As they pulled up to the airfield Lucifer turned to Chloe. "Perhaps you should sit this one out, Detective."

"Good idea," Constantine agreed from the back seat.

"What? No." Chloe said. "Why?

"If there is only a portal there, John can close it without any problems. But if there are any more souls floating about, they would see you as a potential vessel. You would be at risk."

"I've survived an attack once."

"We got lucky," Constantine retorted.

Chloe supposed they had a point. Constantine had shown himself to be a sorcerer at the hospital. And she'd had Lucifer's feathers. Who knew what other powers or abilities Lucifer could bring to bear — before today, he'd always done so in the background. But she now knew that he had used them, and used them on her behalf, even. Still, she couldn't be left out of her own case. She had to see this through. "Except the both of you are forgetting one thing. I'm the only one with the authority to gain access to the hangar. Without me, you'd be breaking and entering."

Constantine grinned and waggled his fingers at her in the rear-view mirror. "Wouldn't be the first time, love."

Chloe gave him a stern look via that same mirror. "Do you want to be arrested?" Chloe shook her head. "We are still pursuing an official investigation. I'm coming."

Lucifer regarded her for a few heartbeats, mouth working as if he were trying to find a way to object. Eventually, he sighed. "Oh, very well, Detective. But please …." Another hesitation. "Be careful."

Chloe showed her badge to the security guard doing his rounds and asked a few questions. The superintendent had indeed been missing his colleague, who'd disappeared partway through his route. That route could have placed him close to the building she was now interested in investigating. The superintendent handed over the key without any further objections. He claimed there weren't any goods in there worth taking. That specific hangar had been in disuse for about two years. Although he couldn't say why it had been unused for so long.

At the door to the hangar, Constantine held his hand out for the key. Chloe handed it over. Just because she wanted to come along didn't mean she had to be the first through the door. Constantine handed her two flares. "Just in case."

Chloe hesitated, then turned to Lucifer. "I had some of your feathers." It felt strange, saying the words. "At the hospital. They stopped me from being taken over."

Lucifer stared. "I thought I had cleaned those up." He reached out a hand but stopped short of touching her. "I'm glad they saved you, but you shouldn't have had them, Detective."

"Why not, if they saved me?"

Lucifer shook his head. "They made you more of a target. With those feathers, you were by far the brightest thing in the room." He looked over to Constantine, then shrugged one shoulder. "Although with him as the alternative, you might still have been the one attacked."

"Then I'm glad I had them."

Lucifer kept eye-contact for a few more seconds. Then his lips twitched upward in the barest of smiles. "Me too, Detective." He looked away. "But once again you were in more danger because of me."

She wasn't getting any more feathers, then. "I wasn't anywhere I didn't choose to be, Lucifer."

"Well this is all lovely and romantic," Constantine interrupted. He held up the key he had just received from Chloe. "But let's get down to business, shall we?"

Constantine, one of his flares in one hand, turned the key with the other. Chloe followed behind Constantine. Lucifer then took point going into the building.

She heard the characteristic whoosh of Constantine activating a flare as she came through the door. But then….

It was like walking into a wall.

Intermezzo

Traffic in LA is Hell.

Somehow, I make it home. As I climb the stairs to my crappy little apartment, I see a stranger at the top of the stairs. He's leaning against the wall next to my door. Almost as if he's waiting for me.
I know this stranger, tall, dark-haired and finely dressed in a designer suit. Although he's lost his jacket. Something about the way he's standing triggers a strong deja-vu. But I don't think I've ever spoken to him.

I vaguely remember another stranger, someone who didn't belong, showing up…. somewhere. They had come for a reason. Was this man here with a similar purpose?

"Are you offering to take me out of here, too?" I ask him.

He looks surprised that I've seen him. Or maybe he's surprised by the question. "Would you accept if I did?" he asks after a few seconds.

My phone buzzes. I look away from the stranger to check it. I don't recognize the number, but I answer it anyway.