A/n: Trigger warning for human trafficking.

Human trafficking is a serious global issue. If you are interested in helping, contract your local agency for missing persons to learn how you can volunteer.

"Love and Peace",

Mint Tea and Skulls

P.S. I've been a tad late in production a lot, so here's a couple days early. Apologies for any errors I missed by not waiting that extra couple days.

Chapter 41: Knight to F6

After a couple more death-trap assignments, Natalie became convinced that the blue-eyed meat wall was trying to get her killed. If not through sheer numbers, than through the humans becoming fearful at large. Large groups of scared humans had never once ended well for her. She would have to make her next move sooner than intended. She would have to hope that Decker was half as clever as Maze seemed to think Decker was.

With a gentle tug, the last bandage was rolled into place and Natalie taped the end off. Even with how quickly she healed, the excess of minor wounds was catching up to her. Practice today had been brutal on her ankle. However, the song that Lucifer loved to play on the radio said it best. There really was no rest for the wicked. She quietly redressed, checked that her weapons cabinet was locked, and slipped up the fire escape.

She was careful to keep out of sight when she returned to the criminal headquarters. An upper floor window that had been left open. She landed on the trashed carpet with silent feet. Ella had been ecstatic about her date tonight, giving Natalie a small, but perfect, window to strike. Once she confirmed the halls were empty, she made her way to the only room she was strictly forbidden from.

The lock was simply picked. Within the small room, she found a filing cabinet, but no spear. A soft curse filled the silence. Determined to make sure the night wasn't a complete waste, she went to the filing cabinet to rummage through it. While she wasn't surprised to see Lucifer's name on the first folder, the name on the second made her pause.

With unsteady hands, she lifted the folder marked "Amenadiel/Dr. Canaan". A business card slipped out, and as she picked it up, the sound of the elevator warned her. She put the file back and pocketed the card. With the only door going to the hallway to the elevator, she opted to escape out the window. Once she was a safe distance away, she stopped to rest.

Her hand dug into her pocket to remove the card. When she turned it over to see the address, she didn't muffle the string of obscenities that fell from her lips. He was here. In L.A.. An entirely different kind of fear filled her. It was followed by deep, instinct-driven, need to run. Before a new horrible thought found her: what if she wasn't why he was here?

Lucifer and Maze were also immortals. He could be hunting them. Natalie's eye's darted back down to the card. The office of his alias was in the same building as Linda. There was no way to tell how old the card was.

Taking the moment to orient herself, Natalie took off for Linda's home. Even moving as swift as she could, it still look time. It was in the first lights of the morning that she banged on the solid wood door. In the silence between knocks, the fear became deeper. If that feathered bastard had hurt Linda, she would kill him or die trying.

The door opened and the words from within were like bells to her soul.

"Natalie? It's 4:30 in the morning. Is everything okay?"

The hug she wrapped Linda in was unplanned. The relief had just been too strong. Although she would never admit it (then Maze would never let her live it down), she was rather fond of this strange collection of women that made up their "squad-tribe", or whatever nonsense Maze called it. Linda made a startled squeak, but returned the hug and patted Natalie on the back in a soothing manner.

"Ah. Something most be stirring up trouble near me. Maze gets like this sometimes when I'm threatened for whatever reason. Even Lucifer is surprisingly protective of his friends."

"I'd still rather keep an eye on you this morning."

The chuckle from the blond woman was light-hearted. "What about Maze and practice?"

"I'll text her. She'll get it."

Linda bobbed her head for a moment and then shrugged. "Okay. Well, if you're going to stay, we may as well have some coffee."

Natalie truly adored Linda sometimes.

"I would love a cup of coffee."

The chatter from the kitchen echo's through the home, and the two friends spent the early morning catching up on Evan's latest wedding drama. Once the time for Linda to go into work arrived, Natalie opted to carpool with her to the building. With the doctor safely in her office, Natalie lingered in the hall and checked the door of one "Dr. Canaan". The last of her concerns were put to rest when she saw that a quilting company had taken over the location.

With the greatest danger removed, Natalie let her thoughts return to her ongoing plot against the current "Clown Prince of Crime" of the west coast. Maybe after Evan got married and the two ran off to where ever, she'd move to Gotham. The atoll was a good idea, but she'd get lonely without some kind of trouble. It was a lovely daydream, but she was well aware that if she went anywhere it had to be back to the temple. Even in the simmering anger, the idea of leaving Lucifer behind cause a band of pain to tighten around her heart.

Determined to stay focused, she doubled checked the date and then started heading to Lux. Practice, while very close to doing so, did not run itself, and she could still catch the last hour or so. The added pressure of the publicity stunt Maze came up with only made it worse. Natalie didn't care how much money they offered Lux, a flash mob dance challenge with the newest dance club on the block was proving to be more trouble than it would be worth. Maze's mocking laughter as Natalie tried to negotiate the music list with the other choreograph still rang in her ear and it had been almost a week.

0-0 0-0 0-0

While it was finally the correct moon phase to visit the pier, the detective was adamant that the rest of the work had to be finished before they could work on their personal investigation. This meant that it was late afternoon by the time the pair pulled up to the parking by the dockside. It was crowded and loud. Game and sale booths lined initial area. In the corner, draped in cheesy red cloth, was a beautiful young woman with a crystal ball.

Before Lucifer would make his way toward the booth, the detective's hand landed on his arm to hold him back. As he opened his mouth to question her, she motioned to the side. Pushing through the crowd was one Natalie Varquez. The woman in the booth gave a small wave, which was returned, as Natalie slipped by the booth to the small walkway behind it. The detective pulled him toward another gap between booths.

The two ducked behind a stack of boxes to observe. Natalie walked down to a door and knocked. The visor in the door slide open and a gruff voice asked for a password. Rather than reply, Natalie turned and hoisted her shirt high enough to show the bottom half of the wings on her back. The visor shut to a more apologetic tone as the door opened.

While they didn't have a password, they did have Lucifer; and he was better than all the passwords in the world. A smile, a wink, and a favor later, they followed Natalie into what was a speakeasy bar favored by Los Angeles' most notorious underground figures. Many were paired off at tables, negotiating deals in hushed tones. A fight broke out toward the back as Natalie had been passing by. With ruthless efficiency, she knocked out each patron before continuing on her way.

There was a doorway with layered drapes and curtains over it. Natalie stopped outside it and waited. A silence began to take over the bar as the attention turned to her. It made slipping through the crowd unnoticed much easier. A few tables away from the cloth covered doorway, they stopped and pretended to be patrons.

"Enter, child."

Lucifer couldn't quite place the familiar voice, but it must have been this mythic "Oracle". Natalie stepped through the doorway, and the detective pulled him closer to it. They pretended to lean and chat while they listened. Well, Lucifer listened. He couldn't be sure how much the detective could make out now that the normal noise returned to the bar.

"You know I shouldn't show up here. We can't be closely associated on this front." Natalie lectured.

"Oh, it's fine. If anyone asks, we'll say that your new boss wanted to talk. I'm actually surprised that he hasn't yet."

"Not his style. If he sends me, it'll be to force the issue of you under-minding him."

"I had help with that one."

"What am I doing here?"

"Fine, all business then. I need you to prevent a ship from leaving dock until 4 in the morning."

"That's a specific time."

"Police raid. Word got out, but if they are allowed to leave early, the girls on that ship will be lost to us."

"That's great." Natalie's sarcasm returned. "Trapped between traffickers and the cops."

"You've been trapped between worse. Like that time with Jimmy and Ilene at th-"

"Alright! Fine! You made your point! Which damn boat is it?"

At the shuffle of papers, Lucifer pulled the detective away from the door. A few moments later, Natalie barged out the door, and out of the building, at a rapid pace. While everyone was still distracted, the detective went up to the door and knocked on the frame. Once given permission to enter, she pulled Lucifer in behind her. Sitting on a couch, with a glass of wine in hand, was an older woman that Lucifer had met before.

"Why, hello, Maria."

"Lucifer Morningstar. It's been too long."

"The ice cream shop become too boring."

"Oh no, it's a shop born of passion."

Before the conversation could blossom further, the detective stepped in to ask her questions.

"Ma'am, are you the 'Oracle'?"

"Yes, and you are Chloe Decker, bane of the corrupt and immoral."

The detective looked a tad shocked from the response and turned to Lucifer with a questioning expression. He could only shrug. He had no idea what the title was about, however, he could agree with it.

"We were told you could help us bring the 'Sinner Man' to justice."

Maria's eyes slid over to Lucifer for a moment.

"I fear your definition of justice and mine may not be the same. However, we need not agree to reach a common goal. He is a tortured soul, and doomed to torture. Caught in an endless cycle of violence and self-loathing. And yet, he is powerful. Worse yet, he has primary control of the most dangerous weapon in California: Natalie Varquez."

"On the contrary," Lucifer cut in, "he lacks a Mazikeen."

"Mazikeen Smith? The Bounty-hunter? Now there's a fight that tickets would sell for. My point still stands, he is a dangerous man. Even some stories say that he's unkillable. More monster, than man."

The detective scoffed, "We're not trying to kill him. He'll go to prison for his crimes like everyone else."

"Then you are going to need a water-tight case. Unfortunately, he runs a tight ship, so getting proof is going to be hard. Fortunately, you have all you need standing right beside you."

"Huh?"

"Lucifer Morningstar. It's common knowledge that Natalie will do literally anything for him, just have him ask and I'm sure she'd sell him up the river."

"I am standing right here." He interjected, rather annoyed, "And after our last argument I doubt that she'd do anything I ask."

Maria's eyes sparkled and she leaned forward, "Oh, trouble in paradise? That could explain the unbearable mood that brat has been in lately."

"More of a impasse of morals than a bit of trouble."

"Well, I know Natalie has a heart of gold, so what's your problem?"

It was Lucifer's turn to give the detective a look of shock. Rather than support him, she started in humored silence.

"My problem? I do not condone her methods, her willful neglect for lives that she uses as bait to hunt monsters."

"Natalie helps the ones she can. I don't understand why she doesn't get out before she gets dead, but she does what she can. I imagine it's pretty easy to sit in your nice penthouse and look down on the hard choices she makes."

"But she's still a criminal." The detective cut in.

"Yes. She is. A wise woman, with a strange outfit, once spoke about how being a criminal isn't the same as being a terrible person. Natalie is a criminal. She does very bad things for considerable amounts of money. She also does random dark-ops for the government and pays them a hefty sum on a regular basis. Lives aren't black and white, they're complicated."

"My life is complicated."

His memory supplied for him the last time Natalie had said those words. The heat of their argument swept through him. However, a small bit of guilt came with it. He glanced over and the detective also seemed to be reflecting on the lecturing they were receiving. Tragically, the matron wasn't done with them.

"That woman cares for you. You can be mad, you can argue, but don't try to tell me she doesn't care for you. You don't have to watch her devour commercial sized ice cream tubs. You don't have to watch her spiral out of control."

"You seemed fairly in control of her just now." the detective provided.

"Oh no. The miracle I work is merely to change the path of the storm. I could never hope to control it. I could never stand to stop it."

"Can you tell us anything about what she is planning?"

"Hopefully a way to do what I asked of her."

The detective looked thoroughly frustrated.

"Now, off with you." Maria said with a dismissing wave.

Back under the late afternoon sun, the pair stopped for pretzels and watched the water. Tragically, the detective was still in work mode.

"We should start be talking to Maze and Evan. Linda and Ella, too. They've gotten pretty close to her on our bar nights."

"To what end?"

"I'm going to try your approach. Find out what she wants, see if I can offer her something like it, and get her to inform for me. Then, I could offer her a deal, a way out. She could live a normal life, besides whatever nonsense she gets up to with the government."

The chuckle that spilled from him was cold. It was a question that haunted him, for he never received a truly honest answer.

What did Natalie want?

"But I'll need your help too."

"For?" He asked, in sour humor.

"The Oracle was right, as along as the deal is good, and you are the one to ask Natalie, the chances of her saying no is pretty low. You just need to patch up things enough for her to listen to you."

The pretzel had become staggeringly dry. Lucifer shifted his weight from one foot to the other. The inkling of guilt came back. With it came the latest question to plague him, the source of her anger with him. He was still angry about the situation.

Her indignation didn't invalidate his own feelings.

"But … I do think that she had a point about Natalie. I've always been quick to judge the bad things she does. But she's saved Trixie. She saved me, multiple times, and you, and Maze. She did horrible things in the process, but none of us would be here without her."

The guilt nudged the question out of his mouth.

"Do you not think she's dangerous anymore?"

"Oh no. Absolutely not. The woman is deadly. Like with a capital D, but she's not a monster. When I said I was going to prove she wasn't a monster, this wasn't what I had in mind."

"I can at least say that I have seen the monsters in the shadows, and they look nothing like her."

A few minutes of quite munching passed before the detective asked a question of her own.

"What happened? Between you two?"

He wanted to explain. He wanted to explain about the Pale Ones and how Natalie used humans as bait to hunt them. However it was a two-fold problem. Chloe didn't believe in anything beyond her human world, and anything about the creatures faded from human minds rather quickly. However, there was someone else he could talk to.

"Linda." He said suddenly.

The detective looked at him confused.

"Linda happened? But I thought you two weren't sleeping together anymore."

"What? No, I'm not having sex with Linda. I need to talk to her."

"Let me finish my pretzel and we'll -"

"Nope, emergency session. Tah!"

The doctor, while technically off-work, was persuaded by the promise of dinner. The two sat in one of his private booths and once the orders were placed he leaned against the table.

"What I'm about to tell you is a very strange thing, probably even stranger than when you learned that I am real. You can try to take notes, but humans tend to forget, and I have no idea how that would effect any reading you may do over them later. Do you understand?"

"Come on, Lucifer. Stranger than dating an angel? Being friends with a demoness? Being friends with apparently a dragon, so that matter?"

"Very well. They are called Pale Ones. Large horrible creatures that feed off the souls of human. I do not know the full details, but they are difficult to see and track. Although the rain helps on that front. Natalie hunts them. Or they hunt her. It's complicated, and we keep only talking about it during arguments."

Linda nodded knowingly, "And you don't listen when you're angry."

He only glared for a moment before continuing. "However, she does this by being so deep in the criminal underworld that she knows when someone goes missing in an unplanned manner. She knows when other innocents will be hurt, but does nothing. Yet, she saves the lives of her friends. I don't understand any part of this."

"Okay. So, let's back up a bit. There are strange creatures that eat people, and I'm not going to remember it after this conversation?"

"After some time, yes."

"Wow. That's disturbing. Now, you said she tracks them by knowing when a disappearance is or isn't planned?"

"Yes." He said with a bit of frustration.

"And how quickly do these things hunt?"

He paused. He didn't know.

"I … don't know."

"Have you spoken to her about this?"

"Yes. She was the one who told me dur-"

"During the argument, right."

"I thought you were going to help me understand this."

"Sorry, wrapping my head around human-hunting monsters. So. You two had an argument about her methods of doing what she considers her job? And how would you prefer she do her job?"

"By helping them! By saving those people!"

"But how will that let her keep going?"

"What?"

She sighed and repeated herself. Lucifer sat with a puzzled look on his face. Drinks and appetizers were brought to the table, and Linda thanked the server for him. After a few minutes she spoke again.

"Let me rephrase. If she betrays the trust of these horrible people by turning on them, how can she use them for information?"

"She … she couldn't." He paused for a long moment, "But she could place a tip to the police, to help stop them."

"Maybe. You should ask her about it."

"Do you think that she cares for me?"

She stared at him in disbelief. "Do-do you not know? I really thought that you two... Oh wow. Teach me to make assumptions."

"Know what?"

"I don't really think it's my place to say. But let's get back to the argument."

"There was something else she said. She thought the humans are dangerous, like wild things that would attack the moment they suspect something different walks among them."

"I mean, she's not wrong there. Ever seen an alien movie? Usually ends with the alien in a weird lab being studied. It's well recorded in history of humans doing terrible things out of hysterical fear. I can understand her concerns."

"I still don't understand why she is angry with me."

"That part I can't help you with. If you really want to know, you'll have to ask her and listen to what she says, not just look for what you want to hear."

0-0 0-0 0-0

At the docks, Natalie's back stung as the galvanized pipe struck her again. As the bastard pulled back to strike her again, her hand shot out to catch the weapon and fling it over the side of the ship. Behind her, a small horde of terrified girls quaked. They clung to each other, whimpering and whispering. Their tentative trust placed in their unplanned guardian.

The plan to wait for the police raid in the morning was quite ruined. However, she said she would save them, and that was exactly what she intended to do. Her fist slip her attackers jaw and he spiraled over the railing and into the water after his weapon. By now, the traffickers were causing a ruckus. She directed the girls through the next couple turns before they stop in the galley.

She raised a hand to halt the pack of girls. Getting to the gangplank was the easy part, the difficult side was the now well-armed guards. This whole plan was coming down around her ears. There was no way she was getting out of this without "Sinner Man" finding out. With a sigh, she motioned for the girls to stay put and hide. When the eldest asked why, she gave her the truth.

"The only way out is if I kill the lot of them, or they will kill the lot of you. Rebellion is not tolerated."

The girl, barely of 16, nodded, a grim look set on her face. She promised to keep the others calm and thanked Natalie. With that matter settled, Natalie crept through the doorway leading toward the rest of the ship. Without the pack of humans to protect, Natalie made short work of the rest of the crew. Only the navigator was spared.

The man, boy really, had pleaded for his life. Clear bruising on his wrist, and the shackle around his foot, stayed her hand. So, in absolute silence, standing over the body of his captain, she turned and left the boy chained to the floor. When the police arrived for their raid in a couple hours, he would act as a confessional to the kidnappings. She returned to the kitchen to retrieve the girls.

When she called out the eldest, peaked out and then brought out the others. Natalie had cleared a path out to spare them as much of the gore as possible. They had been through enough. Since the plan had gone fantastically wrong, She opted to escort the pack to Maria's place. There they could lie low till they found a way to get them home.