I do not own the Ah! Megami sama / Oh! My Goddess series

Asgard

Scratching the side of his head with his hind leg, Fenrir was trying to relieve himself from that annoying sensation, before his creator caught sight of him. Last time that happened, he was sprayed with that absolutely horrid stuff that should've been classified as a biological weapon of terror. Thankfully, Loki was too busy working on some secret project of his, so, the canine could enjoy some good old fashioned grooming, without any interruptions.

At least until the point when someone entered the shop, causing the wolf to jump on the counter to see who their visitor and potential customer was. Standing in front of him was a white clad god with a hood, which normally covered most of his features. Despite that, the canine was already pretty familiar with him.

"Vidarr," said Fenrir with nod.

"Oh? I wasn't aware that, Loki had finally completed you." Examining the wolf that sat on top of the counter, the god was trying to find the right words to describe his first impressions. "You're a bit smaller than I'd expected..."

"Yeah yeah... whatever..." said Fenrir, rolling his eyes. "What brings you here, anyway?"

"I've got an assignment and..." started Vidarr, as a tired Loki entered the room.

Noticing his youngest brother, the trickster god's expression light up. "Vidarr! How nice to see you!"

"Uh... Why are you so surprised?" asked the platinum haired god. "I was under the impression that you'd be expecting me."

"Oh! I'm fully aware of your task, brother. It's just that I never thought that you would be so... courageous to actually do that," explained Loki with a smile.

"You probably had some other word in your mind, right?" asked Vidarr. "Probably something like... idiot."

"Guilty as charged..." admitted Loki, scratching his head. "It is a bit risky after all... But, this isn't the best place to talk about this. Fenrir! We're going up in the workshop, so, keep an eye out for any unexpected company."

"Sure thing, boss!" said the wolf, doing his best imitation of a salute with his front right paw.

Nodding, Loki led his brother to the second floor, where they could discuss this matter in greater detail. Standing next to one of his assembly workbenches, the trickster god brought up the design console that he normally used to display his invention's schematics. This time, however, it was the three dimensional model of the Yggdrasil command center. Hitting a few buttons, the holographic screen opened up, allowing both of them to inspect a scale version of one of Asgard's most important installations.

"So, this is it?" asked Vidarr, looking at the image in front of him, along with the various diagrams that were displayed on the monitor next to them.

"Yes, that's where you need to go. More specifically, here," said Loki, pointing at the 3D model. "Router room beta, on the thirtieth second floor of the installation. That's where you need to connect that cylinder you've got from the demons, past the hardware firewall of rack 14, at the back of the room. I want you to reach for the cable that connects it to the network, and ever so carefully pull it halfway out of its socket. Don't disconnect it, though. If that happens, put it back and start again."

"Why? That sounds strange," said Vidarr.

"Because it resembles a cable failure. They're meant to last for a few centuries before we even need to worry about them, but, it happens all the time. Now... once you do that, open the console that's located on the rack and connect it to the firewall module. It's going to complain that the network is out, so, load the diagnostic program and right before you execute it, put the cable back into its position. When the results come up, pull the cable halfway once again, and then hit the OK button. For the duration of the test, everything should've been fine and once done it's going to try to resume operations, only to fail again," explained Loki.

"Because the cable isn't making a proper connection?" asked Vidarr, in order to make sure that he got it right.

"Exactly!" said Loki with a grin. "Next, you need to search the second category of options that's going to appear and check the one that mentions that you've done a full check on the cables. Assuming that it wasn't the source of the errors, the system will reach the conclusion that there's a problem with the firewall's own firmware and request a restoration process. I want you to click that, and since there's no network to automatically retrieve the latest version, you'll have to do it manually."

Reaching one of the nearby toolboxes, the trickster god retrieved a data chip, offering it to his brother.

"That's the firmware?" asked Vidarr, looking at the tiny item in his hands.

"Yes and no. It's something that you need to install at that point. Once it's successfully running on the firewall server, you can move to the next phase and connect a hand-held device I'm going to give you to one of the free sockets of the router that's attached to that particular rack. Wait until the light turns from red to green, and once that's done, insert that cylinder that you've got to any other free socket on the rack. There's going to be a second light that will blink for several seconds, before it turns permanently on. That's it. Just take everything with you and leave."

"Okay... that sounds... simple enough," said the platinum haired god after a couple of seconds, trying to memorize all the instructions.

Laughing, Loki walked to a secure storage unit where he kept some of his most sensitive devices. "You may think it is, but, without this little gadget, it's next to impossible. Upgrading the firewall's firmware requires a certain procedure, so, you normally had to use about a dozen exploits in order to bypass the authentication step that's necessary before the modified software is installed. Thank me later for giving you something that's essentially going to do all that job for you."

"Is it seriously that easy?" asked Vidarr, looking at the small device that reminded him of those cellphones that mortals had. "I would've expected that it was going to be a lot more difficult than that. Hadn't they tested that software a bit more thoroughly?"

"Testing? Why would they even bother with such a big waste of time? My replacement, master craftsman Regin himself, had written that code. Of course it's capable of handling all sorts of attacks and then some," said Loki sarcastically.

"You're still holding him a grudge for that?" In hindsight, that wasn't probably the best thing to ask his brother. Still, he was rather curious to learn a bit more about him, given his rather infamous reputation.

"A grudge is a bit too much of a word. I mean, after I stopped working as the Head Technician of the Yggdrasil mainframe, I got all the time in the world to focus on my own projects. Plus, that incompetent is making my life easier, since he has absolutely no idea how security programs should really work," said Loki, before pausing with a bit of a frown forming on his face. "The only real downside is that... short-pants of a god who can't even tell the difference between a heatsink and an actual sink, is bragging that he's better than me."

'Oh, he's really pissed, that's for sure,' thought the platinum haired god, trying to come up with a different topic of discussion. "You know... I've met father recently."

Loki paused for a moment, his previous sour expression slowly fading away. "Actually, I've heard about that. You've made quite... the impression to his hostess, too. Wish I could've been there to witness your epic struggle against the Daimakaicho."

Vidarr winced, remembering that not so dignified moment, when Hild caught him sneaking around her home. "Are we even talking about the same event? Because, I don't think that there was anything particularly glorious about that... confrontation."

"Dunno... Based on what I've heard, having Hild grab you in such a manner, is worth mentioning..." said the troublemaker, with an almost innocent smile. "Vidarr, as a god you ought to appreciate life's little miracles..."

"I know... I should've been thankful that I got out of there in one piece. Things could've been a lot worse if I didn't had father to bail me out of that mess," admitted the platinum haired god, with a sigh. "Still, I can't believe how easily I got overwhelmed by her. Perhaps I need to improve my fighting skills, given that I'm not that weak to begin with. I've focused too much on avoiding detection, and it's naive to think that I won't have to deal with similar situations."

"Well, that's undeniably true. Overspecialization isn't something that I'd personally recommend at any point. Especially, when you have nobody else to act as your backup," said Loki. "However, I wasn't talking about that."

"Oh? Then what?" asked the confused god.

Grinning widely, the troublemaker couldn't help but tease his youngest brother a bit. "I was simply referring to the fact that you were placed in such a... nice position, during that incident."

"A choke hold isn't something I'd remotely consider as a pleasant experience," said Vidarr, narrowing his eyes. "I don't know about you, but, I'm not a masochist, thank you very much!"

"Oh, no! That's not either," said Loki dismissively, waiving his hands in front of him. Grinning even wider than before, he leaned forward, giving his brother a pat on the shoulder. "I'm talking about having that demoness' rather impressive bust against your back. You've got no idea how many would've loved to be in your place, lucky boy! A mere choke hold is nothing compared to that titillating experience."

At the ground floor, Fenrir snoozed on top of the counter, his head resting on his front legs. As usual, there wasn't much going on in this part of the celestial capitol, and while he enjoyed his naps, the ferocious wolf was rather bored. Until the moment he heard Odin's youngest son, vocalize his opinion about his adopted brother.

"Moron!"

'A fight?' The canine jumped from his prone position, eager to participate in the brawl, no matter which side he joined. "Wait! Don't start without me!"

However, he was disappointed when the grumbling white clad god stepped into the room, with Loki several steps behind him, trying to catch up.

"Aw... no fight?..." asked Fenrir, watching at the departing god.

"No! I've got better things to do than wasting my time here!" answered the angry Vidarr, still annoyed by his brother's rather crude joke.

"Hold on a moment!" said Loki, trying to get his attention. "Haven't you been paying attention to anything that I've said?"

"Oh I did, and that's why I think I need to leave," shot Vidarr back at his elder sibling. "I have no intention to sit here and talk about a demoness' bust, like some silly youngster!"

"Yes, but you're still missing one point, despite your objections," insisted Loki, trying to prevent his brother from leaving. And for a moment it seemed to work, as the platinum haired god stopped and turned around, moments before he reached the front door.

"This better not be another joke..." warned Vidarr, giving him a pointed look that somehow reminded the trickster of their father, Odin.

"No, this time I'm rather serious. You see... leaving that... minor detail about your encounter with Hild, there's still the fact that you were caught. The security level in the Yggdrasil command complex shouldn't be underestimated, and the stakes are much higher," warned Loki. "You're not just infiltrating the building, but, installing an unauthorized software into the mainframe. That's treason and the fact that you're a rogue god makes everything even worse."

Letting a sigh, Vidarr lowered his gaze. "It's not that I don't know the risks involved in this. Besides, what else I'm supposed to do?"

"Well... take him with you," said Loki, grabbing the surprised canine, as he walked towards his brother.

"Hey! Wait a darn second!..." objected Fenrir, trying to free himself from his creator's grasp. "Who volunteered me?"

"I did. And you better do as I say," warned the trickster god, in a rather uncharacteristic moment of seriousness, causing the wolf to stop protesting. "Unless you want me to call Jormungadr, since you're unwilling to help..."

"Over my dead body!" replied the canine, narrowing his eyes. "I won't let anyone else get all the glory!"

"Easy there, Fenrir! If everything goes well, your assistance won't be necessary," said Loki. "Basically you'll be there in the event that he needs some way to get into safety. In that case, you'll have to destroy anything that's in your way, although, don't cause any serious harm to any celestial."

"Yeah yeah... I got it..." said the disgruntled wolf, not particularly proud that he was going to be a backup. "I'm now a sidekick... Yay..."

"Cheer up a bit! You're finally doing something, right?" Setting the wolf down, he retrieved a collar and put it around the canine's neck.

"Hm? What's that all about?" asked Fenrir, scratching the item that was now tightly secured on his person.

"A capacitor bank. If worse comes to worst... You've got five minutes of operation at maximum power. Wish I had more energy reserves for you, but, it''l have to do," said Loki, giving his creation a final inspection. "Nothing aside from an entire assault team can take you down, and that's going to be enough for you two to escape."

"Are you sure that this is even necessary? I mean..." started Vidarr, before he was interrupted.

"Yes I do. After all, I hadn't created him because I wanted a pet," said the troublemaker god with a confident nod. "He's a one man... or rather... one wolf army. Surely he can manage a few dozen guards on his own..."

"You bet I can!" bragged Fenrir, rushing out of the shop with a triumphant roar. "Charge!"

Watching the departing canine in shock, Vidarr ran after him. "Stop! That's not how covert ops work, you numbskull!"

Shaking his head, Loki decided to let his brother deal with his creation. After all, Fenrir wasn't that dumb to storm the Yggdrasil command center in such a manner. 'At least I hope so... There's got to be some self preservation instincts in him, right?'

Scratching his head, the trickster god was fairly certain that they would probably be okay. All that he needed was to create a bit of a diversion. Which would count as an alibi for him, too. And he just had the perfect victim for it.

'Oh, this is going to be so great!...'

XXX

"Congratulations Sora!"

Looking at the current head of the Motor Club, Keiichi was amused by the timid girl's incredulous expression. The event had just ended, and most of the crowd was already gone, heading towards the various shops that surrounded them. Despite that, Whirlwind's employees remained with Hasegawa, who was still trying to recover from her initial shock.

"Thank you, Morisato sempai," said the girl after a couple of seconds. "I honestly don't know what to think about this..."

"Come on, Hasegawa. It's very fortunate that you won," said Chihiro, putting a hand on her shoulder. "You should be very happy!"

"Of course I am! It's just that... Well... This is a much faster bike than anything I've ever driven," admitted the bespectacled girl.

"That shouldn't be a problem, Sora! After all, you're the head of the Motor Club, right?" asked Keiichi with a smile.

"Yes, but... I'm mainly a mechanic, not a racer," said Sora, looking at her new bike. "Oh well... I guess I can still drive it like normal. No need to see how fast it can go."

"Don't worry. Once you get the hang of it, I'm sure you're going to find it a lot more enjoyable than now," said Keiichi. "We all started from somewhere, and it takes time to get better. Just be careful and don't do anything stupid."

"I know... But, thanks sempai!" said Hasegawa, as Chihiro and Keiichi began to explain a few of the modifications that they've done to the bike.

Meanwhile, Mara was bored to tears. The whole event was stupid and the aftermath was equally uninteresting for a demoness like her. As much as she wanted to leave her mortal coworkers, she still remembered Hild's mood from before. Perhaps returning to the arcade right now was ill advised.

"Hey, Urd..."

Turning to the blonde, the half goddess was mostly expecting her to announce her departure, given that she wasn't obligated to stick around anymore. "You're going back?"

"Um... Not yet," said Mara, trying to chose the best way to make this request. "So... Wand to hang around with me for a while?"

Urd raised an eyebrow at the demoness, given that she wasn't typically trying to be so friendly. At least, not without any specific reason behind it. "Okay, Ma-chan, fess up. What did you do?"

"Nothing! And don't use that nickname, either!" protested the blonde demoness. "I already got Hild-sama calling me that! I don't need you added to the list!"

"Is that so, Ma-chan?" asked Urd, grinning as her friend narrowed her eyes at her. "So, you just want to hang around, then? There's no other reason behind that?"

"Okay okay! I'll admit that the Daimakaicho wasn't in a great mood when I left the arcade, but, I had nothing to do with it. Honestly!" admitted Mara, before she stared her fried in a suspicious manner. "Hey... What about you? Had you talked to her, recently?"

"Hm... Last time I saw her was at Whirlwind's reopening event," said Urd with some thought. "And she didn't seem to be unhappy back then."

"That's true..." said Mara, scratching her chin. "Oh well, it might as well be something that has to do with her job... But, I'd like to stay out of her hair for a while, so..."

"You want to stick around," finished Urd for her. "That's nice and all, but... It's way too early to hit a bar."

"Hey, we're in a mall. Let's check this place," suggested Mara, before she noticed Urd's look. "What?"

"We need money for that," said Urd, rolling her eyes. "Unless you have some cash on you, it's probably going to be window shopping for us, not the actual experience."

"We can create some money," said Mara, shrugging. "It's just a bunch of paper, anyway."

"Oh really? My superiors will certainly love to hear why I've created counterfeit money for no important purpose," said Urd, with a sigh. "After all, we're not supposed to break human laws, unless there's a justifiable reason. And shopping for our pleasure, sure doesn't count as one."

"Yeah... I forgot that being a goddess sucks..." said Mara sarcastically, enjoying the glare she was getting from the half goddess. After all, she knew that the Norn of the past wouldn't dare to start anything in such a public place, so, she was a bit more confident that her jabs weren't going to get her into trouble.

"Urd-chan!"

Turning to the side, the platinum haired goddess and her demoness friend, spotted Frigg amongst the crowd, approaching them. Right behind her, Peorth, Lind and Laguz were slowly making their way towards their group, too.

"Grandmother," said Urd, not extremely happy to be called in such a manner in front of Mara. Moments ago, she was making fun of how her own mother was addressing her subordinate, and now it was her turn by the looks of it. "What's the matter?"

"Oh, nothing! I was wondering if you wanted to join us for some shopping!" said Frigg with a wide smile. "And don't worry about the expenses... It's my treat!"

It sounded way too great of an offer for Urd to pass and even Mara was rather intrigued, given that it solved the monetary issue. "Sure thing, grandmother! I'll just ask Belldandy if she and the rest wish to come with us."

"Please do! I'll just wait here for you to return," said Frigg. As soon as her granddaughter was out of hearing range, she turned to the blonde demoness that was still standing there, oblivious to the elder goddess' stare. "So, you must be Mara. Am I correct?"

"Huh? Yeah..." It took her a couple of seconds to realize who she was really talking to. This was Frigg, the wife of the former Daitenkaicho and also, the one who used to be Asgard's second in command. If nothing, she was a most formidable goddess that probably still remembered the old ways; the period of time when their species killed each other. While this was no longer the case, Mara had no delusions that the elder goddess didn't approve her presence here. "C-Can I do something for you?"

Frigg remained quiet for a moment, however, further unnerving the blonde. "Hm... Not bad... You need a bit more confidence in your stance, but... You could do."

"Eh?" The demoness was utterly lost, having no idea what Frigg was even talking about. She never got a reply, when Urd returned back, interrupting this bizarre exchange.

"They won't be coming. It looks like, the rest of the Whirlwind's staff will have some sort of celebration for today's success. Which basically means a visit to one of the mall's restaurants." Pausing for a second, she noticed her grandmother, who had an expression she recognized. It was a smile she wore whenever she was plotting something, and Urd wanted to know what that happened to be. "Did I miss anything?"

"Not really... I was simply getting a bit more familiar with your friend. That's all," said Frigg dismissively. "But, let's leave that for later! We've got shopping to do!"

'She's up to something...' Keeping some distance from her elder relative, Urd motioned Mara to get a bit closer to her. "Did she say anything strange to you?" whispered the half goddess.

"Um... Yeah. She mentioned that I wasn't bad or something..." said the blonde in confusion.

'Ugh... Not this again...' The last thing that Urd wanted was her grandmother's 'help' to find a partner. Matchmaking was one of Frigg's hobbies and one that Urd herself also enjoyed; unless it involved her, of course. "Look, try to avoid her, okay?"

"Sure thing. It's not like I wanted to become her best buddy all of a sudden," replied the blonde with a shrug. "Still, it's good that we got to buy stuff for free."

That was a valid point, although, the goddess of the past wondered what was the best place to start. "Hm... How about clothing?"

"Oh, that sounds such a nice suggestion, Urd-chan!" Startling them, Frigg was apparently still paying attention to their conversation. "I've got the right place, too! It's one of the shops that I saw on the way to that event. This way!"

Shrugging, the half goddess and the demoness simply followed her, while the other three wondered what they wanted, as well.

"I'd love to check one of the music shops," said Laguz, trying to think what she most needed at the moment. "Keiichi's gift was very nice, but, I need some cassettes to listen to."

"That sounds like a good idea! I'm sure there's more than enough variety of music genres to choose from," said Peorth, smiling at the blonde's enthusiasm. "Personally, I'd prefer clothes, though. Maybe something that gives me a fresh new look. What about you Lind?"

"I'm unsure what to buy, to be honest. Nothing really seems to attract my interest," said the Valkyrie with a thoughtful look.

"Then try some clothes, just like us," suggested Peorth. "You're going to have some more options for civilian clothing, this way."

Finding nothing wrong with that idea, Lind nodded. After all, even if she didn't buy anything, she could check what kind of attires humans wore on a daily basis and use that knowledge whenever she had to walk around them. "I... suppose you're correct. Let's go then."

XXX

Asgard, Yggdrasil command complex

The shift was finally over for Thor, and as such, the current head of the debugging team was looking forward for some peaceful time with his family. His wife, Sif was also having some time off from her job as a system administrator and that was a perfect opportunity to have lunch together with their youngest son, Magni.

The boy was also a debugger, which was a rather popular option for young celestials. It was a nice way to start their careers without having to deal with extremely stressful positions. Most of the work was automated, and as a result, it was considered an easy assignment, at least compared to some others.

Still, Thor was a bit concerned with his son's rather... impressive record. He was probably a bit too focused and efficient for someone as young as him, which often caused others to mistake him for a showoff. Magni got an angel earlier than most of his peers and hadn't helped either, as several young gods envied him, while the name he chose for his partner was one that made most goddesses to shake their heads. War Hammer was an unlikely choice for this time and age, and it seemed so anachronistic that even his own mother thought that it was a bad idea.

Far worse, Sif was rather worried about the prospect of having yet another warrior in her family. Ullr, her eldest child from her past marriage, and adopted son of Thor was part of the sharpshooting division of the war gods. Thrud, their only daughter was a Valkyrie as well. And now even Magni showed signs of following the family tradition, which irked her to no end.

For that very reason, she tried to keep the child around her fellow administrators in hope that he would eventually find that job to be more interesting. Still, Thor was more concerned with the present, as the child suffered from the same fate as him; being too strong for his own good. Not only he had to keep a constant eye on the boy, just in case he got himself hurt due to inexperience, but, developing an ego could also be a serious problem.

Thor's own experiences as a child provided very little insight, given that kids back then, grew to became men much sooner; at least emotionally. With all the wars going on constantly, young celestials had to adjust to a harsher and more strict lifestyle. Thankfully, that was no longer the case, although for some reason, Magni seemed to have no interest in the things that attracted his peers attention.

He slightly reminded Thor of his niece, Skuld who also had problems to socialize with others, but for the opposite reasons. Her inability to use magic in the same manner than everyone else around her, pushed the youngest of the Norns away from other kids, preferring to spend time with her sisters insisted.

The god of thunder had attempted to get the two cousins to spend some time together, but, Skuld was rather reluctant to accept the company of someone younger, yet much more powerful that her and most of the celestials around her age, too.

Lost in his thoughts, Thor missed his blonde haired wife as she waived at him from her table. Next to her was Magni, reading the cafeteria's menu, wondering what would be the best option for launch. Food wasn't necessary for celestials and as such, they had the luxury of choosing things based on their flavor, instead of the nutritional value.

Watching her husband walk aimlessly towards the other end of the cafeteria, Sif frowned, getting up from her seat in an effort to get the red haired god's attention. "Thor! We're here!"

'Should I enlist him for some Earth training? Perhaps I could get Magni in an environment where his power wouldn't be too important. That way he could focus more into socializing with others... After all, with Urd and the rest of them stuck on the mortal realm, that's the best opportunity to do something like that,' thought the god of thunder, blissfully oblivious of Sif's voice.

"I said, I'm here!" bellowed the blonde goddess, making some of the bystanders to duck under their tables for a moment, as well as breaking a couple of glasses around the dining area. Thankfully that wasn't such a terrible problem for celestials, given the ever so handy repair spells, but that still made the goddess try her best to look docile; especially after that display.

"Sif! I hadn't noticed you! Why didn't you..." started Thor, before he saw the look he got from her wife and decided to do his best to remain silent, as he took a seat opposite of her.

"I thought that we were supposed to spend some time together. Please tell me that you're not worrying about your job..." said Sif with a frown.

"I've never done that, actually. Well... there were a few instances in the past, but, that's when I was at the Fighting Wings," said Thor with a shrug.

"I know... Sorry about that, dear..." said Sif with a sigh. "It's been a... fabulous day at the office for me."

"Let me guess... Regin?" asked the god of thunder.

"Yes. That son of a..." started Sif, before she abruptly cleared her throat, remembering that Magni was sitting next to them, "of a... nice lady... was trying to drive the last members of my team away."

Tilting his head, the red haired boy stared at his mother in confusion. "Um... I thought that expression was a bit different, mom. Something like, son of a bitch, if I remember correctly."

"Magni!" shouted the blonde goddess in horror. "That's not how a young god should talk! And you! Stop laughing! It's a serious matter!"

"What do you want me to do? He's not a baby anymore..." said Thor, patting his son's head. "And I'd rather have him express a bit more freely, instead of trying the whole mister perfect routine that's so damn popular these days."

"Still... You shouldn't encourage him..." said Sif, crossing her arms.

"So what? There are far worse things to say, and I've made it clear that there's a line that he shouldn't cross. At least not before he's a grown god." Giving his son a look to make sure that he hadn't forgotten about their little agreement, Thor turned back to his wife. "Now... You've mentioned Regin, so, what did he do this time?"

Letting a frustrated sigh, the blonde goddess made an unpleasant face, remembering the last couple of hours. "Remember how easily our gate defense programs were overwhelmed during that demonic coup? It seems that our friend doesn't want to admit that his software is worthless, and keeps trying to pin the blame on my team, claiming that it was user error and not design oversight."

"That's garbage! Most of those programs are automated! Blaming others won't fix anything!" Shaking his head, Thor wasn't particularly pleased with the current state of things. Yggdrasil's defense measures were getting less effective over time and they always got one excuse or another, instead of an actual solution. Something had to be done, before the demons decided to use that against them.

"What can we do? It's not like we hadn't complained about it! But, the Councils only want to listen to their golden boys and ignore my subordinates as mere button pushers!" complained Sif. "They don't understand the sheer magnitude of this problem at all! Uh... Thor?"

The god of thunder had heard enough and this wasn't by any means the first time. They had similar conversations in the past and every time they tried to forget about it. Not today, however. Enough was enough and Thor was determined to make someone listen to reason for once. Getting up from his chair, the red haired god offered an apologetic look to his wife. "A promise is a promise and we'll spend some time together. However, I need to go and have a nice talk with someone."

"Huh? With Who?" asked the surprised Sif.

Walking away from the table, Thor stopped for a moment to answer. "Ansuz."

"Oh... That's..." started Sif, almost in relief, before she realized what was likely going to happen if her angry husband met their sister-in-law; total chaos. "Wait! Hold on a second! Thor!"

It was far too late to stop him, as he had already teleported towards Vingolf. Having no other option, she grabbed Magni and decided to follow him before things got out of hand.

XXX

"Well everyone, thank you all for your hard work! It was a tremendous success for us."

Looking around the table, Chihiro offered a toast for their latest victory, even if this one had nothing to do with a race. Most of them were holding glasses filled with cola, except for Belldandy, who had some orange juice insisted. It wasn't the most likely place to have a celebration like this, but, the fast food shop they were currently in was one of the more affordable places in the mall.

"That's all thanks to everyone's hard work," offered Belldandy with a smile.

"Indeed... I can't think that it would've been possible without your help," agreed Chihiro as she nodded. "It was fortunate that we've managed to get some extra hands to assist us with that project."

"She actually means you, Skuld," said Keiichi, surprising the young Norn, who wasn't expecting the sudden attention. "You really did a lot of work in the shop during the last couple of days, while the rest of us focused on that project. Without your efforts, we could've lost several customers, given that they'd probably had to wait for days until we were finally ready to work on their bikes."

"I-It's not such a big deal..." said Skuld, looking around the table. Everyone was smiling at her, and the young goddess couldn't hide her happiness, since Belldandy was also among them. Getting praised by her was something that naturally gave the Norn of the future tremendous pleasure and pride.

"Actually it is," said Chihiro, getting her attention. "I've thought about it and I'm leaning towards the decision to keep you and Urd around as regular workers. I mean... It's much better to have some extra help now that the shop has expanded, instead of struggling to manage all by ourselves."

"Really?" asked Skuld, raising her eyebrows. "I... don't have a problem. Although... I'm not sure what Urd's going to say."

"Don't worry about it. We can tell her about this, later," said Belldandy. "For now, we can congratulate you for your new job with an ice cream. What do you think, Skuld?"

"I'd love that, oneesama!" said the enthusiastic goddess of the future.

Leaning a bit towards Chihiro, Keiichi tried to ask something that worried him for a while. "Is that going to be okay, though? I mean, she's a minor and all that."

"Are you worried about that, Morisato-kun? Well... officially I won't have her listed as an employee, since it could be problematic that someone as young as her is working, but, I'll give her salary to you and her sisters as a bonus. That way, she's going to get paid and nobody's gonna have a problem."

Nodding, the mechanic was pleased that they could solve that tiny problem, before it became an actual one. From past experiences, Keiichi had learned to be a bit more careful, instead of leaving everything to luck. He knew that people like Aoshima would've used any kind of excuse to stir up some trouble for them, regardless of how petty the reason was. "That's great. And Skuld can earn some pocket money while she's here."

"You think that, Urd will accept, too?" asked Chihiro after a few moments. "She and Mara seem to work nicely together, and the customers apparently like them, too."

Keiichi had actually noticed that, as well. At first he was rather nervous to have Mara around, fearing that she would've gone back to her old tricks. However, she paid very little attention to the rest of them, and instead, spent most of her time around Urd. And since the Norn of the past was rather popular among the customers, Mara inevitably had to interact with them, too.

The mechanic couldn't exactly blame them. Years ago, it was likely that he was going to do the same, although he doubted that it would've yielded any results, given his luck with women. Belldandy was fairly popular saleswoman as well, but, as news of their wedding spread out, less people were now interested to talk to her. Or flirt with her, depending on one's point of view, which was actually a great relief for him.

Thankfully, Urd was behaving really well around them, as well, being neither being too friendly nor annoyed by their rather obvious interest. They had enough trouble with Aoshima being obsessed with Belldandy, and getting more guys like him aiming for his attractive sister-in-law, would be a serious pain. Of course, having Urd get angry was an even more terrifying prospect; especially if she used any spells or potions.

Keiichi couldn't avoid but find the whole situation very interesting. Whirlwind might've been a small shop, but, the majority of the employees were in fact immortals, making it extremely unique in more ways than one.

'I wonder what Urd's going to think about this...'

XXX

Vingolf, Asgard

Loki checked at the corridor from his hiding place, behind one of the surrounding columns. He knew that pulling a prank on his sister-in-law wasn't the best of all the ideas, but, it had to be done. This would act both as a diversion, as well as an alibi for him, just in case they found out about their plot eventually.

By now, whenever something strange happened, he was always the one to get blamed for it. It was almost like a habit for everyone to point an accusatory finger at him, waiting for an explanation, regardless how unlikely it sounded that he was responsible for that situation.

Of course, he wasn't a poor victim either, as he had his fair share of pranks that he pulled on various celestials. However, he was always careful with how far he would go and how often he could do that, before someone decided that he was a menace and things deteriorated for him. Most of those pranks were nothing more than simple practical jokes, and he rarely anything serious in front of everyone, knowing all too well that his behavior wouldn't have been tolerated for that long if that wasn't the case.

There were other much more... questionable things he's done and those remained a well guarded secret for his own good; just like the current plot.

Checking the vial he held for the fourth time, he needed to be sure that the potion would've only the desired effects, as he didn't need any unwelcome surprises. If everything went well, it would turn Ansuz's feathers in all sorts of colors, giving her a nice rainbow effect. It should go away in a couple of hours, without any lasting effects, too.

His thoughts were interrupted when a familiar face showed up in the corridor, marching towards Ansuz's office. Blinking, Loki wasn't expecting Thor of all gods to show up right now, and not wanting to interfere with what was going to happen, he hid behind the pillar once again. His brother appeared to be rather unhappy, but, he had no idea why that was the case. Even more, Sif and Magni also showed up, trying to catch up with the god of thunder.

'What's going on here?' wondered the troublemaker. Whatever it was, it could act as the diversion he wanted, though.

Standing in front of the massive double door, Thor knocked twice, hoping that his sister-in-law wasn't too busy at the moment.

"Enter." Looking up from her terminal, Ansuz was rather surprised when she realized who her visitor was. "Thor? Is there something wrong?"

"Yes, I think so. We have a serious issue with our system security and the ones in charge aren't really doing anything to solve it," said the red haired god, getting straight to the point, instead of wasting any time with small talk.

Asgard's second in command was feeling that this was probably going to end up in a heated debate, one that she wasn't particularly looking forward to. The sheer amount of paperwork created by the demonic coup was still giving her a headache and having to deal with the her brother-in-law when he was unhappy, sounded like a recipe for disaster. "How can you be so certain?"

"It's not a huge secret that our gate security programs had collapsed under the stress of the demonic attempt to enforce a blockade on us. And now, that wise guy, Regin is trying to pin the blame on my wife's colleges. Surely, he can't just deny his own responsibility, especially since he's the one who made that software." Thor felt that it was fairly sure that he was merely pointing the obvious. But, given his past experiences with Asgard's administration, he had learned the hard way that common logic didn't always work in situations like these.

"Believe me, the evaluation of our security's performance is certainly one of our highest priorities at the moment. Once we're done with all this paperwork, we can finally get a clear view of what happened during that incident," explained Ansuz.

"By that time, he's just going to submit a phoney bug fixing patch, claiming that he's done his job," countered Thor. "Come on, Ansuz! It's not the first time that he pulled that on us, and now he's even claiming that it was operator error! Worse, I can see him getting away with that, since it's easier to blame a couple of my wife's coworkers, instead of admitting that it's a far more serious problem."

"Look... it's not that I don't understand what you're trying to say..." started the Representative Director of the Goddess Council, only to stop as she noticed Sif hurrying inside the office, with her youngest child following right behind her.

"I'm terribly sorry for the intrusion, Ansuz-sama! But, I believe that my husband is right," said the blonde goddess, offering her superior a bow, something that Magni imitated as well. "We've seen this happen a couple of times already, although this is the first occurrence where things had really gotten out of control. First we had a single demon's virus almost stop time for the mortal realm, and now we were more or less isolated from the rest of the word for a few hours."

Ansuz frowned, remembering the Welsper incident that happened some time ago, and even if it had been a few years by mortal standards, it was extremely recent from an immortal's point of view. Back then, Regin had also promised that most of the problems were fixed by one of his patches, making his software considerably more robust to demonic attacks. However, the recent events had proven him wrong, and perhaps in an effort to avoid getting blamed for his poor performance, he's desperately trying to find every excuse he can. As such, both of her relatives were right, and the subject was serious enough that it required a significant amount of attention.

"You're both wasting your time, talking to the equivalent of a brick wall. Nothing personal of course, Ansuz. Just the general feeling I get from my own experiences whenever I brought this subject up." Entering the office uninvited, Loki grinned, enjoying the surprised looks he got from his relatives.

"Loki! Where did you come from?" asked Thor, staring at his adopted brother as he approached him.

"I was behind that column over there," calmly answered the trickster god, pointing at the pillar in question.

"And you were hiding there because?..." continued Thor, wanting to figure out what his brother was up to this time around.

"Oh, that's really simple. There was nothing else over there to provide enough coven for me," said Loki with a wide smile.

"You're still not answering my question," said the god of thunder, narrowing his eyes suspiciously at the troublemaker that obviously had something in his mind.

"Enough!" Getting their attention, Ansuz wanted to put an end in this conversation, before it went any further. "I'm fairly certain that I got everyone's point already. There's no need for any more arguments."

"Indeed, I couldn't agree more," said Loki. "I can't believe that it's beyond your intellect to realize that we're facing such a serious situation. It's the fact that you're going to do absolutely nothing in the end. Tell me, Ansuz... Do you really want to jeopardize our safety, just for the sake of depriving me the satisfaction of being right for once?"

"You're just annoyed that we had removed you from your position as the Head Technician of Yggdrasil system," said Ansuz in an accusatory tone.

"Partially. It's not the fact that I was replaced that actually angered me, instead, it was the identity of the one that took my job that truly infuriated me. Out of all the possible candidates that were available for that position, you've picked the absolutely worst one. Ever your youngest daughter would've been a much better option, despite her inexperience." said Loki, before he lowered the tone of his voice. "Mark my words... It won't take that long for the demons to utilize that exploit in our security and then... It might be too late for regrets. Doublet system or no..."

XXX

Muspelheim, south naval complex, hangar 01

Hundreds of demons worked fervently around the clock, in order to prepare the latest and greatest battleship of their fleet for its first mission. Of course, it was a supposed to be a simple trial of its capabilities before they officially informed the Daimakaicho that it was finally at her disposal.

However, the demon in charge had a very different plan in his mind and nothing but a trial by fire would be sufficient for him. Surt wasn't the most subtle of the regional commanders under Hild's rule, and that occasionally caused problems. Still, this was the first time he truly wanted to cross the line, and if it was something worth doing, then he might as well overdo it.

Hovering above the hangar's floor, Naglfar was fully staffed and supplied for a real mission, not a mere test, a monumental task as it had just arrived from Jotunheim a day ago. To make matters even worse, the ship was fresh out of the dry-dock and a lot of its state of the art systems had yet to be tested, before they used them for the first time on the field.

Normally such a task would've required several days, not even counting the time needed for the crew to familiarize with the ship's layout, and perform a couple of drills, just to make sure that everyone knew what to do in case of an emergency.

Surt didn't had that luxury, as the element of surprise was an essential one, if he wanted for this plan to work. Turning to his side, he spotted Hrym, still checking the status reports from the various teams of technicians who were inspecting Naglfar. "You seem troubled. Anything wrong with the ship?"

Looking up from his datapad, the half demon shook his head. "No, she's in perfect condition, sir. It's just that... We've skipped so many tests that I'm rather... nervous. Nobody can ensure that we won't run into any glitches with her systems."

"They seemed to work fine when they brought her here. I don't believe that they'll go haywire all of a sudden," said Surt with some confidence. "Our research teams had spent considerable amounts of time for their development. We should be fine."

Hrym reluctantly nodded, hoping that his superior was right. That plan of his was ridiculously risky, given that they were technically doing things without the Daimakaicho's permission. In fact, they hadn't even bothered to inform her of their intentions at all. 'Not only the gods can give us trouble if our ship experiences any problems, but... Hild-sama can have us arrested for commandeering Naglfar. Let alone, staging an invasion...'

At that moment, his personal communicator started beeping, making the half demon pale a bit. He knew who it was and a glance at the holographic display confirmed his fears; it was Bergelmir. "Hrym here."

"We've got news from our agent. The necessary preparations are complete," said the leader of Ratatoskr, getting straight to the point.

"I see..." was the simple reply, as his last hope to avoid this situation was now gone. Turning to his boss, Hrym was equally laconic. "Everything's ready, sir."

"Good. Let's get on board the ship at once." Not waiting for a response, the dark haired demon hurried towards their destination, while his subordinate tried to catch up.

Minutes later, the doors of Naglfar's Combat information Center opened, revealing the two high ranking demons. Standing up from their stations the crew saluted their superiors before, Surt motioned them to sit. "At ease."

As the ruler of Muspelheim moved to the admiral's station, Hrym sat on the captain's chair that was next to it.

"Begin the launch sequence," ordered Surt.

"Understood," replied Hrym, turning to the CIC's officers. "Activate internal power."

"Main reactors online. Disabling external power supply." Almost immediately, a series of power conduits attached to the ship disconnected from its hull, the ports already closing and protected by thick armored plates.

"Perform last diagnostic test on all computers and networks," said the captain.

"Commencing test... All systems nominal and ready to use."

"Bring all weapons and defenses online," continued Hrym.

"Primary weapons powered and primed. Secondary and tertiary ones are coming online in five seconds. Shields are up, and point defense systems are standing by."

Pressing a button on his console, Surt got a visual of the bridge, located three decks above them. Sitting at the center of the room was one of the biggest secret projects that the Intelligence Sector had ever commissioned; the artificial Gate. Unlike the Bifrost Network that existed even before its integration to the World Tree, this one was independent and specifically constructed to imitate the rest of the gates. Looking like an adult version of them, she even possessed arms, aside from her cape-like ones that acted as an extra pair of limbs.

Seated next to her was Bergelmir, checking his own holographic display, before he noticed the Eldjotunn's face on the bridge's main display. "Yes, Surt-sama?"

"We're almost ready to depart. Call your boss and tell him to start the blockade on Asgard's Gate," said the dark haired demon. "I don't want them to interfere in this."

"Of course. I'll do that, right away." Turning to his side, he addressed the ship's AI construct. "Plot course for Alfheim, at the designated coordinates."

"Understood. Setting inter-dimensional way-points; done. Spatial distortion factor within acceptable values. Temporal skew minimal," said the artificial Gate, as she directly communicated with the ship's navigation system, that was in reality just another part of her real self. "Surt-sama, Naglfar is ready to perform the direct point transfer in thirty seconds."

"Good." Nodding at the Gate, the dark haired demon turned back at Bergelmir. "Status of the blockade?"

"The distributed denial of service attack is currently undergoing," replied the head of Ratatoskr, checking his console. "Ten seconds for total isolation."

"Perfect! Increase altitude to eight times the minimum recommended for a space fold," ordered Surt. "No need to risk taking a chunk of my city with us."

"Acknowledged," said the Gate.

As the massive hangar doors slid open, Naglfar began to rise higher above the ground. Soon, its angular matte black surface was clearly visible, attracting the attention of most demons who happened to be outdoors. It's been a while since they saw a ship leaving their naval base, not counting the regular drills and the occasional sand dragon extermination.

Even more, the weapons ports of this particular battleship were noticeably open, and without any alarms to indicate an emergency, it was evident that this wasn't a case of a defensive operation. Instead, for the first time in a very long while, the armed forces of their realm were on the offensive.

"T-minus 15 for direct point fold," announced the Gate over the ship's internal comm system.

"Good," said Surt. "Since we don't know whether or not we'll meet any resistance, prepare Naglfar for combat."

"Yellow alert! Ship's about to enter a hostile realm. All personnel report to their battle stations immediately. This is not a drill. I repeat, this is not a drill."

As the message continued to play on the intercom, Surt smirked. 'We've been so damn nice for so long that those moronic celestials think that we're a bunch of doormats. Let's see how they're going to react this time...'

AN: I would like to thank everyone that has offered their feedback and support both here and on the Goddess Relief site.

There are a few things that I'd like to note for this chapter.

Instead of paying more attention to the actual infiltration of Yggdrasil's mainframe, I decided to write it in a different manner, by having Loki go through the details with his brother. That allowed me to explain a lot of things in a more natural manner, since I had one character give the necessary instruction to another. Additionally, the scene wasn't just sheer randomness, as I wanted the whole attempt to sound plausible from a technical point of view. Still, this isn't extremely detailed, given that I don't want it to be far too difficult to understand.

Sif in Norse legends was a goddess associated with the earth and mother of Ullr (by an unnamed father) and Thrud. She was mentioned as Thor's wife and her haired was described as golden. In this story, she remains as Thor's wife, although she's also Magni's mother (she wasn't in the original myths). She's a high ranking administrator, and one of Urd's colleagues. She had a son named Ullr from a previous marriage and Thor raised him as his own.

Magni (translates as "Strong") was one Thor's sons in Norse legends (the other one being Modi, and even Ullr if we count him as a stepson). His mother was the Jotunn Jarnsaxa and he was one of the few gods that survived Ragnarok. In this story, he remains as Thor's son, although his mother is Sif (and he still doesn't have another brother aside Ullr). His strength is a bit of a reference to his original Norse equivalent, given that he was amongst the strongest gods. Of course, that causes him problems at his current age, making him somewhat similar to Skuld (for the totally opposite reasons, though).

Bifrost was the name of the rainbow bridge that connected Midgard to Asgard. In this story, it's the name of the entire network of the various Gates seen in AMG. As mentioned late in the manga, those entities are individuals, but, they still share memories and it's not difficult to imagine that they're connected. The artificial Gate mentioned towards the end of the chapter was an attempt to reverse engineer one of the Gates, allowing the demons to have a way to move around without the need of the rest of the network.

Furthermore, Naglfar's destination is Alfheim, not Asgard. The blockade mentioned is for the sake of stopping any reinforcements from the gods' primary realm. A single ship had no chance at a direct attack on Asgard. So, It's not a typo on my part.