Valkyrie Smash

Done with the warmups, Sam brought out the suitcase with the heart in it. Once it was placed onto the platform he returned to the other side of the glass and wore the gloves and glasses.

The first thing he did was to increase the safety measures to the maximum. That created an invisible force field on the other side of the glass, which wasn't as strong as that of the Valkyries, however it would help absorb some of the damage of anything goes wrong.

"Doctor, is it okay if I ask what is that?" Five said, coming closer to the glass wall to get a look.

"That's… the heart of a Valkyrie." Sam was a little hesitant to answer. It didn't seem right to talk about what's basically one of her kind's internal organs as he's about to take it apart. "It's the part of you that's responsible for creating the force field."

"I… I see…"

The answer seemed to bother the Valkyries more than he thought. However there isnt much he could do about it. It's the proper reaction one should have to what's about to happen.

"This is still confidential information." Sam said, turning back to the object on the other side of the room. "Odin has disappeared, which means we can no longer create new Valkyries."

"Wha-" the shock caused the words to get stuck in Five's throat. "Odin!? You mean our creator?"

"Yes…"

When she said it like that, Sam realized that the man they're talking about was something akin to a god to the Valkyries. As impressive as it was, creating the Valkyries didn't feel that big of a deal before. However now that Three has gained sentience and individuality Sam began to see the man in a different light even if that result wasn't what he was going for.

'Well, he had the audacity to name himself after a god…'

"Since that man is no longer around we have no choice but to try and find a way to create Valkyries on our own. He had kept the process a secret so no one know how to do it, which is why we are attempting to reverse engineer some of the parts we retrieved from Valkyries that fell in battle."

"I… I see…"

Five cast her eyes down, a sad look taking over her face.

"Is something wrong?" Sam asked.

"Well… I just remembered that our situation might be hopeless." Five said. "If our creator has given up on this war then…"

Sam had nothing to say to that. If the man who has helped humanity survive so far decided that fighting is pointless then surely there is no hope of them coming out on top.

"Whether it's hopeless or not, we have no choice but to keep fighting." Sam said. "If we are going to lose anyway then might as well fight till the very end."

The Calamities had no intention of accepting their surrender, that's evident by how they continue with their assault despite being capable of communicating.

"I'll continue to do my best till the very end so-" Sam said one more thing before entering his deep focus mode. "I'll be relying on you to keep me safe."

Hearing those words, Five's mood improved instantly and a smile appeared on her face.

"Yes!" She exclaimed. "I'll do my best!"

~◇~

Unlike when he took the phone apart, Sam's movements were much slower this time. Though he had the blue prints memorized by heart, the reality is that there is no safe way to disassemble the heart since it wasn't made with that in mind.

Knowing that the day he gets to try it will eventually come he spent many hours figuring out how to get around the traps Odin laid in their way.

He adjusted the laser cutter to the smallest caliber and began cutting around the circuit that activates the trap on the outer shell.

The heart is supposed to be dormant since it isn't linked to the nuclear battery used to power the Valkyries, however according to the blue prints it has it's own internal power supply which is used in emergencies and in this case to cause large explosions if anyone tries to mess with it.

Removing the traps is like cutting the cables on a timed bomb, one mistake and everything is gone. The materials used to make the small spherical device are exceptionally hard which made it quite the struggle to cut through them. He couldn't use a stronger laser as well in fear of damaging the lower layers, his only choise was to move slowly and carefully.

After two hours he finally managed to remove the first trap. He was thankful to Odin for not making it so that the other traps activate if one of them is removed, otherwise removing them would've been much more difficult. There were two left, and same as the first one each took two hours to remove.

"This took much longer than I expected…" Sam said, taking his glasses off and wiping the sweat off his forehead.

The stress of working like that for six hours straight was starting to get to him, but at the very least he finally managed to get past the first layer, removing the protective shell and unveiling the technological masterpiece underneath. At first it looked like a small sphere created from multiple rings of different sizes overlapping each other. Though each ring seemed like a single part, the reality is that they were made out of millions of nano machines held together to form a single solid object.

'Things will be different from here on…' Sam thought, letting out a sigh.

"Will you be taking a break, Doctor?" Five asked.

"Yeah. Sorry about that." Sam replied, taking his phone out to check the time. "It seems we missed lunch because of me."

"You don't have to apologize, Doctor. We Valkyries don't require sustenance aft-" before she could finish that sentence, a loud growling sound came from the Valkyrie's stomach.

A second of silence pass. Five's face began to heat and she couldn't resist covering it with both hands.

'Yeah, Odin put that in as well…'

The Valkyries might not need food to survive, however since they were created to behave like humans they're forced to eat from time to time. Not doing so wouldn't affect them at all, as long as they can ignore the signs of hunger, of course.

"How about we go eat something?" Sam said with an amused smile and Five nodded her approval.

That said, he couldn't really take her to the cafeteria with him so he was at a loss of where they should eat.

"Oh, right, you have a cafeteria in your residence right?" Sam said recalling his tour through the building.

"Yes." Five replied. "Are we going to eat there?"

"Well, we don't have much choice. It would only cause me more trouble if people saw us together."

Looking confused, Five tilted her head to the side.

"Why? Am I not your personal Valkyrie now? Isn't it normal for us to be together?"

Just then Sam remembered that he hadn't told her or Nine to keep their relationship a secret.

"Listen, Five, the fact that you are my personal Valkyrie is a secret that must never get out." Sam said, closing his eyes and heaving a long sigh. "While you've chosen me to become your master, I'm still far too low in the command chain that I'd be erased the moment our superiors find out."

"But…"

"Nothing can be done about it. At least for now." Though he said that, Sam didn't really know if it would change in the future.

If he followed Wolf's suggestion and found a way to turn human's into Valkyries something is bond to change. That said, he couldn't imagine the higher ups just handing him Five and the other, especially after they obtain even more power.

'I need to find a way…'

His only choice would be make his way to the top of the Resistance and what's left of humanity, only then would he be able to have his Valkyries without anyone complaining.

'Doctor deserves to get everything he wants. I believe that all Valkyries should offer themselves to him.'

As he was in deep though, Sam remembered what Nine said earlier. All Valkyries should offer themselves to him. He didn't give it much thought before, but the idea of getting to keep all of them for himself sounded more appealing than he thought.

Quite a few of them had been destroyed and more will suffer the same fate soon enough. By the time he makes it to a position where he would have control over the Resistance, the Calamities would've destroyed most of them.

If he wants to get his hands on as many Valkyries as possible he needed to act soon. Thankfully Odin had left quite the gift for him. With the blue prints and his expertise in nanotechnology it wouldn't be a dream to rise to the top as long as he plays his cards right.

'Shizuru and Alice will definitely hate me for this.' Sam thought, smiling as he sighed. 'Though I'm sure everything will be fine once I turn them into a Valkyries as well.'