Lady Cruciata Carrionfly fluttered around her suite in the Eighth Circle's archducal palace on her fly-like wings as she inspected her little quartet of pious assassins. The four of them were still quite unnerved by the superficial changes Cruciata had made to their bodies to help them blend in. Rev. Joshua Church gaped at the mustard-yellow skin of his clawed hand before feeling his bull horns. Rev. Hank Cromwell clutched at the thick rhinoceros horn growing out of his forehead. Rev. Jeremiah fearfully held his long beard, which was now a writhing mass of thin tentacles, up to his eyes. Dr. Abdullah Bashir ran his fingers down his spiny body, trying not to prick himself.
"If you demon-hating crybabies can calm down for a few minutes, I'd like to brief you," Cruciata said with a devastating glare that captured everyone's attention. "As you know, you are here to assassinate Lady Tenebra, the fiancee of Princess Miasma Morningstar. This job must be done in complete secrecy if any of us want to survive the scheme. To this end, you'll need cover identities. Thankfully, my father is Archduke Beelzebub. Among his positions at court are Chief of Justice and Grand Chamberlain to King Lucifer. With these positions, my father is in the perfect position to forge all of the fake paperwork you could ever need to insinuate yourselves into court as minor officials. He's just finished the work." She flew down to the disguised Iron Knights. "Would you like to know who you're pretending to be, gentlemen?"
"Yes, ma'am," said Rev. Church, feeling uneasy to have a child of Beelzebub mere inches from his face while he didn't have a blessed weapon in hand.
"You, Rev. Church, are Dolor, a legal clerk in my father's Ministry of Justice. Rev. Cromwell, you are Praelius, a colonel in Hell's army. Rev. Mather, you are Trebax, an aide to Lord Adrammelech."
"Hell's grand chancellor?" asked Rev. Mather.
"Ah, I see you did your homework!" Cruciata laughed. "I'd expect no less from an Iron Knight. Yes, Adrammelech is Lucifer's grand chancellor. thankfully, he's also one of Father's closest political allies. As long as Lord Adrammelech is chancellor, Father might as well hold the office. Dr. Bashir, you are Hamsa, aide to Hubal."
"Hell's ambassador to Saudi Arabia, correct?" said Dr. Bashir, proud to flaunt his knowledge of the inner workings of his enemies' kingdom.
"Yes," said Cruciata. "Hubal's job is to maintain contact with all demons currently living in Saudi Arabia and ensure their safety until they return to us. Now, as you play these roles, you must study Lady Tenebra and plan out the best way to lure her into a situation where we can kill her undetected."
"Trust me, woman, I want payback from that Hellbound bitch as much as you do," Rev. Church grinned sadistically. "Maybe more."
Someone then knocked on the door. Cruciata opened it to reveal her father, Archduke Beelzebub. "Are they all safely down here?" he anxiously asked his daughter. "Iron Knights are dropping like flies on Earth!"
"It's going great, Dad," Cruciata smiled. "Please, come in."
Beelzebub entered the room, his numerous centipede legs making an eerie rustling noise as he crawled in. He glanced at the Iron Knights. "Excellent disguise work, my sweet little larva," he said to Cruciata. "They should fool even Lucifer himself!"
"We do have a knack for manipulating him," Cruciata giggled. "Wasn't it you who talked him into rebelling against God's orders in the first place."
"It was," said Beelzebub. "I framed it as some grand altruistic act to free the humans to please him, but we both know it was all for our family. One less master for House Carrionfly to worry about. And that is why succeeding on this mission is so important. I refuse to accept that human whelp and her mother as masters over our family."
"Her mother?!" shouted Rev. Church. "She's down here, too?!"
"Haven't you heard?" Beelzebub scoffed. "She's marrying Archduchess Astaroth Morningstar. An old lover, apparently."
"I always thought that worthless slut was a lesbian," Rev. Church grumbled. "Tried to beat it out of her, but there's just no curing some people. Guess we'll just have to handle her the same way we're handling my daughter."
"I wouldn't complain to see the disgrace of an infernal archduchess marrying a former human corrected," said Beelzebub. "Here's all the paperwork you'll need to carry around with you to properly play your roles." He handed the Iron Knights the necessary papers.
Pava (formerly Chloe) came in at that moment carrying goblets and a wine bottle. "I thought you might be getting thirsty in here, so I brought you some wine," the peacock demon said demurely as she place the bottle and goblets on the table. She noticed Beelzebub and curtsied deeply. "Oh, Your Majesty! I am not worthy!" She swiftly filled the goblets with wine and quietly left the room.
"She's very obedient," Beelzebub smiled to Cruciata as he sipped on the wine. "You picked a good specimen to steal, not like that uppity Rachel girl (who I refuse to dignify with the demon name Tenebra). It's just a shame that you're being forced to resort to using a human as your consort rather than as a concubine or secondary wife. Humans are beneath us, after all, and no transformation can ever change that."
"Well, we're about to remedy that little bump in the road," Cruciata smiled evilly. She raised her glass. "To my upcoming wedding to Pava AND Princess Miasma!"
"To the wedding!" Beelzebub toasted. He then opened a portal to the Ninth Circle. "Now go enter the court. My daughter shall go with you and introduce you to my ally Adrammelech. I have informed him of our need to terminate the so-called 'Lady Tenebra' and her mother." The Archduke of the Eighth Circle watched sternly as Cruciata shepherded the disguised Iron Knights through the portal and into Lucifer's palace. He'd done his part; the fortune of his family was now entirely up to the five of them.