Somewhere around the end of 2025 the third world war started, however it didn't last long. A new enemy emerged forcing all sides to cooperate, but that did little to delay the inevitable.
Calamities; that was the name they were given since their first appearance. Strange entities with no set shape or form. They change and adapt to their surroundings, bringing death and chaos to every place they go.
Humanity was driven to a corner with more than 50% wiped out in a single month. Hope was lost forcing everyone to give up and prepare for the end, but that was when a savior stepped into the spotlight.
He called himself Odin. A mysterious man with unrivaled wisdom, boundless intellect, and undying resolve to reclaim peace and freedom. Gathering what's left of humanity he searched for a way to fight back, and after many desperate battles and millions of lives lost, humanity was finally able to create weapons that could push back against their greatest enemy.
The Valkyries were androids capable of fighting against the strange monsters. In other words, they were robots with human appearance, equipped with highly advanced AI and weapons that rendered guns into nothing more than useless toys.
One of those AIs was now asking if Sam sees it as a human and that terrified him to the core.
"What're you saying, Zero Five?" He asked, laughing nervously.
The idea of AI gaining sentience and rebelling against humans was played to death so when the Valkyries first appeared, many were quick to turn the conspiracy onto them. He didn't want to believe that it was actually happening, but there wasn't much he could do if it did.
"Well, since we do look like humans and… our behaviors and interactions aren't so different." The girl said, her gaze going down once more. "I've been wondering if we sometimes get mistaken for people…"
"... I see…"
Odin was a genius but he was also a weird man. When he created the central processing units, the supercomputer hosting the Valkyrie AI, for some reason he decided that the weapon it'd be planted into has to closely resemble humans.
Since he was the only one capable of creating said weapons, the genius was allowed to make the final choices on how they looked. There shouldn't have been any problem with something like that as long as the purpose behind it is achieved, but one could easily recognize what's wrong with that line of thought when looking at the final result.
All of the "Shells" ended up being beautiful women, every last one of them. Oden had made the most powerful supercomputers in the world then used them to create an army of attractive female robots. His true intentions weren't that difficult to guess.
"Listen, Zero Five." Sam rubbed his temples, smiling weakly as he spoke. "Never talk about such things again, understood?"
"Huh? But why?" The surprise she showed was one more thing he didn't expect to see on her.
"Well, if people were to hear that they might think you're going out of control, which would lead all of us to some really big trouble."
No matter how human they look and no matter how human-like their behavior might be, the fact that this "girl" and those like her are nothing more than robots doesn't change.
Though the actual process is a well-guarded secret, their bodies are manufactured in a lab and their personalities are preprogrammed to suit the taste of their creator; Zero Three is the energetic tomboy who likes sports, Nine is the caring older sister everyone loves and Zero Five is the cool beauty who's always silent. Those characters are already set and can't be changed, that's why Zero Five's behavior struck Sam as odd.
'Maybe she was the shy character all along?' He thought, not wanting to believe that he was witnessing the start of another apocalypse.
"As for whether you're mistaken for human or not, I don't think that will ever happen." He said. "After all, no woman is as beautiful as you are. Those unable to see the difference are simply delusional."
"I… see…" Having heard her answer, Zero Five bowed her head slightly. "Thank you for taking the time to answer my question. Now, if you'll excuse me."
She turned around and quickly strode to the door, her long ponytail swaying behind her. For a moment there Sam was able to catch a glimpse of her face. Her cheeks were a bit red. That in itself wasn't strange, but when he considered the chance that his previous comment might have made her blush, he felt his heart skip a beat.
'Maybe she's the shy type after all.'
The Valkyries were all extremely attractive females. One look and any man would fall in love. Sam had the rare opportunity of working closely with them, and though he had enjoyed it at first, it soon turned out to be an unforeseen nightmare. After a while, he realized that just looking wasn't enough and he began desiring a chance to do things to them. He wanted to spread their legs and pump them full of his seed. He wanted to push them against the wall and bang them until his thing fell off. But no matter how much he wished, that desire was destined to go unfulfilled.
The Valkyries were all extremely attractive females, but they were some of the most valuable military equipment humanity possessed as well. The way they were made didn't change that fact, and if someone ever tried to use them as nothing more than highly advanced sex dolls, they'd quickly get disposed of.
One could argue that everything would be fine as long as no one found out, after all there were no security cameras in his lab. However those were the words of temptation playing with his mind and nothing more.
Sam knew as much because of his job. He is a major in the field of nanotechnology and his main role was to operate the machines used to examine the Valkyries and perform the necessary repairs in case they got damaged.
The examinations are performed daily and the results are sent to the Resistance's headquarters each time along with the data from the machines. Everything from the smallest scratch to what substance they came into contact with is recorded, and if anything out of the ordinary is detected, an investigation would be launched to find the reason behind it.
Before he took the job Sam was warned to never do as much as touch the Valkyries. He heard rumors about someone with the same job taking advantage of his position to enjoy himself. Though he only touched the weapons a few times thinking the evidence could be easily erased, the fact that he did appeared in the examination results which led him to the military court. Some say the man had committed suicide while in prison while others say Odin used his influence to get him killed for daring to defile his creations.
There were many variations to this story, and though its validity is questionable, Sam was smart enough to not test his luck. That said, he wished the day he'd get relieved from his position would come sooner before his restraints would finally break and he does something he would definitely regret.
He did well holding it in for so long, but since he couldn't see humanity defeating the Calamities any time soon, his only hope was to get another job.