"We've had repeated anomalies in the system relating to the same general area," Ere said, walking over to where Peorth was handling the paperwork end of their administrative task. "The system has it pegged as a virus."
"What are you telling me this for?" Peorth asked. "Purge it and move on."
"We've been trying," the other goddess said. "But after the automatic defenses suppress it...them we can find no trace of where it is."
"Them? Let me see the system logs in question," Peorth said frowning.
"Right, Peorth-sama," Ere said, calling up the requested information. "We've identified two at least, though one has only made a single incursion into the systems. The other is much more active, making five incursions into Yggdrasil systems and briefly infecting the file of one mortal."
Peorth frowned deeper as she took in the information and called up another screen. After a few moments of searching she found what she was looking for and displayed the recalled system log side by side with the one provided her by Ere and then she focused on a specific event.
"Does this look familiar?" Peorth asked.
"Well, it's almost exactly the same," Ere said. "Except for the lack of anti-viral activity. Is this an example of the virus before we identified it?"
"No," Peorth said. "It's an access record for a second class healing spell."
Ere blinked in surprise.
"There's no file reference link," Peorth noted. "That's why the system is mistaking it for a virus. This is a process by an orphaned file."
"What could cause that?" Ere asked.
"A few things," Peorth said. "An improperly processed demonic defector, a renegade god trying to stay out of sight, a cursed or improperly trained mortal. A few others."
"But the anti-virus defenses go into effect each time," Ere noted. "Can that be harmful?"
"Lethal," Peorth noted. "We can't deal with this without a file reference link. Speak to Kali, ask if one of her...immigrants is having magic troubles, and get me someone from security here."
"Anything else, Peorth-sama?" Ere asked.
"The mortal that was 'infected' briefly," Peorth said. "We'll need to send someone to speak with her."
"Yes, I have her file right here," Ere said, calling it up. "Oh, how lucky. She lives near the Norns."
Peorth fought the urge to growl at her subordinate.
****
Hild smiled as she read the files in front of her.
It was amazing what could be found by rooting around in the mass of Yggdrasil's operations.
Whole files wandering unlinked. People lost and forgotten by Heaven it would seem.
She moved through the four files curiously, looking for something she could use out of this discovery.
There were innumerable ways she could manipulate the discovery, but mostly in terms of indirect manipulation.
The sky-spawn was too much a danger. She could recruit him easy enough. He was arrogant enough and carried a self-righteous attitude toward anyone that hurt people he cared about. She could tell he shared the opinion of her and other demons that people who were undeserving should be punished for their sins. However, it was exactly that that she couldn't trust to take him on.
The boy would be hard to control. He might one day decide to take on his father and take the smug rapist out of the picture.
Neither Hild nor many other demons or gods would mourn the death of Zeus. Several on both sides had suffered the "pleasure" of his attentions in the past and there were a number of brothers, sisters, husbands, lovers and children that would love to see him gone.
Unfortunately, there were two things preventing the massacre the bastard deserved.
The first was that, even with a restricted license, Zeus was one of the most powerful beings in existence.
A class of his own among first class Gods.
He was prophesized to die at the hands of one of his children, but it had been tried before. No one was quite willing to make the attack on him.
At least not yet.
Then there was the doublet system.
Granted, if Hild were Kami-sama, she would have done what she could to insure that bastards like Zeus weren't part of the hostage system, but, unfortunately, the way it worked, not even her and Kami-sama knew who was part of a doublet and who wasn't. Killing Zeus quite possibly meant killing one of her own.
She'd rather not have an operative that was likely to start such a dissatisfying operation.
The mother and dark-spawn were too compassionate and protective toward others, all others. Hild respected such people and their belief in the basic goodness of a soul. However, she considered such people naive. Even this neo-woman and her daughter who were willing to kill to protect others were naive, if less so than the Gods. They mourned the fact that they had to cause those deaths, regardless of the fact that the ones they killed deserved it.
Contrary to popular belief, demons did not consider themselves evil for the most part. There were the odd demon that fit the sadistic, malevolent stereotypes, just like their were gods like Zeus in heaven, however, Demons, for the most part were marked by a particular ideology.
Happiness was finite.
And there wasn't enough for everyone.
If the person next to you was happy, then there was less happiness for you.
There had to be a regulation of who was happy and who wasn't.
Some people didn't deserve to be happy, and they had to be kept from being so. Others didn't deserve even life, much less happiness.
So they cursed the ones they felt worthless and encouraged the humans they interacted with to do likewise.
Unfortunately, those ideals would not sit well with either this mother or her youngest daughter.
But the sea-spawn.
She was reckless, eager to prove herself and protect her family. She wasn't one for holding a pointless grudge and she was just on the fencepost of agreeing with her mother on the matter of the sanctity of life...and whether all people deserved protection.
She'd make a great agent. Assuming she could be taught to be more cautious after using her recklessness to recruit her.
The only problem was that it was very, very convenient for her subordinates to stumble on a lost file before heaven did. While she couldn't look a gift horse in the mouth, there seemed to be something that smelled in all of this.
Of course, the best way to pick out a trap was to walk into it knowingly.
****
Zeus turned about and looked toward the sound of clicking heels as it echoed through his home.
Striding in to his pristine cloud-specked palace, a blood-haired woman dressed in tight leathers and stilleto heeled boots. The stench of blood seemed to cling about her as she came close to the smirking bearded figure of the old god.
"Morrigan," he said turning in his desk. "To what do I owe the pleasure of this visit?"
"I've just had a breakthrough in a case I'm working on," Morrigan said coolly.
"What case is that?" Zeus asked, smiling.
"The disappearance of Ranma Saotome," Morrigan noted.
"Since when do the Eyes of Ra care about the comings and goings of mortals," Zeus asked.
"Since a God breaks the rules and treats them like toys," Morrigan noted. She leaned forward onto his desk and stared into his face. "Until recently we'd been looking at the Chinese and Japanese, but someone recently messed around with a Musk Prince's dreams. They obscured the nature of the dreams and their name, but they left their legacy regional markers untouched. So we know it was Greek this time."
They stared at each other, Morrigan glaring into Zeus smug face.
"And because its Greek, you think it has to be me?" Zeus asked lightly.
"The disappearance of exceptional young maidens is your specialty, isn't it?" Morrigan asked.
"Last I heard, Ranma Saotome was male," Zeus protested.
"With a jusenkyo curse," Morrigan reminded him. "One that gives him a particularly attractive appearance."
"Please," Zeus noted. "I haven't played games like that since the old days when your precious 'rules' weren't even an idea yet."
"Get over yourself, Zeus," Morrigan said. "Even that long ago most of us kept a leash on our baser instincts."
"And the smell of blood around you is certainly evidence of that," Zeus taunted.
Morrigan remained unphased.
"This isn't about that incident with your granddaughter a few centuries ago, is it?" Zeus asked.
At that Morrigan growled and slammed her hand down on the desk, shattering it under her open palm.
"I'm going to find this mortal, Zeus," Morrigan said. "And when I do, she's going to give me what I need. You'll be saying goodbye to this luxury and hello to tartarus. Forever, if I have my say. I was angry enough that these games were going on, but now that I know it was you. This is personal."
Zeus stood up and smiled into her face.
"You want me to make a move, don't you," Zeus asked. "Grab your chin like the petulant woman you are and silence you with a kiss so that you can scream to your mortal-lover's clubhouse that I attacked you. This little threat and trick of yours is as transparent as your breath."
"I'm Morrigan, I don't bluff or threaten," she said firmly. "I promise."
And with that, she turned around and walked out the way she came.
****
Hecate smirked.
Everything was moving into place perfectly.
She was going to have to hide herself soon, but by then her part would be finished.
And Heaven and Hell would be a closer step to being back what they were supposed to be.
