It is convenient.

It is convenient that Michael was not an Archangel before the Fall, so that he had no attunements to remember.

It is convenient that Michael is a Seraph, and so none doubt his words.

It is convenient that Michael is ensconced in Archangelic ineffability, so that those who might doubt him cannot prove it.

It is convenient that Michael is known to every angel in Heaven, so that he never needs to announce himself or be announced.

And because of all of this, Michael is going to kick Lucifer's red ass...

...just as soon as he remembers that it needs doing.

There are several Superior-level Remnants wandering around. The most famous, of course, is Raphael's rumored appearance as several key figures in scientific history, most notably Leonardo da Vinci. There are others, however: Makatiel as a plague-ridden housemaid, Genubath as a cold-blooded killer in Victorian England.

There are none quite so ancient, however, as the Eternal Warrior. Born twenty thousand years ago in the land between the Tigris and the Euphrates, the Warrior has lived countless lives, died countless deaths, and returns each time to fight anew.

His names are legend: Achilles, Alexander, Charles, Beowulf. His deeds are even more so: he has built empires from salted earth, and brought armies to their knees at the mere sight of his axe.

And he is not human. Not one inch of him.

Eli knows; he didn't until recently, which was a source of great shame to him, but he's dedicated the last 45 years to tracking down the Warrior's current incarnation. Of course he didn't tell anyone: nobody, not even Laurence, could stand up to his impostor, except the Eternal Warrior himself. Yves knows; he says nothing, for the same reason, and has watched Heaven suffer as a result.

Of course, Eli was a little late. The third-to-last incarnation of the Eternal Warrior died in the Pacific in 1943. The second-to-last was shot by a sniper in Vietnam not five minutes before Eli got to him.

And the current one?

Well, Eli's decided to recruit some help. Specifically, yours. There are signs: the kid who gets into every fight in school, and wins all of them. The one who gets in trouble, with pretty much everybody, for never telling a lie. The one who gets picked on in boot camp on up, because he never misleads the commanding officers on behalf of the other soldiers. The one who has a reputation for being able to look a rookie in the eye and know when he's lying.

Oh, yes. There are signs.

Whether you or Eli finds him first, there's still the matter of getting him acclimated to the current situation. That's a few months of "escort-the-Warrior-around-Earth-while-he-gets-a-grip-on-his-brain" duty. Eli's given you a device that he claims will keep the Warrior on Earth until Eli turns it off. Of course, this is Eli we're talking about; it might just make toast.

Or it might make it easier for you to get to Heaven.

After all, this is the Warrior. And nobody knows about sneak attacks better than someone who's been planning one, in that segment of his brain that's shut off from his waking body, for the last twenty thousand years....