Chapter 2 Lucifer's Downsize

"That is the fifth time this week, Angelic Lucifer, that you have messed up my business schedule!" The Powerful God Odin yelled in rage and despair. "I don't quite understand why you are yelling at me, over some stupid papers, that just allow you to get a free cup of tea," I said in a soothing voice. "I regret ever making you, and especially that creepy 24/7 angel voice. It is always "how may I help you", and "have a nice day sir", constantly repeated to me all day long. I can't stand anymore of this torture, what am I going to do to you?" he asked in a tone, throwing a perfectly good cup of tea on the ground, shattering the angelware to pieces. "Father, why are you mad at me?" I asked in confusion. 

"I will not repeat myself, get me another cup of tea, and tell that ignorant Michael to clean this up," he said, pointing at his elegant white shoes that now had a freshly made stain.  "Yes father," I reminisced. I walked down the long hallway with walls covered in white everywhere you turn. I still can't believe that he even offered the humans a chance to eternal paradise, that would get boring eventually. I opened the 20 ft tall reinforce steel door, and walked down another long hallway until I reached the dining area. "Michael, father has requested your presence, you might want to hurry because he made another stain. And also, tell father that I am taking a road trip, so I will not be back for a while," I stated, walking out the large golden gate. 

You see, the humans on earth with their modern technology, and conspiracy theories, think that heaven is a place in their souls, and that they can reach it by putting their belief in god himself. While that may have some truth to it, in reality, anyone who has ever visited it, or anyone from it can take you there. If humans were clever enough to create an invention to see all things that the naked eye simply fails to comprehend, they would have found that it has been right in front of them the whole entire time. Heaven is located in the layer of atmosphere on earth, invisible to the naked eye, between the Thermosphere and the Exosphere, known as the Timberian Celais. The only catch is, there is a specific location of that dimension between the layers of atmosphere that you can cross over to the other side, and that location happens to be Tokyo, Japan. 

"Angelic Lucifer, we have arrived at your destination," the butler said as he opened my door. "Thank you my good sir," I said, bowing down gracefully. "No, no my good sir, you do not need to bow to me. I am only doing my job sir." he stubbornly stated. "Whatever pleases you Fredrick," I said, walking to the manga store. As I walked into the store, I was greeted with teenagers that were wearing maid suits. When I saw this I screamed without hesitation,"What kind of abuse are you doing to these girls. It is bad enough that you have them talk to every person who walks through this one door, but on top of that, you make them wear maid suites. Am I the only one here that sees something wrong with this sight?" "Excuse me sir, but can I help you with something, or have you just simply lost your mind?" the store owner asked, on the floor, trembling in fear. "Are you going to answer my question or not, you incompetent human that can not see the place where your god is located?" I asked in anger. "Sir, this is based on our religion. They chose to wear the maid outfits, I didn't make them, so please don't kill me sir," he pleaded. "Get out of my sight now, I need to do some renovations to my new building," I yelled. "What? This is my building sir, I have physical proof that it is mine," he argued. I pulled out a sheet of paper and said,"I think that you have mistaken, I have the deed to this building." Of course, this was a lie because I had just then generated the deed from my memory of the surrounding area.

                                     Ten years later; 

"Are you sure that this is the best course of action?" a friend of mine asked over the phone. "I mean, it is the best shot of succeeding in this operation," I replied. "I have my complete trust in you Lucifer, so I will go along with the plan. Just know that if this fails, you will be on Oden's shit list for the rest of your life," he warned. "Was that supposed to make me worry or something?" I asked him while laughing. "You know what I mean Lucifer," he said in a stern voice. "You know that I was just joking, this is a serious offense in Oden's arsenal, but if we can pull it off then we will be fine," I assured. "Ok, I get it ok," he rushed, hanging up the phone. What is with him today? Did I say something to upset him or something? As much that I would like to stand here and think it over a million times, I have business to attend to. "Sir Lucifer, your limousine has been prepared for your trip," the butler said. "Thank you for your assistance today," I praised. "No, it was my honor and duty sir," he said, taking a step backwards and opening the door. 

"No, no, I am not leaving right at this moment, I have other matters to attend to," I said, walking down mainstreet. Man, there sure are a lot of manga stores in Japan these days. It seems that every time I walk down this street, there are millions upon millions more books lining the crowded book store shelves. "Hey, is that Sir Lucifer, oh lord it is you," Jason yelled while running towards me. "Well, look who decided to show up today. And one more thing, can you lower your voice please, you've attracted a crowd around us," I stated. "Sorry, my bad. Everyone please disperse, there is nothing interesting to see here," he conveyed. Within seconds the crowd had disappeared. Jason, who has the ability to tell someone to do something, and they will do it without any hesitation at all, is one of the many angels that followed me down to earth. Jason was one of my most trustworthy angels, I know that if I ever needed assistance, that he would gather a whole army of elite forces. "So, when are we starting the u.m. Sir Lucifer?" he asked. "Before we start with that, I have to go deal with some business of mine," I replied. 

I turned and started walking again, I told Jason that I would notify him when I was ready to start the u.m., he sighed, but agreed with me. This operation is going to be the trickiest one yet, so there are a lot of liberties at stake. I am trying to gain more intel on how to neutralize the threat that has been throwing off the balance of both heaven and earth. I've got it, I think, they must be smuggling people or something, it wouldn't disrupt the balance of heaven if it was a small situation that could easily be stopped. The only problem that I am going to have, is that the disruption is coming from somewhere overseas in America, but where? I sure am going to be busy for quite a while. As I turned the corner, two muscular men walked up to me. "Hah," I accidentally said out loud. 

"What do you find so funny pipsqueak," the tallest one asked. "Nothing, I was just clearing my throat, and it came out in the wrong pitch," I responded. "Is that so, I'm going to have to ask you to come with us," the shortest one said, as he put a potato sack over my head. Before shoving me into the van, they pathetically tied restraints around my wrists, I mean they tried their best, but nothing can restrain me. "Do you think that boss will be happy?" the shortest one asked. "I don't know if he will or won't, all that I can say is that we have eliminated our biggest threat in the operation," the tallest replied. About an hour had passed when one of them looked back and said," we are about to transition from one vehicle to another, cooperate with us and don't try anything stupid or we will kill you. The only reason you are still alive right now is because boss requested it." I nodded my head and played along so that they would think that they were still in control. Ten minutes after we switched vehicles, I could tell that we were in the air. "Where exactly are we going?" I asked them. "Cincinnati, Ohio in the United States," one of them answered. Thirty minutes passed, and we were landing. "Hurry it up, we don't have all day, you are taking ages to move your ass," they urged. "Ok, you don't have to tap me that hard, and stop treating me like I am your slave," I stated. "You have some nerve to say that to me you son of a…."the shortest one yelled. "What is all this ruckus out here?" a guard asked. 

"The person that the boss asked for is stepping out of line," he raged. "Don't let him piss you off like that, he literally can't do a thing to you like that, now can he?" the guard asked. "You're absolutely right," he replied, dragging me by the arm until we reached the room where their boss was supposed to be. I could tell that whoever their boss was, he was after something far worse than what humankind could comprehend. "Ah, if it isn't Lucifer himself," their boss said, sitting down. "There is no way that this is Lucifer, and if he is, he is extremely weak," one of his underlings mocked. "I doubt he could even do harm to a tree branch," another laughed. "You'd all be better off just shutting your mouths and apologizing to him right now," their boss stated, after seeing my fists draw back. "As if, what could he possibly do to me, I dare you to try me "Lucifer", you will fail miserably," he laughed again. At that moment I snapped the rope in half with ease. I raised the potato sack off my head and gently pulled on it, causing it to separate in half. He started to back up slowly as I began to walk towards him. "How is this even possible, boss help me," he pleaded. "I tried to warn your ass, Lucifer, don't kill him just yet, I need your help with something," he exclaimed. "You have my attention, don't keep me waiting, if you had them go through all of that trouble knowing how dangerous I am, then you should know that I don't like to wait," I said impatiently. "All right, chill, as you very well know, there is an imbalance between heaven and earth, that is being caused by some of my servants. They went rogue on me and decided to start their own research. There are several bases in different states, but the center of it is located somewhere in Alabama," he finished. "I thought that might be the case, I might end up having to call over reinforcements so that our search area is wider," I mumbled to myself. "I have one question for you, how do I find these bases, and what kind of security am I dealing with?" I asked. "I can provide you with some of the base locations but, I don't know where all of them are, so you are going to have to collect information as you move from base to base," he said, motioning for one of his underlings to retrieve some information. 

"In this folder, there are many names of the members that went rogue, a map with the base locations marked, and some info that you will find useful against them," he explained. "Before I leave, is there anything that I need to know about these idiots?" I asked. "Everything that you will need is in the folder that he just handed to you. If you need any transportation, let me know so that I can provide it for you," he said. "I'm fine, I don't want to owe anyone any favors," I replied as I turned around and started walking out the door. "Hold on one minute. How do you know where the door is? We had a potato sack over your head until we got in here," the short guy asked. "Child, I could see everywhere you took me," I laughed, continuing to walk. "How is that even possible, no one can see through that, and why did you call me a child?" he asked. "Well to begin with, you are a child to me, if you knew how old I was, you would understand that everyone on the planet are babies to me. And I can see through anything that is put on my head, ask your boss about me, I'm sure that he will tell you more," I replied, walking out the door. 

So, I am in Cincinnati, Ohio right now, the city with the most polluted river. I don't quite understand why humans can't manage to take care of their planet. As I was walking across the bridge to cross over into Kentucky, my phone started to ring. "Hello, do you have any important information?" I asked after answering the phone. "Well, some gang members just walked up to me and told me about some kind of base of operation. They also asked me to join their gang but I refused and knocked them out," Jason said. "Goodness me, what all did they tell you?" I asked. "To start off with, they told me that they called themselves the Encryment Baptists, after that, they told me that their boss asked to meet with me somewhere overseas in Alabama," he said. "You know what, this works out perfectly, I will come there and get you, I will explain the details to you as we are headed to America," I exclaimed, teleporting to his location. "It has been so long since you last teleported, that I was nearly scared half to death by you," Jason said, gasping for breath. "Whatever, we will be on our way now," I said, grabbing onto him, and flying into the air. 

"You said something about explaining more details to me, what details need to be shared?" he asked. "Yes, about that, I met with who the gang's boss was before they went rogue on him. He gave me some information on the members. They have many bases across the United States, however their main base is located somewhere in Alabama. So, what I want you to do for me is meet with the boss of the rogue members, if he offers again, accept his chance to join their gang. This will allow you to gain more information that we need to know, it will also more than likely get you into their main base. Make sure to keep in contact with me. I will be dealing with the other bases until we have gathered enough information to make a plan." I explained. " I mean, it isn't a bad idea but, what if I get caught, what will they end up doing to me then?" he asked. "Nothing, you are able to persuade anyone into listening to what you say," I replied. "Understood sir, I will do my best not to fail you," he said. "There is literally no way that you can possibly fail me Jason," I said in a stern voice. "Now, you better get ready for landing, I have no time to stop because I have to head to the first base," I said. 

Land was slowly coming into sight, California that is. "We still have about 30 minutes of flying to go," I said. "Uhh, why couldn't you just teleport us there like a normal person?" he asked. "For all of the years that you have known me, you should know that I am not a normal person, I would like it if you wouldn't compare the two!!" I replied. "My bad, I didn't mean to upset you sir, please accept my apology," he pleaded. "It didn't hurt that bad Jason, stop groveling and start thinking about what all you need to do for this operation to be a success," I said. "I don't really think that I need to think about anything, I can convince anyone to tell me information," he stated. "That is the worst plan that I have ever heard!!!!" I yelled. "Do you have a problem with my plan or something?" he asked. "Of course I do, there are too many risks at stake while you are stuck on this one idea," I explained. "That is how we have always done these operations, what is different about this one?" he questioned. "These members went rogue on their powerful boss, and are now conducting their own research on something. As if that is not bad enough, they are hiring more and more people every day. Why do you think that is? They would not recruit so many people unless the operation was so large that it required more," I explained. "Oh, I understand now, I never thought about it that way," he realized. "How many days are we going to be focused on this operation?" he asked. "As long as it takes, do not try to rush the operation. I estimate that it could take up to 1-2 months to complete," I replied. "Damn, this operation might be more interesting than I thought it would be," he claimed. 

"Will you need any assistance, because if you do, you could persuade their boss to let you work with a colleague,"I said. "I'll be fine sir, I'm better off working alone. You remember what happened the last time that I partnered up with someone don't you? I recall that I persuaded him to jump into the black ceramic hole, and we never saw him again," he said. "That isn't why he never came back by the way, I ended up feeding him to four-eyes," I laughed. "No you didn't," he responded, shocked from what he had heard. "Before you land, which will be in 3 minutes, I want to make this clear. Do not kill anyone," I said in a serious voice. "Sir, I told you that I wouldn't screw this up therefore, I will not screw it up," he said. "Just making myself clear," I responded, letting go of him. He hit the ground, slowly rolling down the hill as I took a sharp left, flying towards Kentucky. I remember that their boss told me to be careful while dealing with these people. I know for certain that I can deal with anything that I find myself facing, I am Lucifer after all. However, I will still listen to his warning. 

Limestone County, Albertville, Al

"Welcome, welcome. It is nice to finally get to meet you Jason, I've heard a lot about you," a person greeted me. "I take it that you are the head of this gang?" I ask. "Yes, my name is Dave Alexander, I am in charge of the organization known as the Encryment Baptists. We are an organization developed for the purpose of research."he said. "I heard rumors that you used to belong to another organization, but you quit. I'm not trying to pry, but before I accept your gracious offer to join, I would like to know if there was a reason why you left the other organization that you were associated with?" I asked. "Well you see, our leader did not support my research idea, and said that it would be harmful to humans. Though I begged and begged him to rethink his decision, he refused, so I decided to take my leave," he replied. "I see, I can understand why you would leave when he wouldn't support your idea," I replied. "Now back to the point, I would like for you to join our organization. We could really use your help to conduct numerous research," he said. "What is in it for me if I join your organization?" I ask. " You will get $10,000 every week, and you will also get your research shared with the world, which would mean that you would be well known," he replied. "Okay, with that aside, what would be my position in the organization, for example, what position of the chain of command would I be?" I asked. 

"I was expecting that to be your next question. If you choose to join, you will instantly replace my second in command officer, giving you many benefits," he replied. "All right, I will accept your offer on joining. However, I have one condition in doing so, you must treat your members fairly. If I find out that this condition was not met, I will quit, along with calling law enforcement," I explain. "Very well, I will do my best to follow your request. If you have any questions, concerns, or suggestions, please feel free to notify me," he said. "It's a pleasure to work with you. When will I receive my uniform?" I ask. "You will receive all that you need once we arrive at the base, now if you would please follow me," he stated, beginning to walk. 

I follow him as we walk down a sidewalk in a park. There were kids running around the playground laughing and giggling. It was truly a sight to see, one that was rare to see back home. Their moms sat on the benches, smiling at the sight of their children having fun. As we rounded a corner something caught my attention from the corner of my eye. I turned in the direction of the commotion, only to see a little girl being dragged by force towards a van. Upon seeing this, I ran in the direction. As I try to stop the man from taking the girl, I see the emblem of the Encryment Baptists. I hesitate for a moment and then say,"Let her go now." The man, startled by my voice, stumbles backwards, unintentionally cutting the girl with his pocket knife. The girl lets out a painful shriek then passes out. "Who are you?" the man asked. "Before I answer that question, tell me, are you a member of the Encryment Baptists?" I ask in return. "Yes I am, who are you and why do you care?" he asked again. "My name is Jason, and I am second in command here. Now tell me, what are you doing with that girl!!" I asked, demanding an answer from him. "I was ordered by one of my superiors to retrieve the girl," he said. "Why would you need the girl?" I ask, treating the girl's wound. "I'm sorry, but I cannot tell you, I am not completely sure that you are one of us," he stated, reaching for the girl. "Keep your hands away from her," I yelled. After hearing this, Dave rushed over to where I was. "What are you doing?" he asked. "I have a better question for you, do you know why this man is taking a girl by force?" I responded with a question. 

"Yes as a matter of fact, this girl's parents are worried sick about her. She ran away from her home in the middle of the night. When her parents woke up, they were shocked by the thought that she would ever do this. So, they came to us to see if we could find her," he responded. "That's a li…," the girl cried out, before having her mouth covered by the man's hand. I pretended to believe what he said. "I do have a question for you though," I said. "Yes, what is the question?" he replied. "When will the other members be aware of my rank in the group?" I asked. "I'll have to take care of that when we get back to the base, once you have been given your uniform, you will be given your rank insignia, along with any other items that you may or will need," he replied. "Oh, okay. On that note, I would like for the girl to be transported with us. I'm sorry if it causes any inconvenience to you, but I would like to keep an eye on her condition." I requested. "That's fine with me, please don't feel like you have to ask me before making a decision. You are second in command, you have to make your own decision without hesitation." he explained. 

Before continuing our walk to the car, I put the man on a 3 week suspension for unnecessary force. When we reached the car, I noticed that it was instead a limousine that was lined with gold. A butler opened the door for us to get in, I insisted that Dave get in first. I had to be more careful getting in because of the little girl that was in my arms. I still can't believe that he was using that much force, it was not necessary at all. She looked to be about the age of 8. I wonder why they were really trying to take the girl. After about 55 minutes of travel, the car slowly came to a stop. When the butler opened the door, I proceeded to carefully get out of the car, trying not to cause the girl any more pain. I take a minute to study my surroundings. We were at a church that is called When the Lord Rises. What a weird name for a church to be called. 

"Please follow me Jason," Dave requests, proceeding to walk through the open wooden double doors. I follow him as he guides me down a set of stairs below the pue. The pathway is long and half-lit with torches, we pass many different locked doors, until we finally reach the end of the long hallway. I can hardly believe my eyes, they must be playing tricks on me. "What do you think, is it a beautiful sight to see?" he asks. "Words cannot explain my thoughts Dave," I reply, surprised. "Lieutenant Frank, I need you to retrieve Command Sergeant Major Jason's uniform and id, I will get all of his other items." he said. "Yes sir," she replied, walking down a different hallway. After waiting for roughly 15 minutes, both of them return with the necessities. "Go ahead, put it on," Dave insists. I do as he suggests and put it on, after struggling to put it on that is. "You look good Jason," he stated. "You think so," I hesitated. "Sure do, welcome to the team, glad to have you," he finished. "Thank you, i'm glad to be here," I replied.