Ah! My Gilded Cage

by zeroIQ

Becoming the poster girl of Niflheim might seem like every demoness' dream, yet to a former goddess, it's likely far from that. Following an incident that put her in such a position, Belldandy and the rest of her group of fallen goddesses need to find their way back home. (AU story based on the manga).

14. Chapter 14

I do not own Ah! Megami sama/Oh! My Goddess series or its characters.

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"Are those… rice crackers? Salted too! That's really awesome! I've always wanted to try those! Oh, and what's this? PIckled squid! Who would've thought I'd find this delicacy in a place like this!"

Watching her mysterious acquaintance run around the supermarket with the same excitement of a child, was the strangest thing Skuld had experienced during the last decade; or even more than just that. Actually, the last time she had been subjected to such weirdness was when Urd tried her hair growth formula, and ended up like the homonymous character out of that Rapunzel tale. Of course, it was still debatable whether that was an epic failure or an astonishing success, but either way, Skuld could at the very least make sense of that situation. On the other hand… the same couldn't be said about this 'Jiro' character, who acted like a kid in a candy shop. 'Hold on a second! If he's not even a human, then he should be much older than anyone here! So, why is he even acting like this?'

Narrowing her eyes suspiciously, Skuld considered the possibility that the guy was doing that on purpose in order to throw her guard off. However, after observing him for a couple of minutes, the Norn had to admit that either he was the greatest actor she had seen, or there was something wrong with this guy for real. "Hey, Jiro! Come here for a moment!"

Somewhat surprised to hear her call his name all of a sudden, the strange man put the chocolate bar he's been checking back to the shelf, and turned his attention to the goddess that accompanied him. "Yes, miss Skuld? Is there something wrong?"

'A lot more than you think, pal.' Keeping such thoughts for herself, Skuld pointedly lifted the shopping basket she's been carrying, that was already struggling to contain the sheer amount of stuff deposited in it. "Look… I know that I agreed to show you to a convenience store, yet not only did we somehow ended up in a supermarket, but you're also on a shopping spree! And you even said that you don't have money on you?"

"Um… I suppose so," replied the man, returning Skuld's rather heated glare with a pretty empty look of his own.

"So, I suppose I'm going to pay for all your snacks, mister?" haughtily asked the youngest Norn, doing her best imitation of Urd, as her own idea of dealing with this kind of person was to chunk a bomb on his face. "You want a kidney with that, too?"

"Huh? Are kidneys… snacks here?" asked the utterly confused man, only to make Skuld even angrier than she already was.

"Don't screw around with me! Can't you even tell sarcasm? Seriously!... Were you raised in a cave or something?" barked Skuld, causing a few of the employees as well as the rest of the customers to nervously look in their direction. Some even shook their heads and mutter things like 'lovers' quarrel' or just wondering if they should call the police. And while Skuld couldn't care any less what they thought about this, she sure didn't wish to involve the authorities. As such, the Norn took a moment to regain her composure and calm herself down, before she ended up headbutting this idiot.

"Actually, I was raised in a mansion. But I guess you're sarcastic, again," replied the man without the slightest hint of anger, much to the Norn's chagrin.

"A mansion? You're actually loaded, and still plan to have me pay for all that stuff?" At this point, it was becoming increasingly difficult for Skuld to keep her temper under control, as Jiro's aggravating naivety was starting to seriously get on her nerves. "Actually… you know what? Screw this! I'm done with you!" Handing over the shopping basket to the surprised man, the fuming Norn of the future turned around and marched off towards the exit, leaving even her ice cream behind, as she was too agitated at the moment to care about anything else. She had no idea what this guy's problem really was, especially when she was almost certain that he was an immortal to begin with, yet patience wasn't exactly one of her virtues. And right now, Skuld's first priority was to take some time to cool off her head. 'Gr… the nerve of that guy! Treating me like an idiot? What the Hell was he thinking?'

The Norn all but walked out of the supermarket without the slightest idea as to where she was heading, and even felt tempted to simply teleport back to her RV. However, explaining this ridiculous situation to her mother and Keiichi was a tad too embarrassing for her, especially if her solution to this problem was to merely turn around and run away from it. After all, there was no point for her to look like an adult, if she ended up acting like a kid whenever things didn't go the way she expected. And no matter how silly of a problem this turned out to be, Skuld had no intention to admit defeat just yet. 'Alright… let's go to another supermarket, buy the stuff I originally came for and then get back without any other delays.'

"Excuse me, miss."

At the sound of yet another man trying to pick her up, Skuld really had to restrain herself from simply venting her frustration by snapping at him. Looking at her side, where the impudent fool stood next to his Porsche 911, that was pulled over by the main street just to impress her, this young man seemed nothing alike to the other guy that previously approached her. Tall and with neatly combed dark hair, the man gave off an air of superiority compared to the average joe walking down the street, as not only did he carry himself with far more grace than them, but also dressed in a far flashier and expensive clothes that consisted of a black business suit and a matching shirt, with the only dash of color being his red tie. "Um… you were talking to me?"

"My apologies, young lady, yet I couldn't help but notice that you look troubled," calmly said the man, even furrowing his brows in a display of concern, that for the most part seemed to work as intended.

"Ah, yeah. I was shopping with some other guy I just met, and he more or less expected me to pay for his stuff, too," replied Skuld, despite that she wasn't initially intending to reveal this much to yet another stranger. Perhaps, it was mostly due to her need to vent that prompted her to reveal this much information, regardless of what this new guy's intentions might be.

"My, my… such poor manners." For a moment, the man reached for his face, almost as if he intended to adjust an imaginary pair of glasses that he clearly wasn't wearing, but eventually corrected himself by pinching the bridge of his nose in a rather exaggerated manner. "As a fellow man, it really pains me to hear how some people treat ladies such as yourself, miss. Actually, how about you forget everything about that mannerless brute, and allow me to compensate for your lost time? I can give you a ride to another supermarket… no, actually the local mall, where I will pay for everything you're going to buy. Well, within reason, of course. What do you say, miss?"

"I suppose that's fine by me," cautiously replied Skuld, even though she felt that this guy definitely had some ulterior motives for being so helpful. In hindsight, the Norn of the future began to realize that playing the role of the grown up was nowhere as fun as she originally thought it would be. 'Ugh, let's get this over with. I'm buying those supplies and get outta here, pronto! No more dealing with weirdos for today.'

"Excellent! In that case, please get in the car, miss. The mall's only a couple of minutes from here."

XXX

At a forgotten corner of Nekomi, a once popular arcade laid in ruins after the business closed down a couple of years ago. The building was actually abandoned in such a hurry, that most of the games were left inside, although that was also due to the fact that few would bother buying a bunch of old video games. Still, contrary to the rather run down condition of the entire building, some of those arcade machines were in working order, and right now, one of them was actually operating.

Being supplied with electricity from a portable generator that hummed in the background, the copy of Donkey Kong proved enough to distract the demonic child that patiently awaited for his older brother's return from Niflheim. Then again, most of his anticipation was due to the fact that he went ahead and disobeyed his brother's explicit orders to maintain position, and approached the Norn of the future. And as if this wasn't bad enough, he had used one of the transfiguration potions their father gave them in case they needed to disguise themselves as a human. Worse yet, even though he was quite proficient at using magic for a child of his age, the white haired youth's ignorance of the mortal world caused him to nearly blow his cover.

'Ugh… I should've listened to Aldrnari and stay here. But, I was so bored! There's nothing for me to do, other than play games all day long.' Leaning down to pick up one of the coins he repeatedly used to continue playing this game, the young demon tried not to wince from this indirect reminder of his failure. 'I can't believe that I totally forgot about bringing some money with me. Or say that I lost my wallet.'

The rippling sensation of a space distortion brought the young demon out of his thoughts, as it was the telltale sign of the Gate opening. 'Uh oh!... Better look as if I'm busy!' In an almost panicked rush, the young demon shoved the coin into the arcade and resumed playing as if nothing was wrong, even whistling the game's tune for added effect. Then the last thing on the list was try to ignore his brother as he materialized through the Gate, almost as if he hadn't noticed his arrival in the first place.

"Now this is the last time I'm going out of my way to save your behind, kid," said a feminine voice, that originated from the very portal itself, as the teen demon set his feet on the floor. And no sooner her traveler had passed through her, the Gate of Niflheim began to shrink and assume her humanoid form, which was noticeably older than the majority of her 'sisters' in their network. Standing as tall as a fully grown up woman, despite her bizarre physiology that included a keyhole just below her neckline and a pair of cape-like sleeves instead of hands, the Gate approached the teenage demon who was in the process of taking off his snow mask. "From now on, if you want to use my services, you need to pay the toll just like everyone else."

"I'll keep that in mind," calmly replied the demonic teen, before glancing at his younger brother who was staring back at the Gate's humanoid form in wonder, and cleared his throat. "Vidir, can you do me a favor and bring the lady's… payment?"

The demonic child gave his brother a blank stare, as he hadn't thought that they'd have to face the Gate's demands this soon, and therefore failed to get something for her in the aftermath of the disaster that his shopping trip turned out to be. "Actually, I have a better idea! How about she gives these games a try? I'm pretty sure that she'll find them interesting!" cheerfully suggested Vidir, even though it was mostly to cover up his own blunder.

"And what good will that do for me, boy? You know that it's information that I'm after, and with the two of you being an enigma, I want something to answer my questions," countered the Gate of Niflheim, giving the younger of the two demons a critical look. Just like every other Gate in the Bifrost network, she valued information more than anything else in the world, and two boys that refused to let her get anything in return to offering them her services. It was customary after all to give the Gate bits of information in exchange of using her transportation services, yet the secrecy behind the boys' existence greatly intrigued her. Judging by their appearance alone, that bronze skin of theirs was a telltale sign that they hailed from Muspelheim, although at the same time, she knew for a fact that they've never been there in their entire lives. Of course, that didn't eliminate the possibility that either -or both- their parents originated from that realm, while they were born elsewhere, but that still didn't explain the secrecy behind them.

Their skin tone aside, the brothers also featured another characteristic that greatly reminded the Gate of someone else she knew very well: purple eyes. As a matter of fact, the only real difference between them was their hair color, which was platinum blonde -or white depending on the light conditions- for the younger of the two, and a much darker shade of blonde for the elder brother. They even shared the same hairstyle, although that wasn't exactly very characteristic, as it resembled the moderately short spiky style often used by demons serving in the demonic realms' military organizations. Which also explained why the kids owned a full complement of combat gear that was normally off limits for the civilian population. So, when she first met them a good couple of years ago, the Gate had been quite curious as to their backstory, yet they denied her of any real explanation; which only piqued her curiosity even more.

Staring at the Gate's silent form, Vidir shared a glance with his brother, who clearly had no idea what was going on, so in the end the younger demon had to resolve this on his own. "I never said you don't know about video games. But… when was the last time you played one?"

It took the Gate a while to search through her vast memories that even extended to those of her sisters'... only to realize that although she possessed extensive knowledge of such a subject, none of it came from personal experience. "Well, I suppose you do have a point. And though it's not what I'm after, I guess I can accept this as a payment; for now."

Letting out a sigh of relief, Aldrnari watched his brother show the Gate around the room, pointing out what kind of features each game had, in hopes of finding something she might wish to give a try herself. And while this deviated from his own idea of offering her local delicacies and the like, Aldrnari didn't mind if the kid did a better job than him. At least with the Gate preoccupied, he could now try to explain this mess to their father, and hope that he won't just order them to get back home and let him handle this. Like all demonic teens his age, Aldrnari wanted to prove himself, and for the most part he also thought that his brother was after the same thing, even though he was far too young to realize it.

'Oh well, at least that'll keep her busy for a while. In the meantime, I better call father and see what he knows about that damn monster. There's no doubt that someone sent it after Urd, although… why?'

XXX

'This is definitely not my day!'

Simmering in her rage that burned even more intense by the second, Skuld watched the man fiddle with his Porsche's engine in the rear mirror, as apparently this day continued to provide her with yet more surprises. First it was that guy who expected her to pay for his snacks, and then the car of this gentleman wannabe… ended up suffering some kind of engine problem. Strangely enough though, the man insisted not calling the road service to pick the broken car, and instead attempted to troubleshoot the problem himself.

At least, that was his excuse, since Skuld could tell just by looking at his reflection in the mirror that he probably knew little about engines, or machines in general. And in reality, after all the nonsense she's been through today, the Norn of the future felt less than inclined to humor this stranger as well. 'That's it, I'm outta here!' Throwing the door open, Skuld got out of the car and started to walk away from the surprised man, who definitely wasn't expecting such a reaction from her.

"Hey, wait a second, miss!" Starting after the goddess that made a beeline for the nearest alley where she could teleport out of the city without anyone see her, the man cursed under his breath for his carelessness. He had assumed that she wouldn't act this aggressively, at least as long as he kept up the pretenses, but apparently Skuld had other ideas. 'Oh, no you don't!... I haven't even started with you!'

Just as she thought that she was finally alone, Skuld felt a hand seize her wrist, and almost instinctively she turned around to slap that impudent fool for trying his luck with her. However, as she was about to do just that, Skuld realized that there was no way for a mere mortal to simply run after her like that. At least not without him being a world class athlete, which she seriously doubted that was the case the case with him. "What the?! Let go of me, pal!"

"I don't think so… little bitch. I've gotten into enough trouble already to find you, and I'm not wasting the opportunity to settle my score with you." The more time passed, the more disturbing the man's expression became, causing Skuld to take a step back, even though she couldn't go much further than that.

'This shouldn't be possible. How come I can't free myself? A human surely doesn't have the strength to… Wait a sec!… Don't tell me that-' It was that moment that it finally dawned upon her: this guy wasn't a human at all. Furthermore, his comment about the score he had to settle with her convinced Skuld that no matter how impossible it sounded, this was none other than the sleaze she shot a while ago, back when she felt so outraged about the way he treated Belldandy, that she simply lost it. Sure, she should've recognized him on sight, but then again he was also supposed to be dead, so, it wasn't exactly hard to imagine that he somehow altered his appearance to avoid being recognized on sight. "You're… that Aoshima asshole?"

"In the flesh so to speak," offered the man in question, even though he slightly winced from the sheer intensity of the goddess' disgust. Still, that only lasted for moment as he quickly regained his composure and prepared to backhand the impolite goddess. "Although, you'll have to learn some manners, you wench!"

Seeing the hand enter her field of vision, Skuld almost felt strange, considering how slowly it appeared to move, until she realized that in reality it was the other way around. Thanks to her training with her mother, she could perceive such threats at a decelerated time, just like a video in slow motion. It wasn't even a challenge to lean back and allow Aoshima's hand to harmlessly pass right in front of her face, and as she also realized that she had no problems moving at 'normal' speed, Skuld more or less decked him right across his stupid mug.

"Agh!" Backpedaling in pain, Aoshima desperately covered his face in fear, as memories of his previous run in with Lind proved more than enough to last for a lifetime; or two, in his case. "Welsper! Help me!"

The fear in her opponent's voice caught Skuld off guard, as she wasn't even trying to harm him for real. Judging by the way he managed to stop her a moment ago, the Norn was more or less expecting him to take at least this much without suffering a panic attack. 'Is he really that much of wimp? Sheesh! Talk about all bark and no bite. Or is it that I'm stronger than I thought? It's kinda hard to tell, as the only one I fought so far is mom, during our training sessions, and she's crazy strong.' Skuld briefly glanced at her firsts as she flexed them, but then took a step back and prepared herself for whoever this guy's reinforcements were. If there was one thing that Ansuz absolutely taught her during those years, was to never act like an idiot during a fight. Which also meant that bragging was out of question, unless it was deliberately done to throw the opponent's guard off, but even then it should be done carefully. After all, Skuld was far from Valkyrie material at the time being, considering that although she could temporarily gain her adult body, that only affected her physical strength, leaving her rather weak when it came to magic. And if she remembered correctly, that Welsper character was apparently one of the demons that used to work with Belldandy.

"Sheesh… making such a ruckus," came the blonde demon's voice from further down the alley, where he emerged from the shadows without the slightest warning. "Besides, what do you think you're doing? The idea was to seal her, not mess around with her."

"Not until I get my revenge! This damned goddess sent me to hospital, and I won't be satisfied until I make those responsible for my death suffer!" barked Aoshima back at the clearly unimpressed Welsper, who just gave him a withering stare.

"Oh, for Hell's sake… Just shut it, will you? You're now back from the dead, and more than powerful enough thanks to Sokkmimir's help. So, give me a break, and stop bitching about it. Besides… you brought it on yourself. If you hadn't been such an idiot, then they would've left you alone," sneered Welsper, finding it a tad too hard to resist the urge to call him out for his attempts to woo Belldandy. Even if he also wanted the same thing, Welsper liked to think that he had some standards, in complete contrast to this lowlife.

Gritting his teeth in rage, Aoshima held back a rather nasty response, since he knew that if Welsper abandoned him right now, then he would lose his advantage over the Norn. "Say what you will, but we won't accomplish anything until we capture her. So, stop this nonsense and help me, will you?"

"Fine… but you keep your hands to yourself, or you're facing her on your own," warned Welsper, as he honestly found this man barely tolerable, and couldn't wait to get rid of him, once his usefulness came to an end.

'Here they come.' Assuming a defensive pose her mother had taught her, Skuld prepared to launch herself as Aoshima, who after all was the weakest of her foes and then make a run for the river that was merely two blocks away. However, before she could move a muscle, the Norn felt the presence of yet another demon, and this time from right behind her. "What? There's more?!"

Interestingly enough, it wasn't just her who got surprised by the presence of a third demon, but both Aoshima and Welsper seemed equally alarmed. And apparently for a very good reason too, as before the newcomer properly came out of the shadows, the sound of gunshot echoed across the alley.

"Gotcha!"

XXX

Niflheim

Even though Lind did a number on the Adephagos that attacked them, the frozen remains of the beast were sent to the capital for a proper examination by the demonic equivalent of the Mystics. Called the Xenology Research Institution, it served as the ultimate authority of all things concerning lower life forms, and for that very reason, they were the first who got their hands on that creature, hoping to discover more about its origins. Most importantly, there was a need to discern whether this was a naturally born creature or an artificially created one, and hopefully assist the following up investigation by providing with a starting point. After all, attacking the Daimakaicho's deputy was no insignificant matter, and Hagall wanted this whole thing resolved before this incident became public knowledge.

"Who in their right minds thought that they could take you out with this thing?" asked the Daimakaicho, after studying the reports for a good couple of minutes. And though it sounded as if she wasn't talking to anyone in particular, the fact that Urd sat just across the room, with Lind standing right next to her.

"Beats me. I'm more interested in finding out who that brat was. It seems that he was spying us for some reason, but got away before we could capture him." As much as she'd prefer to do something else other than spending time with Hagall of all demons, Urd knew that in a situation like this, using the Daimakaicho's resources was far easier than trying to look into the problem all by themselves, especially when they had no leads to go by.

"Well, that's a good point. And you mentioned that he attacked this critter, so, he might be a third… or should I say… fourth party?" letting out a frustrated groan, Hagall tossed the report on the conference table between them, and leaned back in her chair. "I thought that after we got rid of that Sokkmimir, things would've gotten a bit quieter. But, that's clearly not the case. Anyway, if you have any more information to share, then don't be a stranger."

"Oh, I'll run straight at you, don't you worry," quipped Urd, albeit in a vaguely sarcastic tone that annoyed Hagall to no end, but refused to take the Norn's bait.

"In that case, you're dismissed. Just keep in mind what I've told you," said Hagall, yet not without adding under her breath. "Oh, and try to avoid freezing your ass in some goddess forsaken corner of the world all by yourself, will you?"

Lind could only let out an exasperated sigh in the background, as the two highest ranking demons glared at each other, not unlike overgrown kids. Granted, she had not much respect for the Daimakaicho either, but in this case, the former Valkyrie was willing to set her dislike for the blonde aside, providing that it was important to find out who targeted them. As such, she placed a hand on Urd's shoulders and leaned down to whisper at her. "Let's leave. There's nothing to gain from having a piss fight with her. Better save it for later, Urd. We have other things to do in the meantime."

The Norn of the past offered Lind a curt nod, and turned to head out of the room, leaving the Daimakaicho alone to take another look at the report, now that the former goddesses were gone. 'The more I think about it, the more it seems that someone wants to ruin my plans to have her take my place. I suppose I never cared who gets the Daimakaicho's position, as long as Hild-sama's vision for Hell becomes a reality, but it's unlikely that others share the same sentiment. Better call Skrymir and see what he knows, too. Perhaps the others as well, although I really don't want to tell Surt before we have the facts. Who knows what kind of mess he'll cause if he decides to take matters on his hands. That settles it, then.'

XXX

Earth

"MY EYES! HOW… HOW DARE YOU?"

Clutching his face in pain, after getting shot right there nonetheless, Aoshima backed away from the potentially insane newcomer who without any warning brandished a shotgun to offer her… greetings. It was only thanks to his pact with Sokkmimir that he managed to survive that without a physical injury, yet that didn't mean that this was painless experience. Far from it actually, as the lead shots hurt even more than the bullet that had gotten into his arm, back when Skuld attacked him. "WHO THE FUCK ARE YOU, ANYWAY?!"

"Just someone who got sick tired of listening to your voice," replied the demoness, throwing her hood back to fully reveal her face to the trio, and as she did, the Norn's eyes went wide in surprise. "As for my name, I'm-"

"She's Mara, a long time friend of Urd's," said Skuld as it didn't take her too long to recover from her stunned stupor, and went ahead to interrupt the blonde, much to the latter's chagrin.

"Hey, don't go ahead and ruin my intro, kid!" shot Mara at the supposedly younger goddess, even though she technically didn't look the part at the moment. Still, considering that she knew how much it bugged Skuld to be called that… and yet her little barb failed to draw the immediate reaction she was hoping for.

Instead, Skuld merely crossed her arms and gave her a critical look, even raising an eyebrow as she made a dramatic pause, until she finally offered her reply. "For someone who's been mistaken for a dude, you sure have a lot of gall calling me a child. Especially, when in fact I look better developed than you right now."

"Why you!... Is this how goddesses thank someone for saving their asses?" As much as she wanted to chew this impudent goddess for making a fool of her, Mara knew that letting those two out of her sight would only allow them to get away, and in the process deny her the chance to prove herself. After spending so much time inside a CD, Mara was more than eager to show everyone that she wasn't a loser, and these two fools were her ticket to do just that; and not only that, but also impress her mother, too. Considering that Fehu was a relatively high ranking demoness, at least thanks to her being one of Hild's closest servants, Mara always felt the pressure to make a name for herself, only to end up accomplishing the opposite. Sure, she had the worst luck in the world, even when her demonic nature was taken into account, but blaming everything to something like that, would only make matters worse. "Anyway… you two!" Turning her attention to Welsper and Aoshima, who was still trying to rub those shots out of his face, Mara reached into her pant's pocket to retrieve a pair of USB stick and held them out to the duo. "It's sealing time, so, do me a favor and come here."

"No way in Hell!" Grabbing Aoshima by the back of his neck, Welsper extended his other hand in Mara's direction and launched a dark sphere of energy, before bolting towards his accomplice's parked car. After all, the Porsche was perfectly drivable -given that the whole thing from before was a mere ruse- and hitting the road was the best way to lose them.

"Oh no, you don't!" Pointing the shotgun in Welsper's direction, Mara literally shot the incoming spell, mostly to cause it to go off at a safe distance from her and Skuld, rather than wasting time and energy to properly deflect it. And as expected, the spell exploded in mid air, releasing what could only be described as a net made out demonic energy that was originally meant to capture, or at least hinder, Mara and Skuld.

"They're making a run for it!" shouted the dark haired goddess, casting a glance at the blonde that was in the process of dematerializing her gun. After all, it was mostly effective to stun that Aoshima character, but against a demon, it would've been practically useless.

"You don't say!" snapped Mara, narrowing her eyes that were already glowing red from her anger. She was so close to victory, that she got careless and didn't immediately seize them, which gave them a way out of their pinch. "Hey, kid! You got something to chase after them? We can't exactly fly in front of everyone!"

"Already ahead of you!" replied Skuld, as she reached into her blouse to pull out what seemed to be a simple metal cube, and promptly pressed the sole button on its surface. "Okay, back off a bit, and watch in awe!"

XXX

"What in Niflheim's name possessed you to go and meet one of the Norns?"

In all honesty, Aldrnari knew that there was something… off with his brother. Almost as if he was keeping a secret, but he never thought that the kid would actually go as far as to use one of their disguises for such a trivial reason.

"But… weren't you doing the same thing?" objected Vidir, much to his brother's annoyance.

"I was out on a mission, and from our father nonetheless; not checking out pretty goddesses!" barked Aldnari with more than enough force to drive out the mice that infested this place. "Besides, aren't you like a million years too young for that?"

"Hey! Maybe a thousand… but not a million!"

"Shut up! As your older brother, I'll be the one to decide that!" Taking a moment to cool off his head before he went further than he intended, Aldrnari was almost ready to resume his tirade, only to have his communicator go off at that very moment. And taking a look at the device's screen was more than enough to make him wince and wish he had something better to say for himself, too. After all, his mission turned out into a fiasco, and the last thing he needed right now was to get chewed for it; yet that was the duty of a soldier, no matter their age. So, after taking in a deep breath, the white haired demon tapped his communicator and braced himself for the inevitable chewing off. "Father, the mission… You know that already?... I, see. At any rate, I-... Yes, but… Huh? They were after Skuld? Shouldn't you somehow tell… I know that! Maybe, I can go and tell… What? Catch them myself?... But father, I… Yes, I understand."

Waiting for his brother to put the communicator back into his combat uniform, Vidir gave him a quizzical look, almost expecting the worst. "Well? What did dad say? Are we going back?"

"No, he wants me to help Skuld and someone called Mara to catch those two we've been warned about," replied Aldrnari, heading towards the room they used to store their gear, with his brother following right after him.

"Mara? You mean a blonde lady with a shotgun?" innocently asked Vidir, much to his brother's bafflement.

"A lady with a what?"

"Oh, I saw her tailing Skuld when I was about to head back. She was disguised as an old lady with a cane, although that was actually her shotgun. But I assumed she was sent by dad to keep an eye out for trouble, so I didn't pay too much attention. Besides, she also buying some stuff for herself, and I thought that she probably didn't mean any harm," casually replied Vidir, only to notice the long stare he was getting from his brother, and for a moment he wondered if he did another blunder.

"How can you be so observant, and yet totally miss the most obvious things all the time? Like money? You… you… master of pointless details! After all, do you seriously any of our agents would ever carry a human made weapon?" No matter how much he wanted to carry on, Aldrnari knew that time was of the essence, and grabbed whatever he thought that would come in handy, before preparing to leave. However, as he was about to head out, his brother stopped him on the spot. "What's now?"

"You can't just rush there like this! If humans see you fly or teleport, then it's going to cause a lot of trouble, Aldrnari. On the other hand, I do have something really useful!" said Vidir and immediately went to the far end of the room where there were a few stacked crates. "Here! Come, and give me a hand to get it unboxed!"

'He's so energetic all of a sudden. I wonder what he's up to, now?' Shaking his head, the teen demon couldn't help but smile a bit at his brother's enthusiasm and decided to humor him. "Well… let's see what you've got stashed back there."

XXX

"Sheesh… talk about fast. Any more, and we're gonna hit li~ight spe~ed."

The sarcasm in Mara's voice caused Skuld to grind her teeth in annoyance, yet she couldn't exactly blame her. Even with her foot firmly pressed on the acceleration pedal, her poor Boxy Car was simply way too sluggish to catch up to a sports car, like the one that Aoshima jerk was using. After all, she originally designed this as an ultra portable city car, not a racer, and while using it was the first thing that came to her mind, Skuld had to admit that it may had been one of her less… inspired ideas.

"Say, don't you have something with a rocket strapped on it? Or a jet engine? Come on, you must've built something just for this occasion, right?" Throwing an arm around Skuld's shoulders, the demoness leaned slightly against her, much to the Norn's great annoyance. "You know what? If you help me now, I'll buy you ice cream, later."

Putting some effort to keep her eyes on the road, rather than the grinning blonde who had the nerve to trying to bribe her, and by offering her favorite delicacy nevertheless, Skuld wondered just how could Urd get along with her. "I've got a few jetpacks, but that's not something that won't get any attention. And last time I mowed that idiot with a light machine gun, so, I can't go overboard or mom's going to chew me for real." Glancing sideways at Mara, the Norn added in a much lower tone. "Oh, and hands off. We're not chums all of a sudden."

Doing as being told, Mara pulled away from the irate goddess. After all, it seemed that despite the time that passed since her imprisonment, Skuld remained as temperamental as she used to be; if not more. "You shot someone with a machine gun? Well, well… we've got a little miss badass here. Good for you, kid. And I mean it for real, so chill out."

"Hmph… whatever!" snapped the frustrated Skuld. She actually didn't even know what annoyed her the most: missing the chance to subdue Aoshima on her own when she had a clear shot on him, or having this bozo for help. Still, the Norn tried to convince herself that it was for the best that she held back and didn't go all gung ho by trying to blow him up with a bomb. She had already made a mess back when she shot him, and put Keiichi in the wanted list for a while, but in this case things could've gotten south pretty fast. Especially if that guy happened to fling the bomb across the street and end this day in a bloodbath.

"Hey, can you hear that?" asked Mara all of a sudden, as the unmistakable sound of a siren was becoming louder by the second.

"I do, actually. And it looks like the police are after someone," idly commented Skuld, before her eyes went wide in surprise and slammed on the brakes. "Wait! Don't tell me they somehow found out that our license plates are fake?!" Ignoring Mara's angry muttering, as she nearly hit the dash when Skuld brought the car to an abrupt stop, the brunette Norn looked around them for any sign of police cars coming after them.

Mara however could already tell where the sound was coming from, and promptly gave Skuld a pat on the shoulder. "It's from the direction of that highway ahead of us. So, I guess it has nothing with us, then. Although… that's where those guys are heading to, as well."

"This… can't be a total coincidence," concluded Skuld, and immediately hit the accelerator, sending her Boxy Car forward. "And if that's the case, we can't let those humans to catch up to them. Who knows what might happen then."

"Yeah… guns won't have much effect on a demon, and that stupid zombie seems pretty bulletproof," agreed Mara, as she had already tested her theory when she shot Aoshima, only to cause mild annoyance to him. "I just wish this can on wheels would go a bit faster."

"Don't you start again!"

XXX

"Tch!... They're so stubborn. And what's with those flashing lights?"

With the police in hot pursuit, Vidir opened up the throttle even more, just to put some extra distance between them; mostly for the mortals' own good. He had no idea what his brother could do if they caught up to them, since he had the tendency to overreact. Sure, he didn't think that Aldrnari would go ahead and willingly hurt them, although… accidents were a possibility. As a matter of fact, both of them were fairly strong for demons of their respective age, yet this blessing of sorts also came with a pretty serious flaw: neither was experienced enough to fully control their own powers. Because of that, accidents were far from uncommon whenever they exerted themselves, and the very reason why their mother was dead against having them make a public appearance before they matured a bit more. Thankfully, she was in no position to find out what they were doing right now, and their father was more than willing to give them a chance to gain some experience by taking part in this whole plot to help their sister.

"It's the mortals' way to mark their emergency vehicles," replied Aldrnari from his spot right next to his brother, since he acted as the counterweight for this unusual bike. According to Vidir, this was a low profile bike with a sidecar, although in his personal opinion there mere fact that it required him to move on his platform-like seat in order to properly turn was a pretty bad design. And the constant sound of the sirens behind them, sure didn't help him feel any better about this road trip. "Seriously! What does this 'road legal' nonsense even means? They keep saying it, again and again."

"Beats me. Mortals come up with such complicated stuff," pouted Vidir, given that he was still a bit sore about the whole 'money' debacle. After all, if his brother laughed with him for missing out something that basic, then he must've made a real fool of himself in front of a goddess.

"Well… whatever! Keep your eyes on the road, and we'll soon get to these guys." The demonic teen paused for a moment to consult his suit's computer, as both he and his brother had switched to the heavy combat armor, rather than just wearing the standard issue, light combat uniform. Although it was more of a powered exoskeleton, rather than what the word implies, this type of armor was rarely used unless it was deemed absolutely necessary, due to the restrictions they imposed on its wearer's movement. "They should show up ahead of us, in a few seconds."

"Okay, got it!"

Meanwhile, not far behind from the duo, a lone police officer on his patroller bike was struggling to catch up with the racer that those boys somehow got their hands on. 'Wow… that's some bike those kids got their hands on. I can barely keep up with them, even though my bike is pretty tuned in. This isn't good.' Reaching for his radio, the officer tried to keep a safe distance from the rest of the motorists, and called for his backup. "This is Nakajima. The suspect is actually two boys riding a high performance racer with a sidecar. I really need some help to stop them, before they enter the city streets."

"Did you just said two boys? Geez!... kids these days!" came the voice of a surprised, yet somewhat annoyed woman from the other end of the radio. "We work all day long to earn our living, and these kids have a pro racer? Just how loaded are their parents?"

"Natsumi! This isn't the time for this! Those kids might end up hurting themselves, and even get others involved in a huge accident," interrupted yet another female voice, causing Nakajima to smile ever so slightly at her sense of professionalism.

"Come on, Miyuki! It's not that I don't care. It's just… weird. Besides, how can two kids drive a bike like that in the first place?"

"Actually, that's far from the strangest thing," said Nakajima, as he gave the two boys ahead of him a long stare, and couldn't help but feel even more confused than before. After all, it was highly unlikely that an average human like him would ever suspect that the battle uniforms the two demons wore, was actually military gear from a totally different world than his. Which unfortunately left only one possibility in his eyes: that those suits were nothing more than costumes. "These boys are wearing… something out of a tokusatsu show. I can't tell which one it is for sure, although with the whole bike theme… it's probably out of one of the Kamen Rider shows."

The flat 'what' that came from the other end of the radio, made Nakajima feel somewhat embarrassed for making that suggestion; especially in front -figuratively speaking- of Kobaykawa. However, before he ended up too worried about such silly things, Nakajima's eyes went wide behind his ever present sunglasses, as that bike entered the opposite lane and right in the course of an incoming Porsche 911. "OH, NO! WE'RE GOING TO HAVE A CO-"

He never got to finish his sentence, as the older of the two boys literally launched himself in the air, crossing both a horizontal and vertical distance well beyond the capabilities of an Olympic athlete. Only to deliver a coincidentally… iconic flying kick, that ended up crashing the vehicle's windscreen and most of the hood.

And without the slightest hint that the armored boy suffered any kind of injury in the process.

'N-No way! Kamen Rider?!'

XXX

They had been so focused on looking for their pursuers that by all means should've been behind them, that both Welsper and Aoshima totally failed to pay too much attention to the road ahead of them. At least not to the point where either of them would notice two fully equipped -albeit underage- Jotnar approaching them for a heads on collision.

Moreso, that collision didn't turn out as Welsper envisioned, with the bike hitting hard on the brakes, just as he did the same, yet the bike's passenger was already flying in the air and in a ballistic trajectory meant to hit the car's driver. Thankfully for him, this car had the steering wheel on the left, rather on the right, and therefore it was Aoshima who got the full effect of that kick.

Still, much to Welsper's horror, this was way beyond anything he expected from their armed forces. One could go so far in the line of duty, yet this… this escalated, and pretty quickly, too.

On the bright side though, not only did he avoid gotten kicked, but with this car having the engine in the rear, it was still drivable. So, without wasting any more time, he put the car in reverse gear and slammed his foot on the gas, causing their assailant to stumble back, as the car accelerated in the opposite direction. And before the armored demon could regain his footing, Welsper pulled a handbrake assisted one-eighty turn, to not only shake him off them, but to allow them to escape.

"Those bastards… How far are they… going to take this?" wheezed Aoshima, as this unexpected attack left him in a state of shock. It wasn't due to the surprise though, but primarily thanks to his punctured lungs, as Aldrnari's kick actually connected with the right side of his chest, crushing almost all his ribs inwards. He had no idea how he was still conscious, although he suspected that his new body was far more resilient than his previous. And case to the point, it was already regenerating the damage, although the paint wouldn't go away until the process was complete.

'Coming from a wannabe molester, the joke's on you buddy,' thought the blonde demon, while trying to look behind them to see whether they were still chasing them; and sure enough, those two were by no means going to let them get away that easily. 'Come to think of it… what's the point of helping them? I thought that Sokkmimir had just the right connections to have us disappear for a while. But instead of that, we recruited an idiot who's going to get us into even more trouble. And what's up with those crazy guys after us? You know what?... It's so not worth it.'

XXX

"Oww… what the Hell was that?" Rubbing her throbbing forehead, after she slammed it against the dash when Skuld hit the brakes to avoid a heads on collision with the very people they were supposedly chasing, Mara craned her neck to look in the direction of the now departing sports car.

"Those two, I think. And someone was after them, but I didn't get to see who," groaned Skuld in response, after she found out that her head was harder than the drive column. 'Note to self: Put airbags on this baby ASAP.' At least she was fine, and the auto driver did a great job at getting them out of harm's way, by performing an evasive maneuver at the last second. If only she had remembered to put some extra safety features into Boxy Car, then everything would be perfect. This wasn't the time for that though, and before those escaped the range of her scanners, Skuld tapped the navigation system in the dash's central column. "Aha! They're heading for the river!"

"You can track them?" asked the confused Mara, giving Skuld a sideways glance, before taking a better look at the nav display.

"Not exactly. They must be using some a spell to minimize their presence, but I'm not. And considering that I was in his car for a few minutes, there's a tiny residue of my own power in it. But it'll last for barely a few more minutes, and even then it's getting weaker, so we better to hurry," said Skuld as she went through a few options that turned the signal booster to the max setting, and then started the car once more. "There! That should do it!"

Still, no matter how pumped up Skuld seemed to be, Mara couldn't quite share the same enthusiasm. After all, the moment the car began to move, she was reminded what her initial problem with it. "Do you seriously think we can catch up to them?"

"We can do it," fiercely replied the Norn, moving to flick a switch on her car's console. "I really didn't want to do this, but I have no other option. When I installed the folding mechanism into this car, I had to remove a lot of the batteries, just to make it fit, but both the engine and the capacitors are still the same."

"So?"

"So… cover your ears," said Skuld in such a serious tone that earned her a worried look from her passenger.

"Why? Don't tell me you're gonna activate a rocket, and have us slam into a wall or something." While she sounded positively sarcastic, if not downright bored, Mara's irises dilated so widely that they kind of became cat-like; albeit a cat who's about to lose one of her nine lives.

"Just… do as I say, will you?" insisted Skuld with far more force than it was necessary. She even looked away for a moment, to hide her look of concentration as she tried to make sure that she could recall all the necessary information she needed to pull off this stunt. "And no cheating either! I warn you!"

"Yeah, yeah… let's just get this over with." Pushing her concerns aside, Mara covered her ears with her hands, or at least she pretended to. Given how curious she was, the demoness merely touched her left ear, instead of properly covering it to the point where she wouldn't be able to hear from it. And with Skuld sitting on her right, it was kind of hard for her to detect her deception, allowing her to find out what the Norn was planning to do.

Unaware that Mara was listening in, Skuld closed her eyes for a moment and concentrated. "I'm the goddess Skuld…"

As the goddess carried on with what turned out to be an incantation for a spell, Mara's eyebrows shot up, as she was actually familiar with this particular formula, only with one tiny difference: the Norn's name. 'Whoa! Isn't this… Urd's bolt? From Skuld?! That little copycat!' It was really hard to hide her amused grin, even though she wasn't exactly certain why she was smiling in the first place, but she now couldn't wait to see Urd's face when she finds out that her little sister more or less copied one of her signature spells.

And sure enough, the goddess of the future finished her incantation in a crescendo that she wasn't even intending in the first place, yet somehow it felt right. "Skuld bolt!" Mere moments later, the requested lightning bolt descended from the sky above and hit the car's antenna. However, thanks to her clever design, instead of causing any damage to the vehicle's sensitive electronics, the energy was redirected to the hyper capacitors and charged them with enough power for a rather brief burst of speed. "Okay! Here we go!"

Before Mara had the chance to offer a snarky reply as to how much of a difference this would make, the acceleration pressed her against her seat. Though far from a rocket, or something equally dangerous, the car's electric engine was more than powerful enough to hit an impressive 0 to 100 kmh in five seconds flat, which was quite impressive for something with the same aerodynamic profile of a brick.

Which was exactly the moment when the sound of a police patroller's siren could be heard from right behind them, causing Skuld to curse her luck. "Of, for crying out!... What's next? A sink falling from the sky? How can I have such a bad-" The Norn came to abrupt pause when she realized just who was sitting next to her; and promptly shot her a dirty look.

"What?" snapped Mara back at her, as she didn't quite that accusatory look. "If you have to say something, then go ahead. I'm listening..."

"Be happy I didn't have the time to install Mr. Bond feature pack #1 on Boxy Car, or I would've ejected you out of here," muttered the dark haired goddess while cutting through a narrow alley as they entered Nekomi proper, in hopes of losing their pursuers. But to no avail as whoever was driving that tiny patroller probably knew what they were doing, and even started to catch up to them.

"Then I suppose you don't have caltraps, oil slicks and all that jazz either," deduced Mara, since this wasn't exactly the moment to pick up a fight with her. Although undeniably ridiculous at the moment, this whole situation could easily turn out into a huge fiasco if they allowed themselves to get captured by the authorities, and using magic to escape wasn't exactly the best of alternatives either. Ironically enough though, Mara did have experience with ridiculous situations -whether she liked it or not- and as she looked around for a way to lose their pursuers. Until she remembered the shopping bags she had shrunk to carry with her, inside of her robes. And pulling out one of them, she immediately turned it back into its original size and went through its contents. 'Aha!... This just… might do the trick.'

Noticing the demoness rummaging through a grocery bag she pulled out all of a sudden, Skuld nearly felt the need to literally slap some sense to her, for looking for a snack at a time like this. "What in Heaven's name do you think you're doing?"

"Nothing much. Just a little trick to get ourselves out of this pinch," replied Mara with a confident grin as she retrieved a wrapped package of sliced bacon she had bought for her breakfast. "Now, do me a favor and cut through the next alley up ahead."

"But… that's not the shortest route," objected Skuld, although the confidence in the blonde's voice convinced her to give it a try, even though she secretly worried that this was one of Mara's ideas they were talking about here. Still, without being able to come up with anything that didn't seem dangerous enough to try on mortals, she was more than willing to give her idea a try. 'I really hope I won't come to regret this… Well, here goes nothing!' Pulling a handbrake assisted power slide to get into the alley, Skuld had to admit that she was honestly impressed with her driving skills, given that she had no formal training whatsoever; nor a driver's license for that matter. "Okay! Whatever you have in mind, do it now! And fast!"

Rather than offer a reply, Mara picked a few slices of delectable, smoked bacon and promptly threw them out of the window. Which initially may have seemed as a pointless act, until the trio of stray mutts in the alley caught a sniff of the delicacy and got out of their hiding place, where they dived in when the car zoomed into the alley. Hungry as they were, the dogs charged to grab the unexpected offerings, and in the process caused the two pursuing police women to come to a grinding halt, just to avoid running the poor strays over. And considering that there was simply no room to maneuver around the delighted dogs, the only remaining option was to drive around the whole block, giving Skuld and Mara just enough time to put themselves a decent distance between themselves and the law.

XXX

Meanwhile, halfway across Nekomi, a frustrated demon was trying to keep a safe distance from his pursuers, who definitely had no idea what misconduct of justice actually meant. Perhaps it wouldn't be much of a stretch to claim that they were the very definition of the term, but to Welsper that was the least of his concerns. His whole idea to feign losing control of the car and crash it somewhere in order to have himself captured, was in jeopardy.

After all, it didn't take a genius to realize that with the way that damned Aoshima was acting, and Sokkmimir's own stupidity, the only thing to gain by tagging alongside them is to add more offenses to his profile. Yet at the same time, he couldn't quite ditch them that easily. If all of them were caught at the same time, then any inside information he possessed would be rendered useless, as the authorities would already have the main perpetrator in their clutches. On the other hand, by allowing Sokkmimir, who was still empowering that stupid Aoshima to escape, and then have himself captured in a seemingly believable manner, Welsper could negotiate a price for his intel. Hopefully, given that he hadn't done anything particularly incriminating up to this point, he could perhaps stand lucky and get away with a mere license suspension. Which in all seriousness was nothing, at least compared to the trouble he could get if those idiots' hare brained schemes actually worked.

The thing was, that with those two after him, Welsper's options were frustratingly limited. He honestly had no idea what kind of training those Jotnar had, but if nothing changed, then his plan was doomed to fail. Even funnier was that at this rate, he might end up crashing the car, and not by accident either. While it's true that this vehicle has the engine mounted on the back, the steering was still done by the front wheels. And after the damage it took from that demon's aerial kick, coupled with the maneuvers needed to avoid the traffic during this high speed chase, the car was becoming increasingly harder to control. In some ways it felt more like trying to steer a boat, than a sports car, and though this could work in Welsper's favor, he really didn't wish the overall result to depend on sheer luck.

Unfortunately for him, luck was something he had in short supply, as the demonic youths behind him -or rather the elder of the two- seemed to get increasingly inpatient from the lack of results, and decided that some decisive action was necessary. Which in this case, translated into aiming some a direct energy weapon at his opponent, regardless of whether such thing existed in the mortal realm or not. Granted, the particle pistol wasn't meant to harm him, but simply take out his tires, or the whole wheels with some careful aiming, but in the end it didn't matter. Either way, Welsper had to somehow get rid of him, although as he tried to look behind him, a shot of superheated particles zoomed mere millimeters from his nose. "Ahh! You… you hooligans! I have rights, damn it!"

His only reply though was another shot, but this time the high powered beam found its target, leaving him with one less tire to control his car, and considering that it was one of the front ones, that made steering considerably harder. After all, the blast didn't just deflate the tire, but also tore through the rim, causing a part of it to snap, rendering the whole car much trickier to keep on the road. As such, regardless of whether he was ready or not, Welsper had no other option but to make a towards the river that run across Nekomi, and hopefully ditch the car in it, no matter how scary of a prospect that was for him.

Still, he didn't have the luxury of wasting this opportunity, considering that there were no guarantees that he'd get another one, and thus he deliberately turned the wheel a bit too far, causing the car to veer off course, and straight towards the river. "I can't control it anymore! Jump!" cried the blonde demon as convincingly as he could muster, while he kicked the driver's door open and promptly threw himself out of the car and onto the river's bank, without even waiting for Aoshima to get out as well. Truth to be told, he didn't want him to get out, since in all seriousness, even hitting the water at full speed wasn't going to kill that guy. Sure, he wouldn't like it one bit, but that was nothing in comparison of getting a chance to escape, which Welsper really hoped that he did. On the other hand, he was going to conveniently remain on the river bank, just in the path of those lunatics to arrest him, and hopefully by the end of the day he'll be speaking to someone who can get him out of this nonsense.

Of course, there was always a difference between how one imagines his plans, and how things actually happen in real life. Which was exactly the case when Welsper saw a fist-sized metal cylinder fly overhead, while he played dead on the ground. 'Don't tell me. Please, they didn't actually throw what I think they did. Please…'

Sadly, Welsper's hopes were in vain, as the grenade bounced twice on the cement covered surface of the river bank, before finally falling into the water. And for the longest second for his life, Welsper debated whether he should made a run for it, or continue to play dead, until that decision was made for him.

With a deafening explosion -despite the fact that it took place underwater- a giant pillar of water shot up in the air, before it rained down upon him, much to the demon's horror and pain. He was allergic to water, after all, which turned out to make something that should've normally harmless, to enough of a reason for him to lose consciousness.

Not too far from him, the two armor-clad siblings inspected their handiwork, with the older of them being much more proud of their conduct than the younger, as ironic as that sounded. And case to the point, Vidir turned to glance at his brother, before he finally decided to voice his concerns. "Say, Aldrnari? Weren't we supposed not to use anything strange in front of the humans?"

"Hey, we didn't use any magic," calmly replied the teenage demon, even though his brother didn't quite buy it.

"No, but what about the particle pistol and the grenade?"

Rather than an immediate answer, Aldrnari pointed towards the crowd a fair distance behind them, who understandably seemed rather stunned by the whole display. However, after a couple of seconds passed and nothing else happened, aside from Aldrnari waving back at them, the crowd began to look among themselves, before they finally dismissed the whole thing as part of a show, and started to clap their hands in a spontaneous form of applause. Sure, there were more than enough who probably had their reservations as to what they came to witness, yet thanks to the absurdity of it all, the most likely explanations seemed too hard to believe. Instead, they too joined the rest who acted as if the whole thing was nothing more than the shootings of a new show, or movie, yet certainly not reality.

"See? They think that this is some kind of TV show," said Aldrnari as he started to walk towards Welsper's unconscious form. "So, let's bag and tag them, before they figure out what's happening for real."

As much as Vidir wanted to object, the young demon eventually let it go, since this wasn't the time nor place for such discussions. So, even though he worried that they had gone a tad too far, in the end he followed after his brother, as he prepared to seal the other demon. "Okay, let's get this over with."

---

AN: I would like to thank everyone here and the Goddess Relief site for offering their continuing support.

The two newcomers, are actually named after Old Norse words. Aldrnari means fire (or at least it's one of the words that can translate into that), while Vidir means water, which is also reflected by their elements.

It should be noted that while this chapter does contain a bit of a reference for Mr. Fujishima's first work (You're Under Arrest), however this isn't an actual case of a genuine crossover. Consider this more of a cameo appearance, even though there will be another one in the next chapter, as this whole scene isn't exactly over.