<center>

"Last PPV The Hammer beat the current world champion Jason Dante, a dark day for Dante but a bright one for Hammer, Infinity and the Muslim faith in general. After a "hardfought" match with HighOne Hammer is now about to step into the ring with Dante once more in the hopes of duplicating the result and walking out with the World Title. Dante on the other hand is about to step into the ring and prove that last time they met it was a fluke - but was it? To ensure neither Infinity, New Hellfire Club or anyone else interfering the TCW Enforcer Bruce has made the match a "Hell in a Cell" match"</center>

Prologue

Tornona, Italy November 5th 2:45 AM

"Selenia...I beat him."

Dante was speaking to the patch of land where his beloved had been buried 40 years before he himself was born. He stood at the site of her death and final resting place dressed in black with roses in his hand and tears in his eyes. She had betrayed and been stabbed in the back during those dark days, she had been forced to lose and betray her love and her friends, then she had paid for it, both with her life and the torture that still made him sick to his stomach to think about. He bent down on one knee and the wet soil let it's wetness creep through his black jeans. He placed the red roses on the soil and sat there on one knee thinking.

Thinking about the past.

Thinking about his lost love

Thinking about the wars that had been and the wars that were to come

Thinking about where to go and what to do.

For so long he had had her by the ring during his matches, being his support and backup. She had been a light in his dark world and a beacon for him to follow back to sanity.

Now she was gone and all he had left was a longing and a feeling of loss he could never lose.

He looked at the flat, featureless piece of grass clad soil in front of him and before he got up he said in the broken poor Italian that had made them both laugh so heartily.

"Selenia, ti amo il mio bello"

"Selenia, I love you my beautiful."

He then got up and with a heavy heart filled with doubt despite the win over TI he left Tortona behind, he had a flight to catch.

A flight to Athens.

***

Athens was suffering from the autumn like the rest of Europe, it was a lot better weather in the capital of Greece then in the northern parts of Europe, but the slight sting of autumn could be felt. Dante wrapped his coat around himself when he stepped off his private plane. The trip hadn't taken long, after all the flight from Milan to Athens wasn't a long one, but it had felt like it had taken forever for him. He had said goodbye to someone that meant a great deal to him in Italy, and even though he had hoped that saying goodbye to Selenia was going to make things better, he still felt pretty bad.

He had lived a life of loneliness before she had come into his life, not even having defeated the goliath of the federation TI, made him feel good. The stomps of Infinity and the punches and blows still felt painful and hard despite his quick recuperation.

He had let so much loose against TI, he had after having lost Selenia let the darkest part of his soul loose and let it ravage himself and TI, and he felt the guilt of having let the demon he knew he had to repress loose on the world. He sighed and started to walk across the tarmac. He had chose a landing strip far from the big press and fan infested landing strips and a time when no fan would be insane enough to chase him.

He liked the recognition but didn't feel like being the TCW representative today; he knew he had a whole slew of boring interviews and press conferences to go through. He had to shake hands and smile and tell the world how Hell in a cell was the most gruelling match in wrestling and that he was confident...

He realized that he would have to lie, he wasn't confident. Hammer had beaten him last time they had fought and Hammer had only had to use his finger to pin Highone. Dante on the other hand had gone to extremes to defeat TI, they had both taken and give each other amounts of violence that few people can take and even fewer are willing to inflict.

Dante felt no confidence, the two belts in his luggage would probably be held high by Hammer after Stranglehold and Infinity would fill the ring and celebrate their "great victory".

The thought alone made Dante want to vomit. Since he had won the titles, he hadn't really cared too much about them; End Game had started something that in the end was very important and he felt he needed to give that his attention rather then the titles.

He passed through customs and entered the main waiting hall, the few people there were either security guards or asleep as they waited for their flights. He walked towards the exit and the car he had rented when a familiar and overly cheery voice stopped him.

"Well, hello Jason!"

Dante turned around and was greeted by the same face that had greeted him at Havoc.

"Bruce."

Dante's voice was slow and tired but had all the contempt in it that he felt for the time traveller.

"Jason, I see you wanted to avoid the crowd and I know you tend to go to extremes but this is a bit too much even for you." Bruce said with a smirk on his face that Dante wanted to hit with a brick.

Dante choose to ignore the comment and simply said nothing.

"So, what did you like my decision to make the match "hell in a cell"? Personally, I'm very proud of the idea; it seems so perfect...doesn't it..."Morningstarson"?"

Jason Dante had no idea what Bruce was playing at, of course he knew about Dante's little secret, he had to. After all, Dante had always suspected that there would come a time when it would be common knowledge. He thought for a few second before offering a tame reply.

"I think you made a mistake Bruce."

"I did?" Bruce managed to sound surprised.

"Yeah, you seem to forget what I fight for."

"Jason, I have no idea what you fight for unless it's for the titles, and you know it is kind of those that are on the line at Stranglehold, and you have already lost to hammer once..." Bruce let the comment trail out into nothing to Dante suspected make him irritated or annoyed, and he succeeded in making him feel that way. Dante managed to suppress the feeling and simply said.

"Yeah, I sort of understood that."

"Good to hear that Jason, good to hear. You guys haven't looked all that good lately so you'll need the win to keep your positions on the card."

Dante gritted his teeth, he had expected this. Bruce had drafted him to the original Hellfire Club and most likely had objections about the new one, objections Dante had no intention to care about or even listen to.

"I know Bruce, you think I missed the beating TI and his boyfriends lay on me at Havoc?"

"Not really...you took it well I have to say."

Dante scoffed.

"I didn't have much choice did I? It's hardly selling the beat down we are talking about here, are we?"

"Maybe not."

Dante held back his "Trust me it wasn't" comment and waited for the toxic comment about the old Hellfire club handling the situation better. When it didn't come, Dante decided to bring it up to get that tiring process over with.

"I know...I know...The old club would have handled it."

Bruce smiled that creepy and arrogant smile of his and simply said.

"I know."

Dante was feeling his rage bubble up inside him, he wanted to beat Bruce to a pulp and he could feel himself starting to boil over, but somehow he calmed down.

"We have other things then Infinity to care about you know."
Bruce smirked.

"Yes, Good little Jason and Nice little Darkness running around the world trying to make all the bad things go away. Be glad that Baroness doesn't see you like this!"

Bruce's voice got a strange tang of disgust as he finished that sentence. The time traveller was about to fire off another comment when he was grabbed by his shirt by the alabaster skinned champion.

"Bruce I've spent long and sleepless nights thinking about what I did wrong with her, what I did wrong with Karen and with Selenia...I don't need someone with a sheltered love life like you to tell me about the women in my life. Keep to the things you understand Bruce and let the rest slide."

Dante let go of the surprised enforcer. Bruce straightened his hat and shirt and looked at his former ally and friend as he walked out of the coldly lit waiting hall.

"Tell your children not to walk my way"

Hammer was feeling exited, he and Highone had made a deal that made the best possible man the challenger for the title at Stranglehold. They had taken a classic trick out of Hulk Hogan's book and given it a Infinity coating, one finger point later and Hammer was the #1 contender. He had defeated the champion before and was very confident about being able to do it once more. The future for Infinity looked rosy, he was going to be the Unified world champion, Highone was going to remain the transcontinental champion and Shadow and Desean would take their titles back, in short Infinity was going to be on top, and Hammer on the top of the heap of Infinity.

Dante, Darkness and Acolyte would be gone and the New Hellfire Club would be a memory more easily forgotten then the Slaughterhouse 5 had been. Dante had tried to be cute and tricky during their last battle, but he had come up short and Hammer had won, a victory that should have meant the title for him, but the pale faced guy was a coward, he had no spine and had been afraid to put his title on the line against the Muslim Superstar. Hammer smiled a self-loving smile as he watched the people pass him by on the café he and Jabbar had eaten their lunch at.

Hammer had wanted to get some calm and relaxing time before the match to be in the best of conditions for the match, so he had suggested that they take in the local tourist destinations. After having seen the acropolis and visited Piraeus, they had slowly ran out of destinations. Jabbar had the suggested they go to Istanbul in Greece's less then friendly neighbour country, the city was the crown jewel of Asia Minor, it had once been the seat of power for the Eastern Roman empire and been called Constantinople. The city had been in the hands of Christians, but was now the most western of all Muslim capitals. They had seen the famous mosques and preyed in a few of them, they had both felt better then ever and really at home in a world where Hammer was a hero to the people.

As Hammer and his mad spiritual adviser sat at the café relaxing and drinking Turkish coffee, Hammer let himself fantasise about being the hero crowned champion at Stranglehold, to hear the announcer call out him as the victorious champion and hear the fans shout his name, he let himself bask in the fantasy of shouts of "Hammer! Hammer!" while the coffee slowly got cold. Jabbar looked at him and was about to say something when a young man, not more the 22 walked up to them and in broken but good English asked them.

"I beg your pardon, but are you Mutaaz Tareef?"

Hammer smiled and reached for his pocket to get his pen out for the inevitable autograph. As he did he replied.

"Yes, I am..."

The young man looked more the happy, he looked ecstatic.

"Praise Allah, Mr. Tareef...we have been awaiting your arrival for a long time and we have a gift for you, a smaller offering to he who will bring glory to Islam and make the name Tareef immortal in the annals of wrestling history!"

Hammer looked at the young man and then at Jabbar, the advisor looked as elated as the young man and nodded. Hammer smiled his best "for the fans" smile and said.

"Well, I would be very honoured to receive a gift from my fans."

The young man's face almost jumped off his face.

"By the prophet, I am glad to hear this...will you accompany me? We have your gift at a special location."

Jabbar continued to look happy and elated and Hammer despite having a few other ideas about accompanying strange men to get gifts, decided that caution was for fools and he and Jabbar walked with the young man leaving their half drunken coffees to get cold.


"Tell your children not to hear my words"

Dante left the airport building behind and went to look for his car, Bruce had been a friend at one point, someone Dante looked up to. The strange man from the future had been champion and on top of the fed and left his protégée wishing to walk in his footsteps, but once Dante had gotten that far the worship had turned to loathing and the fandom to hate. Dante had taken the title from Darkness and with Darkness reformed the Hellfire Club, Bruce wasn't pleased but couldn't really do anything about it apart from make Dante's life miserable. Dante sighed as he threw his luggage into the boot of the car and slammed it shut. Bruce was the past, the NHFC was the future, he was sure about that. He walked up to the passenger seat and unlocked the door, as he was about to get in a slight "hrmph" caught his attention, as he was about to turn around, a sharp pain short through the back of his head. As he reached the conclusion that he had been struck down, he faded into the unconsciousness.

Strong and quick arms grabbed him threw him in the back seat of his rental car and speed off into the early Athens morning heading to the harbour town of Piraeus.

Unknown location, Istanbul Turkey 14:56 PM

Dante groaned he had been out for a long time he felt, the headache and spinning head that he had gotten from his time unconscious was a trouble he had a hard time to focus on, after all the three men in front of him was a great deal more problematic.

They were all in their early to mid twenties, bore moustaches and looked like they had read the wrong kind of holy books a few times too many, they looked at Dante with disgust and hatred in their eyes. He looked at the three of the one by one and stupid question formed in his head.

"So, you guys are the new version of the three stooges aren't you?"

The oldest of the trio spat Dante in his face and stared insulting him first in Turkish and then in English.

"Stupid, godless infidel! How dare you make fun of us?"

Dante looked at him and his obviously insane eyes and tried to make sense of the situation.

"That would be a lot easier if I actually knew who you guys are."

"And why I'm tired to this chair." He added.

The oldest and at least by the looks of things most fanatical of the three spoke again.

"You are our grand sacrifice..."

"Great I had no idea Islam deal in sacrifices."

"SILENCE!"

A younger, in fact from the looks of things the youngest of the three had yelled out and followed it up with a slap to Dante's face. Dante stared at the young kid, no more then 15, the albino felt his rage begin to bellow up inside him and unlike his encounter with Bruce, he wanted to let loose and rip these morons apart. As he slowly began to let what he dared to let loose free, a great pain shot through his body and he went into convulsions. He realised that he had his feet in water and someone, had electrocuted him.

Between gasps he said."

"What?"

"the"

"fuck?"

"That will teach you to look at us that way infidel!" The oldest one spat.

Dante tried to speak but the pain shot through his body again.


The third man had yet to speak, but now he did. In a slow, creepy clearly insane voice he said.

"We have captured you to ensure the fortune and coronation of Islam's greatest hero! With you in our grasp he will rise to the throne unopposed and the glory will be for Allah!"

Dante looked at the man who was almost frothing at the mouth and wondered what he had gotten into. Who was this great hero of Islam they were talking about...and why the hell had they taken him, who was as close to an atheist as someone who was the son of Lucifer could be hostage. Before he could ask, the man spoke again.

"When the TCW comes to Athens, the hero will emerge to find you absent, he will be crowned the champion with no need to shed his sweat or his blood he will ascend to the greatest height of wrestling and be THE unified champion!"

The other two offered up praise Allahs and laughed.

Dante looked at the three men in front of him, they were clearly insane, and this was a boyhood dream having gone really mad...He had feared they were terrorists, but the truth was even worse...they were all mad, and delusional. He looked at the man who had electrocuted him and before he could say anything...230 volts was directed through his pale skinned body.

Dante vomited and fell unconscious again.

"Can you keep them in the dark for life?"

Hammer and Jabbar sat in the back seat of a car that looked like it had been in and cool when Disco was the same, still the driver was friendly and joked with them and seemed to be a huge wrestling fan so the ride was enjoyable. Jabbar seemed to blank out when the topic switched to wrestling over Islam but he at least made an effort to seem interested. The rode through Istanbul's busy streets and at times the driver had to shout to clear people out of the way.

The areas they rode through slowly got more and more industrial and run down. Grime covered the windows of derelict buildings as the rode past them. Warehouses made from corrugated metal blended into a hideous mix of grey and dirt as Jabbar and Hammer rode past them.

They arrived at the destination after about 30 minutes in the car, they hesitantly and worried stepped out and watched as their driver asked them to enter the warehouse. Both men kept their eyes open as they entered the dark building.

The driver led them through a corridor that was made up of large wooden crates with unknown contents, and as they cleared the corridor of crates, they saw a circle of light in the middle of the warehouse, three men were waiting for them and in front of them was something covered in a sheet, they all smiled as Hammer and Jabbar approached.

"Greetings Mutaaz Tareef, and greetings to his grand advisor Jabbar" The oldest of the three said.

Hammer looked at them and offered his own greetings, as did Jabbar. They both looked at the object covered in fabric and then at each other.
"We want to offer you this gift, this is our way of thanking you for brining our people tpo the attention of wrestling fans all over the world."

Hammer smiled and did his best to look happy.

"You're welcome, it's an honour to have fans all over the world."

The driver walked over to the object beneath the sheet and after saying "This is our gift to you Mutaaz Tareef! LONG MAY ALLAH SEE YOU REIGN AS CHAMPION!"

He then pulled off the sheet and Hammer and Jabbar simply stared at the gift. They both said weak "thank you"s and said they were both very happy to see this and that the gift was perfect, but while trying to keep the façade up, they both tried to think of a way to get out of there, the gift was a wearing only his pants, his feet in a tub of water and unconscious Jason Dante. Hammer was the first to regain control of his senses and see the benefit of the situation.

"Well, well if it isn't the coward champion?"

He walked up to Dante and lifted the unconscious man's face up. As his face was moved, Dante awoke and through eyes that were blood shot and filled with pain, he saw his Stranglehold opponent in front of himself. Through parched lips he said.

"Hammer...I...I'm going to kill you at Stranglehold!"

Before Hammer could reply, the driver that had picked Hammer and Jabbar up spoke. In a voice thick with contempt and loathing he walked up to Dante and with a triumphant yell he jabbed the electrodes of the homebuilt electrocution device into Dante's skin.

The champion screamed and his body was wracked with spasms and the 230 volts brought his muscles into uncontrollable action. Suddenly the spasms stopped and Dante hung in his restraints in the chair. Hammer looked at Dante and then the driver with panic starting to build inside him.

Jabbar having managed to break the spellbinding atmosphere of the warehouse walked up to Dante and tried to find the albino's pulse. Hammer looked at him with the last pieces of hope fading from his face.

Jabbar shook his head...no pulse...Dante was dead.

Hammer flew into a rage he hadn't expected, he grabbed the driver by his shirt and started yelling incoherent threats.

As he was screaming about this being murder and the four men being crazy, the oldest of the kidnappers went into action. With a piece of broken crate he smashed Hammer over his head.

As the Infinity member dropped to his knees from the blow, the driver with tears in his eyes walked up to him.

"Traitor."
That was the last word Hammer heard before he too was electrocuted.

After the spasms stopped, Hammer's world went dark.

"But if you wanna find hell with me..."

Hammer awoke and found himself on sandy ground. Slowly he got up to his feet and tried to shake the cobwebs. The electrocution felt like it had happened in another lifetime. He looked over the blighted landscape that he had found himself in. The sand and the rocks told him that they had dumped his body in the Turkish wilderness, he cursed. After having stood up for a good 5 minutes his vision and sense were back to normal and he began to look out across the blighted land. The sky was tinted red as if the sun was setting and this he assumed was what gave the sand its red quality. He began to walk, began to find a way back to Istanbul. He hoped Jabbar was safe and thought about what Dante's death was going to mean.

He had never liked the albino or the Hellfire Club, but he didn't want anyone of them dead, especially not one he had to face at Stranglehold. As he walked there thinking about this, he ran into a man.

Literally ran into him.

Hammer backed up and the man turned around. Mutaaz Tareef stopped dead in the middle of a "what the..." as he saw the man he had run into.

"Dante?"

"Hammer?" came the reply.

"What the hell are YOU doing here?" both men asked simultaneously.

Hammer was at a loss for words, Dante had been dead and now he was here in the Turkish wilderness. Something was going on, something strange that Tareef didn't like at all.

Dante smirked.

"So they got you too?"

"Seems like it, doesn't it?" Hammer replied trying to match Dante's cool tone of voice.

"What I don't get is why they dumped us here...this is nowhere."

"Not really." Dante replied.

"Well it looks like the fucking wilderness to me at least!" Tareef spat getting annoyed.

"Hammer...where do you think we are?" Dante asked him.

"Turkish Wilderness. Where else? They knocked us both out and dumped us here, damn pricks."

Dante looked at Tareef and the number one contender couldn't really understand what Dante's face was telling him.

"Hammer...We are dead."

"No, they just dumped us here, crazy guys who got too close and..."

"No Hammer, we ARE dead...we are both dead and..."

Dante hesitated before he pointed to a city that lay across a river.

"...and this is hell."

Hammer looked at what Dante was pointing at and saw a city that was every sin filled hole ever combined.

In old gaudy letters a nearby sign told the tale all to well.

"Abandon all hope ye who enter here."

They were both dead...and this WAS hell.

City of Dis, sixth circle or hell, time unknown
"... I can show you what its like"

"Dead?"

It's going to take a minute for Mutaaz Tareef to process this information through his skull. OK, maybe a little bit more than a minute.

Dante: Yes.

Hammer: And we're in...hell?

Dante: That's what it looks like.

Hammer: I can't be dead! I'm too young to die!

Well, Hammer does have a point. After all, he just celebrated his 30th birthday four days before his death. It was a very nice party held at a fine restaurant in Torino two days before Havoc. Everybody who was anybody was there...you didn't receive an invitation? Heh. It was fantastic. But that was then, and this is now...and right now Hammer's really not in a very happy mood.

Hammer: How could this be happening? I was supposed to be the next world champion! I was going to be the most popular Muslim since Muhammad Ali! This isn't right!

Dante:

Hammer: Well, we'll never know now, will we? Damn it!

Hammer kicks some of the sand beneath him. Since he's standing with his face towards the breeze, the sand flies back in his face. Dante laughs while Hammer coughs the sand out of his system.

Hammer: Oh, you think that's funny, huh? Newsflash Dante, YOU'RE DEAD TOO! And we're both in hell for all eternity...well, now that I think of it, Jabbar did tell me that Allah eventually removes people from hell after they are forgiven for their sins. As long as they're Muslims...I'm not sure what they'll do with you.

Dante: Personally, I don't plan on sticking around long enough to find out.

Hammer raises his eyebrow...

Hammer: Ummm....where you gonna go? YOU'RE DEAD!

Dante takes a look towards the City of Dis, which glistens with immorality, depravity and other fantastic things in the distance.

Dante: We'll go there.

Hammer: We?

Dante: What, you've got someplace else to go?

Hammer: Well...uh...no.

Dante: You can either go check out that place, or you can stay here for the rest of eternity. Your choice.

Hammer ponders it for about a minute, weighing his options...well, really he doesn't have that many options. He's dead. He's gone to Hell. Maybe, Hammer thinks, Allah's version of Hell is sticking him with somebody that he despises. Maybe if he stays with Dante long enough, he will have done his penance and Allah will allow him to move on to Heaven.

Sure, it's not the most rational argument of all time, but really, Hammer's grasping for straws here. See how well your mind fares in Hell!

Hammer: Let's go.

-----

"You...you...HEATHENS!"

Muhammad Jabbar stands over the body of Mutaaz Tareef. He checks it for a pulse, though he already knows that he's not going to find one. He looks up at the four men that are behind this terrible deed that has resulted in the deaths of two very well-known men.

The oldest of the men, the man who had delivered the deadly blow to both Dante & Hammer, addresses him.

"Muhammad Jabbar, you old fool! You honestly can not believe that we brought you and Mutaaz Tareef here today with the intent of killing him...do you?"

He walks up to Jabbar, being sure to let him see that he still has the device in his hand.

"We believed that Hammer was a great and honorable man that would lead Islam to heights that it had never known! We thought that he would appreciate us for taking care of his greatest opposition for him! But instead he turns against us, for no reason!"

Jabbar: Mutaaz Tareef is not a perfect man. He has bad intentions for Jason Dante, but he would never go to those kinds of extremes! He does not believe in murder!

"Your use of the English present tense amuses me, old man! Tareef is dead! Long live Hizbullahi Kurdi!"

Jabbar: Hizbullahi Kurdi...you're terrorists!

"Silly man, you more than anybody should know that we're not terrorists...we're freedom fighters!"

Jabbar: Freedom fighters my foot, I know all about how your group operates. It's people like you that cause Westerners to be prejudiced against people like me. Islam can not rise until your group and other groups like it stops committing terrible atrocities against innocent people!

"Jabbar, I don't like your tone."

Jabbar: Are you going to kill me too?

"No. At least, not yet. We had some grand plans for Mr. Dante, but due to he & Mr. Tareef not cooperating with us, you will have to do..."

The 15 year old, who has moved behind Jabbar during this discussion, takes a lead pipe and hits the spiritual advisor right in the back of the head. Muhammad Jabbar collapses to the ground, falling into a state of unconsciousness. Two of the other men remove his traditional Arabic attire while the oldest one goes to the table and picks up the video camera...

------

Dante & Hammer have been walking for what seems like days to them, which seems strange because the gates of this city couldn't have been more than 100 yards away...but finally, they arrive. Hammer reads the sign...

Hammer: City of Dis...that sounds familiar for some reason...

Hammer thinks about it for a few seconds, and then remembers where he'd heard the name before.

Hammer: That was the name of your hometown, wasn't it?

Dante: Yes..."From the City of Dis in the Sixth Circle of Hell..."

Hammer: You know, I always thought you were making that stuff up. I didn't think there was actually a city in Hell...I guess I've never really thought about Hell all that much.

Dante: I've experienced it more than I'd care to admit.

Hammer is confused. He'd heard all sorts of crazy rumors about things that Jason Dante had done. Like most other people in his circle, Hammer laughed off most of these rumors. Certainly they couldn't have actually taken place. Dante was just your average kinda albino, sure he was tough as hell, but he probably lived a normal life outside the ring like most of your average pro wrestlers. He had a girlfriend, right? Well, she'd mysteriously disappeared a couple of weeks ago, but Hammer's girlfriend disappears for months at a time for perfectly logical reasons. Maybe Selenia is an actress too. Who knows?

Now that Hammer is in Hell, alongside this man who doesn't seem at all troubled by it...he isn't so sure. Maybe those rumors that Hammer had dismissed as ridiculousness weren't as ridiculous as he thought they were. Maybe there was a lot more to the New Hellfire Club than Hammer had originally thought.

Maybe this really isn't Dante's first trip to Hell.

Hammer: I swear, whenever I challenge somebody for the World title, something messed up happens. Last time I ended up chasing a demon that was actually Darkness through a state, and this time I'm...dead.

Hammer looks up to the sky.

Hammer: If we get out of this somehow, I'm never begging TCW Management for another title shot again.

Dante: I've got a plan. Just follow my lead and don't say anything.

Hammer: Why not?

Dante: From what I know of you, whatever you say will piss people off and we'll be in even bigger trouble down here than we already are.

Hammer: Good point.

Well, who is Hammer to debate the one who is the God of all Hell's Fire?

-----

The Ghetto Grass X-Press sits in the parking lot of the Ano Liossia Arena in Athens, Greece. The drive from Torino to Athens was a rather bumpy one. The Ghetto Grass members spent most of the trip celebrating Alexxx's big accomplishment in their own way. They find it strange that neither Hammer or Jabbar have contacted them yet with instructions on what to do in Greece...but they could be busy with something. It was going to be an important week for Hammer, after all, and Ghetto Grass was hoping that they could slip under his radar a bit.

They've been watching TV for awhile now, flipping back and forth between channels. Europe just doesn't have the same kinds of channels that America does, though they certainly appreciate Europe's less strict standards towards pornography on television. Something that catches Stoner's eye is not of a pornographic nature...

Stoner: Hey, flip that back!

Ghetto Fire flips the channel back to Al-Jazeera. They see a group of what appear to be terrorists surrounding an old Arabic man...

Stoner: That's Jabbar, isn't it?

The other three take a closer look at the screen...

Alexxx: It is!

Ghetto Fire: Are you sure? How do you know it's not just some other old Arabic dude that looks like him?

Yasmin: Arabs don't all look alike! That's Jabbar all right. Turn up the sound!

Ghetto Fire turns up the sound. Unfortunately since the leader of the group is speaking in Turkish, none of the Ghetto Grass members are sure of what's being said. The next image on the screen appears to be of two bodies, each covered by a blanket. Nothing conclusive can be drawn from that, but Stoner notices something lying next to one of the bodies...

Stoner: Is that Hammer's black turban?

The Ghetto Grass members take another close look...

Ghetto Fire: I think it is!

Alexxx: Oh God...

Yasmin: Wait a minute...if that's Hammer's turban, and they've got Jabbar tied up...you don't think...

The four members of Ghetto Grass watch the monitor as the shot goes back to Jabbar tied up and surrounded by the men. They seem especially angry at this point and are probably demanding something. The kids sit in silence until the clip ends and one of the Al-Jazeera talking heads appears on the screen.

Stoner: So...if he's dead, does that mean we can wrestle again?

Ghetto Fire: I don't know.

Yasmin: I guess it'd depend on what his will said.

Alexxx, sitting on a beanbag chair in the corner, looks at all of them in disgust.

Alexxx: Mutaaz could be dead...and the first thing you think of is yourselves?

Stoner, Yasmin & Ghetto Fire look at each other.

Ghetto Fire: Well...

Stoner: He didn't really like us.

Yasmin: Made our lives a living hell.

Ghetto Fire: It'd make things easier for us. Unless Jabbar survives.

All 3: Yeah.

Alexxx, on the verge of tears, tries to say something. She can't get the words out of her mouth, and instead gets up off the beanbag chair and exits the X-Press. Ghetto Fire, Stoner & Yasmin sit in silence for the rest of the day while Al-Jazeera continues to play on the television.

While much could be said about Ghetto Grass's reaction to Hammer's possible demise, one thing is for sure...Hammer's life is more of a living hell than Yasmin's at this point.

"Dead lie the rivers..."

They walked across the reddish, blasted landscape on their way towards the river and towards the city of Dis. Hammer was constantly letting out a curse or two for having died before he got his big shot at the title, he was ,Dante thought going crazy.

Dante laughed to himself and thought "Couldn't happen to a nicer guy". The had walked for about 10 minutes when they came to the bank of the river that acted as a natural moat for the city. They both sat down for a rest and to think about how to get across to the city.

Hammer looked at the water that in one meaning of the word ran in the river, it looked like it was made of rusted metal and looked toxic enough to strip the flesh from the bones if you tried to swim across. Tareef looked at the city then at the water again and at last he gave up and looked at Dante.

The albino looked different in Hammer's eyes now. He had always seen him as the enemy, both now and when Dante was a de facto enemy of Darkness'. Highone had told him about Dante having been one of those asked to join Infinity but he had left before the group got started. He had been the enemy, now he was a fellow damned looking for a way back to life. He remembered all the rumours and the gossip about Dante and him being a Satanist, about the cult some saw the new Hellfire Club as being. Hammer had scoffed at the ideas his fellow wrestlers had but now he didn't know any more, there was something about the albino that made him look at home here in hell.

Hammer paused.

It had taken him quite a while to accept that this was hell and not the Turkish outback, he had seen the strange sky and the blood-red sand and that strange city and now it seemed he had accepted it. They sat at the river waiting for something Hammer had no intention to ask about, and as acceptance turned to questions Hammer spoke up for the first time in over an hour.

"One thing I don't get..."

he paused to clear his dry throat.

"...is why I'm here."

Dante looked at Hammer and with a smirk that was completely joyless he said.

"Because just like me you deserve to be here. This place doesn't make any mistakes, if you deserve to go here you will go here, no excuses or finger pokes will get you out of this."

Hammer looked at Dante with doubt and a hint of dread in his eyes.

"I don't think I deserved to go here..."

Dante smiled again.

"Yes you do."

Hammer stared at Dante and his mind boggled.

"What?"

"You think or thought that you deserved to go to hell."

Hammer stared at Dante.

"I certainly did not!"

Hammer felt anger bubble up inside him, it was bad enough that what had happened has happened, but now Dante was telling him that he had sent himself to hell, and this made Hammer's blood boil.
He stood up and grabbed the shirt of the albino and lifted the champion to his feet. Hammer looked straight into Dante's cold and colourless eyes and felt how his angry tirade got stuck in his mouth. Dante was as calm as he could be, he let Hammer hold on to him for a while and in some way calm down. As the man he was set to face at Stranglehold before they died let go he breathed a sigh of relief and said.

"I'm not saying this to piss you off Hammer, I simply have bigger fish to fry then to make you feel angry, but hell isn't what the Vatican tells people it is."

Hammer sat back down looking tired and worn.

"I'm not sure about what you mean."

Dante took a deep breath. Darkness, Bruce and Bleeder had all added their parts to the few things Dante knew about hell in general and Dis in particular, in many ways Dis was like Hades of Greek mythology, a silent and dreary realm where the sinners' shades drifted in hopeless despair as their punishment.

"Hammer, Hell isn't a place of fire and endless torture like the books say. We're not talking about people having their blood boiled or their brains eaten here, it's much worse."

Dante remembered Selenia's story of her torture in hell and shuddered as the memory brought back both Selenia and the nausea her story had invoked in him.

"The souls that end up in hell condemn themselves to this place, it's all about guilt that they feel themselves. They regret their actions and send themselves to hell. When they get there...here they are in a place that is their own personal hell, in a way they send themselves to a personal and custom made hell for punishment they think they deserve."

Hammer nodded, even though the topic was insane and that he didn't really believe all this, he knew it made sense.

"So I sent myself here?"

"Yes."

"And I will be punished here?"

"Again yes, I know that we both will."

"When will that begin?" Hammer asked with a hint of panic in his voice.

"Dunno, I'm a bit surprised it hasn't begun yet." Dante replied.

Before Hammer could ask any more questions, the polite and very British voice of an older man interrupted them.

"I beg your pardon gentlemen."

Both Hammer and Dante jumped as they hadn't seen this guy approach at all. They both spent a good few seconds being goggle eyed as the man who was dressed like a British naval officer stood their looking at them. He looked extremely old and grey, Dante saw that who ever he was he had eyes that had no pupils at all. The old man coughed and said.

"It is time for your crossing gentlemen, I hope you have brought money for the fare..."

The old man's voice trailed out to indicate that it was a question with a non too small amount of command in it.

Hammer and Dante rummaged around in their pockets and each man found a large silver coin. They handed the coins to the old man and they were asked to board a boat that had appeared as suddenly and as inexplicably as the old man had. Before they boarded Dante paused and looked at the old man.

"So this is it then?"

"Yes Earth-born, it is."

"Well, not much to do I suppose."

"No sir, nothing."

"I suspected that."

As they entered the boat Hammer stopped.

"One second...the river...the fare...the crossing...This has to be Styx, hasn't it?" he asked to no one in particular.

"Yes sir, well spotted sir." The old man replied.

Dante smirked and pointed to the old man.

"And if that is Styx, then you must be Charon..."

"Well spotted indeed sir, few recognise me these dark days."

Both Dante and Hammer felt at least a bit redeemed by this little minor victory as they sat down in the boat that set out to cross the Styx and take them to the City of Dis.

Back on Earth.

Ghetto Grass was celebrating, well everyone apart from Alexx, who was distraught about Hammer's "passing". Stoner and Ghetto Fire had made a few extra adjustments to their everyday routine that was in their minds enough to call this partying, in other words they were stoned out of their minds and the celebration had become more of the two of them laying flat on their back starting at the ceiling of the X-press coming up with what a few spots looked like. As they were having a grand old time, Alexx was miserable. She had been crying a great deal the latest half a day and tried to come up with what to do. As despair had turned into irritation and determination she had gone to find someone to at least help her Find Hammer's body. And she had found someone...someone who was more qualified to find the dead Hammer then anyone else in this world.

A man with eyes that looked like broken glass.

"Dis-bound"

Dante felt troubled by what had happened, he realised that mostly everyone who got here felt troubled and strange but his problems were of a different kind the worry of punishment and penance for sins committed. Something he realised was very wrong, bit exactly what that something was, he couldn't put his finger on. Hell looked like Selenia had described it for him and the city was exactly like she had said.

He paused as the pain of seeing the most beautiful face in the world appeared in his mind went through his tortured mind. He wondered how much more of this he could take, there had been a time when he had been happy to pull cheap tricks on his opponents and flaunt his wealth to anger the other wrestlers. Now he was very different, he had found something inside him that he had never expected to find there, he had found the ability to love and to be swept off his feet. He had found weakness and relished it. The man who had been as cold as ice had become human...only to lose it and die. As the anger of his meaningless death passed through he realised that he understood Hammer very well, his opponent had been at the verge of a title match with a man he already had beaten once...of course Hammer was confident, he had every reason to be that...and then it got taken away from him by some kids thinking they were big and bad terrorists. Dante could only begin to imagine the frustrated anger Hammer felt at this.

Dante looked at the black man who had come to hell with him, Tareef had gone from a championship hopeful to a dead body in seconds, and still the man seemed to be able to keep his act together.

Dante thought about what would have happened if they had come to Stranglehold and had to fight in the cage. A part of Dante was happy that would never happen now.

The Albino's thoughts were interrupted by a polite cough and a voice he knew well.

"I beg your pardon sir, but I need to speak with you."

Dante looked at Charon and with a surprised look on his face said.

"Well, talk all you want."

"In private, sir." Charon replied more quietly then before.

Dante shrugged.

"Oh, ok."

The two men walked to a part of the boat where Hammer was unable to see or hear them.

"Sir, excuse me for saying this this way, but your arrival here was most unexpected."
Dante looked at Charon as if he was trying to understand a person speaking a language he didn't know.

"Well you see sir, every man woman and child has a set time on which they die...yours and Mr. Tareef's is far from this time."

Dante still said nothing, he just looked at Charon with a bewildered look on his face.

"For goodness sake Earth-born! Do you understand what I am telling you?"

Dante nodded meekly.

"I think I do...We're not supposed to be here at all."

"Exactly, sir...this is not your time."

Dante's mind had at this point descrambled the last pieces of information and he felt a rage without end build up in him. He grabbed Charon by his uniformed chest and pulled the ferryman near to his face.

"Then tell me what the fuck we are doing here!"

Charon seemed less then concerned by Dante's anger and replied in his calm voicem and simply said.

"I have no idea sir. It is not my position to question the actions of the Lord and Lady of Dis, I simply man the ferry to the City of pain."

That name struck a chord with Dante.

"City of Pain?"

"Yes Sir, that is what some call the City of Dis."

Dante's let go of the ferryman and felt his world shudder. He knew that name, he just couldn't remember where he had heard it.

"I only wished to tell you this, Sir. There has been unrest in the city for a long time now, the Lords does not see this as a problem as he regards the Lady as below his worth to care about, but she has been making trouble for a while now."

Dante looked at the old man and tried to figure out what was going on.

"Ok."

"Well, sir at least you know what is happening now."

Dante looked at Charon and tried to look confident.

"Yeah, I do. Thank you for telling me Charon."

"You are most welcome sir."
With those words the grey old man walked away to prepare for the landing on the shores of Dis. Dante looked at his back as he walked up to the steering booth on the boat and brought the boat ashore.

Both Dante and hammer got off the boat and watched as Charon brought his vessel back to the other side of the Styx. They stood at the rusted iron gate leading to the City of Dis fro a few minutes and just looked out across the rusted waters of the river of the dead. As if to break the silence and relive the tension, Hammer asked:

"What did Charon talk to you about?"

Dante looked at Hammer and said.

"Well, there seems to be trouble in Dis."

"Isn't that what the place is built to have?"

"Not this kind of trouble."

Hammer looked at his opponent and decided to let the issue slide.

Once more back on earth.

Alexx had been away from the X-press and her fellow Ghetto Grass members celebrations for nearly a day now and she was nervous to return, especially given who was with her. She opened the door and found Stoner's upside down but happy face staring at her.

"Hey Alexx...where have you been?"

She looked at the still stoned Stoner and sighed.

"Out looking for help."

"Great! We always...help with what?"

Alexx paused and decided to jump past the games and tell him what she was going to do.

"Help with finding Hammer...and Jason Dante."

Stoner got up from his position and seemed perfectly sober and clean right away.

"Alexx..." he started with a pained voice. "...That dude has made life hell for us since he won our services. I wouldn't spend once second to find his carcass unless..."

Stoner paused as the man who had come with Alexx came into view. The Ghetto grass member knew who he was, he was very much part of the ECF/411fed/TCW folklore. Stoner swallowed and said.

"Alexx...where did you find him?"

"I...eh...well...he sort of found me."

Stoner looked at Alexx and then at the man and swallowed again. He looked at the man who would help them, and he saw a face that fed members and fans knew very well.

He saw Bleeder.

"Things to do in Dis when you are dead."

hey walked along the streets of Dis. They first passed the lower class districts around the wall that surrounded the city, here shades cried out in woe as they constantly confessed to their horrid crimes as the haunted half crumbling houses. Dante seemed disinterested and disconnected as they walked past the wailing phantoms of long dead sinners. It was as if he was somewhere else.

They left the lower-class district behind on their way on the perfectly straight road that lead to the centre of the city, Dante knew what awaited them at the main square and he didn't want to tell Hammer. He had the feeling that they would be subjected to a similar treatment as Selenia had gone through, The Lord and Lady of Dis seemed to need new demons in their ranks and Dante and Hammer seemed to have been drafted.

They passed under an arch and ended up in a strange part of the City, the mood here was lighter but still sad. They looked at each other, shrugged and went on a short excursion in the quarters.

"Hey Dante! Look at this!"

Hammer had found something and the Albino decided to see what it was.

"Does this guy look familiar to you?" Hammer said with an unexpected smile.

Dante looked at the creature that sat in a squalid house constantly saying the same thing.

"I'm great....I'm great...I'm great...I'm great...I'm great!"

Dante laughed.

"I didn't think he was actually dead." Hammer said.

"Me neither" Dante said.

They both looked at each other and walked back to the arch they had passed.

"Dead Careers?" Dante asked.

"Well they have to go somewhere" Hammer replied.

"True."

Dante and Hammer walked on leaving the ghost of Mjoy's career behind to try to convince a deaf world that he was great.

Again...we're on earth for a while.

Bleeder smiled as he saw that Stoner recognised him. The demon had little time to playa round with on earth and things needed to be fixed quickly.
"As flattered as I am to see that you do know who I am Stoner, I need your help."

Stoner looked at the strange man with huge eyes and then stuttered a reply.

"You...You'll get no h...help from us."

Bleeder looked at Stoner and sighed.

"Look, I know of the anger you harbour for Tareef, but he is only a small piece in this puzzle. I need to find him...*cough*...his and Dante's bodies quickly."

Stoner looked at bleeder and was about to reply when Ghetto fire poked his head out the door. The Ghetto Fire member stared at Bleeder, then at his smoke and then threw the smoke away.

"Damned and the demons."

They had no idea what had happened, one minute that had been walking towards the centre of Dis and trying to figure out what was happening, and now they had been taken by a group of large "men" and were being dragged through a large building at the centre of the city. They were dragged through seemingly endless marble corridors and large ball rooms that seemed to be able to house football fields. The guard men dragged them into the largest room thus far and dropped them infront of a throne made out of gold.

The Throne showed humans, beats and other beings having sex and committing what both Dante and Hammer guessed was sin. They stood up and looked around the giant room. Every where the art on the walls followed the same theme as the carvings on the throne, everywhere creatures committing sin in the catholic sense was shown. They stood there in awe and disgusted by what they saw when a sultry but twisted and evil voice spoke.

"Admiring the artworks?"

They both turned around and found themselves looking at a woman with long blonde hair and a figure that would make Hollywood stars envious. Hammer was speechless but Dante wasn't, he knew this "woman" all to well.

"Lillith."

"Hello Earth-born, it has been a while, hasn't it?"

Dante stared at Lillith with rage directly visible in his eyes, his mind was grating and rational thought was going out as he saw the being he hated stand there flanked by two of the beings that had dragged him and Hammer to this hall.

"Dante?"

Hammer tried to get through to Dante and get some kind of sense of this thing, but the albino was too consumed with the gorgeous woman in front of them.

"Dante?"

The albino stared at Lillith and with anger in his voice he said.

"So you are the Lady of Dis, whore?"

Lillith sighed in a way that made her breasts jump in a way men thought was very hard to ignore.

"You do need to get over that Earth-born, you and I are going to spend a long, long time here."

Dante stared at her in bewilderment, her voice seems to transfix him and glue him to the spot. Hammer's attempts at getting him to listen were futile.

At this point a shadowy figure emerged behind Lillith, it was a woman, shorter then the mistress of the Succubi and she did look as if she had just been lifted from the gutters. The woman's hair was matted to her face and she clutched her right arm to her body. Both Hammer and Dante saw her and stared at her. Dante was the first to recognise her as he knew her very, very well.

Hammer stared at the woman who staggered up to Lillith and made a failed attempt at bowing before her Mistress. Tareef turned to Dante and saw the albino be transfixed by this woman, he saw Dante's mouth move and despite there being no sound, Tareef hear got the message. Dante's mouth whispered the word that was this woman's name, a name that he loved and cherished.

"Selenia."

Lillith smiled her twisted grin and said.

"She is my servant and slave again Earth-born, you stole her from me and I have taken her back to serve me for ever!"

Dante didn't hear Lillith speak, his eyes were locked on the woman he loved and though was gone, silently he tried to find the connection again but there was nothing. Like a Zombie he staggered uo to her and touched her, no reaction.

"Selenia...It's me, it's Jason."

Selenia turned her eyes on Dante and while the words she said hurt, the eyes hurt even worse. She looked at Dante and asked.

"Who are you?" in a tone of voice and with a look that made Dante want to jump out of his skin.

Dante looked at her and in both tone of voice and in his facial expression he pleaded with her.

"Selenia, please..."

Lillith laughed.

"She is mine again Earth-born, her soul is mine, just like your will be."

Dante looked at the being he called the whore of Babylon and in a voice that was like fingernails on a chalkboard he said.

"I'll die before I serve you."

Without being asked Hammer walked up to the albino's side and with a defiant look on his face said:
"That goes for me as well."

The mistress of the Succubi laughed as she looked at the two humans.

"You have no idea how much of a chance to prove your willingness to do that you will get."

With a swift movement she summoned her guards and they both grabbed the two struggling humans.

"Take them away...prepare them for the battle that awaits them!"

"What?! What the...what battle?" Hammer screamed.

Lillith didn't reply, she just laughed.

The guards dragged them away to what looked like a cell block. The cells were dark and dank and had the air of medieval dungeons. Both Dante and Hammer were thrown into the same cell and their protests were greeted with laughs from the lumbering guards.

Dante stood at the door banging his alabaster fists on the metal trying to either get the guards to come back or break the door down his with bare fists. Hammer sat in a pile of straw a few meters away and Dante soon joined him.

After a few minutes of silence, hammer asked.

"Do you mind if I ask you what the hell this is about?"

Dante closed his eyes and sighed.

"It's about a war...about a struggle for power. I'm one of the pieces of this war and it seems they made up their minds about making you one as well."

Hammer nodded despite not really knowing what Dante meant.

"You know this isn't how I thought Hell would be!" hammer said.

Dante looked up and stared at him.

"What?"

"I said this isn't what I thought hell would be like."

"FUCK!" Dante screamed out.

"What?" Hammer asked.

"Something has been bothering me since we got here, something was wrong and I couldn't put my finger on it...and it was you." Dante said while pointing at Hammer.

"Me?"


"Yeah you. Hell is what you bring, it isn't a place as much as a state of mind...You see the same hell as I do and you shouldn't really see that."

"What?"

"You should see a hell based in Muslim traditions...not this one...unless..." Dante left the word unless hanging.

"Unless what?"

Dante laughed.

"Unless you're the biggest hypocrite the fed has."

Hammer jumped to his feet and grabbed Dante on the way up.

"I hardly think this is the time for that kind of debate."

Dante laughed.

"I think it is...How much Mutaaz Tareef are you and how much Frank Stallone is left in you? Jabbar can't have erased all the Christian from you or you wouldn't be here.

Hammer pulled the champion closer to him and through gritted teeth he spat out:

"I don't think your in a position to question my faith, Satanist!"

Again Dante laughed, a sound Hammer hated.

"You being here puts me in the perfect position to do that Hammer." Dante said with some smugness in his voice.

Hammer seethes with anger as Jason Dante continues to smirk at the Muslim Megastar.

Hammer: Who in the hell-

Hammer stops himself, realizing that statement is quite redundant..

Hammer: Well I'll be damned if-

Again, Hammer realizes that his statement is redundant. Dante laughs that sickening laugh of his that makes Hammer just want to punch his lights out.

Hammer: All right, you motherfucker. I tried to play by your rules, ok? You said you were going to get us out of this. And all you've done is get us in even more trouble!

Dante: What, you think Hell is easy to get out of?

Hammer: No, but-

Dante: You don't know what you think, do you...Frank?

Aw shit, now he's gone and called him Frank. Longtime Hammer followers know that's an easy way for somebody to get fucked up.

Hammer: Fuck this. You are not going to sit here and question everything that I've ever stood for! If you don't shut your mouth and try to figure out a way for us to get out of this-

Dante: Why don't you?

Hammer: Why don't I what?

Dante: Why don't you get us out of this? Don't worry, I'll answer for you...you don't know how! You'll never figure it out either...Hammer, you need me.

Hammer: The only thing I need is to get back on Earth! I don't know about you, but I still had a lot of things on my list to do before I died. I had a destiny, damn it!

Lillith has been listening in on this conversation between the two most recent additions to her city. While she is more than familiar with the Son of Lucifer, she hadn't really seen his black companion around anywhere before now.

Lillith: Tell me, what was this destiny of yours?

Hammer: I was going to become the champion of the world by defeating him. *points at Dante* I was going to be a hero to Muslims worldwide! I was going to spread the Muslim faith to places it had never been before!

Lillith: You sure were idealistic.

Hammer: Well, I was a Democrat.

Lillith & Dante: Huh?

Hammer: Never mind.

Lillith: Hammer...that is your name, right?

Hammer nods, not wanting to make very much talk with the woman. Although he's not sure what exactly Lillith is, he sees the effect that she and Selenia have on Dante. It reminds him of some of his experiences in high school, actually. Which is fitting because I always thought Hell would be a lot like how my high school was. Mind you, we didn't have dungeons and sinful paintings all over the place, but it was a tough four years. And the girls were a lot like succubi.

Where were we? Oh yes...

Lillith: Obviously I can't reward you with such things here. However, I can make one of your wishes come true...

The ground beneath Dante & Hammer gives way and they begin to fall...

-----

Back on Earth, Ghetto Fire has demanded that Alexxx step into the X-Press and have a discussion with him and the gang. The Bleeder waits patiently outside. I'm sure he waits patiently all the time. What?

Ghetto Fire: HAVE YOU LOST YOUR MIND?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?

Alexxx: What?

Ghetto Fire: You know who he is, right?

Alexxx: Do I look like an idiot?

The other Ghetto Grass members whistle and twiddle their thumbs.

Ghetto Fire: Then I shouldn't have to tell you how bad of an idea this is! Bleeder is a dangerous, dangerous man!

Alexxx: I know that! But he's the only one that can help us! And he volunteered too...strange we haven't heard anything from Infinity, isn't it?

Stoner: Listen, we're not 100 percent sure that Hammer & Dante are dead, ok?

Alexxx: It was on television!

Stoner: Yeah, but we didn't see their bodies. For all we know they could have put two other bodies under there and acted like they were Hammer & Dante.

Yasmin: Stoner's right, terrorists do that a lot.

Ghetto Fire: And TCW's refused to cancel their match until they see further proof of their demise.

Alexxx: That doesn't mean anything, Stern will do anything to boost the ratings, even promote dead people!

Stoner: But we don't know that they're dead. For all we know, they went off to another country or something.

Yasmin: Maybe Hammer wants some time away from everything before the big match. Same with Dante.

Alexxx: Guys, I think it's a lot more serious than that...

Stoner: Why do you care so much about this anyway? Hammer didn't give a damn about us. He was using us all along for his own personal gains, whether it was as tag team partners or as glorified slaves. Alexxx, he doesn't care whether you live or die.

Yasmin: Unless he needs a back rub.

Stoner: Good point, honey.

Alexxx: Well, I'm going with Bleeder. And when we come back with Hammer & Dante, hopefully you guys will still be here.

Alexxx exits the bus as the Ghetto Grass kids scream after her, begging her not to go. After she closes the door, Ghetto Fire throws the remote control at the television and punches the side of the X-Press in dismay.

Ghetto Fire: If Hammer really is dead, I hope she isn't following him to the same fate...

The Bleeder sees Alexxx exit the X-Press by herself and shakes his head in disgust.

Bleeder: Obviously your friends lack the courage and loyalty that you have.

[i]Alexxx says nothing. She looks back towards the X-Press, shakes her head and walks off with The Bleeder...

-----

THUD

After what seems like days of falling, Hammer & Dante finally land on something. To be more specific, they land in the middle of a wrestling ring. They look around in confusion and see a large steel cage lowering from the sky above them.

They also see an arena full of people, apparently current residents of the City of Dis...Hammer notices a group of people in the front row holding Hammer signs...

Dante: Nice cheering section. Is that Ayatollah Kohemni?

Indeed it is, along with several other Muslim extremists, including...

Hammer: Osama?

The bearded man puts his finger to his mouth, the universal signal for "hush".

Hammer: Well, I wasn't expecting that one.

The large steel cage finally finishes lowering, as the ring announcer announces that they are witnessing a first...a Hell in a Cell match inside Hell itself. Lillith looks on from her throne, which is placed where the announce tables usually would be. Selenia, of course, is by her side.

Dante: You realize this is a big mistake, right?

Hammer: Yeah, but it'll be so much fun!

The two rivals go right after each other with punches and kicks. Certainly this is not your standard wrestling match, there are no fancy scientific wrestling holds or flying doohickeys here. This one is just a low down dirty fight. Hammer's years of experience as a championship level boxer gives him the advantage in this kind of slugfest, and he takes control early on as Lillith looks on.

Lillith: This Hammer is quite impressive. He will make a good addition to my forces, won't he?

Selenia: Yes, my lady.

Hammer isn't thinking about joining any forces right now though, all he's thinking about is taking out all of his frustration on Jason Dante. He hadn't asked for any of this...he was just a humble Islamic pro wrestler, after all.

Well, maybe not very humble. Hammer had to admit to himself that he wasn't always very humble. In fact, he hadn't been that nice of a guy during his life. All the bad things he'd done in life come back to him now...everything from cheating in school to abusing alcohol to his accidental murder in the boxing ring, to all the bad things he had done to people since he'd become a wrestler.

And then it came to him, as he stopped punching away at Dante. He backed off and looked up towards where the heavens should be...

Hammer: I do belong here. I really do.

Hammer now realizes that it's not your beliefs that make you who you are...it's your actions. And judging by Hammer's actions in the past year and a half...could anybody really think that he's a good Muslim?

Dante was right...Mutaaz Tareef was the biggest hypocrite in TCW.

Hammer's reflecting is interrupted by a sudden comeback by Dante. Dante fires back with rights and lefts to the head. Over and over.

This kind of action can only last for so long.

The end comes when both Hammer & Dante connect with a right hand to their opponent's jaw. Both men fall down to the ground like the end of Rocky Balboa vs. Apollo Creed.

The crowd goes wild. Lillith smiles. Yes, these men will make excellent pawns in her game.

"Words like violence breaks the silence."

The silence is the most telling thing about the strange cooperation Alexx and Bleeder has formed. Bleeder on his side feels no connection to the young woman and the young woman is busy figuring out why she choose to go with Bleeder, why she is so hell bent on "saving" Mutaaz Tareef, she simply can not figure out why she Has gone with the strange man with the eyes of shattered glass.

Streets fly by as the taxi Alexx got hold of runs down the streets of Istanbul, outside the windows the areas get less and less hospitable and more and more rough and run down. They both sit in the back seat aware of the division between them and the strange looks they are getting from the taxi driver. They have a common goal but that is it, they have nothing else that is common to them. The young woman of Ghetto Grass, Acolyte's former girlfriend and...

She can't get herself to think the thought. This is just loyalty to the employer forced upon her she, loyalty she doesn't quite understand yet.

As that thought passes through her mind, Bleeder smiles and looks at her with an amused look on his strange face. That drives Alexx to the boiling point and she asks the cab driver to stop, she pays for the ride and storms out of the cab.

She doesn't hear the cab door open but she does hear the car drive off and she assumes that she has been left alone, left alone away from that monster. She shakes her head and tries to make up her mind if she wants to find Hammer or go back to the Ghetto Grass guys and just forget the whole thing. Before she can make up her mind a voice cuts her off.

"You did not think it would be that easy to stray, did you?"

She almost jumps out of her shoes as the pale man with the strange eyes stand in front of her again. She narrows her eyes as a way to avoid staring at Bleeder who has returned. Instead of saying the "no" that passes through her mind she simply bites down on it and seems to pout.

Again Bleeder smiles and nods but says nothing.

Slowly Bleeder beings to walk and almost against her will, Alexx starts to follow him. As he reaches his side he looks at her and asks the question Alexx has feared would come.

"One thing that puzzles me is why you have this loyalty to a man who won you and your friends in a match and who from the look of things treat you like you were worth less then last year's garbage, your friends fit the normal reaction much better then you do."

Alexx refuses to answer but one look tells Bleeder more then a million words ever could. A smile that makes Alexx feel nauseous spreads on his pale face.

"That is what I thought."

The two continue their trek towards a goal Alexx knows nothing about in utter and complete silence.

Streets grow more derelict and uninhabitable as the walk.

"More a question then a curse how can hell be any worse?"

They were both at the end of their stamina, they had probably contrary to what their intention was going in to the match of wills spent all they had on this pointless fight in the bowels of Hell. Both Hammer and Dante stood on their knees both literally and in a stamina sense. They were staring at each other trying to judge a weakness or detect a flaw. Each man wanted to be able to lay the killing blow in this battle, the reason they fought had long since left their sights, there were no title belts, no money for the winner and nothing but the cheers of fellow sinners in the winner's circle.

Dante and Hammer had stripped away the thin coating of civilization and were now the beasts Lillith's kind saw them as, the mistress of the Succubi had seen humanity as no more then animals driven by their bestial desires, desires she could exploit and use as ways to get her way, the greatest of all temptresses had cornered perhaps her greatest prey in this arena in Dis, a man of faith and the son of Lucifer, she had in her own demented mind caught the greatest possible quarry.

With a feral snarl, Hammer charged Dante. As the Muslim superstar reached the Albino champion, Dante struck back with a furious punch and the cheers of the crowd rose again after the pause both men had taken. They not only punched and kicked, they gouged and clawed at each other in this mad fight this Hell in a Cell in hell.

As the two men fought for a goal they had long since forgotten, a pair of eyes that seemed glazed and dead stared at the carnage they created in the cage with no reaction what so ever. She had once loved on of the men in that ring, once Jason Dante had been the one love she had ever cared about, they had been made for each other and the time in hell had come to seem like a pause so that they could be with each other despite being born roughly 30 years apart. Selenia's eyes didn't see the beloved Jason in the ring, she saw two men fighting, she saw to humans she had no reason to care about try to tear each other apart for the amusement of Lillith and her entourage.

Her mistress turned to her and with a sick and amused smile she asked Selenia if she enjoyed the fight. A dead and careless voice replied.

"Yes, Mistress Lillith...very much so." Without sounding like she had even seen the bloody fight. But somewhere in the depth of her tortured soul something screamed, something that had seen who the pale man in the ring was and a part that remembered what he meant to her. While that part was sealed off and nearly suffocated by Lillith and her mind altering treatments, it was still alive and trying to break free, this was not her destiny, this was not where she was supposed to be, her place was as Dante's beloved and as his equal, not as a slave to the Mistress of the Succubi. That voice that called out to wake her up was faint and desperate but it did exist.

Hammer had through sheer anger and rage managed to put the son of the fist of the fallen on his back and was now busy trying to suffocate the albino. His hands were choking the life out of the man he had decided he hated more then anyone in this world. Hammer's hatred was fuelled by and endless stream of hate filled lies and distorted truths fed into his mind by one of Lillith Succubi. As every word of hurt and pain passed through Hammer's fevered mind, his hands were clasped harder around Dante's throat.

The once faithful Muslim had given up everything for this, he had given up humanity and faith...he no longer cared about if his faith had been true of just the tricks of Jabbar on a desperate man. Hammer "knew" that he belonged in hell and that he belong as the fighter, that was his calling, that was his destiny. He embraced the lower more bestial aspects of his soul and had them run amok, and loved every second of it.

"Hope's arrival."

Alexx and Bleeder stopped outside of a large and abandoned warehouse, Alexx sat down on a barrel outside the gate and rubbed her hurting feet. They had walked for close to 3 hours with no rest and she felt worn and tired. During the last half of the walk she had begin to regret her choices greatly, she could have stayed with Ghetto Grass and hoped to be free, but her innermost and most secret feelings had driven her to follow this...this monster on this strange quest. She shook her head and wondered why he had wanted her to come along when he knew where this place was all the time. As if he had been asked he said.

"There is a very good reason why I brought you long with me."

Alexx looked up at the pale man and her entire face asked the question "why?". Bleeder smiled his creepy smile again and replied.

"Because what I will do here requires a witness Alexx, I require someone untainted by the things that hold Hammer and Dante captive to see what I will do here."

"Captive?" Alexx asked.

"Yes."

The short and "There is no more coming" reply she got irritated and made her feel fearful.

Bleeder walked up to the gate and put his hand on the metal and seemed to search for something, a few seconds later, Alexx got her reply when a clicking sound informed her that Bleeder had been looking for and found the lock that kept the gate closed. Slowly and with a complaining sound the old rusty gate opened, revealing a dark opening and a few crates, nothing more. Bleeder stood at the edge of the darkness and looked at Alexx. She looked at him and asked "In there?" and Bleeder replied "In there.". She took a deep breath and followed the man dressed in black through the open gate. The further they stepped into the warehouse, the more the light disappeared, when they passed the point of no return the light was no longer visible and Alexx stumbled on in a half daze in a darkness she had no way to navigate without Bleeder. At the core of her being she suspected that Bleeder liked having her depend on him completely like this. She had heard the stories of Bleeder and his involvement in the federation, she had laughed at the idea that the man was a demon or anything apart from a very sick human being.

Now, she wasn't so sure. Doubt had begun to taint her mind, had she sold her soul to this Bleeder...and if she had, what had she gotten in return? As her desperation and doubt began to grow, the darkness gave way to light or at least a small amount of light. She saw what she assumed was an office, ,most likely the office of the boss of this warehouse. Just as the warehouse in large, the office had turned into a mere shell of it's former glory and was now a house to something she had no reason to want to know about.

Bleeder walked up to one of the illuminated windows and with an expression of disgust he scoffed at what he saw within. As Alexx approached the man some called a demon turned to her, gave her the sign of "hush" and pointed towards what looked like an old storage room. She nodded despite not knowing if she really understood what he had meant. Bleeder walked over to the door that was the only entrance to the storage and opened the wooden door. Alexx took another deep breath before heading out of the relative safety of the light from the office and into another abyss of darkness. As she entered, Bleeder joined her in the dark room and closed the door behind him. Alexx had to fight feelings of panic and anxiety as the door's closing killed the last rays of light.

For a minute or so she stood still in the middle of the room and tried to regain control of herself. As she had calmed down and begun to feel more safe then before, Bleeder killed her hope when he turned on the light.

At first she saw nothing as the light from the naked light bulbs blinded her, then she saw two men laying on their backs in one of the corners of the room, she recognised the pale man first, the features were ones she knew very well, they belonged to Jason Dante, the pale alabaster coloured skin, the platinum blonde hair that was the result of his condition and the scar across his right eye all belonged to the champion.

The stare into nothing made her skin crawl and made her realize that this man was dead as a doornail. With pain and hesitation almost stopping her she looked at the man who lay beside Dante, and her heart fell...it was Mutaaz "The Hammer" Tareef and he was in the same condition as Dante.

She felt nausea creep into her stomach and her lunch backing up on her when she saw the dead wrestlers, she was about to vomit when Bleeder for once made her feel better.

"They are not dead...They are alive in a sense no modern medicine recognizes."

She looked at him with a question in her eyes, but she found no answer in Bleeder's eyes. Feeling like this was a nightmare she would wake up from soon she saw who9 Bleeder bowed down before Dante and took the limp Champion's head in his hands. A groan from another corner broke the spell that seemed to bind her to the place, she walked over to what looked like a crate covered in a sheet and pulled the covering sheet away. Her eyes popped out of her head when she saw a tortured and beaten Jabber sitting slumping and bloodied in a chair.

Earthborn, reborn

Dante was fading fast, Hammer was a powerful man and his strangling grip was clenched in tight around Dante throat. As the air started to run out Dante felt a strike of panic as he felt himself fading, with what he thought was his last conscious thought he wondered where all this rage in Hammer had come from.

Then his world went black.

Hammer rose to his feet again, and as he got to his full height he rose his hands in the air and accepted the jubilation of the crowd, slowly he walked up to the place where Lillith sat and applauded him and his victory over the hated Jason Dante. Hammer was so focused on his glory and his victory that he neither noticed the strange changes that were taking place with his body nor the fact that Dante was no longer at his feet.

Dante awoke and wondered where he was, he had before his oxygen got to an end thought about where he would end up when you died in hell, and apparently the cell he had been taken to the arena from was the answer. He tried to get to his feet but a sudden and sharp pain shot through his midsection, it felt as if he was being cut in half with a very dull saw. His world lurched in a sick way and seemed to sway. As he lay on his side clutching his hurting stomach a familiar voice spoke.

"I didn't expect to find you beaten Jason."

Dante knew the voice, he knew the man it belonged to. Once he had been his mentor and leader, the man Dante knew as Bleeder was sitting on the bench in the dark and dank cell looking at Dante having what seemed to be a fit. Dante tried to reply but couldn't open his mouth as the pain wreaked havoc on his body. As Dante's body turned as if in cramps, Bleeder spoke again.

"You are at a crossroads Jason, one road leads to victory, love and greatness, the other straight into the abyss and madness."

Dante groaned as the pain was near insufferable to him. It felt as if he was being torn apart from within by claws, each attempt at moving or even speaking brought even more pain. Bleeder looked on the spectacle of pain and suffering with a stoic calm that made Dante furious in addition to pain ridden.

"There is a reason for your pain, your body has been here too long and has been living your lie too long, your phobia is what is torturing you."

"GAAAARRRGH!!"

Dante's body was thrown in spasm that threatened to break his back.

"You have feared what you are all this time, you have seen the demon in your body as a separate entity, something you had to keep hidden away something you could get rid of if you behaved well enough."

Bleeder's tone was a mixture of pity and disgust as he spat out the final salvo.

"You have to accept what you are, who you are and what your role is...only then will the pain go away and you can go ahead and save those you care the most about."

Dante groaned as the pain was getting more and more intense and his body was twisting in ways he had no chance to control or stop.

"Accept your role Jason, accept it or suffer forever...You were chosen by me and Bruce for a reason, we knew what you were, we knew what you would become...I know what you goal was, what you would become if given the chance."

Bleeder paused.

"I knew you would become my successor and take part in leading the Hellfire club".

The temptation.

"ALL HAIL THE GRAND CHAMPION!"

The voice of a herald with no body greeted Hammer as he walked towards Lillith throne, and his reward for his victory. The man's skin was starting to look strangely grey and his face was turning bestial in small but recognisable ways. He looked up at the woman he saw as the mistress of this place and he hailed her as he thought a victorious gladiator would have done. She smiled and greeted him.

"Know all sons and daughters of Dis that this man is my beloved and favoured cham..."

"Champion?" A strange and oddly familiar voice asked full of disgust and spite.

Lillith stared at the being who had entered the arena. He was dressed in black and wore a hood that obscured his face from Lillith view. It took the self-proclaimed ruler of Dis a few seconds to recognise the figure and when she did, she laughed.

"You have no power here any more traitor! You tried to wrestle Hell from Lucifer and you paid for it...You are just an impotent poser now Bleeder!"

The figure laughed and replied with a question.

"Bleeder?"

Lillith didn't reply she seemed to be baiting an un seen nail as she tried to figure out what was happening. The man dressed in black continued with an amused tone in his voice.

"I'm not Bleeder, whore...you know me and you know what I mean to you."

Hammer had stood by almost trying to protect his new "Mistress", now he asked a question that would save him from a fate worse then death.

"And what do you mean to her?"

The figure paused and turned his gaze on the Muslim superstar. With a laugh and more styling then needed he threw back the hood and replied.

"The end..."

Hammer, Lillith and the rest of those in the arena stared at the man in the black garb. In Selenia's mind the cries from the bowels of her being grew stronger as she saw Jason Dante stand in the arena with a grin on his lips.

"This is really starting to piss me off."

TCW Commissioner Valerie Stern is not happy. We are just days away from a huge PPV for TCW, and the world champion & number one contender are rumored to be no longer among the living. Nobody's actually seen them in days, and a terrorist group in Turkey is claiming that they have killed Jason Dante & Mutaaz Tareef. One thing is for sure, they do have Hammer's spiritual advisor Muhammad Jabbar captured. Stern's office has not been a good place to be since Dante & Hammer's disappearance, as everybody within range of Stern's voice has been yelled at.

Stern: If they actually are dead...what do we do?

Bruce lies on the couch and ponders the question.

Bruce: Here's the thing...if I'd actually been dead everytime I disappeared before a wrestling show, I definitely wouldn't be here today. The best advice I can give you is wait until the day of the show.

Stern: You think that's a good idea?

Bruce: Trust me, I know Dante & Hammer very well, and neither man would miss this for anything. They will be there.

Bruce has decided it wouldn't be a good idea to share everything he knows...as a former member of the original Hellfire Club, he has a really good idea where Dante & Hammer might be right now.

But he's still sure that they will be at Stranglehold...

-----

If Muhammad Jabbar was able to speak at this point, he would tell Alexxx of all that he has been through over the past few days. The torture has been both physical and mental...as tough as the physical torture has been, nothing has scarred Jabbar like seeing his prized student struck down before his time.

He had so much hope for Mutaaz Tareef...he was going to help spread the faith of Islam across the world with his success. With his charisma, Tareef could have led a new generation of Muslims to great things. Unfortunately, like many other men of religion, he was struck down by people of his own kind.

Jabbar has been through a lot in his life, but nothing remotely like this. There is only one word that he can say right now...

Jabbar: ......help....

And who does he have to rely on? A girl who's really in way over her head. Alexxx still isn't exactly sure why she's here, and with Bleeder in a state of non-responsiveness in the other room, out of sight from where she is, she's not really sure what she should do.

After hearing the shouting of men in another room, Alexxx darts away from Jabbar and goes back towards Bleeder, who is now holding Dante's head in one hand and Hammer's head in the other...

-----

"INFIDEL!"

Ever since his conversion to Islam, Hammer has liked to yell this word at people that he thought were disrespecting him or his religion. Now, he yells it at Jason Dante for daring to disrespect Lillith.

He doesn't realize why he does this. He doesn't know why his skin is turning more and more gray by the moment. He can feel his facial features slowly changing, but he doesn't know why.

He doesn't care, either.

All he knows right now is that this man is disrespecting his Mistress, and he must pay.

Dante: She's not worth it, Hammer. Believe me.

Hammer: Why should I believe you?

Lillith: Destroy him, my champion!

Hammer charges at Dante, but just before reaching him, he falls into nothingness, just like when he and Dante fell from one cell into another. Dante is not even fazed by this, he just continues to stare down Selenia, who for her part seems awfully confused by all of this.

-----

After falling for what seems like days, Hammer finally lands in the cell that he and Dante were originally placed in. He looks up and looks into the eyes of broken glass that belong to a man that he has only heard about, never actually met...

Hammer: Bleeder.

Bleeder: Hammer.

Bleeder looks into the eyes of Hammer, and can tell that while the lights are on, somebody might not be home. Looking at him, he can tell what's happened to him since getting here.

Bleeder: You do not belong here, Hammer. People like Dante and myself...we are at home among the fires of hell. Right now, you want to believe that you belong, but deep down inside you know that this is not your home.

Hammer listens to the Bleeder, almost in a state of numbness. The deteoriation of Hammer's human features have also had an effect on his mind, as he's not even sure what to say to this man.

Bleeder: You are not thinking clearly. Your mind is under the control of something else...something far more sinister than any living being. The only way you can keep from sinking further into madness is to resist the urge to have sex with Lillith.

Hammer: What?

Bleeder: Lillith is a succubus. She seduces men and has intercourse with them to draw energy from them. She will do this until she can get no more out of the man. In fact, the Middle Eastern belief is that once the succubus has intercouse with a man, sharp razors within her vagina slices the man's penis.

The gears start to turn in Hammer's head, as the Bleeder's words are getting through to him and somewhat clearing his mind...

Hammer: That's pretty fucked up.

Bleeder: So you understand that you must resist. Resisting Lillith is your only chance of getting out of here...if you can't, you will remain here forever. And believe me...remaining here forever is not something you want. Hammer, you are better off being mortal on Earth than being a champion in Hell.

Get back while you still can.

Bleeder disappears. Hammer falls once again...

-----

Luckily for Bleeder's plans, he, Alexxx & the bodies of Hammer & Dante are in the room next to where the terrorists have set up their cameras for another television appearance. Muhammad Jabbar has been placed back in the chair he was in before, for the entire world to see.

The camera comes on. The oldest of the terrorists discusses their plans in English, just to be sure that the West can understand them.

"We have several demands that must be met in order to keep this man alive. First, we demand that the United States pull all of its troops out of the Middle East. Second, we demand that all liquor stores and whorehouses in Turkey and across the world be closed, for they are anti-Islam! And finally, we demand that the United States cease influencing events in the soverign nation of Turkey.

If our demands are not met in 24 hours, this infidel will be executed just like Dante & Tareef!"

[i]Well, I don't really like the chances of those demands being met. Things don't look very good for Muhammad Jabbar right about now.

Alexxx watches Bleeder holding the heads of Dante & Hammer in his hands. She hears the statements from the terrorist, but doesn't say anything to Bleeder, who wouldn't respond if she did anyway. She wonders what will happen if the terrorists go into this room. Would they kill her too?

Bleeder: They are almost back.

All Alexxx can think is that they better hurry up.
-----

Hammer reappears in front of Jason Dante. Things are exactly like they were before he left. But instead of running towards Dante in order to attack him, Hammer stands still.

Lillith: What are you waiting for, my champion? Kill him!

Hammer does not adknowledge Lillith's command. Instead, he turns around and steps backwards so he's standing next to Dante.

Dante: You had enough of this yet?

Hammer: More than enough.

Hammer's skin starts to turn back towards its original color. His facial features start to resemble what they were before. While Dante projects an aura of confidence, Hammer is determined to get back to what he once was. No matter how he has to get back there, no matter what the cost.

He's ready to go home.

Luckily for him, help is on the way, in more ways than one...

A shadow in the darkness

Loneliness...

He sits down, cross-legged to make it seem right, alone to make it work.

Night...

The curtains shield the room from all sources of light to make it secret.

Silence...

With no word passing his lips he beings to focus to do the deed.

Concentration...

Beads of sweat stand out on his brow as his mind digs deeper and deeper into the pit.

Drive...

His focus gains a new layer as he approaches the lands of dread and the plains of damnation.

Pain...

His body shakes and his mind reels as he finally breaks on through.

Arrival...

Darkness has completed the journey, now he stands on the plains of Dis looking at the city of pain, the wretched hive of scum and villainy.

The Slayer turns to his right and sees a being standing there beside him. The jet-black being bows a slow bow and asks "What are you commands Lord Antichrist?" in a hollow soulless voice.

A grin spreads on Darkness' face.

"War if needed, battle if forced to it...chaos, no matter what."

The black Incubus bows again and returns to his brethren bearing the news of the plans their lord has drawn up.

Darkness is here for a personal reason. To return a brother in arms...no more then that a friend. Dante will return in time for Stranglehold, in time to defeat Hammer in time to strike a blow against Infinity.

Darkness points towards the City of Dis and the Battalion of Incubi begin marching on the City of Sinners behind their lord and master.

The final round?

"I'm glad to hear that." Dante says in a voice that in Hammer's ear's reminds him of Bleeder's, the strange otherworldly tone is the same, the odd way it seems to echo in his ears is the same.
For a reason he doesn't understand yet this voice makes him not afraid but weary of the pale faced man in black. He feels Dante's mind on the surface of his own as if his opponent at Stranglehold siphons his mind in small pieces with his strange and burning gaze.

"You know the bitch won't let us go easily, don't you?" Dante asks in a normal voice.

"I was hoping she would see it that way." Hammer says with a smirk and more confidence then he really has.

Dante gives Hammer an odd look and then stares at Lillith again.

"It's not working the way you wanted it to, is it Harlot? You have tried to bend the wills of my opponents before and just like now, you have failed...You really think the human psyche is so obsessed with sex with you and your false appearance that you can snare anyone?"

Lillith's anger causes her to scream at the top of her voice at the demons in her service, she is beyond anger and beyond reason. She has seen her grandest plan fail as Highone refused to fall top her demonic charms, Dante refused to fall to her and create the new ruling couple of hell and now this nobody Hammer has resisted her charms too, the mistress of the Succubi is actually foaming at the mouth because of the rage she simply can not suppress.

"She doesn't look happy." Hammer says with a grin.

"No, she does look upset." Dante replies with a grin of his own.

"Think we had anything to do with it?"

"I think we had."

"Good."

Lillith's horde of demons has assembled to form a circle around the two men in the pit of the amphitheatre, horrid beings spawned from the nightmares and horrors of men all over the world and across time bars their way to Lillith. As the beautiful but mad Mistress of the Succubi calms down a grin spreads across her unearthly lips and then in a voice that approaches triumph she screams.

"Destroy them! Rend the apart! Eternal pleasure to the ones who bring me their heads!"

The grins die on Dante's and Hammer's faces as they see the army of the damned standing around them, ready to attack and to tear them apart. The two men now stand back to back looking at the enemy in all it's Hellish horror, leering faces full of tusks and teeth grin at them with gaze hungry for their souls. The horrid horde of demons are ready to bring on the doom of Dante and Hammer.

"So this is it then?" Hammer says half as a question half.

Dante nods.

"Yeah, this is the big one."

"How dead are we?"

"About 100% I think...well we were that dead when we got here."

Hammer nods.

"No sense in waiting, is there?"

"Nope, none what so ever." Dante says while opening his coat. The white skin on his back is covered scars that look like flames stretching upwards, across his shoulder blades a phrase is tattooed.

"Nemo me impune lacessit"

Across his right lower arm a word in Latin, "Veritas" is written, across the other the word "Aequitas" is scrawled. The son of Lucifer smirks at the demons as they begin to stomp with impatience.

Hammer balls his fists trying to look confidant and at least go down with a fight.

On the balcony, Lillith and her slave Selenia looks at the spectacle below them with interest, Lillith looking more and more like a Roman empress holds her hand in the air, prepared to give the signal to attack. With a flourish and her nose high in the air, she gives the signal and the monsters launch themselves at Dante and Hammer.

Wart infested hands and sharp talons grab and rip at the two men who tries to defend themselves with their bare hands, at first they seem to do well, but as the tide turns, Lillith's grin grows wider. Soon her plan will have taken root, soon the blow that failed at End Game will land. Dante resisted her when she tried to snare Highone, but now the earth-born will fall, and in Dis to make things more fitting. Lillith's eyes look on as the demons in the arena start to overwhelm the fighting men, huge creatures with appearances from nightmares tear and punch at them, as Dante's and Hammer's fighting gets more and more desperate, the grin of the mistress of the Succubi grows even wider.

In desperation, Hammer grabs after something, anything to use to free himself from the horde of demons, his hand finds something hard and seemingly of steel, not caring he swings it at the head of a demon who is trying to tear his face off. The sickening thud of steel impacting on soft nearly rotten tissue tells Hammer that he found something useful, he looks at the obliterated face of the demon and then at the mace stuck in it's face, with a mixture of satisfaction and surprise he yanks the weapon loose as the demon slowly dissolves into dust. With a cry of pride and built up battle lust he charges another demon and again the mace finds it target, swing by swing the Muslim superstar slowly turns from a desperate fighter to a warrior absorbed by the battle, no minor cut or attack hurts him, no disgusting face nauseates him, he is for once at peace in the centre of battle. Like the Muslims who banished the crusaders from the land now called Israel he mauls the enemy as it attacks, the smile on his lips and the violent song in his heart wants to cry out a jubilant "Allah Akbar!" as he smashes the demons asunder, years of frustration vanish with each swing, days, weeks and months spent with the bottle is redeemed and repented for, ages of violence in then boxing ring vanish as this truly righteous battle rage, Mutaaz Tareef once though he was one of the demons of hell, now he knows Bleeder's words to be true...At this time, Mutaaz Tareef is a God's warrior fighting the true enemy, these aren't infidels or Christians or even the Jews his middle eastern kin hates so much, these are the enemies of humanity, the enemies of all that is good and right in the world, the one who wants to ruin all things pure, the ones who want to wreck the creams of peace and happiness.

Now at last Mutaaz Tareef understands, he understands why he isn't Frank Stallone any more, he understands why Jabbar saved him from his old life and more importantly...he understands the man who went to hell with him. He sees Dante struggling beside him, Infinity and NHFC side by side, no ill will, no old grudges, just warriors side by side in a battle to stay alive, to his surprise he finds himself respecting Dante and what he stands for, he knows that this fight here will be their final, there will be no Hell in a Cell, there will be no title match.

There is only this final epic battle in the arena in the City of Dis.

Darkness on the edge of town

The army of Hades has marched on the City of sinners, now only the river of death stands in their way Darkness walks up to the old man standing by his ferry on the shore, the old man offers a salute and greets the Lord Antichrist.

"Hail, Lord Antichrist...I am Charon, the ferryman."

Darkness looks at the old man with surprise. He is dressed and speaks and behaves like an old British admiral. Darkness expect a joke or some strange trap, but the man continues to speak like he served during World War II and addresses him with nothing but the greatest respect.

"You are most welcome Lord Antichrist, Dis has remained neutral under the ruinous rule of Asmodeus and Lillith for all to long, the enemy will soon be at our shores and we need a new ruler of Dis."

Darkness arches his eyebrow and asks "And who would that be?"

Charon looks at him with surprise in his eyes.

"Sir, I was certain that you already knew."

Darkness shakes his head.

"Well, Sir...the title of Lord of Dis is as far as I understand reserved for the first-born of Hell."

Darkness' eyes grow wide as what Charon said registers.

At the end of all things?

Hammer has beaten a horde of enemies, in his wake demons whose faces are more horrid then the dreams of his old life and names he has no interest in hearing, the automaton with the mace has beaten some powerful demons driven by his righteous fury alone, in the name of a deity he no longer remembers the name of he has smashed the monsters of the pit and with each swing freed himself from some of his guilt.

As the wicked mace connects with the skull of yet another beast of hell, he sees Dante hard pressed by a number of creatures larger then the albino and stronger then any man who has ever lived. Before he can see his strange brother in arms fate, a new enemy appears and attacks.

Dante smashes his bleeding fists into the face of the first demon who dares to attack but unarmed he has no chance in the long run, he has seen Hammer's mace and the effect it has had, as panic grows in his stomach he tries to find a weapon, but each club is smashed and each maul is ruined and he stands there about to be beaten into a pulp he hears a voice in his mind.

Bleeder's voice echoes in his mind in a tone he has never heard before, the demon now sounds respectful as if speaking to an equal.

"You have the blade you were born to wield...you have the sword of the first-born...you have Storm caller"

Dante can't figure out what Bleeder means, he has no clue and no time to think as the demons charge him and tackle him to the ground. Massive fists pound him into the dirt and dirty and disease ridden claws gouge at his flesh tearing off great lumps it seems, as the pain is too much to bear Bleeder speaks again.

"Summon the Storm Caller Jason Dante...summon your birth right!"

Suddenly his mind clear, he knows what to do. Slowly he gets free from the demonic attack and stands up. As he reaches full height he stretched his hand into the air and his voice booms as he gives the command

"I SUMMON THE STORM CALLER!"

The arena grows dark, the torches seem to flicker and almost die as it seems that al shadows in the arena begins to move, the demons stop in their onslaught, they stare at the moving shadows and then at Dante. They watch in horror as great wounds simply heal leave only scars and the they stare as the blood that stains his body disappears, the demons look at Dante as he finally has reached his goal, as he finally has found his place as he finally has become who he was born to be.

As the broadsword of shadows becomes solid in Dante's hand, Lillith's horrified scream is mixed with Bleeder's now booming voice as it resound over Dis and all of hell.

"IT IS DONE!"

At the gates of Dis, Darkness stands puzzled by the voice of Bleeder. Charon turns to him and with a smile on his old lips he says.

"It has happened Lord Antichrist, he has accepted his task..."

Darkness nods, because now he understands. Then he turns his gaze to the sickly reddish sky of Hell and smiles.

"Sounds like he has managed top upset a whole bunch of things."

Charon nods.

"Not that I should be surprised..." Darkness begins "..He has a talent for doing that kind of thing."

This time, even Charon smiles.

In the arena the battle has turned, now the demons fall like wheat for the scythe as Dante and Hammer chop and maul them as if they were born to do this, each of Lillith's minions and lackeys who approach the two men die a quick and merciless death at the hands of the Muslim superstar and the Albino world champion. Slowly the two men work their way towards each other, each step is accompanied by the death of a demon, each inch is illustrated in the black ichor of a demonic beast.
Soon only one beast remains, a large four-armed beast with the most horrid visage they ahev ever seen. Almost out of breath, Dante calls out to Hammer.

"Hey Frank!"

"Fuck you Dante!"

"Hey, I'm only kidding..."

"I still say fuck you Dante!"

"Good, then we know where we stand."

"Yeah."

"Anyway, you think we should waste the sorry piece of sinner's ass?" Dante asks.

"Hmm...I like that idea."

"Yeah, I do have a few good ideas."

Hammer smiles and replies.

"Well...a few."

Without a further word they launch a furious attack on the beast who seems chocked by the brazen attack and stumbles backwards. With a disgusting crack, Hammer breaks the creatures knee and Dante chops it's beastly head off with Storm Caller.

With blood-lust on their faces and cruel intentions on their minds, Hammer and Dante turn to the balcony where Lillith has been a witness to the spectacle. Dante points to the being he calls the whore of Babylon and in a voice so full of anger and disgust he spits out his challenge.

"And now for you whore...you have had these beasts fight your battle for you...Do you dare to face us for real?"

Without waiting for a reply Dante and Hammer begin to walk towards an stair case leading up to the balcony and Lillith.

The Mistress of the Succubi has no demonic warriors left to protect her, no great monsters to throw at the grim Dante and Hammer, in pure desperation she does what damns her forever.

She charges Selenia with protecting her.

With a feral roar the woman who Dante love charges him and tackles him to the ground, with her one remaining hand she tries to claw Dante's eyes out and tear flesh from his face, Her vice is gone, her face is distorted into a mask of hatred and feral feelings the woman Dante loved is no more, she is just a monster like the rest of Lillith's minions. With a mixture of disgust and sorrow he throws the monstrous Selenia off him with less care then he wanted to show. To his surprise She lands on her feet and charge him again.

Without thinking he puts Storm Caller in front of himself and watches in horror as Selenia impales herself on the sword.

As her blood begins to drip to the marble floor, Lillith laughs and she releases the hold over Selenia. With a shudder in her voice Selenia speaks.

"J...Jason?...W..what is t...this?"

The voice hurts Dante more then the claws of demons, more then the put down of his father...it breaks his heart and turns his soul to stone.

Tears soak his face as he reaches out and touch her face.

"Selenia...I...I'm so sorry."

Without any further words, he lets go of the sword and hugs Selenia while her essence drains away into the blade. As her body grows limp and her features turn peaceful, Dante lays her down on the marble floor and with a slow, painful drag pulls Storm caller from her dead body. As the albino stands up his eyes fix on Lillith who suddenly freezes in the middle of her laughter, as Dante's cold lifeless and colourless bore straight into her demonic spirit she feel something she has never felt before, as Dante the earth-born, the scion of Hell, the first born of hell locks his eyes on her, Lillith Hethperax of the Succubi for the first time feels fear.

Hammer stands as if stunned staring at Dante, Selenia's body and Lillith. He remembers what Highone said about Dante and Selenia and in an instant he realises how wrong Highone was, he sees his fellow Infinity members error...there is...no was love there, there was no slave's bond, only a man and a woman loving each other. The cold of loneliness sweeps across him as he sees the loving way Dante laid Selenia to rest. The cold is followed by a feeling of anger as Dante's own rage builds to a breaking point. Before Hammer can act Dante's voice rings out in the empty arena, every word, each and every syllable is a challenge to the traitorous she-demon.

"Lillith!"

The mere mention of her own name causes her to shudder and each little tremble in her body heals a wound in Dante's soul.

"You have spent all time trapping the minds and souls of men and draining them of their power, you have turned the great warriors into shells and empties the great minds, the n umber of lust-crimes you have committed are beyond count.

But of all the crimes, of all the betrayals all the murders you committed, this act is the one who damns you!"

The nice set up of blame ends in a base gurgle as rage consumes Dante and with Storm Caller drawn, he charges the panicked she-demon. His pain diminishes as he grabs her by her throat and squeezes. The choked gurgle from Lillith makes all his pains feel not right but much better. As his hand squeezes tighter and tighter around Lillith's throat, Dante's grin grows wider, finally he has the whore of hell in his hands, finally all the anguish he caused himself and Selenia can be avenged. His out of control mind yearns for seeing the Mistress of the Succubi dead and lifeless, he longs to see her ruined and destroyed, as he approaches his goal, the voice of a man he has almost forgotten wakes him up from his murder crazed frenzy.

"Dante!"
Hammer's call wakes the albino from his rage and sorrow and with his hand still around Lillith's neck he turns to Hammer with a surprised look on his face.

The Muslim superstar points to the walls and ceiling of the arena, and Dante sees them all change. The golden lustre slowly fades and is replaced by a sickeningly organic looking material, the banners of the Roman amphitheatre turn into ragged cloth with symbols that puzzle the eyes and sickens the mind.

As the arena turns into it's real appearance, Dante looks at Hammer and then at Lillith, the smirk on his face.

"Your pretty little doll's house is crumbling Lillith..."

The demoness face is a mask of pure horror as all her hell born power seems to escape her body. Still hanging on for dear life in Dante's grasp, she too begins to change, her golden skin slowly seem to rot and sink in, her long almost platinum blonde hair slowly turn ragged and dirty. Disgusted by the stench that emanates from her, Dante drops her.

Lillith seems to almost slither on the ground as her years and damnation becomes visible on her outside.

"Is THAT her?" Hammer asks in a voice filled with nausea.

Dante nods.

"Yeah, that's the face she has given herself...this is the punishment a vain woman sentenced herself to...thousands of years of suffering for crimes she is only guilty of because of her own sentence."

"She is really fucked up!

Dante laughs.

"Yeah, she is in some ways the worst of them...all other demons accept their fate...she never could accept it it seems."

Hammer nods.

As the Succubi squirms at his feet begging for mercy, Dante feels all feelings of revenge drain away from him. A strange swing of Storm Caller sends it back to the strange realm it comes from.

Dante looks at Hammer.

"Feel like staying here any further?"

Hammer scoffs.

"No, not one iota."

Dante smirks.

"Me neither."

With a heavy heart Dante turns his back on Lillith the traitor and her arena and leaves. A few seconds later, Hammer follows after having stared at the pathetic she-demon and her tormented cries as sanity leaves her mind.

Sin City, Hell

Dante and Hammer leave the strange arena behind and enter the square they had come to when they arrived in Dis, this time the city looks very different, strange shadowy things float about in the air emitting tormented wails as they spend eternity suffering for their crimes. The city itself seems a lot taller and a lot darker, the buildings stretch over each open square and street as if they wanted to devour the streets. Towers stab into the air as if they tried to draw blood from Hell's tortured skies.

In this hive of horrors and punishment, two men stand staring at the dismal city.

"This is different." Hammer begins.

Dante nods.

"Yeah, very different."

"It even smells differently." Hammer says with a disgusted expression on his face.

"Yeah, I'd say" Dante agrees.

Hammer looks at the albino, he still seems numb after the events in Lillith's arena, Hammer knows what being alone feels like, a murdered father and mother has taught his that lesson very well, but Dante was the man holding the weapon that took Selenia's life. Hammer shudders at the thought and assumes that he will suffer a few nightmares based on himself being his parents killer if they ever get back. He looks at Dante and then at Dis, he wonders from the sick mind of which idiot the place once sprung. As he turns his eyes back to Dante, he gets a strange feeling that he will see that sorry fools if he follows Dante's gaze. Hammer follows the trail Dante's gaze burns and his eyes fall on a man who looks strange to say the least. The tall and thin man seems to have curves like a woman but the steady build and face of a man, there is a slight feminine air around him that is almost but not entirely dispelled by his decidedly male face. He looks at this man and the horde of creatures behind him with more surprise and fascination the fear. He is about to ask Dante who this is when Dante with out being asked answers the question.

"Asmodeus..."

"Greetings Earth Born!" The strange man replies in a voice that is a mixed male and female as his body.

Dante's face is far from impressed.

"Dante, how the hell do you know these people?"

Dante stares at Hammer as he can't answer that question. He had never heard about the androgynous Asmodeus, lord of Dis before, Dante tries to find the words to explain it, but the feminine man at the head of the demonic army get there before Dante can.

"He has it in his blood Muslim, he is earth born but hell bound...the scion of hell and the son of Lucifer...he knows me now and has known me to be his superior before he was born.
Dante again says nothing.

"No witty reply Earth Born?" Asmodeus asks. "It seems you had a fair few words for Lillith when you turned her into a maggot again."

"Not that I complain..." He continues. "She had done something I could never allow to stand in the long run, i was hoping to see her take a wrong step and turn her into that wretched crone again."

Dante and Hammer stare at the strangely jolly demon lord.

"Oh come on..." Asmodeus begins with an amused smile. "Of course you knew that she had turned her back on us all...she had cast her lot in with the impotent gods."

Dante stares at him, still no words leave his mouth so Asmodeus who seems to have a eternity long love affair with his own voice continues.

"Of course you cost me a great deal of fun as you may be effective but you don't have the real "showmanship." do you."

Asmodeus mouth forms a horrid and cruel smile.

"So with out the Succubus Incompetent, I have to settle for you two...We will have so many fun aeons ahead of us." His jovial face turns cruel and wicked. "And I have the idea that you will like none of them one single bit."

Hammer stares in horror at the strange creature while Dante desperately tries to find a way out, as he gets desperate...a way opens itself when a familiar voice almost floors him as it booms in his head.

"JASON!"

"Jesus Christ!"

"Jason, where the bloody hell are you?"

"Darkness?"

"Yes...where are you?"

"Dead and IN bloody hell..."

"I know that...where in Dis are you?"

"Main square, take right at the last leering living wall."

"Very funny."

"Darkness...I have a problem here."

"Oh?"

"A 100 strong problem...Asmodeus and his extended play group sort of wants me and Hammer to stay."

"I see...Shouldn't be any problem...I brought some friends."

"Friends?"

"You will see."

The voice dies down and Dante turns to Hammer.

"We seem to have back up coming...Darkness and some "friends"."

"Friends?" Hammer asks.

"Don't ask me, I asked him and I got no reply."

With the sound of a rushing tide, the gates of Dis break and Asmodeus army is attacked by a battle group of Incubus numbering hundreds, at the fore of the attacking army charges Darkness with his sword drawn, each swing of it claims a demonic "life". As Darkness approaches, Dante and Hammer spring into action, Hammer lifts the mace again and begins to maul each and every demon who approaches him and Dante acts as if he is holding an invisible sword but as the demons approach, the cut is very real as Storm Caller appears in his hands cutting them to ribbons.

The carnage at the centre of Dis is horrible as lives that have lasted thousands of years or more are ended with the swing of the sword of Aterius Angelus or Storm Caller. The leaders of the New Hellfire Club cut their way towards each other. Between Dante and Darkness the now mad Asmodeus stands barking orders none of the panicking demons hear or even care about. He is jumping up and down in frustration as his minions are cut down by the attacking forces.

Suddenly the demon freezes as two blades are pointed at the throat.

"Well, well Darkness." Dante begins. "You have some strange friends don't you."

Darkness shrugs.

"They do the job I guess."

Dante looks around at the carnage.

"Yeah, I can see that. So what do we do with the wanker here?"

Darkness winces.

"You know how silly that word sound when an American says it?"

Dante nods with a smirk then his face grows serious again.

"Darkness...this is my fight, I have to do this."

Darkness nods. "I know."


With those words, he backs away from Dante and Asmodeus. AS Dante lowers his sword at the demon-lord of Dis again, he seems to change, his skin gets covered in what looks like white dragon scales and his eyes turn red and seem to burn. Strange crests raise up from his white hair and on his body a snow white suit of armour covers him. As he looks like half-man half Dragon he again speak in a voice that makes even the hot air of hell steam.

"Asmodeus the weak! You have failed in your duty to Lord Lucifer, you have grown lazy and let sloth be your guide...I have no alternative but to remove you from power...will you go with no quarrel and no fight?"

Asmodeus stares at the being in front of him and with snarky arrogance he shakes his head and spits out a "Never!"

Dante shrugs and simply cuts the demon-lords head off.

As the demon's skull hits the dust of the streets of Dis, Dante looks normal again and just shrugs.

"What the fuck...it's your funeral."

As the Incubus clean up the last of the demons of Asmodeus, Darkness turns to Dante and asks.

"Are we done here?"

To which Dante nods and says.

"Yeah, the bad apples are gone now, Hell knows that Dis isn't neutral any more."

Hammer walks up to Dante and Darkness and drops his sticky mace at his feet.

"So this means we can go back home now?"

Dante nods again.

"Yeah, Back to earth...back to the morons who sent us here and back to Hell in a cell."

Hammer laughs.

"Well I sort of doubt that the hell in there can be worse then this one."

And so they leave Dis and Hell to settle some more scores.

"Shit i bet they thought we fell off, (witness)
Bone thugs-n-harmony resurrection
Krayzie, layzie, bizzy, wish,
We in the flesh,
Remember them thuggrish ruggish niggaz ?
Gotta get down for my thang in here,
You already know when we came here,
We raw,fuck what you heard and you read about us
Disbelieve what you what you saw
Til' i die, im down to ride in the war
When you niggaz get serious
Let a nigga know,
Maybe then we can roll
Nigga bad to the bone
And i sure don't click with hoes or no bustas
Haters or hoes
When they poppin up at my door
I get excited, all uptight, and violent
Bitches that's not invited
Put in a coffin before they get me man, (get me man)
krayzie, loco, insane...
Bang bang
Runnin with the pump pump
No bluffin we buck,
Nigga better realize
I still claim 19, 9, 9, 9,
Muthafuck it buck it
To the end and when run out
I reload it and buck it and get some more
Nigga put it down world wide
And we get, mad ass love
You niggaz and haters can trip
But we still get, mad ass love
Now show me the rapper that we soft
And when we see him we toss his ass,
And if he flossin cash and jewelry,
Rip it off his ass, keep walkin past
Thuggish, ruggish til the day that i die,
Fuck it that's all i been all of my life,
Just a... just a....
T-H-U-G we be,
It ain't no thang
Keep buckin', buckin', dumpin', fuckin'
Them bustas up with my gauge
We poppin all ya'll,
Im watchin' all ya'll (ya'll)"

The resurrection (as sung by Bone Thugs N Harmony) is imminent, but right now the members of the Turkish version of Hizbollah are about to execute Muhammad Jabbar live and in living color. Unless, of course, somebody saves him.

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

Well, Hammer & Dante aren't quite here yet. Alexxx looks on from the other room and contemplates what she's about to do. OK, so Muhammad Jabbar was even worse to her and the rest of Ghetto Grass than Mutaaz Tareef ever was. But damn it, he's still a person. She's gotta try and do something to stop this. Bleeder appears to be on the verge of doing something over there, or so his facial expressions seem to indicate, but it looks like it'd be too late for Hammer's spiritual advisor.

But there's a rather big problem here...there's 4 of them and 1 of her. Alexxx wasn't a math major, but she was the smartest member of Ghetto Grass (ok, so that's like being the skinniest kid in fat camp, but work with me here), and she knows that if she goes in there alone, she'll surely get killed.

Goddamn it, why didn't her friends come with her?

But, despite Alexxx knowing all of this...she doesn't care. There's probably something psychological going on behind this, but we'll get to that at another date and time. In the here and now, Alexxx takes advantage of the other three men standing in front of the camera man making their big speech and hits the camera with a rock found in the corner of the other room. The impact of the rock causes the cheap-ass video camera the Turks are using to break.

Meaning they won't get to televise their execution. And really, what's the point of executing somebody if you can't show it on television? They are not happy, and when they see that it was a vile woman that did it...oh, they're really not happy. Especially their leader.

"Seize her!"

Alexxx looks behind her, hoping that the Bleeder will be there to back her up. Unfortunately for her, Bleeder is already gone because his job here is done. Two of the terrorists jump Alexxx and hold her arms so she can't get away from them. The leader looks down on Alexxx...

"Foolish girl! You will meet the same fate as this infidel!"

The leader takes the electrocution device used to subdue Dante & Hammer earlier and places it against Alexxx's neck. The screams of the Ghetto Grass member are the first sounds heard by our returning heroes as their bodies return to life.

Hammer: Alexxx?

Dante: Sounds like they haven't gone too far.

Hammer: We better hurry in case they get smart all of a sudden.

Dante & Hammer get up to their feet and follow the sounds of Alexxx's screaming into the adjoining room where they find her, Jabbar, and four terrorists, all of who are pretty damn surprised to see Dante & Hammer up and moving about.

Jabbar: Mutaaz!

The terrorists all stand in complete shock, unable to even form a sentence in response. Alexxx slips out of the grasps of the two followers, who doesn't even notice due to their state of shock, and begins untying Jabbar from the chair.

Dante: What's the matter? You guys look like you're seeing ghosts!

Hammer: I got some friendly advice...the next time you guys try to kill somebody...finish the fucking job.

Dante: Hammer, you're forgetting something!

Hammer: What's that?

Dante: They're not getting another chance!

Hammer: Oh yeah. Silly me.

Hammer busts the leader right in the face with a right hook. He staggers over into Dante, who picks him up and delivers a Hellfire Driver to him. Most wrestling moves don't work too well in actual fights, but this one does the job pretty well. The leader lies on the ground fading into unconsciousness while Dante & Hammer stare down the other three men.

Dante: Anybody else want to fight two dead guys?

The remaining terrorists run out of the building screaming.

Hammer: I guess not.

Hammer & Dante stare each other down. Once bitter enemies, they had to rely on each other to get back to where they belonged. Dante had lost the love of his life in the process, but it seemed like that just might have made him stronger. Certainly more determined.

One thing's for sure, Hammer can say for a fact that most of the rumors about Dante are true. This Hellfire Club...it's no bullshit. They are more powerful than even Hammer had imagined. Deep down, Hammer wonders if Infinity's plans of getting them out of the way are foolish. Dante and the rest of them...they're going to be here to stay for a long time.

But now...so is Hammer.

Hammer: Nobody's gonna believe that any of this happened.

Dante: Probably not.

Hammer extends his hand to Dante as a way of thanking him for getting him through all the craziness of the past couple of weeks without actually saying it. An Infinity member and a New Hellfire Club member shaking hands? Well, you're not going to see anything like that in public, but in this instance it makes sense.

Hammer: This doesn't change anything as far as Stranglehold goes. I'm still gonna go in that cell and do anything I can to get those belts away from you.

Dante: I wouldn't expect anything less...Mutaaz.

Jason Dante walks out of the building, headed towards...well, honestly a man like him could be going anywhere. Hammer joins Alexxx in tending to Muhammad Jabbar, who will be ok in a physical sense, but his already fragile mental state might be kicked up to a whole new level now...

-----

*Insert day show ends up being posted here*

The Praise Allah X-Press pulls into the parking lot of the Ano Liossia Arena about six hours before showtime. Jabbar leads the Ghetto Grass members into the arena to check on preparations for the show tonight while a suit-clad Mutaaz Tareef walks over to the S-Mart tent set up on the other side of the parking lot. It's been awhile since he's seen any of his Infinity teammates, and he's interested to see what they've been up to during his absence.

He's immediately greeted by David Hardy, DeSean Blackwell & the Titanium Insomniac...

Hardy: So what's this we hear about you being dead?

Hammer pauses...he knows it's probably for the best if he doesn't tell them what he's been up to the past couple of weeks. For one thing, they'd never believe him, and for another thing, they might not take too kindly to him teaming with their enemy.

Hammer: Dead? I've never felt so alive! Great to see you guys...I've got a feeling that tonight's going to be a night that goes down in history.

DeSean points him towards the flat-screen panel connecting Shadow to the proceedings...Hammer walks over and greets the C-Evil-O after pouring himself a glass of water at the refreshment table.

Hammer: Shadow, good to see ya!

Shadow: Good to see you too, Mutaaz...you ready to take that championship for Infinity tonight?

Hammer: I've never been more ready, my friend.

Shadow: Certainly I don't need to tell you not to underestimate Dante...

Hammer: Not at all. Believe me, if there's anybody around here who knows how powerful Jason Dante is, it's me.

Shadow: Hell in a Cell, too.

Hammer: You think I won't walk through Hell to get what I want?

Shadow laughs.

Shadow: I think you'll be fine.

Hammer raises his champagne glass filled with water towards Shadow and greets Highone, who has finally arrived for the party. They shake hands and wish each other luck in their matches tonight. Hammer leaves Highone to chat with Shadow and walks over to the Insomniac & DeSean Blackwell, who are discussing DeSean's match tonight.

Hammer: DeSean, don't worry about it.

TI: You seem in an awfully good mood tonight, Hammer.

DeSean: Yeah, especially for a guy headed into Hell in a Cell tonight.

Hammer: Well, why wouldn't I be? You know, I could lose to Dante tonight. And yeah, it'd kinda suck to lose my shot at the title and I probably wouldn't get another shot for a very long time. But at the end of the night there's a pretty good chance that I'll still be alive. And as long as you've got that going for you...you're doing pretty well.

Indeed.

OOC This isn't part of the feud per se, it's just a way for me to put in a real end to a story I have been running. /OOC

Epilogue: Part 1

"Like a bat out of hell."

Sometimes life is ironic in ways you are either too dumb or too caught up in either the moment of yourself to understand. I had spent so long, nearly 6 months fearing that the demon inside would wake up and devour me whole, that it would take control and force me to become a monster.

Turns out I was an idiot, a moron for not understanding what the demon is. The demon in me isn't a monster hiding under the bed waiting for a delicious foot to poke into it's face or a bogey man awaiting to be summoned, the demon is much, much closer and much, much more familiar to me.

He IS me.

There was no chance he could take over and run the show, no chance in hell...sorry, bad pun. I missed the fact that Lucifer's son wasn't a separate part of me, it was me. My greatest mistake ever was to let myself fall into the despair of having a separate part in my soul.

I had no clue who to thank for the insight and the wisdom that made my life bearable again until I was actually told who it was, I was told by someone who has had a major impact on my life, someone who has brought me to this place, someone who gave me the chance to rebuild the world I love. That man was Bleeder of all people.

He found me after me and Tareef or Stallone of whoever he is nowadays had gotten back to life and gotten Tareef's mentor Jabber free from the Terrorist wannabes.

Bleeder had an interesting proposal for me, one I wasn't sure was honest until i saw his face, the emotion in those black eyes was one I found myself able to trust to 100%.

He handed me the things...I knew them so well, I had seen Bruce wear the exact same contraptions a million times in the past. Bleeder had handed me the Time Travel gauntlets.

For better or worse...I used them.

Epilogue: Part 2

"Where angles fear to go."

Using the gloves or gauntlets as Bleeder insisted that i call them wasn't an easy choice, far from it. Bruce had one night told me about the problems, the scaring, the general confusion they caused in a untrained time traveller.

But in the end it was a few scars and a mind that spend a few days boggling versus staying alone for the rest of...

well...

Forever.

In the end it's wasn't even worth the time to think about.

I left for the past as soon as I could.
I remembered the chamber, small damp and moist...the table in the old abandoned mental hospital was still as disgusting to watch as it had been when I sent Selenia into Natalie Portman's body, I stood in the shadows, waiting...waiting for what I knew would come. Knowing myself I didn't have to wait long, after a few minutes the rusty door was opened and a man...myself just as I knew it would be entered the room with a woman, Natalie Portman in tow.

She seemed dazed and giggly in some strange way...It actually took me a few minutes to remember the drugs I had fed the poor girl, I was and still is amazed she managed to survive the therapy I put her through to keep her by my side.

Her drug-induced worship made me feel more guilty of my crimes then I had ever felt before. I watched as "I" strapped her to the old table and saw myself roll op my sleeve to make the cut that would transfer Selenia into Natalie's body.

As the straight razor approached his and my skin...I knew it was time to act.

"Stop!"

I know, I know I should have come up with a more original and memorable way to stop myself but i was pressed for time...well, you know what I mean.

I stood there just beyond the edge of the shadows and stared at the man who I had been, I saw him look surprised and knew the feeling very well. The surprise seemed to freeze my younger incarnation long enough to give me time to do what I was going to do. I walked out into the limited light of the chamber and saw myself grow wide eyed and startled at who was in the room with him...or me depending on what perspective you have.

He looked a bit younger then I do, mainly because the last year or so of events had changed me a great deal both in- and outwardly. He couldn't even open his mouth it seemed. I smiled at the goggle eyed Natalie who despite the strange events seemed more the happy to see two of this Dante guy. I looked at myself and said.

"You don't have to do this, you know."

He said nothing, he just stared at me.

"This will give you the chance to have Selenia early and easily, but it will bring you pain beyond what you can ever understand. If you two are patient, she will be with you soon enough, where...when i come from her birth into human flesh will be just a day or so away."

At this point, the younger Dante seemed to have gathered his wits about him enough to say.

"You mean that I don't have to do this?"

I nodded.

As I saw myself breath a sigh of relief I felt the future change in small ways, Selenia was still considered part of my history as a wrestler, but for some reason no one could really pinpoint a thing she had done. I had done what Bruce had flippantly called "no big thing", I had changed history.

Dante the young put down the razor and untied Natalie from the rusty table. He looked up at me with a confused smile and said.
"You know, I'm going by what you say here..."

I returned the smile and replied.

"From where I stand things seem to work out fine. Just don't get too much of conscience and admit to having drugged little miss Pixie over there, I have enough trouble as it is."

He gave me the thumbs up and we shook hands.

As he lead Natalie Portman back to her own life and away from the mental ward, I felt time compressing as I passed through the 4th dimension, I saw the events that had changed and that they seemed to remain as they were for the most part, time place my old friend Wendy Masters ins ome of the open Selenia slots and Callisto into a few others, I realised that when this was done, only I, Selenia, Darkness and Bleeder would know what the past really had been like. As the normal time started to appear around me, I thought that it was just the way I wanted it to be.

I stood at the place where Bleeder had given me that gauntlets and found the being gone again. Now it was all up to me, not some future technology brought here by Bruce, it was me and the Storm Caller who had work to do.

Whistling a tune I had heard on radio the other day on some request show I walked towards a near by café to get some peace while phoning a few select friends.

We had a trip to look forward to.

Tornona, Italy November 24th 2:46 AM

"Full circle"

They were walking on the outskirts of a small Italian village, the time of day was strange and the darkness seemed to fit the three men walking towards what was a place the locals wasn't keen on visiting after dark. It had the reputation of being haunted, no one knew why but locals spoke in hushed tones about the horde of spirits that spent the nights wailing in the mountains. Most scoffed at this superstition these days, but these three knew better, they knew the truth...or at least the white clad man at the front of the group knew.

Dante had only told Darkness and Acolyte that they had to come with him, there was something he had to do and he wanted his friends with him when he was going to do it. Acolyte had jumped at Dante's quick and easy use of the word "friends", but he realised that it made sense.

They had walked for about thirty minutes when Dante asked them to stop. He turned around and looked at them as a saddened cry of a wolf resounded in the night. Dante looked at his friends and said.

"On this field, on this piece of land, humanity was betrayed and stabbed in the back. On this patch of land love was killed by hatred and glory hunger, time has forgotten these victims, but tonight I right one wrong."

Acolyte looked at Darkness who in turned looked at Dante. Darkness now knew what Dante was going to do, he knew why they were here and calmed Acolyte with a short "It's OK.". Dante nodded and turned around again. Out of nowhere he grabbed Storm Caller and before the shadowy blade had gotten it's final form he placed it with the tip towards the ground. He stood there for a few seconds and then with a violent thrust he shoved his sword into the ground and stepped back. He had learned the truth about the sword from Bleeder just before he left for the past, he now knew what to do to end this problems, to end the struggle, to create a final and solid home for happiness.

After a few seconds in the soil, the sword started to shake and the ground around it cracked. The the sword fell and as it hit the ground it returned to the unknown place where it rests until Dante calls it.

Slowly a strange sight appeared, where the tip of the sword had been, a head appeared, the hair was grey and dirty, the face that appeared beneath it was as old as the hair but seemed to grow younger as it rose or rather clawed it's way out of the ground, as the head was followed by it's body, the person looked old no more, she because it was a woman looked like she was just a few years shy of Dante's age and despite the dirt and grime she was beautiful.

Acolyte was the first to speak.

"Selenia!" he said in a half suffocated gasp.

She stood there on the disrupted ground nearly naked as her clothes had not gone through the rejuvenation process she had gone through. She shook and trembled. After a few silent and calm seconds she looked up at the man in front of her. She smiled a weak smile at the man who she loved and he walked up to her and draped his coat over her shoulders. He smiled at her and said.

"I promised you i would get your body back to you."

She was too weak to speak at the moment but she nodded and returned the smile. She moved close to Dante who draped his arms around her.

They turned around and came face to face with the other NHFCers.

Darkness was smiling and Acolyte had joined him without being sure what had happened. Darkness nodded and said.

"So her soul was in the sword."

Dante nodded.

"Yeah, she is a demon like me so it sucked her soul into it...I didn't know that until I got some help though."

"Help?" Acolyte asked.

"Bleeder." Dante offered as an explanation.

Selenia's voice was weak but healthy.

"Jason gives himself too little credit."

Darkness laughed.

"Yes, that he does."

The four friends began to walk back to the rental car that waited for them in Tornora, Hammer and the rest of the fed knew nothing about this and Dante already had a great idea how to re-debut Selenia to the TCW. But That was the future, for now they would celebrate and be happy.

Dante looked at Selenia and with a loving smile on his face he said.

"Selenia, ti amo il mio bello"

Selenia smiled.

"Ti amo ugualmente Jason "

They both shared a kiss that felt as if it could defrost the Arctic. As they approached the parked car, a new wolf's howl this one filled with joy and jubilation was heard.

"What was that?" Selenia asked.

"I have a feeling you will find that out in time Selenia." Darkness answered.

Dante and Acolyte laughed as Selenia looked at darkness with a question on her face.

Then she got in to the car and they left...they had some celebrations to take care of and then they had a flight to catch.

A flight to Athens.