufufu. Still nervous." The uniform-wearing Lacus patted Lacus's head like she was a little girl. Her actions made the younger one blush with embarrassment.
"Well, keep her company until she needs to leave. After that, join me on the bridge; we'll prepare for ZAFT's arrival. They should be attacking us soon."
"..."
The younger Lacus looked even more nervous when she heard that. She had this feeling that as long as this man was part of this ship, ZAFT would lose.
Was this her Accord Powers she learned from her older version?
As Marcus walked away, the more mature Lacus waved at her husband before looking at the younger one.
"My, worried for ZAFT?"
"..."
"You shouldn't. After all, the moment my husband joined the fight, there is no chance for your PLANTs to win." Lacus proudly said to her younger version.
"...I can tell… I just don't understand why I feel like that."
"Fufufu, you might learn one day, or maybe you won't." The mature one teased the younger one a bit more; she won't be able to do it anymore after she leaves.
~~~
Soon enough, ZAFT forces arrived, and Marcus ordered his troop to hand over the younger Lacus to them.
It was a power move, some people understood, others not so much, as they were ignorant.
However, it was fine.
"Lacus, are you okay!?" Athrun looked at the pinkette who had just joined them from a shuttle. The shuttle left the moment she was on board the Vesalius, one of ZAFT's flagships.
"I am fine, Athrun." The girl nodded before looking at the masked commander.
"Be careful, Commander, the one who commands the 8th Fleet is Marcus Anaheim."
"..."
'That name… I hoped he just retired and didn't poke his head from that ivory tower.' Rau Le Creuset frowned behind that mask when he heard THAT name come out of Lacus' mouth.
"I see, thank you for notifying me, Ms Clyne." The blonde man promptly nodded, then looked at Athrun.
"Keep your fiancée company until her shuttle arrives." As he said, he left them. Athrun looked at his commander for a bit before looking at the pinkette.
"...Who is this Marcus Anaheim?" Athrun was quite clueless about such things, not surprisingly, considering PLANTs don't speak much about companies on Earth.
Lacus stayed silent for a moment.
"He is the CEO of Anaheim Enterprise. It's one of the most influential companies on Earth. Their genetic research heavily influenced the PLANTs; even my mother worked for them at some point." Lacus didn't expand more on that.
"...I see… it would seem it's quite the influential person, but how will it impact…"
"He is the father of Kira Yamato." Lacus ended up telling something quite important.
"!!!"
"...Wait…how do you…"
"I know that Kira is your friend. Still, be careful, Athrun."
Athrun slowly nodded. Now, he was curious what other things Lacus had learned.
~~~
As ZAFT was holding their lines quite a distance away, Marcus got dressed in his custom black pilot suit.
"Do keep the line, don't look desperate. Morale is an important factor on the battlefield." He commented to his soldiers and fellow pilots of the mobile armours.
They are at a disadvantage in this fight. GINN is a better machine, but its numbers are lower, which is good for him, as he needs to take out fewer of these GINN.
"My squad will focus on the stolen GAT units, Strike will join us, while the mobile armour units will need to hold out against the GINN just for a few minutes until we deal with the GAT machines."
Marcus explained the tactic. Which is basically get the fuck out of our way. Cannon fodder versus cannon fodder.
Simple as that. But he has numbers, while ZAFT has quality.
"Sir, wouldn't it be better if we just send Archangel to Earth?"
Fellow Admiral tried to reason with him, but Marcus was the boss here.
"I understand your worries, Admiral Helberton, but if we fail here, ZAFT will have direct access to Panama and Alaska, and that is basically a checkmate situation.
If we hold here and push back, we can go on the offensive and make them reconsider trying to attack our key regions." Marcus explained, making the man stop, he had his priorities; however, the disguised Emperor's priorities were above his.
"...Very well, we will do as you desire, sir."
With that said, Marcus jumped into his black-and-purple Moebius Zero and went through the systems, checking some parameters.
He didn't have much time to see how well this machine works. Now it was a good chance to see it.
"So we will deal with those stolen machines. Father, if I have a chance, can I get one?" Cagalli popped up on his screen.
"If you think you can disable and bring it back to Archangel or Menelaos, sure." Marcus won't decline his daughter's requests.
"I will think of something."
"Then do so, as from the looks of it, they will be starting their attack soon." The disguised Emperor commented as he looked at the direct broadcast of the outside situation.
"It appears the ceasefire was short-lived as they are moving towards us." Jeanne appeared on his screen as well, as his knight was preparing for a fight.
"Yes, but in this fight, my fellow Earth Alliance soldiers have 'higher morale' ground. We saved their princess, and look what they are doing to us." Marcus replied as he showed one of his classic smirks.
"Is that why you kept her for that long?" Kira appeared on the screen as well. He was a bit speechless at the tactics his old man employed.
"Not just for that. It was for her protection as well. After all, if we let her go early in a shuttle, someone could have attacked her. It's better to give her away to the actual army, especially in front of a considerably sized one.
It's politics, one day you're going to learn about it." As he said that, the brown-haired teen simply nodded before ending the call.
Less than an hour later, the combat restarted as ZAFT forces launched their mobile suits and the Earth Alliance did the same.
The ratio was 3 to 1, Earth Alliance had the numerical advantage… but.
ZAFT had the technology. Their GINN were all around superior to regular Moebius, but this is where Moebius Zero came into play, as five Moebius Zeros led the front line. One extra was from Archangel.
And of course, there was Strike Gundam.
The four GAT units went right for Strike, but this is where Marcus opened fire from his Linear Rifle.
"Whoa! That was close! Who the fuck…" Daerka, who was piloting the stolen Buster Gundam, needed to dodge as the blast would have taken off the Gundam's head.
But then the barrels detached, and the mobile armour began to harass the mobile suit.
"Shit, what the hell! It's like he has eyes in the back of his head!" The Buster stopped flying and looked around.
But then the barrels positioned themselves in the pilot's blind spots and shot.
*BOOM*
*BOOM*
*BOOM*
Both legs, the dominant hand and the head ended up ripped off. The very next second, the phase-shift armour ceased to function due to an energy-delivery malfunction.
The pilot in the cockpit looked in disbelief at all the errors he was seeing, and, of course, at the loss of the main camera.
'What just happened?'
"Daerka! Damn! I will kill you!" Duel rushed towards Marcus, who had just disabled Buster.
"Oi! Don't ignore me!" Cagalli, who was fighting and trying to watch how her father destroyed one of the GAT units like it was nothing, was speechless to see this idiot rushing towards her old man!
Her barrels returned to her as she used the extra boost to catch up to Duel and start shooting yellow bolts at the rushing machine.
To her annoyance, her attacks don't do much damage!
'What did father do!?'
She frowned a bit more before she targeted the thrusters.
Sure enough, after a bit of manoeuvring, she clipped the leg's back thruster and caused a small explosion.
'Gotcha'
"I will kill for this, you damn Natural!" The pilot of the Gundam screamed at her.
Cagalli snorted at the comment as she released the barrels and got into position.
The Duel tried to shoot its way out of the situation, but it was where the girl smirked as she understood the Mobile Armour's design well.
Before she shot, she picked up her father's voice in her head.
"Use simultaneous shots to overload Phase shift armour before taking it out with the next shot. The Moebius Zero has twin barrels, shot first to overload the next one to take out the disabled armour."
'Got it!'
The girl's eyes morphed as her Innovator powers awakened, fueled by the constant adrenaline and stimulation of her father's Quantum Brainwaves.
'You are going down, Mr Scream.'
At that moment, she shot the barrels.
"If you think it's going to—"
*BOOM*
*BOOM*
"AGH!!! MY FACEE!!!"
'Oops, I think I missed a bit…'
Still, the mech went out as it lost its colours.
~~~
Athrun's eyes widened as he looked at the state of the battlefield.
Those Moebius Zeros are leading the front; two of them are slaughtering the GINNs, which means that even a single loss of a GINN is bad for them! But they are losing them at a rapid rate, and on top of that, there are a lot of regular Mobile Armours!
But then he saw that Duel and Buster were out!
"Dearka! Yzak! Damn!" Athrun dropped its fight with Kira and rushed towards the two disabled machines.
Kira, who stopped 'exchanging' shots with Athrun, looked surprised for a bit. They just started the fight, but ZAFT was already losing at an absurd pace.
"Athrun, stop! Shit!" The Strike began to rush after Athrun. If Athrun get into a fight with his sister or father, he is toast!
Not that Athrun listened as the red machine opened fire on red Moebius Zero.
"Oh, a red one! I am keeping you." The mobile Armour pilot commented before starting to evade and spin out of the incoming beams, then switching to exchange fire.
Athrun soon began to feel pressure as the mobile armour was constantly landing shots on him.
Sweat began to roll from his forehead as she could barely track the barrels or the machine.
"Athrun, watch out!"
Kira contacted him on the open channel, but it was too late; the next moment, his world began to spin, and errors followed before… pain and darkness.
~~~
500 powers stones = 1 Extra Chapter
1000 Power Stones = 2 Extra Chapters
And so on, You know what to do.
~~~
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