Leaving Jordan Clementine seething with anger, Sam felt somewhat refreshed as he headed for the library. The Forty-Sixth base had many recreational facilities where soldiers could go to unwind. The stress of not knowing when the monsters would attack built up quite fast, so it was important for the soldiers risking their lives at the frontline to have things that help with relieving it.
One such facility was the library. Most digital media was lost to the war, so the good old physical books made a resurgence, and Sam couldn't be more pleased with that. The books in the base were found by the soldiers who would sometimes go out scavenging in the abandoned cities, so most of the titles came from the old world, making them a rare treat for those who were tired of what had been published after the apocalypse.
No sooner had Sam entered the building than a smile formed on his face. As usual, the entire place was empty. Few ever came here, which made it the best place to relax and read. For someone with friends that can be counted on one hand, it was a sanctuary where he could hide from the unpleasantness of the Human United Resistance's military bases.
'Ah, this is heaven!' He thought while taking a deep breath, enjoying the scent of peace.
The first thing in order was to find another book for Shizuru. He went to the computers placed near the entrance and searched the author's name, spawning a list showing all the books that had been recovered.
"Alright then…"
Picking a title at random, he was about to go to its place on the shelves to retrieve it when someone entered the building—a male soldier he didn't recognize. From the way he carried himself, he didn't seem to be that much into books. Letting out a sigh, Sam decided to ignore him and went on with what he had come for. First, he got the book he had picked earlier, then he went around checking random titles to see if anything sounded interesting. As he skimmed through the titles, he came to a stop, having found one that sparked his curiosity.
"Valkyrie… Smash…?"
Not far from the book he had just picked was a rather thin paperback with a strange title. Something compelled him to reach for it, and soon he found himself looking at the cover.
To his surprise, it was something printed rather recently, which was quite strange in this world where scarce resources didn't allow for such luxuries.
Sam quickly flipped through the pages, and just as expected, it was one of those erotica where the main character gets his hands on the humanoid weapons and does whatever he wants to them. It was obvious that such things would be made at some point. The Valkyries were treated as idols by a lot of people, and all of them were extremely gorgeous women. He was sure fanfiction sites were flooded with the same type of story.
"Damn, this guy's writing sucks."
Just from the first pages alone, Sam began to notice typos and spelling mistakes. The whole thing looked like something made by someone who had learned a bit of English and went directly to writing novels. From the lack of editing, Sam began to wonder if this was just one of those fanfics in print format, making him wonder why anyone would waste good paper on something so worthless.
"This is disgusting…" he said, unable to keep a smile from forming on his face.
"What is?" Someone asked from beside him.
A reply made it to the tip of his tongue before he was stuck with two startling realizations, one from someone approaching him without his notice, and the second from recognizing to whom the voice belonged. Surviving the heart attack, Sam slowly turned to face the owner of the voice, carefully taking a step back at the same time.
"Huh? N-N-Nine!? What... what are you doing here?" He asked, feeling an oncoming panic attack. Standing behind him was someone he had never expected to meet outside his lab: the blond-haired Valkyrie, Nine.
"Well…" she started, shifting her gaze awkwardly. "I had some free time, so…"
Sam took a quick look at their surroundings, trying to see if anyone was following her. A wave of relief washed over him as he realized they were alone, but it didn't last long. Thankfully, he was able to calm himself down in that short time.
"Aren't you supposed to be on standby in case of an attack?" He asked.
"I got bored so... I decided to take a walk..."
Once again, Sam found himself faced with another strange occurrence. Just like how Zero Five wasn't supposed to ask weird questions, going to the library wasn't something Nine would do. Whenever she had free time, she'd either take care of the small garden beside the Valkyries' residence or hide in her room, drinking tea and eating snacks. He'd never heard of her passing time in any other way. He had never heard about her having an interest in books, so her coming all the way to the library was a problem in more than one way.
"You know you can't be moving around like this," Sam held a hand to his forehead and sighed. "What'll you do if someone sees you?"
While they had access to almost all parts of the base, the Valkyries were instructed to limit themselves to their residence, which was a restricted area to normal staff and soldiers. Celebrities walking around like they're normal people would cause a lot of chaos, so it would be in everyone's best interest that they are limited to one section of the base.
"Don't worry." Proudly puffing her enormous chest, Nine placed both of her hands on her hips. "As you can see, I've made sure to disguise myself!"
Sam stared at her for a few seconds, trying to figure out what part of what she did could be considered a disguise. She wore one of the female military uniforms, most likely stolen, as shown by how tight the chest area looked. Her long golden hair was made into one big braid, and the final touch was the pair of glasses on her face.
"Nine... You do realize this won't fool anyone, don't you?"
He couldn't believe someone could be so stupid, especially a super weapon with a highly advanced AI capable of mimicking human behavior almost perfectly.
"Eh? It won't!?" The Valkyrie backed away, looking utterly shocked.
"What did you expect?" Sam felt lightheaded all of a sudden. "Even if you change your clothes and hairstyles, people would still recognize you from your silhouette alone."
'Who would miss such an erotic body?' His eyes landed on the gigantic milkers fighting to free themselves from the tight uniform. It was impossible not to notice them, especially with how thin her waist looked.
"I… I see…" a nervous smile played on the Valkyrie's glossy lips, and her eyes slid from one corner to the other. "G-glad I made sure to stay out of sight, then…"
"Really now?"
With Sam's suspicion-filled eyes on her, she could only nod repeatedly, trying to convince him that she was telling the truth.
"I stayed out of sight just in case the disguise doesn't work. I'm positive no one saw me on the way here."
"If that's the case, then… It's fine, I guess. Just make sure you don't get caught."
After thinking about it a little more, Sam realized that there was nothing wrong with her coming here, as long as no one found out, of course. Still, it felt somewhat unacceptable for a weapon such as her to be moving around unsupervised.
'Well, I got to see something nice so…'
The uniform Nine wore was a little small for her. It truly clung to her body, emphasizing her curves, especially her huge melons and thick thighs, which were covered in pantyhose. If not for the restriction that might lead to his death, Sam wouldn't have hesitated to drag her to a corner in the back. Just imagining the things he would do to her there was enough to cause his wood to rise.
"Yay!"
Overwhelmed with joy for some reason, Nine hopped a couple of times. Sam's eyes were locked on her bouncing chest for a moment there, but thankfully, the hypnotic movement halted when the blonde one noticed the noise she was making. Feeling the corners of his mouth rise, Sam was about to dismiss her, but she took a step toward him before he could.
"By the way, Doctor. What were you reading?"
Maybe it was because they were outside the lab, but the blonde one seems to have lost her sense of personal space. Sam had to back away a little, and only then did he notice the books in his hands. The first one was fine, but he didn't feel comfortable talking about the contents of the second one with its main subject. He wouldn't feel like talking about it with anyone, even if they were human, so the natural reaction was to hide it behind him.
"It's just some mystery books I've been enjoying recently." He said. "What about you? If you came all the way here, does that mean you have something you want to read?"
Nine wasn't the kind to read for fun, even if she were human. That didn't mean she was illiterate, however. Most Valkyries could read just fine, though there were some restrictions on the kind of books they could gain access to. To avoid their AI models from being affected, a filter is applied to all sources of data they can gain access to. That meant a lot of stuff could be censored depending on the kind of books they get their hands on, which was bound to ruin the experience. Not that androids are capable of enjoying literature.
"Well, I usually come here because not many people are around." Nine's eyes widened as she seemed to remember something, and she leaned forward, placing a hand in front of her face as she whispered. "But lately I've found something interesting to watch."
Raising an eyebrow, Sam could only wonder what it was that managed to catch a Valkyrie's interest in a library of all places.
"Come, Doctor." Turning around, she waved for him to follow her. "I will show you."