Bubblegum Crisis Tokyo 2040 Fan Fiction ❯ A Goddess Comes to Call ❯ Chapter 15

Part Twelve

She only felt a faint tingle on her skin as she passed through all the protective barriers, and Mara smiled to herself happily. 'It worked like a charm,' she smugly thought, safely hidden within Nene's body.

Rummaging through Nene's more recent memories, Mara activated the hidden elevator and then descended into the hidden depths of the Silky Doll building. She quickly made her way into the computer center, and then went to work. Drawing on her own supernatural abilities and combining it with Nene's hacking skills, she combed through networks, finding and destroying all records of herself and the goddesses.

'Go suck on that, Jacobson,' Mara smiled to herself.

Denying him any more data was the least she could do to him. A thought struck her, she wasn't sure if it was hers or Nene's, but she rather liked it. The virus was quickly crafted, and with a flick of a switch it was on it's way to Genom's computers.

Her fingers moved like a blur on the keyboard, and in moments pages of data accumulated. Soon, a complete file on Jacobson and his department had formed, which Mara then tagged with a seal only Sylia's retina pattern could open. 'She'll know what to do with this,' Mara thought.

She stretched, and then Mara looked thoughtful. 'Now that I've done what I came for, the reasonable thing to do would be to get out of here and then leave this body,' she thought. A grin appeared on her face, 'But I've never liked doing the reasonable thing.'

A soft knock on the door, and Mara answered, "Yes?"

Sylia pushed the door open, "Oh, Nene. What are you doing?"

"I was trying to do more research," Mara answered, trying not to smile, "but somehow, the data on Mara and the Goddesses has disappeared!"

"What?" Sylia said, sounding rather surprised. She quickly bent over the terminal, not incidentally brushing her chest against Nene's cheek.

Mara tried not to sigh at the sensation, it would be totally out of character for Nene. "Any luck?" she asked, as Sylia worked with a frown.

"It's all gone," Sylia frowned. Her eyes widened as she noticed a file she hadn't seen before. A casual check showed the lock, keyed to her retina pattern.

"I'll step outside," Mara volunteered. Sylia nodded absentmindedly, as Mara stepped out into the hallway and walked off to get a snack.

Skuld came up the hallway, wearing what looked like a Hardsuit helmet with a lot of add-ons. It beeped softly, getting louder as she got nearer to Mara. "My demon sensor's picking up something," Skuld said eagerly. But her face fell as she realized it was just picking up Nene.

"It must be on the fritz," Mara grinned.

Skuld took the helmet off, and hit it with her fist. It stopped working completely after that, "Why, you!" Skuld stomped off, muttering under her breath.

Mara chuckled devilishly and looked around, trying to decide what else to do. A wicked idea struck her: why not check out the competition? She headed back to the elevator, and then headed down to the repair bays, and Nigel.



"And you're saying that Skuld helped build this?" Priss said, walking around the sleek, oversized motorcycle.

"Yep," Nigel nodded.

"It's not rigged to explode or something?" Priss asked him dubiously.

"Skuld doesn't dislike you that much," Urd protested, sounding quite amused.

"Urd, her idea of problem solving is tossing in one of her 'Skuld- bombs' and running," Priss said with a smile.

"Ran some tests," Nigel said deadpan, "checks out fine."

"Does he always talk like that?" Urd asked Priss quietly.

"Pretty much," Priss answered her. She stepped up and moved to get on the bike when Nigel shook his head, no. "What?" she asked, surprised.

"Supposed to be in Hardsuit," Nigel explained.

Priss looked at the bike thoughtfully, realizing why it was so large. "What's with the hookups?" she asked, noticing the cables attached.

"Keeps the suit charged," Nigel shrugged. He pointed out other figures in his typical style, including onboard weapon systems.

"Not a bad idea," Urd admitted, looking at the bike admiringly.

The elevator opened, and Nene stepped out only to stop for a moment when she saw Urd and Priss there. "Hi Priss, Urd," Mara said, smiling at them both. 'I didn't want to run into Urd,' she fretted, wondering if Urd could spot her.

"Hey, Nene," Priss said absentmindedly, still focused on the bike.

Urd was mostly focused on Priss, and gave Nene a little wave. Feeling a bit relieved, Mara made her way to Nigel, "Could I talk to you for a minute?"

The scruffy, dark hared man looked at her, then Nigel nodded, "Sure."

"I was worried about Sylia," Mara improvised.

"So?" Nigel answered.

Nene looked a bit surprised. 'What in the world?' Mara wondered. "You're her lover, aren't you?" she demanded.

He laughed softly, surprising her. "We aren't that close," Nigel chuckled, "she and I just have sex occasionally, that's it."

Mara felt surprisingly happy about that even as she made Nene ask, "You don't love her?"

Nigel was about to answer that when Urd came in the room to ask him something. She froze in the doorway, her eyes widening as she blurted out, "Mara?"

"Oh, hell," Mara sighed and the demon marks suddenly manifested on Nene's face. She made a short gesture, throwing an energy bolt to knock Urd off balance. Mara bolted for the nearby elevator, but Priss moved to try and stop her. She dropped to the floor, and performed a perfect sweep kick to knock Priss to the floor. She dove into the elevator, slamming the door shut behind her before they could reach her.

"What's going on?" Nigel calmly asked as both of them completely ignored him. Urd picked Priss up and wrapped her arms around her, then flew both of them up through the roof after Nene. "Never mind," he sighed, and set off the internal alarms.

Linna and Belldandy scrambled out of their bed, Linna frantically searching for her clothes. Belldandy glowed a moment, then was fully clothed. "I'll find out what's going on," she volunteered.

"Be carefully," Linna cautioned, quickly pulling her pants on.

Mara grinned, running for the front doors, when Sylia stepped out to block it. "Is that you, Mara?" Sylia asked her calmly.

Mara didn't answer verbally, but instead exploded free of Nene's body. "Ah, that's better," Mara sighed, stretching in her true body. She smiled at Sylia, "How's the hangover?"

"Don't move," Sylia cautioned her, shooting a concerned glance at Nene's prone body. Mara used that momentary distraction to grab her close, and Sylia found herself looking up into brown eyes. Surprisingly soft brown eyes at that.

"It's been fun," Mara chuckled, and then she kissed her vigorously. Sylia struggled for a moment, but found herself enjoying the experience. "See you soon," Mara laughed, and was out the door and gone.

"Damn," Sylia swore softly, shaking her head.

Belldandy, Priss and Urd all arrived at roughly the same time to find a scowling Sylia waiting for them. "What happened?" Belldandy asked them quietly, even as Linna came around the corner, her shirt half on and half off.

"Come on," Sylia growled, "we've got things to talk about."