Just a mildly horny slice of life chapter.

—

Installation 001, Shorty after the events of "Ceremony"

—

Anton sighed, and opened up his Email for the first time since he woke up on the Schattenwulf.

The first Email that caught his eye was from Triple A.

"Hey, so I know you probably won't check your email for a while, but there's a year time frame on the favor I'm asking. You're amazing at paperwork and AAR's, and the clerks won't touch this with a 10 foot pole.

If you would, could you put together a comprehensive report about everything to do with hard sites? Particularly the Lima and Oscar designated ones. I'm working on the Kilo and Alpha bunkers. And Kugler is going to tackle every one of the missile sites.

You'd be in my debt. You're the only person I know that would be able to do it.

-Alex " The Email read.

He thought it over for a moment, and figured he'd be able to get it done in about 2 weeks if he really put his mind to it. All he needed was information.

And that meant access to the archives.

He rolled it over in his head for a little while, and figured the easiest way would be to go to 001 himself and do it there, as remote access would be a shit show, and asking a clerk for access to the archives would be a bureaucratic nightmare.

He sighed, and opened up the reply box.

"Sure, I'll get right on it." He typed out, then hit "Reply."

—

The door squealed shut behind them on its hydraulic cylinder, and Dr.Raine turned to face the trio of augments walking towards them.

"Oh Anton, you shouldn't be here, you should still be resting." Dr.Raine said in a mildly dispassionate tone.

"You made me big and strong, you made me quick to bounce back from grave injuries, it's been a month." Anton replied. "I'm just here because I need access to the archives."

Dr.Raine laughed. "You came all the way here just for that?" she tittered.

"Well, and wanted to see you," He added. "They did too.'' He gestured towards Kate & Sarah.

Dr.Raine smiled, looking at the two. One topless, the other nude.

"Well, it is nice to see you again" She said, shifting her gaze to his eyes. "Both of you as well," she said, looking at the two women in turn.

"How's your new skin?" She asked.

He snickered at that, "Great actually, they seem to like it enough" he said, half looking back at the other two.

"I'm very glad," Dr.Raine smiled. "I was also glad to put you completely back together, it's a wonder the coalition didn't outlaw circumcision earlier" she added.

"You just had to make it awkward, huh?" He asked while the three women snickered.

Dr.Raine peered around him, and winked at them both before turning around and picking her tablet up off her desk.

"One other thing I've been meaning to ask you" Anton said.

"Go on" Dr.Raine beckoned, tapping on her tablet.

"How's Terror?" He asked. "I know he's alive, but is he well?"

Dr.Raine sighed. "I'm still working on him, he's doing better, and I'm going to find a way to replace what he's lost." She said.

They all nodded, two of them sighing. "That's good" Anton said

"You've got access with your chip, and those two are allowed in, they can help you with whatever you need to do." Dr.Raine said.

"Thanks," Anton smiled. "We'll be getting out of your hair."

"Good, I've got a lot to do," Dr.Raine said. "Take care, don't have too much fun."

—

The archives were in the basement of the same building, a massive climate controlled dehumidified room, stacked 8 high with shelves for file folder boxes, with simple dark blue carpet over concrete. It smelled of old dust and ancient papers.

"Some of the original materials and copies here are over four hundred years old," Sarah said, running the tips of her fingers across the outside of one of the cold metal shelves.

"And we need everything that references or talks about Continuity Of Government sites. Everything about the Department of Energy too." Anton said, sitting down and unpacking his box of things he'd brought.

A 16oz bottle of ink, as well as a smaller 50ml bottle, the Parker M1000 Kate had gifted him, a massive leatherbound notebook he'd ordered just for this occasion, and an entire ream of printer paper. Everything else he'd either have on his WMD, or a quick trip to the closet on this floor.

He sat down, and cleared his head for a while as Kate and Sarah gathered the boxes upon boxes of flies he'd need.

"How many pages do you think it's going to be?" Kate asked, plopping down a box on the table and making her petite breasts jiggle, catching his eyes for a moment.

"At least five hundred, seven fifty on the high side, give or take about a hundred and fifty pages." He said, both of his hands under his chin, his elbows on the table.

"Sarah is grabbing the last box now." Kate hooked a thumb over her shoulder in the vague direction she'd walked off in. She sat down next to him in a chair at the long table.

"Quick, sort of serious question." Kate said.

This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

"What's up?" Anton asked, turning to look at her as she faced him.

"Since this is serious, and I know you need to be focused, do you want me to cover up?" She said, gesturing towards her chest.

He snickered. "No, that's alright, I might look to them for comfort" He smiled, her face reddening. "In fact, I think I might want you to sit on my lap so I can play with one while I write." He smiled, putting a hand on her knee and making her ears turn red.

"Would you like that?" He asked.

She exhaled slowly, straightening up, and smiling, her expression strong, a stark contrast to her shy tone. "Yes."

—

Three hours later

—

Sarah sat cross-legged atop one of the trademark mass produced stainless steel tables, and was writing in a ubiquitous little green notebook, using one of Anton's extra fountain pens.

"Honey?" Kate asked as she sat in Anton's lap, his left hand currently near the midsection of her right thigh.

"Hmm?" he hummed.

"Do you focus better without conversation? I've wondered about that." She asked.

"I find a little talking is good for my concentration, sometimes I put on a podcast while I do a large job like this." He replied. "You?" he asked, moving his hand to her right breast.

"Constant stable conversation, that I can't focus with, but the drone of a lunchroom that I can easily block out is fine." Kate said. "What about you?" She asked Sarah, who was still cross legged and hunched over, writing in the notebook.

"I can turn my ears off no matter what." She shrugged, capping the pen and closing the half full notebook around it.

Anton had a wild thought and decided to ask. "Entirely unrelated, but are your uhm, parts? Right on the top of that table right now?" he asked.

Sarah blushed, then nodded. "I will be wiping it down right before we leave." She said,

"Isn't it cold?" he asked, again without vanity.

She laughed. "It was at first, but now it's the same temperature as I am."

He nodded, and went back to writing, idly toying with Kate's chest as he filled the notebook in slowly.

"Honey, you can use the terms for it." Kate said after a moment.

"For what?" he asked, near subconsciously rolling her right nipple between his pointer finger and thumb.

"Her parts." Kate said, imitating him sarcastically. He squinted.

"Terms like what?" he asked.

"Box, snatch, cooter, pussy." she went on.

"Eh, too vulgar, it's prettier than that," he said.

"Hmmm" she hummed, thinking. "What about just vagina?" she supposed.

"No, too textbook, feels too professional." Anton replied.

"Vulva" Sarah piped up. "That's a pretty word, it's still 'textbook' as you say, but it's not super professional, and it's not vulgar."

Anton considered it for a moment. "Vulva it is." He shrugged.

Kate smiled, and leaned into him, kissing him on the right cheek. "You're such a loving, pure man." she breathed in his ear. He smiled, a pause in his writing pace.

"Thanks," he replied.

"What are you up to?" he asked Sarah.

"Just some notes" She shrugged, "been going through some of these AAR's from a few of the more exciting hard site drawdowns, learning about CQC from Triple A's mistakes." She said, capping her pen. "Lots of yours too." she added, making him smile.

"That's good," He smiled. "There was an American General that read a bunch of books about war, and became the best tactician in the world. I don't remember his name, but he had lifetimes of information and people's past mistakes in his head."

"I'm thirsty," Kate said after a long time.

"Me too," Sarah mirrored. "I'll get us some coffee." She hopped up, setting her notebook and pen on the table, and trotting off.

"Why can't every woman be born with confidence like that?" Kate asked.

"She's a special case" Anton supposed.

"Got that right," she replied.

She came back, holding 3 coffee cups and a vacuum insulated carafe, and sat them each on the table in front of them, moving a pile of yellowed copy paper to do so.

"Thanks" they both mirrored, pouring themselves a cup.

Kate made a face as she took a sip. Anton didn't seem to mind.

"Double-oh-one coffee, still as trash as ever." Kate said.

"Dirty leaf water drinking heathen" Sarah mocked, sitting right back where she'd been a while earlier.

Anton smiled, taking another sip.

"You've got an attitude for someone so exposed" Kate said, making Sarah raise her eyebrows.

"You're one to talk" she retorted, snickering.

"I really like it when you two bicker loudly, especially when I'm trying to focus," Anton said, noting his pen was about to run dry. "Really warms the heart."

"And hands," Kate replied, pushing his left hand into her chest.

He grinned, squeezing gently twice. "Hop up a second and stretch your legs, my pen's dry." He said.

She did, and her warmth left him.

"This room is a nice temperature," Sarah commented.

"I know right?" Kate replied, putting her arms over her head and rocking side to side.

Anton couldn't help but watch the show with a smile.

"You have just about the biggest damn grin when you watch me" Kate remarked.

"Sight to behold" he replied as he filled his pen from the smaller bottle of ink.

"I've always meant to ask, but how do you submit massive projects like that on pen and paper? Don't they raise a fuss?" Sarah asked, twiddling her thumbs as she sat, still cross legged.

"I give it to this intelligence clerk, she digitizes it for me, I have no idea how she does it," he replied.

Sarah smiled. "I like the way you do things old man."

"We're nearly the same age." He scoffed.

"Mental age old man. Mental age"

"You two bicker like an old married couple" Kate interjected as he started to write again, pausing to scan over a piece of paper.

The blue-black ink pooled on the paper where he lifted his pen at the end of every word, giving his writing a pleasing shading effect.

IN truth, he preferred a "flat" appearance to his written word, without the effect, but he did have to admit it looked nice.

The women continued talking while he worked, he didn't quite ignore them, but he filtered his focus.

They sat next to each other on the table, holding hands and laughing like a couple of schoolgirls.

Before he knew it, his cup of coffee disappeared, then another, and another. Then the carafe was empty, and his bladder was screaming at him.

He stood up without saying anything, and made his way to the restroom on the same floor.

He did his business, and rounded the corner.

He saw Eric, and nearly jumped out of his skin.

"Motherfucker, can't you tell someone when you're about to pop out of a goddamn wall in front of them?" Anton asked.

"You look good," Eric said, not answering his question, stepping away from the wall he was leaning on.

"Yeah, you too," Anton scoffed, chuckling at himself.

"What are you doing here anyways?" Anton asked.

"I was in the neighborhood, and wanted to see how you were doing," he replied. "I see you and Kate have made a friend." He smiled.

"Something like that, I think," he replied.

"I'm told Americans have a warped perception of FKK" Eric said as Anton walked past him.

"No kidding, it was a crime for a long time, that's changed, but the attitude towards it hasn't really." Anton replied as they rounded a corner.

"You got new boots?" Anton asked, realizing he could hear Eric's footsteps.

"Yes, Frau Raine gifted them to me, they're Japanese split toe style, they're more adept to what I do, but they take some getting used to." He replied.

"Did she give you anything else cool?" Anton asked.

"Yes, but I can't tell you about anything new of mine, just the boots" he said as they both entered the archives proper.

"You know, I think this is the first time I've seen you for an extended period of time" Anton sai as they walked down the isles of boxed documents. "You've usually vanished four times over by now."

"Would you like me to?" Eric asked, "by that I mean do you want me to intrude on your get together?" he added.

"Not at all, I think it'd be fun to have a sit down with you and talk for a while," Anton replied. "Say, have you got the clearance to be here?"

"Like you wouldn't believe, I can go wherever I want," he replied.

"Don't doubt that." Anton scoffed. "Say, where's the craziest place you've been?" He asked.

"Not allowed to tell you. But there's one I can," he replied, pausing to add effect.

"I was in the pentagon once" he said, "Spied on a meeting between a lot of powerful people" he said. "I even saw the queen in person before she died"

That raised his eyebrows. "Wow"

Eric shrugged like it was no big deal. "Just a part of the job."

"Eric, so good to see you" Kate exclaimed, standing up and meeting him with a hug.

"Good to see you too," Eric said, hugging her back.

"It's been a while," Sarah told him as he and Kate parted.

"It has" Eric returned, looking her up and down. "You haven't changed," he smiled.

"Still naked as ever" she replied, still sitting atop the table, but uncrossing her legs and turning to face him, letting her feet dangle off the end of the table.

"How have you been? Since the mountain I mean" Kate asked.

"I went and helped the Army corps of engineers scuttle the site, that's about it," he replied.

Anton sat back down, and returned to writing.

"Nice boots" Sarah said, looking down at his peculiar footwear.

"Thanks, Frau Raine gifted them to me." He replied, wiggling his toes inside them.

"How's it coming along?" Eric asked Anton, gesturing towards the paper.

"Well, there's holes in a lot of the official information, which triple A's reports mostly fill" Anton said as Kate sat down next to him, with Eic sitting on the table next to Sarah. "I'll get it done." Anton said finally.

I don't doubt that.