"Can you tell us the cause of the nuclear blast that destroyed the refugee camps at Okinawa?" a reporter asked loudly, trying to be heard over the gathered journalists.
"Is it true that the government has been using a private military organization in these conflicts?" another question called out.
"Can you say what you plan to do about the so-called demons that have taken up control of various third world nations?"
"Ladies and gentlemen," President Hayes said. "Let's calm down and take questions one at a time. I'll start with the nuclear blast in Okinawa. That was an isolated incident of terrorism unrelated to the current situation. The perpetrator has been dealt with, his known subordinates are in custody though his motives still remain unclear. For more details that particular incident will likely be unclassified in short time. So just have patience."
"And the rumors of your use of a privately funded paramilitary group?" was the next question.
"Many governments and organizations make use of such groups regularly," Hayes said. "So you'd have to be more specific."
"We've heard reports of a group that calls itself Mithril," the reporter clarified.
"You mean like the fictional metal in the Lord of the Rings?" Hayes asked. "That's a catchy name, we'll have to look into it. I can say that the United States has not made use of a group of such name."
The UN, Japan, private organizations with various countries and other such parties, however, had.
"And I guess I might as well discuss the Demons that are scattered about taking over countries here and there," Hayes said. "I believe steps are already in the process to address that issue. They form one of three of our major problems right now. We have the group you already mentioned, we have the rebel Gods which now seem to be fighting amongst themselves for control of Japan, and we have the fact that we are apparently going to have recapture Nifelheim from remnants of the repulsed attacks."
He paused and continued.
"Since we are mostly clear of the criminals and rebels," Hayes noted. "We're going to be supporting the other nations now. We are already helping Japan."
"And what is your opinion of these...aliens claiming to be God?" a familiar voice asked.
"Ahhh, Vice President Kinsey, glad to hear from your voice," Hayes noted. "Though I don't think you're a member of the press."
There was a low twitter of laughter.
"You haven't answered the question," Kinsey noted.
"Robert," Hayes said. "We've already discussed this in private. Are you sure you want to bring this out."
"I think it needs to be brought out," Kinsey responded. "I think we need to discuss these beings that seem to be claiming to be our superiors and asking us to fight for their war."
"Robert," Hayes said. "These beings came to us for help, the Demons basically gave up sovereign rights and said they were unable to protect their own people without help because of the casualties they sustained in the first attack on their worlds. They are fighting on the front lines alongside or ahead of our soldiers and the leaders of this venture are ultimately human beings."
"They came to us for help," Kinsey responded. "You just said it yourself."
"Right," Hayes noted. "And the help they asked for is protection of their civilians while they help us protect ours. I don't think the people that came to New York screaming 'time to wipe you monkeys off of our planet' would have left us alone because we didn't help the other Demons. We are the primary target, they're just in the way."
"And there is still the other question," Robert noted. "The First Commandment reads 'I am the Lord, thy God, though shalt have no other Gods before me. And yet we have people now walking around unabashedly calling themselves 'God', pagan Gods at that, or, worse, 'Demon' who are supposed to be enemies to Our Lord, and yet we're supposed be working for these imposters?"
Hayes lifted a hand and then gestured off the stage as he started talking and an aide brought a folder up to his podium and several other aides started distributing them to the various reporters.
"Now this, I knew someone would ask," he said with a smile. "What you're getting is some statistics we've taken from the Immortal refugees in our borders and some of their leaders. And I'd like to remind you, God is a word from a language that didn't properly exist at the time Christ walked the Earth. It is a word that we use to avoid breaking that Second Commandment about using his name in vain. The meaning of the word itself is a powerful spirit embodying a force of nature."
He paused and let the folders be distributed for a moment.
*************
"These criminals and rebels attacked when many of our ancestors were taking the time to reincarnate," a Japanese man said vehemently. "Amaterasu, Susano-o, Inari, and amongst the Westerners, Hel, Artemis, Vidar, Tyr, Samedi and many others. Are we to be frightened by these cowards who act when the greatest of the Immortals have chosen to become children and relive life?"
***************
Hel limped forward quietly ahead of Natsume as they approached the small crowd of people gathering near a building at the edge of the devastation. As she saw faces, she saw a plethora of the physical expressions of a death seer.
Perhaps a third had red eyes of some sort. Others had pale skin compared to most of their ethnicity, or much darker skin. Many were slender with a somewhat underfed look.
She held back and frowned momentarily.
"Are you okay?" Natsume asked.
"There are...a lot of ghosts," Hel said quietly as she leaned on her crutch.
"Isn't she a little young for this sort of thing?" someone asked coming around behind Natsume and looking down at the little crippled girl. "This could get..."
He stopped as he took in the red-marks on the girl's face.
"A Demon--?" he asked.
******************
"Actually, one of my good friends' family includes both Demons and Gods," Nabiki told the reporter. "And they regard her, a human as their head of clan. So I don't think I have any trouble at all with them as a whole."
"So you've known about these for some time the war started?" the reporter asked.
"Given the number that live on Earth from what I can tell," Nabiki said. "I'm guessing that a lot of people knew a long time before any of this."
"Then why not say anything?" the reporter asked.
"Because no one would believe," Nabiki said. "Because if someone did believe, maybe a friend or family member would be attacked as a monster or imposter. They weren't hurting anybody, so why raise a fuss. Most of them still aren't hurting anybody."
******************
"And this is the image we have for Zeus, God of Lightning," the man on the TV said sarcastically. "Do not attempt to approach this person. Do not talk to him or get his attention. If you see him report the sighting immediately to the nearest law enforcement personnel immediately..."
*******************
Mara blinked awake as light streamed in past the traces of incense that still hung in her room's air. Stiffly, more from anticipation than any real pain, she twisted herself around on the bed and stood up.
The Demoness blinked in surprise at how refreshed she felt.
Looking over her arms and what she could see of herself, most of the bruising and blood blisters were gone. She didn't feel on the verge of falling apart.
That meant she was just about ready to go back into the grinder again.
Walking out into the front room of her quarters, she really hoped her pad in Tokyo survived. Any of them really. She missed the space.
"Oh good, you're awake," a yawning voice said, bringing Mara to a stop.
Melissa Mao was in her room, and suddenly she remembered her last conversation before going to sleep.
"How about you?" Mara asked. "Are you lucid?"
"What are you talking about?" Mao asked.
"When Ranma brought you here you were trying to push sharing he...him," Mara said emphasizing the word sharing. "And finding a lesbian so that she can satisfy that part of her."
Mao stared at Mara slack jawed for a moment.
"Was he...upset?" Mao asked, considering that that might have been a...touchy subject.
Mara walked over and leaned on the couch where Mao was sitting.
"He sounded more like he was worried he should have left you in medical," the Demoness said.
"Oh thank God," Mao said, shaking her head. "Well, you know what I mean."
"Ah, don't worry, I'm Protestant," she said. "I believe in the big guy. Anyway, you had a big hole put in your shoulder, so even with a God healing you, you're probably looking at another day of bedrest. I meanwhile have things to attend to."
She started to stand up and walk to the door.
"And what do you think about what I said," Mao asked before Mara could open her door.
The Demoness stopped, fought down a brief flush and turned around.
"Hardly uncommon among Immortals," she said. "Even with Gods, a life-time commitment is rare. For Demons it's mostly a civilian thing when it happens at all."
"You don't have any long-term commitments?" Mao asked suddenly. "Just a bunch of swingers?"
"Long-term, yes," the blonde said. "For five years, ten years, maybe an entire incarnation. But life-time. That's eternal for us, potentially. That kind of commitment is rare."
"So what you're saying is that you'd be willing to take a try," Mao responded with a smirk.
Mara grimaced and shook her head with a flush.
"I've got meetings to attend to," Mara muttered under her breath as she walked out the door.
Melissa smiled and stretched back on the sofa. The Demoness was easy to tease.
**************
Moloch stared at the gathering of other Nifelheim residents in front of him, waiting on Mara. It was odd, Mara wasn't someone he'd pegged as being the one to take up Hild's mantle. She was something of a screw up by reputation. Though the fact that she had gotten to category one said that she had a better track record than reputation indicated.
Still, reputation counted for a lot, so why were they following her lead?
"Where is..." Vanth started to say.
And that's when Mara walked into the room, Yomiko Readman coming in behind her and taking notes as Mara read through a file and started talking.
"There's an overall campaign meeting this evening after the DisPater's have their little discussion," Mara said without prelude. "Everyone is aware of that?"
There were immediate confirmations of the statement.
"All right," Mara said. "Moloch, you're going to introduce Ays to Wraith and help her brief him on the situation there. He's going to be replacing you as command of the Shadows there."
He grimaced slightly at that. He'd gotten used to working with the human and her people.
"Wouldn't it be better to leave there and move Ays wherever you want me," he asked.
"Ays doesn't know the Abyss's lockdown procedure," Mara said. "When you're done in Tokyo, get back here so you can be the Shadow in charge for the invasion to Nifelheim."
She paused and looked up toward him.
"Captain Testarossa is the strategist there, General Hammond is the overall commander," Mara said. "So that's Socrates and Mithril, while you're helping them, we're good with them in charge, got it?"
Which meant he was going to be asked to look for anything that suggested less trustworthy people involving themselves.
"Naiki Satomi will be helping you," she noted.
Which meant that Captain Testarossa would hear everything he found out for the most part.
"Vanth, as soon as the DisPater family get done with their meeting," she said. "They're heading to Okinawa along with all the other death seers that Psyche called up for that. I'm sure there'll be a handful of ghosts that will be difficult to deal with. They might have some desire for revenge or to protect others or something."
Vanth nodded nervously having just been told to very politely and quietly recruit from the dead. Neither Asgard nor human death seers appreciated the concept of using ghosts for a seer's own ends.
"Alastor," she said, turning to the Mediterranean Demon. "How's public image going?"
"It depends on where and what groups," Alastor said. "Certain...losses we've sustained have engendered some sympathy. Unfortunately, there are some groups that are calling for us not to be trusted. Ironically enough..."
"...a lot of them are the religious organizations favored by those Demons that follow human worship," Mara finished. "I'll have to talk to you on a more detailed level about that coming up. On to assignments again. Ammitt, you're going to be working with Colonel O'Neil and dealing with the rebels that are still here on Earth."
She looked up and closed the folder in her hand.
"And I am heading back into the Nidhog network," she said. "Any questions as to who's responsible for what?"
"No, I think everything is clear," Moloch said.
And that was why Mara was leading them, because she was the only one that had an idea of what to do and wasn't hesitating to say anything.
"All right," the Demoness said. "Moloch, you're getting as many as three out of ten of the Shadows available, first choice. Alastor, make sure she has the Faustians she'll need to watch everything, at least fifteen good ones."
Alastor nodded in response.
"Also, Readman, what's the word?" Mara asked, turning to look back at the human.
"Director Satomi has already confirmed that Moloch is who to go for with reports," she said. "However, a lot of us aren't exactly...military in manner."
"That's fine," Moloch said, "I'm used to solo operators."
Mara nodded and went back to speaking.
"Vanth is the exception to Moloch's first choice, any death seer, with her," Mara said. "Ammitt has the next choice followed by Ays. As to Rakshasha..." she grimaced. "Bodyguard. Anybody with a rank, anybody with a command. They get their back watched, got it? Until we got our network back, that's what we can best do."
She glanced around, standing up straight.
"Reports still come to me," Mara said. "And I'll be in Nidhog, so you should be able to find me whereever, I'll be in Silmaril to make it easier and safer to get to me, the location will be provided once established. If you can't get to me for whatever reason, get it to Readman behind me. She'll get it to Satomi and you know damn well I'll hear about it then. And it's..." she looked down. "...eight hours to the campaign meeting. Get going."
As the Demons started disappearing to their various tasks, Mara glanced back at Readman, frowned and glanced back again.
"Readman," she said.
"Yes, Miss Geisthexe," the woman asked as she finished noting some things down.
"What do you think about your boss?" Mara asked.
"Director Satomi?" Yomiko asked rhetorically before thinking about it. "Quite an interesting person, without speaking of things regarded as private, Ranma seems to have a unique understanding and appreciation of self in terms of both flaws and strengths. An odd mix of confidence bordering on arrogance and self-mocking humility."
"Uh huh," Mara said, following that but not finding it terribly enlightening. "And..."
She grimaced as she considered that she was actually asking.
"...there's no...attraction?" Mara asked.
"Not that I've noticed," Yomiko said. "Director Satomi has always been...oddly familiar but respectful of me."
Mara nodded and shook her head. Well, she missed the point of the question entirely which probably meant that Mao's drugged ramblings were off base.
"Okay, you've got to report this to Ranma," the blonde said. "I've got to put together a couple thousand code-monkeys into something resembling a coherent group."
"Right, Miss Geisthexe," Yomiko said.
****************
Kaname sat quietly in the room with what was going to be the people in charge of this run into Nidhog and wondered why she was here.
"What!?" Skuld's shrill, surprised tone came as she walked into the room and saw someone else there. "Urd? Big sister? Wh...what are you doing here?"
"We're going to help the Demons recover their network," Belldandy explained.
"Think about it kiddo, that's our normal job anyway," Urd said.
"But...I was..." Skuld sighed and moved to sit down.
"Wow," Megumi said, looking around. "Gods, Demons, Ainur...all of us computer geeks and programming types. And these are just the big guns here."
"But why am I here?" Kaname asked.
"As I read the report," Major Carter said coming up behind her. "You were one of the first to just dive into the data, weren't you."
"She probably didn't know it came with risk of exploding blood vessels," McKay muttered.
"Actually, I did," Kaname noted.
The door opened and Mara looked in, already looking focused.
"Hey," Mara said. "Thanks for coming, this is about to get...touchy. We're not making little forays this time, but going in full force."
"Yeah," McKay said, "And might I note, Nidhog, is a mess, a confused bloody mess that has been pulled a thousand different ways."
Mara frowned and looked toward McKay.
"Let me actually finish my objective list before we start tearing apart plans that we haven't made yet," Mara said.
"I'm just saying..."
Mara pulled something out of her pocket and held out toward McKay. Kaname thought it was an orange.
"I have citrus and I know how to use it," she warned.
"Uh...just a note, I'm...really rather...allergic to..." McKay said nervously.
"So you'll let her talk then, right McKay?" Samantha Carter asked wearily.
"Umm right," McKay said. "Go ahead."
"All right then," Mara said. "Here's what we need to do: fix Nidhog and shut off the category one permissions to the various rebels up there."
She paused as she held up two fingers.
"Here's what our problem is," the Demoness said. "They're probably trying to fix it themselves. Which means they have people in the system. And since most of them are going to be really skilled at viruses, that means we're going to need to defend whoever we got fixing Nidhog. And we're also going to need to be attacking them and probably defending the place where Silmaril goes into Nidhog."
She paused and looked toward Kaname.
"The last thing we need is for either Naiki Satomi or Captain Testarossa to be taken out of the equation," she noted. "So...the problems and objectives listed. Let's get started on organization and drawing up plans."
"How long do we have before you want to act?" McKay asked. "Because I thought you wanted to go back in today."
"Yeah, when I was working with thirty Demons, Kaname and Megumi," Mara said.
"An operation of this side is going to take more coordination," Carter said. "Most of our programmers are used to working in concert, how about yours."
"Us as well," Belldandy said. "Coordinated defense and maintenance is common."
"Most Demonic Viral experts are lone guns," Mara said. "And I think Kaname falls into that regard as well."
"I'm a what?" Kaname asked.
"Given the potential consequences, nobody should go alone, whatever their skill," Carter said. "Groups of four, minimum, like a Socrates away team."
"All right," Mara said, nodding and listening.
"I'd suggest that Asgard is the best at maintaining and cleaning code," Belldandy noted. "However, we have minimal experience with Nidhog code. Base four, correct?"
"Right," Mara said. "Just like our brains default to."
"Base...that's why it looked so inefficient," Rodney noted.
Mara winced at the indirect implication of her thinking inefficiently.
"Rodney," Carter said.
"What, I'm just saying that it's a rather prone to jumping to conclusions and..." he paused as Mara started tossing the orange in her hand up and down.
"Base four means true, probably true, probably false, false," Carter suggested. "Correct?"
"That's normal," Mara said.
"We can handle it," Carter said.
"I've been handling it," Megumi noted.
"Shouldn't the first thing we do be to figure out exactly what we have in terms of people?" Kaname asked.
"Good point," Mara said rubbing her head. "Everybody has their list of what they're bringing? I've got the Psyche and Nifelheim lists."
"We have the Socrates Group lists," Major Carter said.
"And Asgard lists," Belldandy noted.
"What does Psyche have to do with this?" Kaname asked.
"Exorcists, purifiers and curse-makers," Mara said simply.
"Okay, let's get together and organize by skill sets then," Carter suggested.
Mara nodded and turned toward Skuld.
"Hey, keep track of things for us okay?" she asked. "This is very important, we need an accurate picture of who we can trust as defenders, attackers and repair staff."
"Right!" Skuld said nodding as her complaint was bitten down with the "very important" comment.
"Do you have a working network map of Nidhog?" McKay asked.
"I don't think anyone does at this point," Mara said. "Add recon to the list of things needing done and focus on the skill sets for now."
