VALKYRIE SMASH

Sam sat down at his desk. In front of him was a small paperback with the words "Valkyrie Smash" on the cover.

He stared at it for a while then let out a sigh, turning to look beside him. On the bed he had prepared in case he needed a nap was the young Valkyrie with almond colored hair. She had been asleep for most of the day, even so she ended up falling asleep soon after their conversation ended.

Sam had given her permission to use one of the extra rooms until her bed is changed, but after a few minutes she came to the lab in her pajamas and while hiding most of her face behind the pillow she brought she asked if she could spend the night beside him.

At that moment Zero Three looked so cute that Sam's heart skipped a beat. He knew she only came there because she's afraid of nightmares, still he felt a little happy that she knowing she's relying on him for comfort.

He was planning to work through the night so he decided to let her have the bed. That said, he never expected her being there would be so distracting.

'I can't really read this with her around.' He said, picking the book and giving it a hard look.

The heroines of the story were young Valkyries much like Zero Three. They were quite naive, their curiosity making it easy to manipulate them. That said, when Three was in his arms scared and trembling he had felt an overwhelming desire to protect her. It was a different kind of attraction, one that didn't involve a great deal of lust.

'Could it be…' Sam began to think. 'Am I into young girls?'

First it was Miku and now Zero Three. Unlike any of the other girls he had the two of them felt a little special. Their cuteness was addicting and he felt that he would do anything for them just to see their smiles.

'Something is wrong with me…'

Zero Three had broken the restrictions and has her own free will now, which makes her a normal person in his mind. That mean she is no longer the virtual lover AI she was created to be and by consequence he could no longer become her master.

Well, he could still try and make her fall for him, however if he felt reluctant to do so when he didn't have honest intentions. He couldn't treat it as a game anymore.

'Better focus on my job for now…' he thought.

The matter with Three aside, Sam still had quite a lot of things to think about. Specifically Wolf's visit has been bothering him the more he thought about it. There are a lot of things that didn't make much sense.

First of all, there is no reason for him to come all the way there just to tell them that the base will be relocated. He could've sent a messenger or just told them over phone.
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One can argue that his real reason is to see Alice, but that didn't sound right. He could've just ordered her to move back to the headquarters ahead of time.

Then there is the matter of the jobs he had left him with. Wouldn't it be more efficient to summon him to the HQ? Instead they brought all the tools and materials he needed all the way to him, which makes it even more weird when he considered that they would need to move everything once more when they run out of time.

'Take care of Alice for me.'

Remembering the last words the old man said to him, Sam's mind began to ring alarm bells.

'Could it be…' he thought, his eyes slowly going wide. 'Is something happening in the headquarters?'

Reaching into one of the drawers he took out a notebook and began writing down his thoughts. Wolf was trying to keep him and Alice away from the headquarters, he was almost sure of that. The base's relocation isn't a decision he could make alone. At first it sounded like something he would come up on his own to protect his daughter, but could it be that he was against it all along?

He also said that the headquarters was most likely the target for the next Calamity full assault. It would make sense for him to want Alice as far away from it as possible.

'No, wait… how did he know?…'

Was it just a speculation? The headquarters is at the center of the three biggest settlements at the moment so it made sense for it to be the target of Calamity, the frontline exists to make sure they dont reach it. However the last battle had proven that nothing could stand in the way of the Calamities if they decide to move.

'Am I reading too much into it?' Sam thought.

Wolf's actions were way too suspicious. Considering that he had told him about humanity's inevitable demise and no one else made it even more suspicious. Then there is the thing with evolution.

The old man said that he had arrived to the same results while researching a cure for Alice, and he had done it years before Sam. If that's the case why did he delegate the work to him instead of doing it himself?

Sam doubted that he has reached a higher level of intellect than Wolf. If anyone could push humanity to the next stage of evolution then it would be the old man.

'What are you after, old man…'

As he tapped the notebook with the pen repeatedly, Sam tried to get into Wolf's head. He analyzed every word he had said hoping to find some clue. A few minutes later he was struck by another realization.

"He already did it…"
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The pen fell from his hand as he stared at empty space. It was just a speculation, but for some reason it sounded way too plausible to be ignored.

Wolf had told him that their research had been similar, and that they had arrived at the same results yet he chose to keep it a secret from the world. He is one of the most brilliant scientists humanity has left, which should've made him the first in line when it came to the attempts at reverse engineering the Valkyries. Instead of doing it himself he brought it for Sam. That could mean two things: either he believed that Sam is more than capable, or he has already done it but doesn't want the world to know.

The second theory sounds more likely. The old man has already found a way to turn humans into Valkyries and he was telling Sam to do it next. Still, why go through all the trouble? This is about humanity's survival, they didn't have the time to hide secrets and play around.

First Odin and now Wolf Sam couldn't help but wonder what's up with geniuses and making their inventions a secret?

'Well, that's all under the assumption that the old man really did it…'

It could all be just a misunderstanding on his part. Closing the notebook, Sam stretched his back and yawned. In the end he only managed to confuse himself even more.

'But… how does he expect me to do it?'

The ship of theseus. It's a thought experiment about whether an object that has had all of its original components replaced remains the same object.

Downloading human consciousness into a computer, whether it's possible or not, poses the dilemma of whether the digital version really is the same person or not.

On the other hand there is the route of replacing parts of the human body little by little. Would a human that had every part of his body replaced still be the same person?

'Maybe I should leave thinking about that to when I find a way to do it.'

Picking up his pen once more, Sam entered a focused state as be began to work on finding a way to achieve his objective. He already had the Frejya blue prints memorized so he knew all there is to know about the shell of a Valkyrie. That means he could start working on turning humans into Valkyries right away.

~◇~

Sam still had his head buried in his notes by the time morning arrived. Zero Three woke up confused about her whereabouts. When she began to recall her face went complete red and she quickly left the lab.

A message from Shizuru arrived asking if he would be there for breakfast. Having made very little advancements through the night he decided to take a little break and eat something.

As he walked back to his lab he decided to start working on solving the code of the book since three had finally left, however when he arrived he found another Valkyrie waiting for him.

"Ah! Good morning, doctor." The blond Valkyrie greeted him with her usual kind smile.