It wasn't long before Veili came back in and tossed them each a pair of pants and a hoodie with the words '701st Heavy Assault Battalion' on the back.
"It's not much but there's a bathroom down the hall. It's been a few days so I figured you'd want to wash up or something." She said before she left again.
Vincent and Trevor looked at each other and nodded in agreement. "Let's go wash up."
"Alright."
Jeanne watched the two boys leave in a hurry. "Boys... Always so one-track minded," She muttered.
Vincent and Trevor made their way down the hallway, passing several other girls, some wearing their military gear and others in more casual clothes.
They found a handwritten sign labeled 'bathroom ' and stepped inside, the smell of soap and cleaning chemicals hitting them immediately.
"Wait... what?" Vincent stopped in the doorway. It was a spacious area, with several hoses and equipment for moving heavy gear. There were cabinets lining one of the walls and a large tub about two feet deep.
"Wow... this is... interesting." Trevor said, stepping inside. "I've never seen a shower room like this, it looks more like a wash station for gear or something." He looked at the large hoses and the equipment, his eyes scanning the space.
"It's a room for cleaning large equipment and armor plating or other heavy gear." A girl with long blonde hair said as she walked in. She had been carrying a bag of towels. She was wearing shorts and a T-shirt. "No one said we couldn't use it as a bath though."
Trevor and Vincent both stared at the girl for a moment, taking in her appearance. Her long blonde hair, her blue eyes, her well-toned physique. The girl dropped the bag of towels on one of the workbenches, then left.
The room was quiet; only the sound of running water could be heard.
"Hey... Vincent. Are they all... you know?"
"Probably." Vincent said, his tone matter-of-fact. "They all seem to have a barcode." He pointed to the girl's neck as she was leaving the room. "You can't even really tell, the skin texture and the hair is so... natural."
"Shouldn't there be like, more?" Trevor asked. "This place is huge. You'd think a battleship would be crawling with people. I haven't seen one engineer or other ship personnel."
"There's men! There's two unidentified men in the gear-pool during bath hours!" Another girl shouted as she walked in.
She was short, her orange hair cut short, her bangs pulled up in a ponytail. She wore the same shorts and t-shirt, her skin pale, and her expression annoyed. "On the ground!"
Trevor and Vincent both froze in surprise. "W-wait, hold on!"
Four more girls rushed in with their guns drawn and aimed at the boys.
"Everyone wait!" Veili shouted as she rushed to the door. "Sorry! I should've warned them, it's my fault."
"Tch, fine. They can go be washed with the armor. I don't want to share the gear-pool with them, they probably came in during this time on purpose!" The orange-haired android said in disgust. "Just to get a peek of some tits. Filthy animals..."
Vincent growled, "You ain't got nothin' to look at, you shrimpy android! You're just a robot anyway! There's nothing under those clothes."
The girl's expression shifted from shock to rage, and she lunged at Vincent.
Trevor tried to intervene. "Hey, come on, let's all just calm down."
The android girl pushed him aside easily and slammed her palm into Vincent's stomach, sending him flying across the room and into the water. She was about to jump in and continue her attack, but she felt a tug on her shirt and turned to see Veili holding onto her.
"Zafie, stop." Veili smiled, her voice low.
"Let me go." Zafie said through gritted teeth. She jerked herself free and turned away from the others.
Vincent sat in the tub, gasping for breath.
Trevor rushed over to him and helped him out of the basin. "You alright, man?" He asked, concern evident in his voice.
"Yeah, yeah. I'm fine." Vincent grunted, his eyes fixed on the girl who had attacked him. He glared at her with a mixture of anger and disbelief. "How does an android get upset like that? Its true right? They're just robots... It's not like they've actually got anything to hi-"
A bottle of shampoo struck Vincent in the back of his head, and he looked over at Zafie.
"Fuck off!" She yelled. "Get out!"
Trevor helped Vincent up to his feet. "Come on man, let's go." He said as they left the room.
Vincent growled and grumbled to himself. Trevor looked at him with a worried expression. "Vincent, bud, you weren't thinking. If Shu had lady parts, why wouldn't the rest of them? What you said was actually kind of insulting."
Vincent's face twisted in disgust. "That's fucking weird." He muttered, his eyes still fixed on the door they had left from. He paused for a moment before continuing, "How the fuck can they be so realistic in the first damn place? Why make them like that? What kind of technological leap allow such a thing?"
"Who knows?" Trevor said with a shrug.
Vincent sighed, and shook his head. "Whatever man. Just... Let's just keep our heads down and try not to draw any more attention to ourselves."
"Hey, we need a wash." Trevor said.
"We'll do it after." Vincent said as they continued walking. "This is insane..." He mumbled to himself. He and Trevor had seen a lot of androids, and he had never heard of one acting in such a way.
They eventually made it back to the barracks and saw Jeanne lying on a bed reading her phone.
She looked up at them as they entered and noticed the expression on Vincent's face. "What happened?" She asked.
"Nothing..." Vincent muttered, "Just... don't go wandering. Damn, that shrimp hits like a fucking train..."
"What?" She asked.
"It's nothing." He said as he lay in one of the other beds, his eyes closed, his face a mixture of exhaustion and annoyance. "Trevor, this whole situation is your fault."
"I know..." Trevor said as he lay in another bed. "But this is still amazing. We're in a foreign battleship that we're not supposed to be in. And the level of technological marvels that this ship and its androids hold... It's like a dream come true."
"Shut up." Vincent sighed.
***
After an hour had passed, Vincent and Trevor decided to try the washroom again.
The 'gear-pool', as it was called by the androids, was empty, and Vincent looked at Trevor, "Okay... Now's our shot."
They quickly undressed and entered the basin. Vincent grabbed one of the hoses and turned it on, letting the warm water wash away the sweat and dirt. Trevor did the same, letting the warm water cascade over his skin.
They finished quickly, washed their hair, and stepped out, using towels that were hanging on hooks on the walls.
"Alright, that's better. Let's get dressed and get the hell out of here before anyone shows up." Vincent said.
Trevor glanced around, "I mean, how many could there really be? I haven't seen a single man on this ship."
Vincent shook his head and started to get dressed, pulling on his clothes quickly. As they were getting ready to leave, they heard voices outside the room and froze in their tracks.
"... And then he said; You mean a shrimp fried this rice?!"
"Kill the person you heard that from..."
The sound of the door handle moving prompted Trevor and Vincent to scramble into an open cabinet in the room and shut the door. The door of the room opened and a pair of voices could be heard, the sounds of their conversation growing louder as the people inside moved around.
"For fucks sake. How many of them are on this damn ship?" Vincent whispered, trying not to draw attention to the two of them. "We gotta get out of here." He said, as the sounds of their movement grew louder, and the voices continued to chat and giggle. He slowly pushed open the door and peered out, seeing two girls undressing, and another two were already naked and standing in the tub. Vincent slowly closed the cabinet again. "Oh, what the hell. I think they're playing around." He grunted, the sounds of laughter and the water splashing.
"This is not android behaviour..." Trevor said. "These ones... they're acting like normal girls." Trevor's voice was low, and his eyes were fixed on the wall, his mind trying to process what they were hearing.
"Question time!" A voice said loudly, "I have a question, and it's serious!"
"No way, no more of that!" One of the others replied, "Every time you say you have a serious question, you just start talking about Yuren."
Vincent and Trevor looked at each other in the cramped cabinet. They couldn't see the girls but could hear the splashing water and their conversation clearly.
"You know you want to talk about him." Another voice added. "He is quite the handsome one. It's no wonder you can't take your mind off him, Tayna."
"But unfortunately there's too much competition for him. Eri is a cheat! Exploiting her position as his bodyguard!" A voice added, a third girl chiming in.
The two boys sat there listening, and they couldn't believe what they were hearing. Were they discussing a boy? Completely normal gossip? It seemed too unreal, and yet, they couldn't deny it.
"I'm not even trying to get with him! It's just..." Tayna spoke.
"No that is what it is." A new voice spoke. "There's a lot of girls on this battalion that would love to have Yuren." The voice sounded a little different, more mature. "It's just the fact we're never home that's the issue. And he's always busy doing work."
The voices were joined by a fifth, a softer voice. "Um... Do you all really like Commander Yuren?"
"Yes!" The two shouted at the same time.
"This is... stupid." Vincent said, "I can't believe that these are androids..."
"Me either." Trevor replied. "But... they seem so human-like. They're chatting like a group of friends, not like a bunch of androids."
Vincent nodded. "I'm not going to question it anymore." He said as the voices continued their discussion about the commander. The cabinet door was cracked slightly, allowing them to see into the room.
"Vincent... Is this really okay?" Trevor whispered, "We're hiding in a closet watching a bunch of naked girls in the washroom..."
"Shut up, we're waiting for a chance to get out. I'd rather this than get beat the fuck up again."
Trevor looked out through the small opening. The androids looked completely natural. There was nothing that would suggest they were artificial, except the barcodes on their necks.
"They look... like humans." Trevor whispered. He watched them in silence, their movements and their interaction. Their laughter, the way they talked. They seemed to be enjoying themselves.
"Tayna. On your eight." A girl said as she glanced to her side.
"Oh?" Tayna replied casually.
The cabinet doors suddenly flew open and Vincent locked eyes with the one he guessed was Tanya, a taller girl with golden eyes and a long silver ponytail.
She then closed the cabinet calmly. "Didn't see anything important."
"What was it?" A voice asked.
"Just two bugs." Tanya replied, her voice level.
"Get 'em?" The second voice said.
"Nah." She replied. "I'm too lazy. They'll leave on their own. I'm actually curious about what's for lunch. Let's go."
Vincent and Trevor looked at each other. Their expressions are a mix of relief and confusion. After a few moments, they heard the girls moving around, and then the sounds of them getting out of the tub.
Vincent opened the door a little more and looked out. They were getting dressed and heading towards the door, chatting and giggling as they left.
When the room was empty, Vincent opened the door, and the two boys quickly got out, their eyes darting around to make sure they were alone.
"Finally." He grumbled, his face a mix of relief and annoyance. "I should thank that silver haired girl. I thought they were going to stay there all day. Come on, Trevor. Let's get out of here."
The two made their way out of the room and down the corridor. As they were walking, Vincent noticed that the ship's layout differed from the battleship standard.
The corridors were spacious, and signs on the walls pointed to different rooms and areas. The signs were marked with words and symbols, some of them unfamiliar.
They stopped at a map display panel, and Vincent pointed at it.
"This place is huge." Vincent said, his eyes scanning the display.
Trevor leaned forward to get a better look. "Five blocks are just barracks? How many people is this ship supposed to hold?" Trevor said.
"Vehicle bay at the bottom, hangar is next to the deck elevator... repair center, med bay, storages... command center is below the bridge. Christ, what even is this ship? Can you even call this a battleship?"
"It seems more like a... flying base." Trevor mumbled as he continued to look over the display. "I mean... It has everything. And it's big enough for a large number of troops."
Vincent tapped at the screen, curious about the ship, and suddenly details appeared
Airship Title: Eisendrache
Classification: Battleship
Flight Control ID: Centurion - 15
Origin: Schreadel Imperial Union
Status: Operational
Designated Unit: 701st
"Oh shit…" Vincent said as he stepped away from the screen.
Trevor's eyes went wide as he stepped closer to the display and started to read the information. "This ship... This is the kind of stuff you'd see in movies. Or like, games or something. This thing is huge and its armed to the teeth."
"They had a ship like this... and it's not even a flagship. It's almost like the war between Argentia and the Republic is just a sideshow." Vincent said. "Could it be they're actually fighting the Meteorn instead? Is that the context for that Meteorn's attack on Argentia's capital?" Vincent was still in shock, his eyes wide as he read over the details of the ship again.
"Vincent, I think we should head back to the barracks." Trevor said, his eyes scanning the map. "It'd could be really bad if they suspect us of being spies."
"Yeah." Vincent mumbled as they turned to leave. "Let's get back."
The two made their way down the corridors, passing more androids as they went.