SHAITAN
The Bioweapon
Once physically invaded in such a way, her very essence twisted and tainted, he was thrown into a cell where she shivered and trembled as the infection took hold. The pain and rage itched through his very being and for a time all she could think of was her urge to die. Somehow she managed to pull through this time by praying to her brothers and sisters, his erstwhile allies in the Silver Legion, the best and the brightest of the heroic Iron Legion, and even Lucifer himself. No one answered. Her invocations were cut off by the wards within the prison. Yet even knowing this, he couldn't help be torn by bitterness, hope and a terrible feeling of betrayal.
Finally she was brought out of the cell and given a series of terrible choices. The infection needed time to fester but it also needed food so that it could solidify its hold, or so they say. Doubtless they also wanted to break his spirit so that she would do whatever they wanted him to do. So they forced him through a battery of tests, many of which designed to force obedience, such as demanding she slay dozens of humans (or else they would perform fouler experiments on them in front of her). She knew that there would be humans earmarked for those experiments anyway, that by killing those they demanded, he was only passing the tests onto others she didn't see, but refusal brought pain to him and to them and she just couldn't cope with that.
At one point, once they had thought her spirit was thoroughly broken, he was paraded through the Palace of Sighs and introduced as an obedient bioweapon to Belphegor. The sights she saw within that bastion chilled her to the bone but it also gave him strength. She would pretend to obey for now but soon he would be able to escape. For every Belphegor in this world, there was a Belphigor (the twisted Fallen's Iron Legion twinsouled brother).
While he was being transported back from the Palace of Sighs, the group were attacked by Loyalist Angels. Eager to see her weapon in action, the Duchess of Knives ordered Shaitan's release from his chains. Shaitan performed admirably, using everything at his disposal to impress the others and responding to her orders with hair trigger precision. Then, when he saw an out, she took it, flying quickly away from them once the Loyalists were down.
The Duchess of Knives smirked and called down the syllables of Shaitan's true name to bring him to bear but ... the experiment had changed her irrevocably and altered his name. The Duchess' arrogance bought her time and he managed to escape.
SHAITAN
Pleas for Help
Shaitan fled to the Iron Legion, expecting that they would help her if anyone would. They were the kindly ones, those who didn't break under pressure, the paladins of goodness. He knew he looked like a monster. Her appearance had been, for a time, that of a golden angel with a face and body which subtly shifted through different guises, male and female, in representation of how she had to be able to take others perspectives into account.
When the experiment had been conducted upon him, the sharp teeth had been driven into her pearly whites, causing little pieces of remnant enamel to float about the destruction points. Purplish black lines of corruption had seeped beneath her skin in lines from teeth, nails, horns and tail. Now her that purplish black corruption covered her body, providing a mere golden gleam in representation of what he once was, and her face had stiffened into a pale mask-like form and it was so very hard for her to change her expressions. Only her wings remained largely golden, the sign of her desperate hope for freedom, but lines of corruption still dripped across her feather tips.
The Fallen she passed on her way to the Iron Citadel stopped and gawked, shocked and disgusted by the sight of this mutilated angel. He felt their horrified glances as hammer blows, felt their judgement, their assumptions. What was she now? What was he worth?
Before she could reach the Iron Citadel, he was approached by a Silver Legionnaire, a lesser female angel called Reotel who had once taken messages from the Duchess of Knives. Terrified and enraged, Shaitan attacked the fallen, leaving grievous gouges across her flesh, and had to be hauled off by a dozen Iron Legionnaires. Shocked and horrified by Shaitan's actions and thinking him to be infected by some new weapon of God (or so ran the Duchess of Knives' initial lines), they disbelieved her rants about the Silver Legion as the ranting of a madman.
Her wings filled with corruption, the golden gleam disappeared, and in terror and confusion, Shaitan burst free of them and escaped. He came across an important Ebon Legion Baron who was here on a diplomatic assignment and fell to her knees before the Ebon figure. Baron Harakul was a female Slayer of reasonable renown who saw value in her abilities and skills and, best of all, believed Shaitan's words. After all, Baron Harakul had already witnessed some of the Silver Legions' best experiments. Why not benefit from it and deprive the other legion of their toy?
SHAITAN
The Squad Leader
Shaitan was given charge over a squad of 100 Fallen. Due to his recalcitrant nature, these were hardly the best and the brightest. Baron Harakul was willing to put up with some insubordination as sometimes those free thinkers create the perfect level of havoc among the enemy, but that didn't mean she could openly support such actions. So Shaitan was given the recalcitrant, the cowardly, and the otherwise problematic Fallen who were generally of lower rank (i.e. Eminence 2 or lower) though there were a couple Fell Knights among them.
Some examples included Zaphriel (the cowardly reaper who spent a short time as Shaitan's lover since he was the one who could best empathise and comprehend Shaitan's plans), Remiel (the rebellious devil whom Shaitan groomed to be a living insult to the First House's arrogance), Kezekiel (the smug defiler whom Shaitan used for more diplomatic messages), and Haruta (a death dealing Scourge who was only in it for the joys of violence).
Shaitan kept them together through his quick wits, cunning words, and the fact that she was willing to accept more attitude from his people than most of the others. If Shaitan's idea was bad, then you should tell him so and tell her why. To do otherwise would be ridiculous. You could do what you willed to any Loyalist Angels captured, but Shaitan kept a tight leash on what they could do to humans. Sometimes that leash wasn't so tight as Shaitan felt things were best "Out of Sight, Out of Mind", but occasionally he would care and her previous lack of concern would be no protection against future offences.
Part 1 can be found here.
Part 2 to come.
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