Alone, sat atop his throne and looking down on all of damnation, Lucifer Morningstar couldn't help but sigh. Lucifer missed his friends, all of those tedious little connections he had made on Earth. He missed hearing Ms. Lopez's voice, her unlimited joy and excitement before lunch never failed to make him smile. He missed his therapy sessions with Linda and how she was always there for him. Lucifer even missed Detective Douche, though only a little. Most of all though, Lucifer's stupid heart missed Chloe Dekker, he had so much he still wanted to tell her, things that you couldn't really say to someone before you leave them forever.
Lucifer kept telling himself that those tethers to that silly little world were merely pebbles in the lake that was his life, that his lifespan was forever, he'd move on and forget about them. One day maybe centuries from now, he could leave again and go back to LA, he could party and shag till his heart was content, with no strings to hold him down. Lucifer, however knew that was a pile of shit, he knew that the feelings he shared with Chloe were engraved on whatever was left of his tattered soul. He had never felt anything like it before. As for the others, they felt like family to him, a proper family, a real one.
Brushing a few tears out of his eyes, Lucifer knew he had to smarten up. The King of Hell couldn't very well attend the torture of white supremists with a puffy face.
"An interesting place you have here" said an almost distorted voice beside Lucifer
Turning in his seat, Lucifer was, to say the least, surprised to see a bald man with mutton chops and a bizarre costume, hovering next to him, miles above the city of the damned.
"Who the fuck are you?" Lucifer spat, he wasn't in the mood for surprises
"Just an observer" the newcomer replied "A Monitor, if you will"
"I will bloody not and unless you want to be put down for Friday's Clown Karaoke Bonanza, I advise that you observe somewhere else"
The Monitor, or whatever his name was, had an almost visible aura of intense power around him, the hairs on Lucifer's arms were standing up and his teeth were on edge. The power was incredible and all channeled through one man dressed like a reject from a sci fi porn parody.
"You don't look like any Angel I've ever met" Lucifer assumed that the being had something to do with his father, he had never met anyone with this level of power outside of other Celestials.
"A more accurate term for me would be god"
"Trust me, I've met the bastard, you look nothing like him" Lucifer grinned, trying his best to appear unfazed by the Monitor "So what do you want?"
"You, specifically your talents"
"Eww, I feel like we're probably related somehow"
The Monitor's face grew stern.
"Would it kill you to act your age, the fate of all reality is at stake, not just this side dimension but also the one you call the Silver City"
"Now I know you're blowing smoke up my arse" Lucifer chuckled "Dad wouldn't let his precious Heaven be destroyed"
"He has no choice" the Monitor revealed with a tone that sent a chill up Lucifer's spine.
The observer had to be wrong, simple logic dictated that but something in the back of Lucifer's mind believed him
"We have an army of Angels and Demons at our backs, I'm sure we'll be fine" Lucifer tried shaking his feeling of worry
"It won't be a battle..." the Monitor told him "This place is composed of positive energy"
Lucifer wanted so badly to make a joke about Hell having positive energy but for some reason nothing came out, he simply listened.
"Our enemy is composed of anti matter, the second it hits here you'll have moments to make your peace before everything is destroyed"
Lucifer considered this revelation before deciding "Good"
"You don't truly believe that"
"Oh yes I do" Lucifer shared, letting his eyes glow red "Maybe it's time for us to sleep, what's the point in being alive forever"
"And what of Chloe Dekker" The Monitor fired back
Lucifer's blood ran cold "What does she have to do with this?"
"Her universe faces the same peril as yours, she too will die"
Lucifer opened his demon wings and lunged at the Monitor, wrapping his hands around the being's throat.
"Whatever game you're playing, you leave her out of it" he snarled
"If you stand by and do nothing, her fate is sealed" the Monitor replied with no hint of emotion "However..."
That word convinced Lucifer to let go, if there was any chance Chloe would live, he'd take it.
"If you come with me, fight against this threat before it arrives, we have the opportunity to save not only Chloe Dekker but everyone you know and love"
There it was, no question what Lucifer had to do, not only for Chloe but for Maze, Linda, Amenadiel and even little Charlie. They deserved better than he did and if there was even a one percent chance that they were at risk, that the Monitor was telling the truth, Lucifer had to protect them.
No doubt seeing that he had won by the look on Lucifer's face, the Monitor waved a hand over a spot of emptiness in the dark sky between them and a blue portal burst into life, it was unlike anything Lucifer had ever seen.
"What about Hell?" Lucifer asked "I can't very well leave it unguarded, the Demons might escape again"
"Though to you this will take a currently unknowable length of time, in the grand scheme of things I shall return you exactly thirty seconds after you left"
To anyone else that promise would probably seem impossible to deliver but Lucifer was already believing the impossible, so what was one more for the road.
"Where are we going?" Lucifer asked, approaching the portal with the Monitor
"There is one more person we must recruit before we begin our task" the Monitor explained "We require a detective"
Lucifer's heart skipped a beat as he went into the portal, for the first time in months Lucifer had hope and he had a purpose that wasn't just being his father's guard dog.
o-o-o-o-o-o-o
Bruce Wayne was sprawled out, bleeding to death on a tiny bed in the house of an old friend in Nanda Parbat. Bruce's original intent was to use a Lazarus Pit to heal his fifty year old body, make himself ready for whatever world threatening danger that would succeed the Steppenwolf mission.
The League of Assassins were waiting for Bruce, he battled them and overcame warriors at least twenty years younger than himself. The feeling was incredible, he didn't feel like a middle aged mortal in a world of monsters, aliens and gods, he was in his element. Then something unexpected happened, Bruce felt a stabbing sensation in his chest, in his heart, he had pushed himself too far.
Bruce's body quickly gave way, assassins cut into him, deeper and deeper, their Sensai cackling at the failure of the man once thought to be their greatest enemy.
Branding Bruce with the mark of disgrace and taking both of his hands as trophies, they let him bleed out on the streets of the city. When they were gone, a long retired assassin emerged from his hiding spot, his name was Talmadge and in another life him and Bruce had trained together.
Talmadge took Bruce to his dwelling and tried his best to make him comfortable, reminiscing on the days of Ra's Al Ghul and the pranks they used to play behind their old master's back.
The things they didn't talk about hung over them, Bruce knew his blood wasn't clotting, his body wasn't going to heal, it was already shutting down. Bruce felt colder by the moment and Talmadge's looks of concern and pity weren't giving him much hope.
They talked about Talia Al Ghul, Ra's daughter, apparently she had a son named Damian, who was rising fast through the ranks of the League. Bruce felt sorry for the boy, a childhood training to be the next Ra's Al Ghul was no childhood at all, still what did Bruce know about healthy childhoods.
Talmadge said he had something important to tell him but Bruce couldn't keep his eyes open, darkness seemed to swallow everything around him.
"Bruce Wayne" a voice boomed through the dark, not a question but a statement, not are you? but instead, you are
Bruce's eyes snapped open, he didn't know what to take in first, the alien in cosmic armor standing before him, the man retracting red demonic wings back into his body, or Talmadge lying unconscious on the ground.
"When you said detective, I assumed you meant someone else" the man who had the wings complained, his accent sounded British
The cosmic man approached Bruce, instinctively Bruce tightened his fist. Wait. He had both his hands cut from him. Bruce looked down, both his hands were there, he wasn't bleeding anymore and he wasn't in pain either.
"I am known as the Monitor" the cosmic man told Bruce before introducing the Brit as Lucifer Morningstar.
"It's happening, isn't it? the end?" Bruce asked, he had been expecting this moment since a version of Barry Allen showed up in the Batcave two years ago, giving him a warning, his first warning
The Monitor nodded and gave him some answers. A disaster was imminent, the scale was unlike anything Bruce had ever dealt with and the stakes were impossibly high. There was however a grain of hope, one of the first universes to be affected by the disaster had actually survived. The Monitor said that he didn't understand why that was but that he had arranged for Bruce and Lucifer to meet with someone who might.
The Monitor told them that the Barry Allen that visited Bruce wanted to create a timeline that wasn't as broken as the dystopia he had come from. Bruce remembered that hellscape, he still had bad dreams about it.
"Do not be fooled, the world I send you to does not need saving" the Monitor continued "it does not want for heroes or interference, any attempt at trying will endanger your actual mission and the lives of those you care about"
Despite the fact that the cosmic being had brought Bruce back from the dead and healed him of his wounds, Bruce still didn't trust him, he recognised a man who thought that the ends justified the means when he heard one, mainly because Bruce used to be one.
Lucifer Morningstar on the other hand seemed less like a man and more like an impatient child. Lucifer appeared bored out of his mind at the revelations being shared by the Monitor and instead of paying attention, had decided to play with a ceremonial shield attached to the wall.
"Before we leave" Bruce spoke up "I need to get some equipment sent out to me, do either of you have something that I could use to contact my satellite?"
Lucifer glared, unimpressed but the Monitor simply shook his head.
"We don't have the time for that, tell me what you need?"
"It's a battle suit back in Gotham"
The Monitor closed his eyes and raised a hand.
"Luke Fox's laboratory..."
Bruce didn't question how he knew that. Very little surprised him anymore.
"The suit codenamed Bright Knight has been completed" the Monitor told him, twisting his hand
One moment Bruce was in torn, blood soaked clothes, the next he was standing tall in the prototype battle suit, diagnostics being relayed to him via the lense in his cowl. The Bat symbol on his chest powered up and glowed bright yellow.
"Marvelous!" Lucifer laughed "We just recruited a furry with a target"
Bruce let Lucifer have his little joke, not lowering himself to inform him that the symbol was meant to be a target, as the kevlar behind it was the most reinforced part of the costume, designed to take practically anything.
"So who are we meeting?" Bruce asked
"The King of the Earth that you will be visiting" the Monitor explained "His name is Darkseid"