All throughout the meeting hall, one could hear the constant screams of the damned from every single corner of Hell. While they were slightly muffled by the walls, the green marble finish only served to echo it further inside. Still, this didn't seem to bother anybody inside the hall, mainly because they were more interested in what was being said before them.

At the very front of the meeting hall was a large opening in the wall - through which one could see the head of some demonic beast. No, this wasn't just some demonic beast - this was Baphomet, ruler of all demons. The same Baphomet that could stand thousands of planets tall, and crush the slightest opposition under his thumb. He had to lie down in order to fit his gargantuan head into the meeting hall, but he didn't care, because he could always summon his afrits and gargoyles to serve his every whim.

Standing before Baphomet, in front of all the rows of wooden pews and the demons that sat upon them (including Hell's various noblemen), was a young man. He wore nothing but his flesh, yet much of what could be seen of him was obscured by his unkempt brown hair, which had been growing for so long that it extended beyond his waist. He stood tall and firm, with his face showing utter indifference to the situation.

"Minions, nobles, knights and soldiers!" boomed the powerful voice of Baphomet, loudly enough that one couldn't hear the screaming outside for a good while after he stopped speaking. "I gather you here today to witness the Conversion! The young man standing before us was completely innocent of all sins when he arrived here so many years ago. Yet the circumstances behind his death remain unknown - as is the reason why he has been sent to Hell rather than be taken in by the angels." At this, the crowd began its hellish booing for several seconds before Baphomet let out a roar that deafened the entirety of Hell (even the young man cringed slightly). Once everybody was able to hear again, Baphomet continued.

"Since the day that this stranger arrived, he has been loyal above all others. He has not questioned a single order, he has performed all tasks to the best of his ability. It is for this reason that I have chosen HIM to represent our task force on Earth." Several began to chatter amongst themselves. "Yes, O Legions, the time has come to begin our assault on the mortals that inhabit Earth. And THIS stranger shall be my right hand, my representative, and the leader of this assault."

A Lord in the front row stood from his seat. "Master, why was HE selected instead of one of us? What makes this...HUMAN any better than one of our own?"

Baphomet roared with blazing fury, and a swarm of gargoyles flapped forth and proceeded to slice every bit of flesh from the Lord's bones. The heap of sinew and bone that remained collapsed moments after.

"This man has not questioned me! He remains faithful, no matter what the cause! I present to him a small token from my minions. Cagnazzo!" he called. "Go retrieve the gift!" Cagnazzo bowed deeply, and sprinted on his long legs out of the hall. He was gone only a split second before returning to the front of the hall, bearing a pair of leather holsters - inside which were two revolvers.

"Stranger, accept your gift," Baphomet stated in a low growl. The young man turned to Cagnazzo and took the pair of holsters, draping them over his bare shoulders individually. He pulled the two guns from the holsters and admired them.

One revolver was as black as the night, while the other was made of pure silver, clear as day. They were otherwise identical. Each was inscribed with a unique name on the grip - the black was called "Cain," while the white bore the name "Abel."

The man turned back to Baphomet, still holding the guns in his hands. Rather than show any expression of gratitude, or even to put away the guns, he pointed one at Baphomet's enormous forehead and the other directly at Cagnazzo.

He squeezed the trigger of the black revolver, and with a powerful bang, Cagnazzo fell over backwards. His corpse twitched for a moment, then finally came to rest.

The stranger turned his head to look at Baphomet. He slipped the black revolver back into its holster, then shifted his stance and put the white revolver into his right hand, still pointing it at Baphomet.

"I thank you," the stranger said at last, with the slightest hint of a grin emerging on his face. He then pulled the trigger. The bullet burst forth from the muzzle and burrowed straight between Baphomet's eyes. A sizeable section of his forehead shattered, revealing a large hole into his brain. But before the young man could fire another round, a group of bull-demons tackled him to the ground. The trigger was pulled anyway, but the bullet merely struck a nearby wall.

Baphomet rose to a crouch - high enough that one could only see his ankle from the hall. "I want nothing more to do with this traitor!" he bellowed. "Return him to the streets! Torture him! Destroy his soul! Just get him out of my sight!"



Somewhere in Salt Lake City, Utah, a run of the mill, God-fearing individual was just on his way to work. He paused at a garbage can to throw away an empty Starbucks coffee cup, when he noticed an odd shivering mass to his right. Upon further inspection, the man discovered that it was a person - he couldn't be sure of the gender, because of all the hair, but he figured the age to be somewhere in the early twenties.

As he approached, the man had many thoughts run through his head - each one nastier than the last. First he only suspected the person to be homeless and without a job. Then it dawned on him that perhaps they were robbed. Or maybe they were raped. Or - worst of all - maybe they were dying.

These thoughts compelled the man to go have a look. Brushing the hair aside, he discovered that the person was a young man. He seemed to have been beaten to a pulp.

"Hey, still alive? Hang in there, I'm getting help." The man took his overcoat off and handed it to the fallen man. While he was busy dialing 911 on his cell phone, the young man stood to his feet and donned the coat. He looked positively terrible.

"Hello, 911? I have a man here - looks like he's been beaten pretty bad - can you send an ambulance?" As he continued to speak into the phone, he was unaware that the stranger had walked off and disappeared.



The stranger trudged onward, the coat buttoned to the top to mask the fact that he wore nothing else. He stopped on a corner and checked himself over - he had been hurt quite badly by the bull-demons, and it seemed that they had taken his revolvers as well. If he was going to finish the job, he'd need a new firearm.

He rifled through the pockets of his ill-gotten coat and found a wallet and some credit cards. Lo and behold, a gun store lie just across the street - so he went in and purchased a sidearm (with the man's credit card) and went on his merry way.

As he emerged from the gun shop, the stranger spied a newspaper stand - on the front cover of the Wall Street Journal was a controversial article on some company called Union Aerospace Corporation. The stranger snatched the newspaper while the clerk wasn't looking, and looked through it. After learning where the UAC was based, he returned the paper to its stack and bolted in the opposite direction.

Things were desperate enough as it was. He was completely without resources. He'd have to make do with what was available - meaning he'd have to steal what he needed.

He jumped into a convertible Volkswagen Beetle, hotwired it, and sped off.



It was a day's worth of driving to reach the UAC headquarters. Having been turned away at the gate, the stranger wasn't about to give up. He jumped clear over the fence - despite it being reinforced with razor wire and electricity - and infiltrated the headquarters. Once inside, he looked through the records department and discovered a recent file on a project still in the works on Phobos.

Phobos? Damn, he thought. There's no way I can get up there.

But he didn't give up yet - he eventually located a dropship about to take off, and stowed away in the cargo hold.

While on the dropship, the stranger did whatever was necessary to survive. He stole food and ammunition, and even killed a Marine passenger to take his clothing and equipment. He used the dead Marine's combat knife to cut his hair shorter. And at last, he had arrived.

He bypassed all the security checkpoints despite the intense measures imposed. Even at the bioscanning facility, he managed to pass straight through the doors after the guards had sealed them.

The scientists on Phobos were much more open about their topics of conversation than they were back on Earth. They spoke of an experiment with an interdimensional gateway - that, when slingshotting a given individual through a wormhole, could transport someone anywhere.

He gained access to the control room in charge of the experiment when nobody else was around. It meant killing the two guards and hiding their bodies, but this was a time for drastic measures - Baphomet was planning an assault on Earth, and the casualties would be far worse than this if he didn't succeed in destroying him.

The stranger spent several hours at a terminal, attempting to crack the password for the source files that handled the gateway's coordinates. Once he was in, he searched for the variable that determined the destination of the gateway. This was the part that was most critical.

X-666, Y-666, Z-667.

He typed this data over the original numbers, compiled the source into a program, and executed it. Levers were pulled. Switches were thrown. Buttons were pressed, and pressed again. Within moments, the gateway was online.

The man ignored the machines' cries for help, those blaring and howling klaxons that signified that danger was on its way if nothing was done. He watched and waited as the gateway's glow intensified to the point that nearly everything in the room was red. A grin flashed across his face when it achieved complete stability. He shot the glass out and dived into the portal chamber, then rushed through the gateway immediately despite the damage he'd done to his legs.

There was only one minor issue with the gateway system - it worked both ways, and it didn't close by itself. Still though, the stranger decided to proceed regardless. So what if the demons found their way to Phobos - he would still be able to assassinate Baphomet, and that would be enough to stop the rest of his minions. And if not, then he could always make a living off of killing the rest of them.