Demon City Tokyo
Chapter 17
Tokyo Times: January, Mayumi Yamagishi
I'm really surprised I have to tell people this: DO NOT KEEP DEMONS AS PETS.
We got a call involving an attack in the apartments in the better part of town. 'Better' meaning high security and more wealthy residents. We went through security only to be stopped by the building manager, who seemed horrified that women with swords would be invading HER building. Apparently there had been yelling in room 3-200, and police were called. They went in, took one look and ran out, before calling in NERV.
We went upstairs, finding the room which had been sealed off with police tape. Rei lead the way, and quickly found the couple's bodies. Along with what vaguely looked like a Dog Demon. We skewered the thing fairly easily, not that it helped the apartment owners.
Interviewing other residents we found out the couple had caught the demon and took it home, keeping it in a pen in the spare bedroom. They even showed it off as if it was the latest in exotic pets. But at some point it's instincts took over, broke out and killed them both.
Luckily it couldn't get out of the apartment or others would have died.
I repeat: DO NOT KEEP DEMONS AS PETS. It will end badly for you.
"I still can't believe people are that stupid," Mari noted as she read the paper.
"How's that old saying go," Mayumi mused as she ate breakfast, "never underestimate the power of human stupidity?"
Mari snickered loudly.
"Ah, breakfast," Asuka sighed as she walked into the dining hall. "Morning, psycho bitch. Morning, Mayumi."
"Psycho bitch?" Mayumi looked at Mari questioningly. "What did you do THIS time?" she wondered aloud.
"Who says I did ANYTHING?" Mari tried to argue.
Mayumi just gave her a LOOK.
"It was just a friendly sneaking into your bed moment," Mari shrugged.
"And then she booted you right out," Mayumi predicted.
"Yeah," Mari pouted.
Asuka arrived with her tray of food and sat down. "One of these days you are going to try that on someone who is armed," she warned Mari ominously.
"What's life without a bit of danger?" Mari shrugged.
Asuka didn't answer, just growled. She turned to Mayumi, "Congrats on another article getting published."
"Thanks," Mayumi smiled wryly. "The building owners are NOT happy and wrote to my editor to complain about being mentioned," she added.
"They don't want folks knowing their high security building had a breech," Mari guessed, drinking from her cup of tea.
"Exactly," Mayumi agreed.
"Where's Misato?" Asuka changed the subject.
"She's meeting with that new private police service... Yui decided if we're both going to be operating in Tokyo, we need to figure out how best to cooperate," Mari offered.
"Well, more help is always good," Mayumi said a bit dubiously before adding, "assuming they can hack it."
"Coming from 'Miss I Just Joined NERV' that comes across as pretty funny," Asuka teased.
"Yeah, yeah," Mayumi blushed. "Wonder how it's going?" she mused.
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
There was a loud stream of curses as the women fled down the alley. "Well, that went well," Misato noted wryly.
"Oh shut up," Kiddy barked, swiftly reloading the oversized pistol.
Mana was keeping pace as she said a bit breathlessly, "Well, I would say the gun test was somewhat unsuccessful."
Before anyone could add any comments the demon crashed into a wall behind them, staggering a bit. The gun had punched a gaping wound in it's side, but surprisingly hadn't slowed it down much. It seemed to shake off a moment of confusion, then hurry after them.
"I think the 'just shoot them' plan isn't working," Misato added.
"Shut up," Kiddy repeated, turning as they ran and getting another shot off. The gun roared, and the bullet blasted another hole in the demon, this time in the torso. The vaguely humanoid staggered, slowing a bit, then the gap began to close up.
"I'll never get used to that," Misato noted flatly.
"Run faster!" Mana ordered, noting the thing was gaining on them.
The three turned another corner, then hurried to the meeting place. Nami and Lebia were both waiting, each carrying swords. "Get past us," Lebia ordered as Nami readied her katana.
As the woman ran by Nami took a calming breath. Gracefully she swung, the sword a silver blur as the sharpened blade took the demon's head clean off.
The demon staggered to a stop, headless. Then in moments the flesh began to break down, the gunshot wounds re-opening. It was fully dead before the hunters caught their breath.
"Everyone all right?" Nami asked mildly.
"No, I'm embarrassed and pissed off," Kiddy growled.
"Physically all right?" Nami clarified.
"We're fine," Misato smiled wryly, "nicely done."
"So we call NERV for a containment team?" Mana suggested.
"That would be the plan," Misato agreed as she took out her portable phone and called.
"I really thought the 'hunting pistol' would be powerful enough to work," Kiddy grumbled.
"There there," Mana patted her arm.
Putting her phone away Misato noted, "If it helps, the gun did slow it down. That would be useful in certain situations."
"You're just trying to make me feel better," Kiddy noted wryly.
"Is it working?" Misato teased.
After the NERV team helped collect the body, Lebia thankjed Misato for coming out with them. "Sorry things didn't do quite as well as we planned," she noted.
Kiddy grunted.
"It went well. We all made it out alive," Misato offered, shaking everyone's hands before she headed off with the NERV squad.
"Whew," Nami sighed once she was gone.
"I notice you didn't use the new railgun," Lebia noted to Kiddy as they headed off too.
"We've got to keep something in reserve," Kiddy shrugged eloquently.
"I need a drink," Mana sighed...
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
The labs at NERV headquarters were quiet as Ritsuko sat in her office, reviewing the files.
"Miss Akagi, I'm heading home. Do you need anything?" Satsuki Ooi asked politely.
Ritsuko smiled, "No, it's fine. I'll see you tomorrow."
Yui was still anemic as hell, annoyingly. Also under weight. It looked like Ritsuko was going to have to stand over her and make her eat some high in iron and protein foods.
In a jar across from her work space, a piece of youkai swam in a jar of perserving fluid. Even in an airless container with nothing to feed on, the organism struggled to live. It was beautiful, in a disturbing way.
"Rits-chan!" Misato called cheerfully.
"I see you survived your excursion with the AMP," Ritsuko noted.
"Barely," Misato noted. She then gave a blow by blow account of the demon, the shooting incident and all.
"And we're going to have to WORK with these yahoos?" Ritsuko snorted.
"Eh. They're reasonably competant," Misato admitted. "And I wonder if their screwing about was staged a bit, too," she added.
"Let's not get too paranoid," Ritsuko noted. "Checked in with Yui yet?" she asked.
"Yeah, After thanking me, she sent me home," Misato admitted. "Wanna go grab some dinner?"
Ritsuko thought about the paperwork she still had to do. On the other had, it was late and she WAS hungry... "Oh, what the hell," she agreed.
To be continued...
Notes: I'm still batting around how much Ritsuko knows on what Yui is up to. As chief medical officer she HAS to know some, but obviously not about Lilith in the basement. There's also how does her mom Naoko tie into this?
Demon City Tokyo
Chapter Eighteen
Lilith lay in her bed chambers under NERV, casually eating a whole chicken. And raw chicken, at that.
"We could cook it for you," Yui winced as Lilith popped a bleeding bit into her mouth.
"You humans are SO squeamish," Lilith laughed.
"Lorenz Keel was scouting around Japan before he died," Yui said with an artificial sort of calm, "visiting shrines. Do you know what he was looking for?"
Lilith looked amused as she pointed out, "Looking for me, probably. He was unaware you had already found me, dear."
Yui paused as she digested that fact. Annoyingly, she should have thought of that... "Are there other entities like you out there?" she asked.
"No," Lilith grinned savagely, "I ate them."
Yui decided she wasn't going to follow up on THAT fact.
"How did the youkai I made based on Ritsuko turn out?" Lilith asked curiously.
"She's a good lab tech, but she lacks the... viciousness needed in a field agent," Yui admitted with a sigh.
"I did warn you," Lilith noted. She casually finished off the chicken then burped.
"I need more Rei youkai," Yui sighed.
Lilith stretched out her arms, "I'll need your blood, mistress..."
Yui made a face but crawled up onto the bed with her. "Easy on the blood," she added, "Ritsuko is already unhappy I'm so anemic."
"We all must make sacrifices," Lilith looked amused as she bit.
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
Mari was laughing, loudly, as she read something. She was sitting in the rec room, one of several places the Hunters had to rest and relax between missions.
"What's so funny?" Asuka asked, having come in from sparing with Rei. Fighting a youkai like Rei was the closest she could get to fighting a youma.
"The latest dojin from comiket," Mari waved the manga towards Asuka.
"What have they done THIS time?" Asuka demanded, then made a choking noise as she saw the front cover.
Mari, Asuka and Mayumi, in their combat suits, in bed.
"GIVE ME THAT," Asuka snatched it from her hands.
"Pushy pushy," Mari smirked.
It was about as bad as she expected, a 'plot? What plot?' sex-capade where, for no good reason, they tore each other's clothes off and had sex. And apparently they ALL got boob jobs, because other than Mayumi none of them were stacked like that.
"Hot, huh?" Mari teased.
"Are kidding me?" Asuka glared at her.
Mari just laughed, again. "Do you think Mayumi's seen it yet?" she asked.
There was a mostly inarticulate scream of rage from another part of the building.
"I'd say yes..," Asuka sighed.
Yui looked up as Mayumi barged into her office. Her secretary Yuki Nagato looked apologetic, "I couldn't stop her, ma'am..."
"It's okay," Yui waved a bit tiredly.
"DID YOU SEE THIS?" Mayumi yelped, slapping the dojin down on her desk. It flopped open to one of the more graphic pages.
"Do you want me to rate this on content or style?" Yui quipped. She looked at the picture again, "Actually, I'm not sure you can bend like that."
Mayumi snorted in amusement. "I can't believe this," she sighed, deflating a bit.
"Sorry," Yui apologized. "I think Asuka mentioned this had happened to her too?" she added.
"She did," Mayumi admitted. She looked at the slightly lurid book as she added, "I assume there's not much we can do?"
"We could take them to court over this," Yui admitted, "but it would be massively time consuming, especially considering that many of the authors publish under pen-names. I'm not sure it's really worth the effort."
Mayumi smiled faintly, "Would it sway you knowing you're in this too?"
"What." Yui blinked.
"There's a second story with you, Ritsuko and Misato," Mayumi flipped to the back.
Yui blinked. "I don't know if I should be complimented or disturbed...," she noted. "Can I keep this?" she asked.
"Sure, why not," Mayumi sighed. She paused, an odd look on her face.
"What?" Yui asked.
"What am I going to do when my family finds out about this?" Mayumi groaned.
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
"BWA HA HA HA!"
"Stop LAUGHING, Misato," Yui ordered.
Ritsuko was also flipping through the dojin, looking amused. "Is that position even POSSIBLE?" she mused, tilting the book sideways.
"Wanna try it out?" Misato teased.
"You're not that limber," Ritsuko noted.
Misato just laughed, again.
Yui rolled her eyes. "We all know Mari has gotten a hold of this. Knowing her she'll take the best pictures, blow them up and post them around the base," she sighed.
"I'd take that as a compliment," Ritsuko shrugged.
"I'm assuming we can't do anything about it?" Misato asked curiously.
"Mayumi also asked that," Yui admitted. "not really. With how the law is written in Japan, and dojin's have usually been allowed so..." She shrugged eloquently.
"Huh," Misato sighed.
"We're still in discussions with gthe AMP on how we'll be cooperating," Yui changed the subject, "Misato, what was your impression of them?"
"They're more competant than they want us to think," Misato noted. She added, "They set that whole scenario up, including being ready to put the youma down."
"So why use a gun, then?" Ritsuko asked.
"They probably have a gun that they think will work, and plan to surprise us with it," Misato said seriously.
Ritsuko looked at Yui, "Is that possible?"
Yui decided to be honest. "In our tests, the weapons that could do any damage to a youma were completely impractical for field use," she admitted. "Basically, anti-tank weapons."
"Huh." Misato digested that.
"So we could use vehicle mounted weapons to kill them?" Ritsuko asked dangerously.
"Considering how often we have to chase them through buildings and other indoors...," Misato observed mildly.
"Point," Ritsuko conceded, but she still looked unhappy.
Yui nodded as she said, "It appears we have to assume they have something new that they think will do the job."
"Looks like it. I guess we'll have to wait and see," Misato agreed.
Changing the subject Ritsuko said, "I looked at your latest blood tests, Yui. You're still dangerously anemic."
"I...," Yui started.
Misato ignored her, "So Rits and I are taking you out."
"What." Yui blinked.
"We're taking you to one of the few open resturants and feeding you an iron rich meal," Ritsuko said firmly. Yui tried to argue and she continued, "Doctor's orders."
Yui looked at her and Misato, realizing both women looked very determined. And it wasn't like she could tell them that Lilith was draining her blood (and sometimes flesh) to create new youkai.
"Come on," Misato offered her hand.
Yui took it and got up, following the two out of her office. "It better not be a noodle stand," she added, looking at Misato.
"I only did that once!" Misato pouted.
To be continued...
Notes: I'm not totally sure how legal it would be to include 'real' people in a manga. I understand Trump's son got a manga, as an example... and I suspect it might be considered Fair Use as a parody.
Demon City Tokyo
Chapter 19
Video File: Briefing on the Demon Invasion, 2008
"First of all, calling them 'demons' is in fact inaccurate, and might even lead to mistakes," Yui Ikari admitted. "They are in fact aliens, creatures from a parallel Earth that evolved along wildly different lines."
On the screen behind her an image came up of a vaguely humanoid thing. It was gangly, with a face that sort of resembled a bird mask. It's hands were clawed, and dripped with unidentified gore. It was also damn fast, suddenly charging right at whomever was filming it, ending the video clip in a burst of static.
"This is the most common 'warrior' mode we've seen them adopt," Yui noted as the film ended. "It's the one we've seen most often, so far. They are functionally invulnerable to projectile weapons, as well as hugely strong and durable."
"No, we don't know why swords work," Yui answered, "it could be their flesh reacts differently to cutting rather than explosive force." She sighed, "I hate to bring in mythology, but iron supposedly hurts otherworldly things..."
A question was asked and she continued, "No, we don't yet understand their biology. Out attempts to dissect and study them tend to destroy our instruments. And in a few labs, subjects we've thought dead have revived on us."
Yui sighed, "Death, for these things, doesn't seem to mirror what happens with us. We've had reports of these things coming back from massive damage. A human would be dead and in pieces." Grimly she continued, "Destroying the core works. And, somewhat, decapitation."
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
"Huh," Rally Cheyenne shut the recording off. The silver haired woman turned to look at her staff, the women sitting around the table.
It was interesting that, despite years of research and billions spent, there still had been no progress in studying the demons. Though admittedly, the focus had been more on killing the things, rather than study. Still...
"Is it true the portal they came through in Antarctica is still open?" Kiddy Phenil asked, the redhead frowning slightly.
"We think so," Lebia Maverick answered her cautiously, "though no one can get near the site due to the huge storms."
The portal between Earth and the other dimension had stayed open, even after the first wave of monsters hit. Since then a trickle of creatures continued to come through, along with a steady flow of much hotter air. That constant added heat hitting the cold air of the Arctic generated massive storms, as well as screwing up the environment. Weather patterns were changed globaly...
"I'm surprised someone hasn't just nuked it," Kiddy added.
"We have no idea what that would do to the portal," Nami Yamigumo pointed out, "it MIGHT close it... or it might blow it wide open." The shinto priestess looked like a character from an old TV show in her robes, but she was quite sharp.
"Exactly," Rally agreed, "the USA has suggested doing just that, but as we don't know what might happen they've held off."
No one mentioned that the only ones who might know what bombing the portal would do were the SEELE cultists. Sadly they appeared to all be dead, killed by angry mobs when their names were leaked. The last known survivor, Lorenz Keel, had died in Tokyo under mysterious circumstances.
Rally, despite being Keel's kin, also didn't know anything. Worse, the various tomes and such Keel had used had been destroyed when his fortress-like home in Germany burnt down. She suspected Yui Ikari knew more than she let on, but again... she couldn't prove it.
Yuki Saiko returned with coffee for everyone, then the younger woman sat, her long brown hair tied back in a ponytail. She was a telekinetic, quite strong too, but was nervous about trying her powers on actual demons.
"So, starting tomorrow we stop pretending to be regular cops and go full demon hunter?" Lum Cheng asked, the chinese sword user looking eager.
"That's why they've kept us off the street so far," Katsumi Liqueur agreed, the black haired woman smiling grimly.
Katsumi's father, Gigelf, had also been in the SEELE cult with Rally's father. According to papers he left, Gigelf had thought the spells they were casting would help the world. Or so he claimed, Personally Katsumi thought he was either a dupe or a liar.
"So, when are we going to tell NERV we're ready to hunt demons?" Mana Isozaki, their second in command, asked the boss Rally.
Rally smiled wryly, "Probably around the time we start using the railgun handgun."
"Ikari will be very upset," Yuki noted mildly.
"I almost wish we could be there to see her reaction," Kiddy snarked.
"Remember, we're officially working with NERV," Rally reminded them all. "We haven't proved Ikari is behind anything illegal."
"Haven't proved it yet," Lebia added.
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
The eco-crazies and other protesters were around NERV Tokyo again.
It was weird seeing the various groups with all the different signs. There was the religious group that thought NERV was allied with Satan, or more precisely the Whore of Babylon. Animal rights protesters picketed to save demons, oddly enough. And there were groups that objected to the 'obscene' spending NERV did.
Sister Hikari Horaki was there, along with the delegation from the local church. She had joined the order two years ago, after something happened inside NERV. Hikari had been working as a staffer in NERV Tokyo, when running an errand for Yui she accidentally ended up in the subbasements of the building. She didn't remember what she found there... but she had been left gibbering incoherently, whatever happened.
"Repent! Repent from serving the Whore of Babylon!" Hikari yelled, waving a sign.
"Hikari?" a nervous voice asked.
Hikari turned, the young nun blinking. "Kensuke?" she asked, recognizing the boy.
"Hey," Ken Aida smiled back tentatively. "Been awhile."
"It has," Hikari conceded. "I had heard you had some problems," she noted bluntly, "is everything all right now?"
"I'm getting there," Ken admitted. He hesitated then just decided to ask, "I was wondering if you knew what happened to Toji?"
Hikari gave him a sympathetic look, "Yes, you left before he got out of hospital."
Ken flushed a bit.
Mercifully Hikari continued, "His dad got him and his sister out of Tokyo. I think they're in Hokkaido, now..."
"Ah," Ken looked relieved, oddly enough. He explained, "I'm glad they're not here, at least."
The young nun smiled wryly, "Agreed." She scowled at the NERV pyramid as she added, I think Mr Susubara is still working in that monument to evil. You may be able to get Toji's contact information from him."
'Monument to evil?' Ken blinked to himself. Aloud he asked, her "You REALLY don't like NERV, do you?"
"No. They are crossing lines man was not meant to cross," Hikari said firmly.
"Well," Ken bowed to her a bit, "thank you for your help."
"You're welcome," Hikari smiled, then passed him a piece of paper, "take a pamphlet, too."
"Ah, right," Ken agreed.
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
"I STILL find the protesters creepy and weird," Mayumi Yamagashi noted as she drank from a cup of coffee.
She and Mari had been out late last night dealing with a demon hunt, and she had only woken up a little while ago. Demons in general seemed to be mostly nocturnal, though no one was sure exactly why that was.
"Mayumi," Asuka Soryu Langley nodded a tired greeting. She was on her period, so there was no hunting for her. The demons seemed to be able to smell menstrual blood. Worse, the Rei tended to react to it unpredictably.
"Feeling better?" Mayumi asked.
"Very shitty, frankly. Even if I wasn't on hold for hunting, I wouldn't want to go out anyway," Asuka admitted.
"Tylenol?" Mayumi offered.
"I'm already dosed up," Asuka smiled at her, "but thank for the offer. Been up long?"
"Just half an hour or so. My second cup of coffee is starting to kick in," Mayumi held up her cup with a smile.
"How did last night go?" Asuka asked.
"Well, Mari grand standed as usual," Mayumi admitted, "but other than that we managed. It was a generic warrior type."
"Hmm," Asuka sighed. "It still bugs me we haven't found that demon that was nesting," she muttered thoughtfully.
Mayumi nodded slightly. They had swept the area, several times, but had no luck finding the demon. Worse, they both knew that left alone, such a creature would continue to kill.
(Ironically, they were unaware that AMP had actually captured the Demon, and were using it as a weapons test subject. It had died in captivity after being decapitated by Mana, but the NERV agents would remain unaware.)
"And I want to know if they found anything out about the head, too," Mayumi added, being somewhat more interested in the story.
Asuna looked at her curiously, "Gotten breakfast yet?" When Mayumi shook her head Asuna cheerfully continued, "Well, you get that, I'll get lunch and we'll talk."
"Lets," Mayumi agreed.
To be continued...
Demon City Tokyo
Chapter 20
The AMP Press conference was well attended. Rally introduced her organization, emphasized that they planned to work with NERV and demonstrated via video the new Youma killing weapon that they planned to use.
"What is THAT?" Asuka demanded, the chiefs of NERV staff and the three Hunters watching the footage.
In the video Kiddy aimed and pulled the trigger of the bulky pistol. It crackled with lightning as it fired, then the bullet blew a huge hole in the immobilized Youma.
"And can I get one?" Mari asked eagerly.
"MARI," Asuka sighed.
"It's an electromagnetic pistol, a railgun basically," Ritsuko noted. "I'm surprised it doesn't need a longer barrel, though," she muttered.
"I thought you said guns don't work?" Asuka challenged Yui.
"Conventional guns don't," Yui corrected flatly.
"That bullet exploded too," Misato noted as she rewound the images.
Mayumi sighed, "I wish I was there covering that..."
Asuka patted her arm as she said, "Sorry, you and Mari are on call until my period ends."
"So are we switching to guns too?" Mari asked.
"We fight the Youma in close quarters too often. Guns wouldn't be practical," Yui shook her head. She looked over at Misato, "Besides, I think that gun has issues."
Misato quickly cautioned them, "I am not a weapon expert, despite my military experience." After that she continued, "I noticed it has a power cable connecting to a back pack. It must take a lot of juice to fire."
"Very likely," Ritsuko agreed, adding thoughtfully, "it may be how they're making up for it being pistol sized too."
"I saw no clip or other ammo container, and from the size of the muzzle it's firing big bullets. They may be one shot, then reload," Misato mused.
"That would be a bitch if you fumbled your shot," Mari noted.
"Could carry multiple, pre-loaded guns but...yeah," Asuka said.
"Now, this is not a standard gun, correct?" Mayumi asked thoughtfully.
"Correct," Misato agreed.
"So the bullets and gun are all prototypes. And if there's a manufacture failure... you're hosed?" Mayumi mused.
"Exactly," Misato agreed.
"Can I go over this with you later?" Mayumi asked, "I think I feel a story coming on."
Misato looked at Yui, "Sure, go ahead."
As the two women left Asuka frowned. She had wanted to ask Mayumi out for coffee or something... guess not.
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
"Portable Railgun" the newspaper headline read the next day, "Miracle Weapon or Accident Waiting to Happen?"
"I'm REALLY beginning to dislike this reporter," Kiddy growled as she crumpled the paper in her hands then threw it in the trash.
"I though you already hated her?" Nami noted mildly.
"I hate her MORE," Kiddy grumped.
Lebia sighed, "Calm down. It's not like it's a hit piece or deliberately inaccurate. We've had all the problems she suggested."
Kiddy growled but couldn't really argue.
The new gun was, to be blunt, rather finicky. The 'railgun' mechanism could break. The power cables could go. The bullets could not detonate on impact. The bullets could JAM in the barrel, which usually resulted in the gun EXPLODING. So far, Kiddy and Lebia were the only ones crazy enough to actually use the gun.
"We'll work the bugs out, in a year everyone will want one," Kiddy pouted.
Nami snorted at that.
"All right everyone," Rally said briskly, "the press conference went well, and we've gotten feelers about operating in other cities."
"How many dried up after that article?" Kiddy grumbled.
Rally ignored that. "We've made arrangements to deploy with NERV the next time a Youma appears," she added.
"And won't that be fun," Nami murmured.
"I expect everyone to be professional," Rally finished.
Lebia and Kiddy exchanged a look as the boss left. "I need a drink," Kiddy sighed.
"Right there with ya...," Lebia also sighed.
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
The bar that the undercover AMP opened in Tokyo was still thriving, interestingly enough. People needed to drink, and they provided beer and semi-illegal booze at reasonable prices. And the city would rather have an illegal bar they could keep a eye on, rather than close it and have another pop up they didn't know about.
"NO, I will NOT talk like a stereotypical Chinese," Lum Cheng growled, the muscular young woman scowling. She had taken over tending bar as her seniors were now actively monster hunting. It was annoying...
"Do you want her to kick your ass?" Robert DeVice added, the bouncer kind of looming over the dude.
"Not even a 'no-dah?" the weasily man asked.
They chucked him out after that.
"Fuck I need a drink," Mari noted as she walked up to the bar.
"You," Lum scowled.
"Me," Mari agreed as she put money on the counter. "Beer me."
With a frown, Lum poured the other woman a beer. "Aren't you supposed to be on monster hunting duty?" she asked.
"They can page me," Mari shrugged casually.
Mari sat down at one of the bar stools and checked out the action. Sadly it was mostly just geezers, NERV staff, city officials and an undercover cop. Seriously, lady, no one wears shoes like THAT to a illegal bar.
Nice body tho.
The cop noticed Mari looking and flinched a bit. Yup, total rookie. Mari lazily, sexily licked her lips, and the woman blushed furiously.
Lum forcefully wiped down the bar, scowling, and Mari smirked back. Lum blushed a bit and then looked away.
A few weeks ago, she and Lum had been the last ones in the bar. After an evening of flirting and snarking, they ended up back at Lum's apartment. Turns out the woman was a WILDCAT in bed. They ended up doing it for hours. Top it off, Lum liked being spanked...
"Don't get any ideas," Lum threatened.
Mari suggestively slapped her hand on the counter, and Lum glared at her.
(Mari hung out until closing, she and Lum left together and ended up hate-fucking until dawn.)
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
In her chambers under NERV, Lilith felt amusement as she 'saw' Lum and Mari going at it.
In theory, Lilith was confined under NERV, sealed in these special chambers Yui built and had mystically warded by Shinto, Buddhists and Christian priests.
In practice, not so much.
Each Yokai she and Yui created was her flesh and blood, too. So they carried her essence out into the city, as well as anywhere else the hunters went.
There were places she couldn't 'see' into. Sister Hikari Horaki cleaned her family apartment so religiously (heh) that not a cell of Lilith had entered. But generally she could see into almost any home and watch the goings on. And even push people's behaviours a bit.
Lust, she found, was a heady drink, especially from humans. It was really astonishing how easily you could lead these supposedly wise beings around by their gonads.
Out in Tokyo, the Mayor was engaging in an affair, despite being married. Rally Cheyenne would find out about it, and hold it over his head.
Ritsuko Akagi would, every few weeks, meet with a high class prostitute for 'stress relief'. Said woman would dress in a relica of a Hunter's uniform, and top her.
Katsumi of the AMP had a healthy and vigorous sex life with her boyfriend, Robert. She ALSO had vigorous sex with her co-worker, Kiddy, whom Robert was unaware of. Kiddy WAS aware of him, and wasn't sure how she felt being the 'other woman'...
Lilith was also PROFINDLY amused by Asuka and Mayumi's clumsy courtship. She was deliberately not messing with them just because the awkwardness was so funny.
The elevator pinged, and Lilith grinned. Yui was coming... even more fun.
To be continued...
Notes: I have this kind of silly mental image of Lilith eating popcorn while watching the romantic goings on.