Dr. Bashir silently cursed himself for his rashness. He knew that the smart thing would have been to stick to the original plan of inviting his targets to a banquet in their honor and studying their behavior patterns and gaining their trust. Alas, the sight of the greatest prize an Iron Knight could dream of had gotten the better of his self-control. Dr. Bashir vowed to Allah that he would not give into temptation again. He would play the long game and not reveal his ultimate target to Cruciata before it was needed. Besides, even an Islamophobic Christian like Rev. Church deserved a little revenge when his daughter turned to homosexuality and Hell. The Devil could wait. Traitor angels could wait. Besides, breaking Princess Miasma's heart should be fun!
Dr. Bashir launched himself straight at Rachel. Nearly unguarded she stood no chance. The assassin grabbed her wrist and plunged his blessed knife deep into her white-skinned belly. He sliced across her stomach, his celestial blade tearing flesh and scales alike. Rachel slumped to the floor vomiting blood, her stomach bleeding onto the obsidian tiles of the floor.
"NOOOOOOOOO!" Maisy wailed as she saw Dr. Bashir stab her fiancee.
The guards were on Dr. Bashir in an instant. The radical imam soon found himself dueling for his life. He fully expected to lose, but that was the way of jihad. He had advanced the cause and would die a holy martyr. Suddenly he felt himself transported in spirit and body. All he heard was the voice of Beelzebub telepathically whispering "You're too useful to die today."
From the perspective of the guards nothing appeared to have happened. Dr. Bashir had been swapped out with a flesh puppet imbued with just enough imitation life to swing a dagger. The transition from real Dr. Bashir to flesh puppet had been seamless. As Beelzebub's voice had been telepathic, nobody in the room but Dr. Bashir had heard it. All the guards thought they were fighting the real Dr. Bashir. One of the guards swiftly beheaded the fake Dr. Bashir, and the flesh puppet dropped to the ground. It burst into black flames and burned into nothingness as all demons did at the point of death.
"That takes care of him!" the guard sniffed.
"Looks like we found ourselves one of the Iron Knights," Michael said to Baal.
"Quicker than I expected," Baal nodded.
"Too bad demons don't leave bodies behind that we can study," Michael sighed. "There's no evidence." He knelt where the assassin had died. "Ugh! Even his blade burned away!"
Maisy ran over to Rachel, got down on her knees, and cradled the love of her life in her arms. "Darling, speak to me!" she sobbed to the unconscious, bleeding demon.
"RACHEL!" Josh screamed as he ran over to join Maisy.
"No," Atargatis gasped quietly, her lip trembling as she slowly approached Rachel. "No, this can't be."
"This looks bad," Astaroth said sadly as she joined Atargatis. "Brother, will she live?"
Lucifer walker over to Rachel, Lilith slithering close behind him on the serpent tail she had in place of legs. Lucifer looked at the would before sniffing it and running his fingers over it. "She might," he said at last, "but it's a 50/50 chance, if I can be honest. I'm sorry, Miasma, but that's the best news I can give you right now."
Maisy squeezed her father's hand, giving and receiving comfort. "It's... it's alright father. It wasn't your fault."
"She needs medical attention, and fast," said Lilith. "Guards, get her to a hospital!" The guards nodded and dragged Rachel's unconscious body out of the room.
"Do you think that assassin was my ex-husband?" Atargatis asked Lucifer.
"There's no way of knowing now," sighed Lucifer. "I'm sorry our first meeting had to be like this, but I'll do all I can to help. After all, Rachel will (hopefully) soon become my daughter-in-law, and you are soon to be my sister-in-law."
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Meanwhile, Dr. Bashir found himself in the personal study of Archduke Beelzebub. Beelzebub was seated across from him, while Lady Cruciata stretched herself lazily on a divan. "I sensed you were in danger," Beelzebub said. "What happened?"
"I felt overwhelmed," Dr. Bashir lied. "First, Lucifer and Lilith walked into the room, and then some a demon I think might have been Commander Baal and three traitor angels arrived. I thought I had been found out and made an immediate strike against Rachel Church. I'm quite sure she only has a few days to live."
"Delightful!" Cruciata laughed, clapping her hands together. "The wedding of the season is back on! You're MINE, Miasma!"
Beelzebub just kept quiet. He knew enough about human ambition to be fairly sure Dr. Bashir was lying. He had almost certainly decided to use the mission to kill Rachel and her mother as a cover to assassinate Lucifer. The thing was, Archduke Beelzebub rather liked that idea. If both Lucifer and Miasma were to die, there would be a massive power vacuum in Hell. The death of both the King and the Archdiablesse would leave no clear successor to rulership of the Ninth Circle and Hell in general Some would back one of Lucifer's other children, some would back Lilith... but others would back Beelzebub. He was debatably the second most powerful demon in Hell's nobility, and many of the anti-Heaven and anti-human hardliners in the court considered him their leader. Why shouldn't he take his place as the Devil? He had no intention of telling Dr. Bashir that he was playing right into his clawed hands, but he would happily let him unwittingly clear Hell's throne in preparation for its TRUE occupant.
"It's a pity that you had to expose yourself," Beelzebub said at last, "but you did well by assassinating my daughter's enemy. That still leaves the mother, of course. I do not want to see a former human married to Lucifer's sister. It's bad enough that Prince Leviathan married some Egyptian woman called Hathor!"
"Her court name's Sekhmet, right?" asked Cruciata.
"Correct, my daughter," Beelzebub said before returning her attention to Dr. Bashir. "The important thing now is to reestablish your cover."
"Then you'll need to strengthen the spells on me," said Dr. Bashir. "One of the traitor angels smelled that I was not a demon."
"Impossible!" snapped Cruciata, her wings vibrating furiously. "Adrammelech swore that his spell would hide your true nature from all demons!"
"All demons, Cruciata," Beelzebub corrected. "He didn't mention angels. Fortunately, I have access to stronger magic than our dear Grand Chancellor. Now, I'll need all of you." He opened three portals and called forth the other Iron Knights.
"What do you want?" asked Rev. Church.
"It seems there are angels on the loose down here," Beelzebub answered.
"Good!" crowed Rev. Mather. "They will help us."
"Not these ones," sighed Dr. Bashir. "They have betrayed Allah and aligned themselves with Hell."
"What do we do?" asked Rev. Cromwell.
"The angels can see through Adrammelch's spell on you," said Beelzebub, "but I have access to a stronger one. I am a master of sorcery and know magic even Lucifer cannot imagine. Now, I'll need a drop of blood from each of you."
After an uncomfortable silence, each Iron Knight took out a dagger and pricked the palm of his hand. Beelzebub caught the blood drops in a silver bowl. He sprinkled on unholy powders and muttered spells in Sumerian. "There! Your true natures well now register as demonic to any being in Heaven, Hell, Earth, Purgatory, or any of the eldritch realms beyond."
"Thank you," said Rev. Mather, trying and failing to sound friendly to the ancient demon.
Dr. Bashir turned to Rev. Church. "I have good news for you. Your wayward daughter is near death."
"Really?!" said Rev. Church, barely able to contain his vengeful glee.
"I stabbed her demonic body in the gut with a blessed dagger," said Dr. Bashir. "She has a few days left at most."
Rev. Church gave the imam a hearty pat on the back. "God bless you, Abdullah! The Almighty will forgive your Islam for this, I'm sure of it!"
"One, last thing, Dr. Bashir," said Beelzebub. "Your enemies have seen you assault one of your targets. I will need to change your features." He walked up to Dr. Bashir and rubbed unholy ointments on his face and throat, causing his entire face and voice to change. Once the spell finished, his own mother would never recognize him. In fact, Dr. Bashir was now female! Dr. Bashir tried not to look horrified in front of Beelzebub. "Your new cover name is Mabeuth. I'm transferring you from Ambassador Hubal's office to that of Wadd, the Ambassador to Yemen."
"Understood," Dr. Bashir said in her new voice, flinching at its feminine pitch.
"I'll have your new paperwork and ID ready in a few hours," said Beelzebub. "The rest of your should get back to work. Remember, Hell will be on high alert now that there's been an assassination, so lay low." With that, he opened three portals for Rev. Cromwell, Rev. Mather, and Rev. Church.
"I dislike just sitting on my thumbs in the Eighth Circle while my comrades are out fighting the good fight," Dr. Bashir said to Beelzebub.
"You can join them just as soon as I've finished the documentation for 'Mabeuth', Dr. Bashir," said Beelzebub.
"Quite right," Dr. Bashir sighed. "If I learned one thing today, patience is everything."