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

Throne room, Niflheim

The very domain of the Daimakaicho was rarely used as a meeting place, since on most cases the physical presence of her highest ranking subordinates was unnecessary, or even a waste of time for everyone involved.

On the other hand, it wasn't common for her regional commanders to act behind her back, at least not in the manner they had just recently demonstrated. While they were given some level of independence, it was simply unthinkable to start an invasion without the Daimakaicho's consent.

All four regional commanders were gathered in the room, standing in front of their ruler as they waited for the brooding demoness to start the meeting. Hild wasn't particularly amused by the whole incident, which was also the first time that her authority was effectively questioned. She stared at her subordinates, especially Surt and Skrymir who were primarily responsible for this recent fiasco.

The other two remained quiet and for the most part unmoved by the situation, since neither of them were involved in any way. Hagall was standing close to her boss, as always, while the mysterious leader of Svartalfheim, Gridr was keeping her distance from the rest of them. Nothing unexpected from her, given the dark haired demoness' secretive and quiet personality that matched her realm's reputation perfectly.

Out of all the realms in existence, Svartalfheim was by far the weirdest and on certain cases, the scariest of them all. The realm of darkness was receiving so little light, that during midday, it was slightly brighter than a regular sunset in most other places. However, that was the most normal feature of that strange world, where the roles of the flora and fauna were mixed in a very bizarre and disconcerting manner. The closest analogy they had for trees were actually animals that resembled the generic forms of their plant counterparts, and that was just a single example of the differences between Svartalfheim and the rest of the realms.

Aside from the regional commanders, Hrym and Bergelmir were also present, given their roles during the event, a fact that neither of them was very happy about. Especially the former one, who was only a half demon and therefore a lot less certain about the treatment he was going to get if things went bad for them.

The silence in the room was broken when Hild cleared her throat, in an effort to get everyone's attention. "I think that we can start this emergency meeting. To begin with, I'd like to hear the official explanation for your decision to go with that invasion."

Stepping forward, Skrymir bowed before his leader. "Of course, Hild-sama. As you all know by now, the celestials had systematically ignored our warnings about the role of the Earth Spirits and their manipulation of their 'neutrality' in the affairs of our realms. Many times they had collaborated with them for the sole purpose of undermining our operations, and yet, the gods claimed that those were isolated incidents that weren't affecting the current balance of power; a notion that I totally disagree with."

"Even worse," started Surt, interrupting the head of the Intelligence Sector, "this whole situation left our loyal subjects with few options. Since the Earth Spirits that signed the pact of neutrality are protected by the treaty, our operatives often had no way of stopping them from poking their noses in our business. While espionage was prohibited, they always found excuses to justify their presence and deny their roles as informants. So, whenever our demons attempted to send them away those cowards would simply run to their masters, claiming that they were attacked for no reason and demanding measures against us."

"I'm fully aware of that fact," said Hild in an annoyed tone. "It's one of the most problematic oversights of that accursed pact we've made to ensure their safety. As much as I'd love to find a viable solution as soon as possible, negotiations with the celestials had taken far longer than anticipated and we're still not done with most of the details."

"That's exactly why my agency had started a project to monitor their activities and record everything in great detail," offered Skrymir. "While their excuses may stand on isolated incidents, a long term surveillance leaves no doubt of their infringement of the pact and allows us to prosecute them. Such an act will remind the rest of them that we're not as defenseless as they might've initially thought and make them reconsider before they try anything similar in the future."

"Yes, but we've also got an invasion that took place," said Hild, reminding them of that not so insignificant detail. "That's a lot harder to explain, given that it was clearly an overkill. You could've pursued them without such an unnecessary operation. And I won't even mention anything about the simple fact that you didn't inform me about it!"

"The problem with relaying the information to the gods is that they were also involved into this matter. As such, I had no delusions that they'd carry out an investigation without any bias. Most importantly, it was entirely possible that our request would've been accepted, but, at the same time, they'd provide protection for the wanted Earth Spirits by making them 'disappear' from the face of the world." Pausing for a moment, the ruler of Jotunheim went on. "Of course, I was aware that it was a risky plan and that's exactly why I've decided to carry it out without your permission. As long as you can rightfully deny that you knew anything about this operation, the damage in the event of a failure would've been minimal. After all, it's a lot better to declare that it was something staged by a rogue party, instead of an official mission."

"Hm... Yes, that could give me an excuse, but..." started Hild, scratching her chin. "I'm uncertain of the impact it's going to have on the rest of my people. A Daimakaicho that's not capable of controlling her own direct subordinates is a very bad sign. Coupled by the mere fact that I've gotten a second term, it's possible that it might generate a lot of unrest among the general populate."

"My excuses for interrupting you, Hild-sama," said Gridr, making everyone wonder what the stoic demoness wanted to propose. "However, we can simply let it pass as a black ops and while officially deny your involvement, it can be assumed that you were behind it. The celestials will get the official version and we can use the unofficial one to appease our own people. After all, it was a successful mission and as such, it's something that might be considered as the first accomplishment of your new administration."

Hild toyed with the idea for a while and as old fashioned as it sounded, it was a valid option. She personally avoided to take credit for others' accomplishments, as that was generally considered to be easy and cheap. Of course, this was more of a coverup and less of a textbook example of a desperate demoness who wanted to find anything that could count as a success.

"Hm... I think that could be done, right Skrymir?" Looking at the Intelligence Sector's commander, she raised an eyebrow. "Can you arrange for that?"

"Of course, Hild-sama. I'll have some of my agents to spread the rumors. Without any of that being official, we won't have to worry about much, as we can simply deny it," said the red haired demon.

"Good. Now, here's the real question; what were you really trying to accomplish?" asked Hild with a smirk. "Don't tell me that a bunch of Earth Spirits got you so worked up that it was deemed necessary to send my mightiest battleship to deal with them."

"We wanted to send a message," started Surt. "For a long time, the celestials had assumed that we wouldn't dare to lift a finger at them. This eliminated all the fear that they had for us, making them a bit too smug and conceited, thinking that they were allowed to do as they please. Someone had to kindly remind them that they should've thought twice before they messed with the wrong demons."

"That sounds very simplistic," said Hild with a frown. "I was expecting something more than that, to be honest."

"Well, we also destroyed the Judgement Gate," offered Surt with a smirk. "How's that for simplistic?"

That last bit seemed to got the Daimakaicho's attention, who blinked at the surprising news. "You did what? How?"

"It's rather simple, Hild-sama. The celestial's old system architecture is fundamentally incompatible with that particular Gate's functions," explained Skrymir. "That abomination was a huge security risk, as it literally latched onto everything. The archives, the Ultimate Force control mechanism, all personal files of every single individual, immortal or not... And that was supposed to go for both supercomputers, since we were pretty much forced to agree to that horrible thing, not only Asgard's mainframe."

Hild nodded slowly, as she never really spent that much time to consider all the implications of that system. She had always been focusing more to its purpose and goals and missed some of the technical details of its implementation. However, at that very moment, she realized that the ruler of Jotunheim had admitted something rather crucial. "Hold on! You said that it was supposed to be that way?"

Lowering his head, the typically stoic demon seemed a bit worried for a moment. "How should I say this... We never fully implemented our end of that system. The only thing that's actually in place is a dummy program that's meant to convince its celestial counterpart that it's working. There's no real mechanism to enforce the outcome or even assist with the process."

"What?!" Hild could hardly believe what she was hearing. Apparently all this time, her security staff had clearly broken a very important agreement that she had made with Asgard. "But, when I tried... I mean, it worked! And there were other instances!"

"Hild-sama, that was the god's system, not ours," admitted Skrymir. "After all, most of the candidate couples involved a celestial and the few Earth Spirits were rooted through their system. For example, If we had one of us and a mortal, and they failed to pass... There was going to be no real mechanism to enforce the outcome of the test. All other incidents worked only because the god's system was actually trying to compensate for its counterpart's missing functionality."

Rubbing her temples, the Daimakaicho was unsure what to think. On one side, her hatred for that accursed Gate was making her happy to know that it was finally out of the way. But then again, the idea that her staff had taken such liberties was quite alarming.

"Hold on a second!" said Hagall, as she took a step towards the leader of Jotunheim. "The Nidhogg mainframe is technically under my control! Why wasn't I told about that?"

"The details of the implementation of our security measures were always available to you, Hagall-sama. And that is also true for Hild-sama, as well," offered Skrymir. "We simply didn't want to bore either of you, while we carried on with our mission to protect our system's integrity at all costs. That's our sworn duty since the days of the first Daimakaicho, Ymir-sama. Asgard's demand for implementing something that could've been used as a global backdoor to multiple of our crucial subsystems is absolutely unacceptable."

"There are things that we'll have to agree with for the sake of our people's prosperity," started Surt, getting Hagall's attention. "And... there are things that we'll die to protect. If you think that we'd bow to every one of their whims at the expense of our mainframe's integrity, then you're doing the wrong job... Or... I'm not doing mine correctly."

"I didn't say that!" shot Hagall back at the dark haired leader of Muspelheim. "I'm just not happy that there are things happening behind my back! Who's in charge anyway? Hild-sama or you?"

"Calm down!" ordered the Daimakaicho, before the threw protocol out of the window and ended up insulting each other. "This doesn't explain why this operation was even necessary... If we only had a dummy system in place, then we wouldn't had anything to worry about."

"Indeed... Although, there is a limit on how far we could've fooled them. That was a virtually emulated set of routines that implemented the communication programming interface between the two sets of clients for the Judgement Gate server side application runtime. If they took a much closer look, then they'd probably get a bit suspicious and before long, our deceit would've been revealed," explained Skrymir with a sigh. "We wanted to avoid that at any cost, and for the most part, there was no incident where the gods paid that much attention to the system's logs. Until a couple of days ago..."

"When Hagall's coup took place," finished Hild, realizing where this was heading. "They're probably analyzing the recordings from that event, and during that period of time, there was a Judgement Gate test conducted. Which means, that they'd most likely scrutinize every little detail of it as well, making it easier to figure things out..."

"That's exactly the case, Hild-sama. And if that came to be a reality, the repercussions would've been severe," added Skrymir. "It was most unfortunate that the test between that couple had taken place during the coup. Otherwise, we wouldn't had to worry about anything at all. During Alfheim's invasion we've managed to allow an infiltrator to inject a specifically crafted program that had two main goals. The first was to act as a backup which would prevent the Bifrost network from coming online before our forces had left that realm. However, the most important one was to falsify the security recordings in such a way that's going to make it very hard for the celestials to realize what was going on for all this time."

Silence filled the room, as the Daimakaicho and two of her commanders absorbed the new information, wondering how it would fit into the big picture. No matter who made the decision to go along with this plan, it was now imperative to cover up that important detail about their end of the Judgement Gate system. Which meant that for the first time in very long while, Hild had to play along with someone else's idea, regardless of her personal opinion about it.

"Very well... I suppose that we all have a better understanding of the situation, now," said Hild, after a while. "There are still some details that have to be discussed before I contact the Daitenkaicho and start the negotiations about this whole mess... However, explaining an invasion with only the official version of your story might be really hard. I'm certain that the celestials will refuse to believe that the presence of our special forces was even necessary, let alone justified in this case. To that, I can offer no convincing excuse."

"I'm fully aware of that fact, and I'd like to take part in the negotiations," offered Surt, surprising the rest of the regional commanders. The dark haired demon was best known as a warrior, not a diplomat. If nothing, there was enough proof for the opposite, given his abrasive attitude whenever he interacted with celestials; especially Tyr.

For several long moments, Hild deliberated whether it was advisable to invite him into teleconference with the ruler of Asgard. In the worst case scenario, he could end up insulting him, making an already bad situation even worse.

"Fine... I'll accept your request, under the condition that you'll have to behave yourself," said Hild, narrowing her eyes. "I don't want any more surprises. Am I clear?"

"Perfectly," answered Surt, with a slow nod.

"Excellent! Then this meeting is officially adjourned!"

XXX

Nekomi, Japan

"Ironic, isn't it? You were the least enthusiastic about this, and yet you ended up buying more than anyone else." Looking at the blue haired Valkyrie, Peorth couldn't help but smile as the other goddess was carrying over twice as many bags as the rest of them.

Shrugging, Lind turned to the rose goddess, not fully understanding her point. "It couldn't be helped, I suppose. You were all too picky, even though it was evident that most of the options here were primarily simple, mundane clothes."

"Are you insinuating that I'm too pampered for places like this?" shot Peorth back, causing her friend to blink.

"I never said that. Just that there's a distinct difference between our clothes and the ones that mortals are most familiar with." However, that comment had gotten the attention of Urd and her demoness friend who were only a few steps behind them alongside the childlike avatar of Hild, while Frigg and Laguz were ahead of the group, discussing about human music.

"You got that right!" Laughed the goddess of the past. "Everything here is too tame for her!"

"Yeah... I bet she needed something a lot more flashy!" agreed Mara, joining the half goddess in her efforts to tease their wish granter companion.

"Oh really? You accuse me for wearing flashy outfits, when I make it perfectly clear that I'm a proponent of minimalism," objected Peorth with a haughty tone. "Unlike a certain goddess, who wears all sorts of stylized outfits."

"Minimalism? What you're going for is probably best described as exhibitionism, Peorth," countered Urd, making the rose goddess turn red.

"What? Take that back! I'm not that immodest!" protested the brunette goddess.

"Dunno... You could've fooled me," said Mara with a smirk. "Walking around in your underwear is sure not the most typical example of decency."

"That depends on how progressive a society is. A few decades ago, it would've been absolutely scandalous to show up in the mortal realm dressed the way we normally do," said Peorth. "And that includes both of you, too."

"She's right, you know." Surprising most of them, the deceptively young form of Hild decided to join their otherwise pointless conversation. If it wasn't the fact that her counterpart was having a headache from all the problems she had to solve over at Niflheim, the mere fact that she could casually talk with her daughter was certainly worth the effort to make her opinion known, even for such an insignificant matter.

"Indeed. After all, both of them bought pretty daring outfits," said Peorth, trying to ignore that she had just agreed with Hild.

"Hey, I wanted something that looked nice," objected Urd. "Not necessarily revealing. It's not my fault everything that fits the description is a bit more flashy."

"And even then, our clothes hide more skin than yours," added Mara.

"Now now... calm down kids..." said Hild, before the agitated rose goddess could respond. "You're all dressed in a fairly tame manner. At least from our respective, since humans have a lot more to learn about fashion. Besides, none of you tired anything daring by our standards..."

While Urd had a bad feeling about this, she decided to risk and ask her mother for an explanation. "Like what?"

"Hm... How about... not wearing any underwear at all?" suggested Hild, trying to look as innocent as possible, despite of her words.

"It's not like a wear a bra most of..." started Urd, before she abruptly stopped. "Wait... you mean down there, too? That's totally indecent!"

"I wouldn't be so sure, Urd-chan... Your father certainly didn't mind it back then..." said Hild, giving her daughter a playful wink. "Amongst other things..."

"Hold it! I didn't need to know that!" protested the shocked half goddess, trying to avoid hearing more details about her parent's intimate moments.

Of course, saying something like that to any demoness was an actual invitation to keep on going, much to the others' horror. "Oh, don't be such a prude! After all, you're my daughter, so, something like that shouldn't be that much of a problem, right?"

"Considering that we're not your relatives, could you spare us from having to listen to whatever unspeakable acts you intend on sharing?" asked Lind, trying to stop their unwelcome guest from going too far with her narrative.

"Aw... You're so harsh, Lind-chan..." said Hild in mock hurt. "And to think that we even shared a kiss twice... How cold..."

"D-Don't speak nonsense!" nearly shouted the deeply embarrassed Valkyrie, while Urd was staring her with wide eyes.

"Eh? Twice?" asked the astonished Norn of the past. "I thought it was only once, during the Whirlwind's re-opening event."

"Nope! That was actually the second time! The first one was right after you'd left for Niflheim," explained Hild, turning to her daughter. "Hey... You should try kissing her, as well. She's got this refreshing mint flavor!"

"B-Be quiet you!" shot the Valkyrie back, walking faster, to put some distance between herself and the obnoxious demoness.

The scene was abruptly put to end, though, when Keiichi, Belldandy and Skuld nearly run into the furious warrior, as she was about to turn to the next corridor.

"Lind! Is there something wrong?" asked Belldandy, noticing the frown of the other goddess' face. "You seem rather unhappy..."

Instead of an actual answer, Lind simply pointed towards the direction of the miniature Daimakaicho, who waived back at the three newcomers when they spotted her.

"Hild? What are you doing here?" asked Keiichi, hoping that she wasn't up to her old tricks. Having Mara here was more than nerve-wracking enough, since any misbehavior in the middle of a mall full of humans would've disastrous effects.

"Oh, little old me? I'm just checking on Urd-chan... After all, it's not often that we get an opportunity to do anything together, right?" replied Hild, with an innocent smile, trying to reassure him about her good intentions.

While Keiichi doubted that she was telling the whole truth, he couldn't disagree with that last part.

"Speaking of doing things together..." started Urd. "Where's Chihiro and Megumi? I thought that they were with you guys."

"Well... They said that they wanted to accompany Sora on her way home. Just to make sure that she's got the hang of her new bike," replied Keiichi. "Oh, by the way! Chihiro asked if you wanted to become one of Whirlwind's regular employees."

That actually surprised her, since she was almost certain that, Belldandy would've been more than enough help for such a small shop. "Hm... What about Skuld?"

"I've already accepted," said the goddess of the future with a proud smile, as she pointed at herself. "I'm their newest mechanic! And I'll get paid, too!"

"Actually, that goes for you, as well!" added Keiichi, to avoid any misunderstanding which could end up in an argument between those two.

Urd seemed to be skeptical for a couple of minutes. On one hand, working for Chihiro on a permanent basis could end up being something really boring and tedious. She got no problems so far, but, that had only been for a couple of days. Doing that for weeks, months, and even years was an entirely different situation, making her doubt whether or not she felt the commitment to stick with that job.

The half goddess had always started doing something with a lot of enthusiasm, only to end up getting bored pretty soon, or even worse, become sidetracked and totally forget about the original goal. It was one of the downsides of being a hybrid; the constant need of finding things that would capture both of her sides' attention. A deceptively hard task, given the large difference between her divine and demonic personalities.

Of course, being around her sisters and Keiichi while earning some money seemed to be a tempting offer. With an income of her own, she could certainly buy all the booze she wanted without the need to ask Keiichi's permission. On top of that, it was going to be the best excuse to hang around Mara, since the blonde demoness was still one of Whirlwind's employees.

Eventually, the goddess of the past nodded in agreement, earning a few surprised looks from the others who had been expected her to reject the offer. "I've got no problems with it, actually. Just don't come crying to me when I'll get a promotion first, Keiichi..."

The dark haired mechanic actually laughed at the mere suggestion that, Chihiro would've promoted someone, especially if that also meant a raise. "You know, Urd... I'd really love to see that happen..."

XXX

Hild's office, Niflheim

Silence filled the room, as the two monitors on the far end of the room came online, displaying the images of Asgard's two highest ranking officials; Daitenkaicho Tyr and his second in command, Ansuz.

Sitting on her chair, Hild quickly glanced at her two subordinates who stood on either side of her. Originally she only wanted to have Hagall present, and right now she wished that her decision to include Surt wasn't a really bad one.

"I must admit that I would've never thought that we'd be having this conversation," started Tyr. "Given your support for the Doublet System, I'm rather baffled by the events that took place in the past few hours. Are you trying to cause a war, Hild?"

Trying to avoid a straight answer, the ruler of demonkind decided to use a different approach. "Is upholding the laws a reason to do something like that? Would you engage my forces while they were only apprehending criminals?"

"You attacked a peaceful settlement of Earth Spirits," shot Tyr back, with a frown. "Some might find it unethical to force your way into their homes and threaten them like that."

"That's possibly true to a certain degree. However, spies are not considered to be innocent by any means and in most cases a threat to our peace. Their activities only add to the overall tension between our realms and the fact that you did absolutely nothing for several centuries, makes me rather unhappy." Resting her head on one of her hands as she stared at the ruler of Asgard, the Daimakaicho narrowed her eyes in a manner that made her intentions clear; she was serious about this. "We both have our intelligence agencies that operate under our laws to prevent the extremities that took place millennia ago, when either sides decided to justify atrocities for the sake of 'doing their job' as they called it. And instead of endorsing this practice, you allowed Earth Spirits to act as your informants."

"I did nothing to encourage that kind behavior," countered the god, before he was interrupted by her once again.

"And yet you did absolutely nothing to stop it either. You see... when we allow such things to happen regardless of whether we've started them or not, this simply encourages the other side to either do the same, or... go even further. Tell me, how far do you think that we can both push it?" asked Hild, challenging her former husband. "How much will it really take to revert back to the old ways of justifying the means for the sake of the goals? Sure, getting some anonymous tips from those spirits must've been irresistible, but, what would've done if we were the ones that did it?"

"Are you seriously trying to convince me that this aggressive act was for the sake of reducing the tension between our realms?" asked the baffled god. "If that's true, then you certainly failed to accomplish your goal, Hild..."

"I had nothing to do with this whole matter. It's not the Daimakaicho's job to monitor every single detail of her subject's lives. The Intelligence Sector felt it was about time to out an end to that unacceptable practice and requested the aid of my special forces in an effort to minimize the potential impact of such an operation. I see no problem with that." Leaning back into her chair, the demoness smiled as she watched the celestial couple's reactions to her words. Neither Tyr nor Ansuz were expecting her to endorse Surt's actions, and while she had her own objections about his methods, it was important to remind them that her support shouldn't be taken for granted.

"That's all nice and good, but, there's a price for everything," said Tyr after a long pause. "Surely you don't expect us to sit with arms crossed while your forces randomly kidnap people in our realms..."

"It wasn't a random act, as you put it, but a calculated and justifiable decision on our part. We apprehended wanted criminals; kidnappings is more up to your alley," shot Hild back, as she narrowed her eyes dangerously. "After all, that's what you celestials do to those who defy your laws... Even if they're not your citizens."

"What are you talking about?" asked Tyr. "We never did such unethical..."

"Don't act coy! You know very well what I'm talking about, Tyr!" warned the Daimakaicho. "Your species systematically dragged innocent couples through a test that they've never agreed to undertake, separating most of them. And the price for their refusal was a death curse that would've been triggered the moment they touched each other. Your wife even told that to your daughter and Keiichi, in the event where they refused to undergo that stupid trial. A lot of the mortals who failed to pass it were never seen again. How's that for kidnapping of the worst kind?"

"But, I..."

Cutting him before he even had the chance to reply, Hild had still a few things to note about the situation, even if she wasn't originally planning to mention them. "Or... you want me to start about ethics in general, since you're so damn concerned about the subject... If the above doesn't count, then how about the fact that you've brainwashed your own son-in-law for the sake of keeping his hands away from your daughter's goodies? Even though the mortal had acted on your behalf on so many occasions, you still had to neuter him, without asking his permission. Well? Sounds more ethical? And if that's how you celestials treat your own families, I shudder to think what you'd done to the boy in the event he was your enemy..."

For the first time in a while, Tyr was at loss of words. As far as he could tell, this hadn't been her idea, no matter how sharp her words were. Still, he was certain that whenever she got into that mood it was pretty pointless to make her reconsider her views. Not that it would've ever been possible to change her mind on anything related to the Judgement Gate and all the policies that were tied to that system.

"The only certain thing is that we disagree, but, that wasn't the point of calling you. I'm not trying to convince you that I'm right or get an apology. I want to figure out what we're supposed to do from this point on. There's a lot of uncertainty over here in regards to your intentions, and I have to give my people an answer. Are you looking for trouble or not?" asked Tyr, trying to get to the point, given that anything else would've taken them further away from the main topic.

"I have no intentions to create any more disruption, if that's what worries you. This was an isolated incident that could've been avoided if you paid more attention to my warnings." Relaxing a bit, she casually rested her arms of her desk, content that she had gotten her point across.

"I wish it could've been that easy... There will be a lot of gods and goddesses that won't be happy to hear that explanation, let alone take your word for granted. This incident couldn't had come at a worse moment, after that recent coup, making everything far more complicated than necessary. If nothing else, it's a trust issue," explained Tyr. "How are we supposed to believe that you won't stage another attack like this one?"

"Like I've said, I've been warning you for many years. And I never got am official reply indicating that you did an investigation on the matter; only excuses. That left my subordinates no other choice but to act on such a manner. It's no my fault if you didn't approve of their methods." Reaching for her desk's drawers she recovered a folder and opened it in front of him, revealing a small stack of documents. "Take a look... Isn't that enough of a fair warning? I've seen you celestials jump the gun at every given opportunity, whenever something irks you. My forces had exercised restraint, unlike yours on more than enough incidents. Should I air your Councils' dirty laundry to your people and see what they'll think about that?"

"Hold on a second!" objected Tyr. "That's blackmail!"

"That's the truth. You benevolent gods had been more than happy to kill mortals for the so called greater good, even if that could've easily been avoided; innocent mortals, I might add. Instead of that... we're talking about apprehending criminals... Someone's got their priorities wrong here, and it's not me. Remember what happened last time you had a revolt on your realm... It was the both the Councils' corruption that caused your father to take the arms and lead the Fighting Wings against them and their figurehead leader. You're not that far from a similar coup," said Hild with a pointed look, pressing a few buttons on her console next to her, making a certain audio recording to play.

"It is I."

"Tyr, we have a problem..."

"What? Don't tell me that Freyr did something silly again..."

"No, this is something far more serious this time. We may be facing a coup in the near future."

"I see... Wait! What?!"

Both Tyr and Ansuz, who had been quiet so far, were utterly shocked to hear this particular conversation they had days ago, on a supposedly secure line.

"H-How... How on Asgard's name had you gotten hold of that?" demanded Ansuz, slamming her hands on her desk. "It's forbidden to hack on our systems!"

"I did no such thing. There are other ways to obtain that... interesting information, you know. Like... Now... where was it?..." Reaching for the folder on her desk, she searched though the contents and after a while, she recovered a photo of the goddess in question cowering a bit before an agitated Frigg. "Aha! Here it is! A good day in the office, I guess..."

"You have no idea! Mother is very scary when she wants to!" shot Ansuz back at the demoness.

"Oh really? She was my mother-mother-in law at one point of time and I had a perfectly fine relationship with her. If you have problems, then you must seek within yourself for the answers." The smile on Hild's face widened as she watched her friend and rival stare her behind narrowed eyes, while Tyr shook his head.

"Is that some pretentious piece of demonic insight? If my memory serves me right, you spared no expenses to get her favor, including spa trips, extravagant gifts and even her private oasis in Muspelheim!" objected the indignant goddess. "That's cheating! And I'm not going to play the same game!"

"Oh dear... Such hateful accusations!..." gasped Hild in mock hurt. "Those were simple signs of affection, not an attempt to get my mother-in-law on my side or something of that effect. Besides, are you accusing her of being so cheap that she was swayed by such simple means?"

Turning to his wife, the Daitenkaicho shot her a warning look, just in case she took the bait and wanted to retaliate. "I would strongly recommend you to avoid answering that question, Ansuz."

"Don't worry, I'm not stupid enough to do something like that." While Frigg was pleasant and sweet most of the time, she could get downright terrifying and her number of supporters only added to her elevated social status, making her one of the last goddesses that anyone wanted to anger.

"Good." Turning to Hild, the ruler of Asgard knew that asking her more questions about the recording would yield no results. Once again the demonic Intelligence Sector had proved their reputation as one of the best, something that he really wished he could say for his own agency. "What's your point, Hild? If you already knew about this, then you sure didn't make my life any easier. I'm going to have a lot of trouble keeping control of this incident's fallout..."

"Tyr... In situations like these, you need to see the profit no matter how unlikely it seems. While some will rush to declare you an incompetent, this is too early for them to obtain a strong enough support. So, let them have their way... and then crush them." Inspecting her nails, the Daimakaicho had no doubt that the god would simply reject her advice, as it wasn't in his nature to act in such manner.

"I'm not my father." Was the simple answer, making her smirk with satisfaction knowing that she was once more right. "But, if push comes to shove, I might as well do that. I simply cannot allow the situation to destabilize any further."

A stunned silence filled the room, as neither Hild nor Ansuz were fully expecting that response from him, although Surt seemed to be less than impressed, rolling his eyes instead.

"That's actually not a bad decision, Tyr. I just hope that this current setback hadn't canceled our plans for that little help," said Hild, making his wife really curious about the whole matter.

"What help?" asked Ansuz with a frown, giving her husband a pointed look.

"It's a long story. Basically, we're going to get some access to their Intelligence Sector's files. There had been... issues with some of the Councilors lately," reluctantly explained Tyr, not wanting to tell her too much.

"And I wasn't informed because?" That was the part that he didn't want to talk about, let alone mention that Freya was already supposed to be carrying out an investigation on the Councils.

"Don't look at me," said Hild, as his eyes searched for the most likely person to provide some help, or at least a source of distraction. Refusing to give up, Tyr had to rely to the least favorable, but most efficient option for creating some diversion.

"I cannot disclose such information in front of lower ranking demons," said the Daitenkaicho, fully aware that there was at least one demon present who would've to say a few things about his comment. And as regrettable as it was to invite that guy into their civilized conversation, it had to be done.

"You mean, me?" Pointing at himself, the ruler of Muspelheim seemed surprisingly calm to anyone who knew a few things about his otherwise explosive temper. "Nice try, but, I've humiliated you guys enough for single day, you know. Plus, your ex has pretty much embedded her heel on my combat boot, so... My apologies, but, I won't bite..."

As soon as the Daimakaicho's foot had lifted from its previous position, the Eldjotunn felt comfortable enough to go on. "However, if you want I can send you a couple of my masterfully captured selfies while I was effortlessly parading though your realm. I may be a lower ranked demon, but, I'm highly photogenic."

"Was that supposed to be a joke? At least you seem to have gotten slightly less crude than you used to be," shot Tyr back with a shrug.

"Can't really do much more from this distance. If we were face to face, I'd probably sent you back to the bottom of the sea once again, with or without half a volcano's caldera. Sadly, the mortals these days are very touchy about dumping trash into the ocean, so... I'll have to come up with something else," sneered Surt.

"Enough! This isn't some childish exchange!" ordered Hild, rubbing her temples in annoyance. "Although, you deserved it for provoking him, Tyr!"

"I'll have to acknowledge my fault for talking to him. However, I'll have to warn you that this is the last time you'll be able to effortlessly parade in one of my realms," said the Daitenkaicho, glaring at the Eldjotunn.

"Is that a challenge, loser?" spat Surt. "Be careful, or one of these days you're going to find me sitting in your posh chair..."

"I won't even bother counting how many of your kind had made such claims. And yet none of them managed to accomplish anything," said Tyr, shaking his head.

The demon laughed mirthlessly, forming a grin as he stared at the god. "That's because your predecessors had... something that you clearly lack. You weren't even capable of protecting your own marriage... And you think that you can do the same for your realms? Yeah, keep dreaming..."

"I said enough!" This time, everyone fell silent as the Daimakaicho's angry snarl reverberated in the room. "For the sake of our original discussion, I'll have to note that I've got no plans to destabilize the situation, and my subordinates are fully aware of that fact. I won't ever allow anything that would compromise the doublet System and this should be considered as a last resort option for your indifferent attitude towards my warnings. Otherwise, I would've condemned this operation, just like you did. Now... If you want to play around insulting each other, then do it on your own time."

Hitting a button on her console, she ended the call and got up from her seat and headed for the office's enclosed veranda to coll herself off. For a few moments, the two remaining demons in the room quietly stared towards her direction, until one of them turned to the other.

"Congratulations, you've managed to make her really angry..." Crossing her arms, Hagall glared at the ruler of Muspelheim. "Was that even necessary?"

"Now it's my fault? You saw how that supposedly nice guy tried to bait me," objected the Eldjotunn. "I just replied in kind, that's all."

"There were other ways to do that, instead of bringing that subject up," insisted the blonde demoness. "If I were in your position, I would've tried to apologize."

"What for?" Despite his best efforts, trying to get away with it didn't seem likely for the dark haired demon, given the manner his superior was looking at him. "Okay... I got it already..."

Walking towards the veranda, Surt remembered all the times that he had angered her in the past, and given those past experiences, he was fairly certain that he could manage to calm her down easily.

'After all, what could possibly go wrong?'

XXX

Asgard, Yggdrasil command complex

News of Regin's predicament were spreading across the sysops and the administrators like wildfire. It wasn't a secret that over time the arrogant god had made a lot of enemies among his subordinates given his attitude. Whenever something went wrong with the system, he was the first to pin the blame on anyone else but himself. Coupled by the fact that his skills were mediocre at best, it didn't take much for most of them to wonder why in Asgard's name he'd gotten that position in the first place.

Without doubt, he must had the full support of at least one of the Councilors, otherwise it would've been impossible for him to stay as the Head system technician for several millennia.

The only serious concern at the moment was that the replacement was his predecessor, a god whose reputation was so nefarious that some even joked that should he switched sides he would've made the greatest demon of them all. Even worse, there were rumors that some of that god's antics were used as studying material by demon mentors, as a way of teaching the fine art of creating mayhem.

"You know, Thor... While I'm relieved that we got rid of one problem... Another one took its place." Staring at her brother-in-law as he sat on the administrator's chair in the main control room, Sif wondered if this was going to be for the best, after all. While she had no doubts that, Loki was more than skilled enough for this kind of job, his personality was a major concern.

"Can't really blame you. Although, I'd rather have to deal with him instead of that other moron," said her husband, with a shrug. "At least we can yell at this guy as much as we want. No need to be polite and all that nonsense."

"I suppose you've got a point there..." said Sif, knowing all too well that if the trickster misbehaved at any point, she could very well tell Thor about it. He was very efficient at keeping him in line, one way or another.

Meanwhile, the god in question was furiously hitting keys at the mainframe's master console, trying to desperately clear the next line in front of his screen. "Come on you little... I don't need another one of those..."

As the door suddenly opened revealing an agitated Ansuz, the momentary distraction had proven more than enough to cause the haphazardly stacked wall of virtual blocks to reach the top of his screen, resulting in a game over message.

"No!... And I was so close beating Urd's record! Why?..." As melodramatic as he sounded, his visitor didn't seem to notice or even care about the failed attempt at beating the half goddess' rather respectable hi-score at Tetris.

"Loki! Explain yourself!"

Wincing at her furious bellow, the trickster god turned to face his agitated sister-in-law. "May I inquire as to what the problem seems to be?"

"This!" Pointing at her oversized axe, Asgard's second in command tapped her foot impatiently on the floor. "Pray tell me why the Gate is totally inaccessible? I just run a check to see if the transition between the old and the new systems was successful, and I can't seem to activate her at all."

"Oh, that... It's not implemented, yet..." Loki wished that it would've taken them a bit more time until they realized that the Judgement Gate was offline, like a century or so; Asgard's administration just had to be punctual at the absolutely worst time, though.

"You should've told me that earlier, instead of letting me think that there was something wrong with the system," said Ansuz, relaxing a bit. "So, when it's going to be ready?"

"Um... How should I say it?" Wondered Loki, fully aware that she was most likely not going to take the news well. "It's kind of hard to..."

Waiving her hand, she interrupted him. "Just use your own words. This isn't an official report, I merely want a rough estimate."

"Well... in that case, how about by the time I'm going to be the Daitenkaicho?" suggested Loki with a wide smile.

"That's never going to happen," started Ansuz before she paused, realizing the implications of her own words. "Hold on!... You're not planning to fix it?"

"Of course not. A system that had such an elevated access to pretty much everything else? That's one huge security risk that I wouldn't ever want to deal with. Our mainframe's integrity is far more important than enforcing a bunch of stupid rules for the sole purpose of poking our noses in other people's bedrooms," explained Loki.

"What? That's not your decision to make!" objected Ansuz.

"Look... I'm not suggesting to forget about the whole matter. Just that having an automated mechanism that was going to do all the dirty work isn't the best of ideas. If you want an example, take one of the most recent crashes of the Ultimate Force servers. Belldandy's contract with Keiichi had generated a conflict with that particular system, regardless of the restrictions placed on him. And that was only thanks to one goddess staying together with a mortal," explained Loki. "Can you imagine what would've happened if there were more than one couples at the same time?"

"As much as I'd love to agree with you, I can't approve of your practice to simply keep quiet about it. If you had such concerns, then you should've shared them with the others, instead of hoping that we'd never notice it." Glaring at the troublemaker, she tried to consider her options. If he was indeed right and not just trying to cause some ruckus, a different solution needed to be found. "That's it. Come with me and we can discuss it with Tyr."

Fearing that this was going to be a very unpleasant discussion for him, the god decided that he wouldn't go down without a fight, and started for the exit.

"Hey! Where do you think you're going?" asked Ansuz, before she began to chase him. "Loki!"

Looking at the two of them from the sidelines, Sif couldn't help but laugh at the scene that was unfolding before them. "You know... There's something really nostalgic about this."

"True," said Thor with a chuckle. "And not to mention funny, too."

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.

Svartalfheim in Norse legends was the realm of the dark elves. In this story, it's one of the realms under the demons' control. Those include Niflheim, Jotunheim, Muspelheim, Svartalfheim and another unnamed realm.

Gridr was a Jotunn in Norse legends (her name translates as "greed"), who once helped Thor by providing him with a pair of iron gloves and a staff. She was also the mother of Vidarr by Odin. In this story, she's the leader of Svartalfheim and one of Hild's direct subordinates. However, it should be noted that she's not Vidarr's mother here (that would be Frigg).