Mazikeen, Lilim Warlord, consort to Lucifer, the scarred scourge, the rotting wrath, the Tom to Spike's Jerry growled when Mephisto entered Lux. She didn't like the demon lord when he was a King of Hell and she liked him less now that he was on earth because every now and then he'd drop by and annoy her to no end. She couldn't stand the sight of him. Gone were the rags and long tattered cape that he used to wear, replaced by red leather pants, boots, a red tank top, red duster, and even a red choker collar around his neck.

Mephisto smirked when he saw her behind the bar and he slid his sunglasses from his face and hung them on his tank top. Sauntering over cockily, Mephisto hopped onto the nearest bar stool and smiled, displaying several rows of teeth. Mazikeen merely watched him and had a furious look on the visible side of her face.

"Hello my dear. Rum and coke." Mephisto said flirtatiously.

"Why not something stronger?" Mazikeen said in her brutal voice, though to Mephisto it was clear as a bell.

"I don't want to become to inebriated. Makes my better half come out in me." Mephisto smiled, "So that'll be it."

"So what brings you here today, other than mocking me that is?" Mazikeen asked as she mixed his drink.

"Oh, I thought I'd have a talk with the big man today. Failing that I'd like to ask if it was true that a vampire recently dropped an anvil on your head. Now that's comedy." Mephisto said grasping his drink and sipping it.

"You annoy me Mephisto. That's not a good idea." Mazikeen warned.

"Yes, yes, you're very frightening. I simply quake in my boots." Mephisto smirked, stirring his drink with his finger.

"Perhaps you don't, but you are bonded to a mortal. How would she fair?"

"Not well Two-Face, but if you kill her I simply go back to Hell. Then I come back here at full power. And right then your only chance is that Lucifer considers you a good enough lay to bother with saving." Mephisto laughed.

"Mephisto."

Mephisto smiled and turned to the beautiful, yet authoritative voice that filled the room. He slid around on his barstool and downed his drink as he saw Lucifer standing behind him.

"Uh oh, daddy's home." Mephisto said.

"What are you doing here?" Lucifer asked, as he began to light a cigarette he took from his case, "Other than annoying Mazikeen and I to no ends."

"Well, my club makes good drinks, but nothing compared to hers. I hear she has SUCH talented hands." Mephisto smiled.

"She does. And what's the real reason?" Lucifer asked, already so frightfully bored.

"I want a moment of your time." Mephisto said in all seriousness, "Table for two?"

"This had best be good." Lucifer said inhaling the smoke from his cigarette.

Mephisto hopped up and walked to the nearest table and sat down smiling, "Tell me, how do you like my hair?"

Lucifer regarded the locks of blue on Mephisto's head, much shorter than they had been previous and dyed. They were also spiked up.

"Doesn't match your outfit." Lucifer said sitting down across from him.

"We don't always have to be stylish and proper." Mephisto said regarding Lucifer's business suit and tie, "Also it's only blue today. I'm thinking green tomorrow."

"How customarily boring."

"Well one's man's meat is another's poison. Interesting little saying there. Now then, shall we get down to business?" Mephisto asked.

"No."

"No we won't get down to business?"

"No, I will not turn you back." Lucifer said deadpan, "I have better things to do today than to listen to your whining about being trapped in that form."

Mephisto looked hurt, and then laughed uncontrollably.

"Lucy, Lucy, Lucy, do you mind if I call you Lucy?" Mephisto asked.

"Don't push your luck." Lucifer replied.

"Well then…Lucy…" Mephisto smirked, flirting with disaster and knowing full well, "Why on earth would I want to go back to Hell?"

"To regain your full power." Lucifer replied, "And if you're anything like Glorificus, being here is driving you insane."

"I'll get my full power back in time. That's a guarantee." Mephisto answered, "And Glorificus never had a rapport with these creatures like I do. She was all pain and cruelty and don't get me wrong, that's what I'm all about, but sin is in. All those years of being evil incarnate and I never really knew what it was like to experience the things I harped on about endlessly. I LOVE IT HERE. There's so much to feel, to do, to taste. The thing that makes it even better is that fact that I have some teensy weensy little bit of remorse about it all since I'm bonded to a human. And that just makes committing it all the more fun. I mean what's so great about sin if you're not just a little bit afraid of the consequences of your actions? And if what I hear is true about down below right now, I wouldn't want to be there anyway."

"Interesting. But that doesn't really tell me why I'm being annoyed by you today." Lucifer replied.

"Don't worry, it's good. You'll like this." Mephisto smiled evilly, "Those signs are a pointin' ain't they?"

"To someone of limited capacity such as you I'd imagine recent events would seem to be signs." Lucifer replied.

"Oh, low blow. I'm crushed. Come on, they're signs if I ever saw one. The First Evil rose and fell. Heaven's taking an invested interest in Hell and if what I hear is true, Adam Warlock humiliated you right before he wiped your universe away." Mephisto explained, right before he saw a fire in Lucifer's eyes that made him cringe and nearly lose control of his bladder. Also he heard thunder ring loudly outside as the inside of Lux grew almost as black as pitch.

"You tread on dangerous ground." Lucifer said with a tone of calmness that belied the look in his eyes.

"I…I apologize my Lord…my words were rash and ill-chosen. It won't happen again." Mephisto said looking down and shaking in fear.

"Good. Now get on with it." Lucifer replied as everything cleared up.

"Right…yes. Well, Warlock…ATTACKED you. And if any being can even remotely approach your level of cunning and power, it is Warlock now that he is backed by the Infinity Gauntlet. I, however, have been a thorn in Warlock's side before."

"He humiliated you." Lucifer smirked, "Say it."

"He humiliated me." Mephisto replied.

"Again."

"Adam Warlock humiliated me."

"Better."

"Yes, but even in humiliation one can learn secrets of a foe." Mephisto said with a canny smile.

"I wouldn't know."

"Of course you wouldn't my lord. But I, your lowly servant do. Additionally, there are bonds between myself and the Gauntlet that even you do not have. I know how Warlock thinks, you don't. I know what moves he'll make in battle, you can't. I know exactly how to break him, so I'm prepared to make a deal." Mephisto said with a smile.

"I could of course just take the answers." Lucifer replied.

"That you could, but I've already spoken to another interested party who's shielding me a bit as it were. You're canny my lord, but he has an annoying habit to play by the rules of protocol, which is most beneficial in my case." Mephisto smirked.

"Gabriel." Lucifer stated simply and quietly.

"Yes. I went to him because perhaps in all the omniverse, he has a hatred of Warlock that exceeds your own. I just wanted to see who makes a better deal." Mephisto replied.

Lucifer knew Mephisto was planning something, of that there was no doubt. He had been uninterested in anything the demon had been selling before, but now that Gabriel was involved and was willing to pay for what Mephisto knew, things just got more interesting.

"Name your terms." Lucifer stated.

"Good then. I want total control of Hell handed over to me from you. You would have no more say in how it is run and would have zero political and physical power there."

"Is that all?"

"Oh no no no no. I want knowledge of where every FULL cosmic containment unit is in this universe and the means to get to them. I want to be at full power and then some in both realms." Mephisto continued.

"That sounds fair." Lucifer smirked.

"I'm not done." Mephisto said smirking, "I want earth."

"You what?"

"I want earth. I've been having such a good time here I want to make it my own personal chateau. My summer home if you will. I want total and complete dominion over it." Mephisto said.

"No."

"Are you sure?" Mephisto asked.

"One hundred percent. Leave now or be destroyed. Utterly." Lucifer calmly stated.

Mephisto stood with a smile, "Is it because of your plans for mankind?"

"Go."

"I'm going. No need to get hostile." Mephisto said, putting his sunglasses on and going out the door into the very sunny day. He began to walk down the street with a spring in his step.

"I SEE THAT HE DID NOT AGREE TO YOUR TERMS."

"He didn't. So I guess that means I deal with you." Mephisto said to nothing as he walked along.

"I FIND YOUR TERMS QUITE AGREEABLE."

"I know. I just wanted the cosmic containment units anyway." Mephisto smiled, "Feel free to dig around in my head for the answers you want."

A moment later, Mephisto went to one knee and uttered a sound of terrible pain.

"OW! Not so hard! I'm physical now!" Mephisto said clutching his head with his hands.

"IT IS DONE. OUR TRANSACTION IS COMPLETED. MY THANKS."

"Anytime L.T., anytime." Mephisto said, chuckling on the ground slightly over the knowledge of where all the cosmic containment units were, "Guess I'll have to start dispatching minions for them. Heh. I need minions first."

"Sir? Sir are you alright?" an attractive woman in her late twenties asked as she walked by the man lying there on the ground.

"I-I'm fine." Mephisto groaned as he stood up, "I am a little hungry though."

Seconds later, Mephisto's hands dug into the temples of the young woman and she screamed as blue light cascaded outwards.

Mephisto whistled as he entered the Devil's Own a half hour later. Normally, he would have played with the woman for a bit before killing her but he was feeling charitable today with his business transactions. He merely let her run off screaming and causing danger to other humans instead of viciously raping and disemboweling her. As soon as he entered the club, he saw a very tired David sitting at the bar.

"Not used to working day hours yet?" Mephisto asked.

"Not yet." David yawned, "I was waiting for you actually."

"Oh? Why is that?" Mephisto asked.

"Well, like I said I sold you my eyes right. Got a few packages you might enjoy. Bought 'em right off the street then killed the guy and took my money back." David said.

"And?"

"And they have something neat inside each of them. Little pieces of volcanic rock. At least that's what they look like. From the pitch the guy selling them tossed, they were a little bit more than that." David said sleepily.

"And what are they then?" Mephisto asked.

"Fragments from some creature that got busted to pieces in the spring. Thought you might wanna put him back together." David replied.

"And why would I want to piece together something that was stupid enough to be shattered to bits?" Mephisto asked.

"Because according to the recently deceased, this boy blocked out the sun and temporarily wiped out Wolfram and Hart." David smirked.

Mephisto smiled, "You mean..."

"The Beast."

"Oh goody."