"So, how much exactly are we talking about?"
"What?! I thought you said you had this job's payment covered already?! Why should we give you anything?!"
"Also, we made pretty clear we want to do this for one reason only, to k-
"Yeah, yeah, I heard it the first time. Yet, what makes the three of you think you will even get more than few steps into Hell without being murdered on the spot? Will be lucky if they kill you fast enough sweetheart, I heard sheep meat has a very refined taste."
"Uhh, why are we doing this again? I don't think i-
"Shut your mouth Collin! No one asked you crap about what you think! We are past being complacent with what happened to us!"
A gasp was the only response that came from the purple sheep-like creature, he stood in shocked silence while hovering nearby his colleagues, watching the conversation unfold in utter disbelief. Not even in his most cursed and deplorable nightmares he would've witnessed such a preposterous reunion take place. His soul shattered slowly and his goodwill faded the longer he watched his friends, Cletus and Keenie, develop the subject of revenge with the demon creature known as 'Striker'.
How things have fallen so far he had no idea but, while he wouldn't deny that blaming those accursed creatures responsible for their banishment from Heaven had its merits, Collin was unsure if the fault was solely on the interference from these demons. While Cletus and Keenie were proven angels, the male sheep always felt a bit apprehensive in regards to their attitudes, especially towards himself. Collin loves to help people, he adores humans and often saw the benefit of redemption, even towards the most unworthy ones. Yet, this last human they tried to redeem, Lyle Lipton, the files about his achievements were completely wrong.
The man was a super genius, and somewhat a hero sidekick, but Collin managed to uncover a lot in regards of Lipton's person after the Cherubs were banished. There was hardly anything good or honest about the human, his vile experiments and uncaring towards the suffering of his subjects were nothing short of a straight descent to the depths of Hell. So why Heaven had been so insistent for them to bring Lipton to their side? It didn't make any sense to Collin, he tried to ponder this to his colleagues, but Cletus and Keenie had simply... changed.
Cletus always appeared to be the stereotypical angelic type, but Collin knew how much of a temper he would quickly develop if ever confronted more openly, the clash with the demons brought that to an extreme. Revealing a side of Cletus that Collin already suspected it was there, yet the sheep feigned ignorance towards that side of his until recently.
Keenie... it hurt him extremely to see the truth underneath her beautiful features, all the sweet, kind and adorable aura she seemed to irradiate coming crashing around her like a loose train. Keenie was many things, but honest wasn't one. Collin was struggling to understand why she changed so much, or perhaps she never changed. He was so enamored with the idea of being her soulmate that he failed to see the flaws underneath her appearances.
Keenie and Cletus did not take well at all being banished, much less so than Collin. The male sheep nearly had a heart attack at first, but managed to achieve some form of clarity in regards to their dilemma. Surely God wouldn't be so unforgiving as to condemn them so easily for a simple mistake they weren't really at fault for? It didn't seem fair in the slightest. Yet, his colleagues weren't so hopeful as the purple sheep and they wanted nothing more than to get back at the demons responsible for their exile. Collin wasn't sure how they even expected to achieve such a ridiculous feat. They were stuck on Earth, no way up or down. Not that he would ever want to go down.
Until they were found by the Striker demon, a snake like creature from the pits of Hell itself, wearing a strange cowboy-ish costume and with an aura of pure malice and deceit. It was noticeable the types of guns he was carrying, Collin wanted nothing more than get away from that creature, but Keenie and Cletus clearly lost it when they decided to confront the creature and ask for his help at taking revenge on the demons that got them into this situation.
Striker, if that was really his name, provided a remarkable amount of information regarding their nemesis. The demons that got the Cherubs in such a mess were called I.M.P, an organization that offered a service of nothing but pure revenge against those who have wronged other folk that ended up in Hell. How ironic they would want to take revenge on a group that did that as a career choice.
Collin immediately saw that the I.M.P were the direct counterpart for what the C.H.E.R.U.B.S intended for in regards to their Earth incursions. One aimed for redemption while the other for revenge. How unfortunate they managed to end up confronting each other, despite the billions of other humans they could've been trying to persuade instead.
'At least their group seemed more committed to their cause than mine.' Collin couldn't help but think bitterly. Keenie and Cletus never showed any real honest enthusiasm in regards to helping humans, it seemed it was more a chore to them than anything, to the point Collin often found himself being overloaded with tasks that the other two should be doing instead. 'If only I had colleagues I could really trust to get things done, I don't think we would be in this predicament.'
It saddened him to think of Keenie and Cletus like that, but there wasn't really any other way of seeing the truth of what have become of his friends. Friends that often took advantage of him, mocked his kindness, rudely interrupted his speeches, endangered him under false pretext, and so on.
"So, how about this... I get the three of you in, you get rid of a couple of them, but leave Blitzo for me. I have my own personal problems to... handle in regards to him." Striker said, his sharp teeth glinting as he smiled devilishly towards the fallen. "No need to held him or anything. Get in, get few shots off and get out quickly, unless you want to risk serious mutilation by trying your luck there. There's some though folk in that group. Even after your... ehem, changes, you still wouldn't be match for them."
"Huh, what changes?" Collin asked, a feeling of anxiety building up in his chest. The demon chuckled derisively.
"Well, it's not like you can enter Hell and look so puny without anyone noticing, nah. That's shit crazy talk. There's a process, a rather painful one I must say, that you will have to get past to make sure no one notices a bunch of Heaven crap entering their domains."
Keenie growled angrily at the way Striker refereed to them as organic waste. Yet, neither her or Cletus seemed even less determinate to see the plan through. Collin was even more unsure and the idea of being transformed into something unholy did not sit well with his mind, as if going to Hell wasn't bad enough!
"Fine, we don't care! As long we get there already! I'm sick of waiting around. Do you have the map?!" Cletus demanded with a narrowed look. Striker tossed him a roll of paper, hitting the Cherub right on the face. Cletus swore angrily under his breath as he opened the map, which contained the location of the most important spots in Heaven for their plan to succeed. Especially, the location of the I.M.P department. "Fine, this is enough. When are we moving?"
Striker rolled his eyes, he really didn't understand how such annoying creatures managed to get to Heaven while being so condescending at the same time. Although he suspected the purple sheep to not really have his heart into the idea of revenge. Not like it mattered to Striker, the male sheep would likely be the first to die an horrible death and he really couldn't care less about what happened with those three anyway. They were mere tools to make his job of killing Stolas much easier, especially if I.M.P was a few members short.
"Oh, and before I forget." Striker said, while making his way into a small wooden crate nearby. Collin watched with suspicion as the demon moved to the crate. The location that they have encountered each other was nothing short of shifty. Not that a bunch of angels and a demon meeting at any place else that not an abandoned church would've made any more sense. Striker knew how to get around without attracting attention to himself, a church was the last place someone would think of looking for a demon. For whatever reason this church did not seem able to repel the demonic entity from its domains. Striker opened the crate, revealing the contents inside of it, the view made Collin's blood freeze.
Angelic weaponry.
'How?! That's impossible! You cannot get such weapons if not from Heaven directly!' A panicked surge filled Collin's mind as he watched the others grab a holy gun each, leaving the last one for Collin to take, neither Keenie or Cletus seemed bothered by a demon being in possession of such weapons. They were moderate looking antique pistols, yet the power they carried was nothing short of extreme, especially towards strong demons. Shooting regular demons like the ones in I.M.P would be certain death, no matter where they got shot at.
This was wrong, nothing of any of this made any sense. How could Striker possess such weapons? How did he found the group of fallen angels so quickly? Something wasn't adding up, but there was nothing Collin could do to oppose what was happening. He felt completely helpless as he picked the last weapon, feeling the weight of the power it carried. No sooner his hoof grasped the object, he immediately felt but an aura of corruption spreading from within.
'It's cursed, of course it would be, what else a demon would do with it if not make it even more powerful?' The sheep thought with distaste. His eyes were glued on the glow the object possessed, no doubt the white pure aura it emitted was kept for the sake of keeping the tampering of the magic covered.
Striker was talking but Collin paid him no mind. This all felt so surreal that he was no longer sure if he was just going insane or trapped in a nightmare. The amount of deception he suffered, the lack of support, the mistrust and snobbish remarks of his supposed friends... what else did he had left? Heaven saw no need for him any longer, despite his best intentions and hard work. It didn't make sense.
It wasn't fair.
Betrayal was a feeling that was starting to consume his very being, the idea that Heaven left him to fend for his own, not caring about how much he was dedicated to their cause, all those years of worship, loyalty, hard work and belief in God's word. All of it... for nothing.
Hatred burned his soul, but not towards the reason for him to be exiled, but towards those who exiled him without a second thought. Keenie and Cletus would eventually seek their revenge, but it would be pointless. Even if they managed to cause the absolute destruction of I.M.P, that act wouldn't get them back to Heaven any sooner. The corruption of their souls by committing murder would only cement their stay in the pits of Hell. Collin already knew what he was not going to do.
Yet, part of him feared that refusing to follow them would leave him on a terrible predicament, it was already bad to be exiled, but being alone? There would be plenty of terrifying creatures that would hunt for his soul. He knew he stood a better chance by staying with the other two, but he would not commit such awful atrocities for something as petty as revenge.
Collin would eventually follow them to Hell, because he simply had no other better options, staying by himself would be as much as a dead wish. Striker could also decide to get rid of him if he saw the male sheep as a liability to their plan. Collin had no reason to think the demon would even care about their success in this particular endeavor. If they all died it would suit him best, since none would be able to tell where the guns came from.
"Now, I will be opening the portal, it should lead you all right into a parking lot nearby the targets. For your... sake, I made sure you will show up at an alley, the transmutation will be rather intense and it is on best interest that you three go unnoticed while it happens. Just make sure to not scream too much, otherwise someone might be bothered enough to care taking a look, or kill you three for being noisy."
Striker said all of those things with the most bored tone one could muster. He was clearly doing this for his own interests, whether the three succeeded or not wasn't really important to him. It was just convenient for him to have someone cause problems to I.M.P.
Collin didn't like the idea of mutation, especially because Striker was pretty convinced it would be quite painful. The sheep sighed in consternation, he had already lost most of his magical prowess due the banishment imposed by Heaven. Only certain things like miraculous healing and magical summoning were still within his grasp. None would really be of much help in a fight, the healing chant would take a couple of minutes to complete, and the summoning spell was pointless due the fact that their usually could only use an enchanted bow for combat, but even that weapon was taken away from the group.
"Fine, we are done here. Let's do this!" Cletus said, fully determinate to see the plan through, his eyes were red with blood lust, something that made Collin even more wary of his colleague. Keenie wasn't far off in that scale of maddening vendetta. She stood close to Cletus, which made it very clear to Collin that she would take his side no matter the occasion.
Striker pulled out a book from his back, where he was hiding it Collin had no idea. The runes on the cover were clearly Hellish, but the sheep wouldn't have any idea of how to translate them. The demon opened it and pressed him hand over a particular page, without uttering a single word a portal materialized at the nearest wall, an oval shaped circle with a purple outline. It was possible to see what was on the other side, as the view of a street dimmed in red was on display but not much else could be made of the location.
"An useful tool from my client, helps to get the job done rather quickly when I'm on a stretch. Cross in and do what you want." He said, looking rather smug as he looked down at the trio. Cletus merely nodded before making his way to the other side, Keenie followed behind without hesitation, but Collin wasn't so sure yet.
"Huh, how do we get back though?" He asked, walking by the portal as Cletus and Keenie were already crossing in. The demon laughed heartily as he came near the deer with malign intent.
"Here's the fun part... you don't."
Striker kicked Collin right into the portal, the sheep barely had time to process what happened before his view blurred for a couple of seconds, a nauseating feeling took over him before his body finally made contact with the cemented floor.
Yet, before he had time to even feel the impact he felt as every inch of his body was light up, a sensation of burning took over every sense in his being, the pain became unbearable to the point he couldn't even breath. It was as if he was throw into a lava pit while someone was pulling his body apart on an attempt to rip his members out. He tried to scream, but nothing came but a quiet gurgling as he kept wriggling on the floor incessantly.
If he wasn't so desperate to regain some sort of relief he would've notice that Cletus and Keenie were suffering as much as him, but for whatever reason the process seemed to be prolonged on these two. After what seemed like an eternity Collin felt the pain fade away along with the burning, he took a deep breath to calm down his racing heart. His body felt strange, as if he's been swimming incessantly for hours. He made a feeble attempt at getting up but, much to his shock, found himself looking at legs that certainly weren't his.
'What just happened with me?!' He thought, shocked at seeing his appendages twice as long than they should, even his wings and arms had gained some extra length. His coat darkened, but it was still noticeable purple. He brought a hand to his head, wondering if he gained horns. Much to his relief he felt nothing but soft cotton and fur. After taking a few more seconds to let the strange changes to sunk he turned around to address his colleagues.
"Are you two al..."
Collin felt his heart skip a beat. There, sitting next to him, were two creatures that once resembled the friends he knew. Keenie, just like him, suffered a growing effect, but it didn't stop there. Her fur was nearly pitch black, her coat was gone, leaving her looking strangely naked without it, her eyes were pure red and two giant spiked horns were coming out of her head. A strange reptilian tail was visible as it swung left and right at her back. Cletus... Collin could only describe him as a demon, for he turned into the version of the beings they were aiming to kill, an Imp creature from Hell.
"Well, this is more intense than I expected." Keenie said as she examined her new body. "Urgh, I look horrendous now!"
"Doesn't matter, let's get things done and we will be back to normal in no time." Cletus chastised, looking unaffected by his new look. His eyes landed on Collin and he moaned in despair. "Why in the fuck Collin looks like himself still?!"
Collin's eyes widened in shock at the foul language Cletus used towards him, never had Cletus swore like that. Keenie grunted in annoyance as she looked at the male sheep.
"Always you to be too goody even for Hell, how typical. I guess not even whatever crap we've been through would be enough to change who you are completely." She said with a touch of sarcasm. The new look made her face look so much more sinister with her mocking attitude.
"It's not going to do us any favors with him looking like that." Cletus said thoughtfully while looking back at the sheeps. "Me and Keenie will go in first, stay out of view until we get into the building, we are here to deal with that group of demons, no more than that."
Collin nodded numbly, unsure if there was any point of arguing anyway. He followed the other two as they started making their way out of the alleyway, granting them the view of what looked like a giant metropolis, but in the underground and bathed by red. Collin couldn't help but frown at how... normal everything looked. It was just like Earth, but far more... grim. This wasn't nearly as bad as he often heard while on Heaven. They always said how Hell was nothing but chaos, destruction and despair on incessant waves, echoing screams of the dammed for all the eternity.
But this... it was nowhere as dooming as Heaven made them believe. It just looked too normal.
'This doesn't really make any sense. I get that Heaven and Hell are not meant to speak any of good about the other, but the things that Heaven always made us think in regards to Hell...'
Collin watched, while hiding behind the horrifying figures of his friends, how the traffic of the nearby street went by, all sorts of demons looking just as bored and irritated as most humans on Earth. It made sense to Collin that they would be alike due the majority of them being humans on a past life.
The whole place was just buzzing, although it was clear that murder was something far more common to happen in plain view here than Earth, which made walking around far more dangerous than any place on Earth aside war-zones. Collin was thankful that most demons were uncaring of others around them as they walked by minding their own problems. After few minutes of apprehensive walking they reached a particular old looking building, it was hard to tell if it was old or not, most buildings on the area just looked awful.
"This is the place!" Cletus said with an air of victory, his hellish face made his evil intent even more clear than ever. He uncovered the gun he's been hiding under his clothing, while Keenie did the same on her end. Collin sighed as he retrieved the cursed weapon from inside his fluffy mane, thing was already giving him an headache.
"You all know what to do, just like we planned. We do this and we'll be one step closer to redemption."
Collin nodded distractedly, he just noticed that his weapon was no longer glowing, something that also happened with Cletus and Keenie's weaponry, but neither seemed to notice as they kept making their way up the dirty staircase. The sheep wondered why the weapons no longer emitted the aura from before, but his mind soon was brought back to present time as he took notice of the incredible amounts of blood and claw marks covering the walls and floor as they made their way up, no to mention the horrible stench.
'Something's not right, I know it. Are we walking to our own demise? This is not how I want to die, not like this. Why you two... you two!...'
