In the end, Steve and Bucky barely got two weeks before Fury was asking for Steve's help. The blond came back from the gym with a manila folder and a scowl, saying Fury had found him with a mission. An alien invasion, he said. Lucifer scoffed; since when did aliens ever invade Earth? There wasn't anything of value to them on the planet.

At least, that's what Lucifer thought until Steve mentioned the tesseract. How could he not have realized? It was a power that didn't belong on Earth, of course someone was bound to notice it sooner or later.

"Fury said the leader was called Loki," Steve said as he, Lucifer, Maze and Bucky mulled over the entire issue in the main living space of the house. "I thought Thor said he was dead."

"He's supposed to be," Lucifer replied, frowning as he watched Bucky examine the briefing package with all the intensity of the Winter Soldier. "But death doesn't like to stick, with Loki. He fakes his death sometimes, or he gets into troubles that should have left him missing a limb, but… Loki's a trickster. It's his line of work."

"How much of the mythology is true?" Bucky hummed idly.

"Not a lot. Most of it started as rumours and pranks." Lucifer scoffed suddenly, "Like that thing with me and goats. I don't like goats and if I ever find out who started that bloody rumour, I swear—"

"Lucifer," Steve cut him off. Lucifer huffed in offence but the blond didn't bat an eye. "Go get Thor. He said he can't travel between realms on his own right? We could use his help for this."

The devil scowled. "Oh of course. I'm a taxi now, am I?"

"You're taking the mission then?" Maze asked, twirling one of her blades with a scowl.

"Of course he is, have you met him?" Bucky rolled his eyes while Steve huffed. "But if he's going, so am I."

"Hang on, Buck," Steve protested. "What about HYDRA? Fury hasn't put together a solid plan for dealing with that yet, you'd be exposing yourself—"

"And leave your ass unsupervised?" Bucky returned. "Not a chance, Rogers."

"I'm not letting you risk—"

"Lucifer'll watch Rogers," Maze interjected. When all three of them looked at her with protests, she went on. "Lucifer can watch Rogers and help with the alien shit. I'll stay with Barnes and we'll start a plan for HYDRA. And maybe we'll head back to Los Angeles. Patrick can't hold the fort forever."

"Yes, keep me up to date on how Lux is doing." Lucifer stood up and clapped his hands together. "Steve, Bucky, we'll have to get you two out to the west coast at some point once all of this is cleared up. You'd love the nightclub I have over there."

Fury wasn't surprised when Lucifer and Steve appeared out of nowhere on the helicarrier bridge. The aircraft was already in the air, invisible to human eye. Fury was mildly impressed, which in itself was a feat, but not surprised. Doctor Banner and Agent Romanoff were more startled at their appearance.

"Captain." Fury greeted Steve with a nod. "I was beginning to think you weren't joining us."

"Aliens," Steve gave as explanation with a one shouldered shrug. "Sounded like you needed all the help you could get."

"It's appreciated."

Fury gave a solemn nod and threw a look at Lucifer. He couldn't tell if it was apologetic or smug. It didn't matter. Lucifer stayed long enough to poke fun at Fury, then made the trip to Asgard.

"I have news!" he crowed as he landed in the golden throne room and strode forwards.

Odin was used to the devil's appearances by now. Likely from that period centuries ago when Lucifer was either partying with Thor or scheming with Loki. Frigga and Thor were also present, everyone coming to attention at Lucifer's appearance.

"Devil," Odin greeted. Lucifer never could tell if the Allfather meant that neutrally or degradingly and he didn't really care either. "What have you come for this time? Are your human friends not able to hold our mead after all?"

"Father." Thor pinched the bridge of his nose. "Captain Rogers and Sergeant Barnes were perfectly able to consume Asgardian mead."

"Actually," Lucifer smirked widely, "This is about Loki."

At that, Frigga hopefully rose to her feet. "What of him? Have you found his resting place?"

"No, your majesty." The Devil apparently did have some respect after all. "In fact, Loki is apparently still alive, if not mentally unwell."

It was Thor's turn to stand, though he did so much less gracefully. "How do you know this? Where is my brother?"

"Launching an invasion of Midgard to conquer the planet and acquire the tesseract." Lucifer allowed a slight pause as Frigga gasped softly in disbelief. "According to one the leader of one of Midgard's security organizations, Loki has already acquired the tesseract and is now preparing to launch an Chituari invasion of the planet."

"That doesn't sound like my son," Frigga whispered.

"Exactly my thoughts," Lucifer hummed. "I want to figure out what's going on here. Steve requested I fetch Thor for aid. There is a team of powerful people being summoned to fight."

"Then I want in," Thor said, mjolnir in hand. "If Loki is indeed alive, I will bring him home."

"I would expect nothing less, my son," Odin hummed. "I want to believe something has happened to Loki to cause this sort of madness. Bring him home, and we may hold a trial. Midgard is under Asgard's protection."

Lucifer didn't miss the unhappiness that flickered in Thor's eyes at the mention of a trial but the Asgardian nodded regardless. Odin was a king, Thor was a warrior. Lucifer almost scowled at the similarities between Thor and his own upbringing. Odin wasn't the best parent, but he was much better than Lucifer's own father. There was that, at least.

Thor stepped down the throne's dais, mjolnir twirling in his grasp. "What say you, then, Morning Star?"

A smirk curled Lucifer's lips as his wings spread from his back and he offered a hand to the Asgardian. "I say, let's go."

When Lucifer and Thor landed on the helicarrier bridge, it was dark outside. Steve, Agent Romanoff, and Doctor Banner were there, sitting around the glass table. Fury was missing. Agent Hill was standing nearby, her arms crossed in that stern professional manner she seemed to love.

"I was wondering what was taking so long," Steve hummed, small smirk curling the corner of his lips.

"Captain Rogers," Thor greeted with a smile. "The Morning Star tells us that Loki is alive."

Steve nodded solemnly. "He's locked up on board right now; we captured him in Germany." He gave a weak, apologetic shrug. "There's something going on—"

"Oh, you're back." Fury scowled as he came in. Lucifer grinned sweetly. Fury's scowled deepened, seeing that. "And you've brought the god who levelled a small town."

Steve shared a look with Lucifer and rolled his eyes. "There's only one god."

"And he's a complete bastard," Lucifer finished.

Thor snorted and nodded in agreement. Doctor Banner looked between the three of them in confusion. Agent Romanoff, Agent Hill, and Fury hid their confused annoyance well, but Lucifer still saw it. He also saw the group walking down the hall towards them and grinned a predatory grin.

"Well well, if it isn't Anthony Stark." Lucifer smiled widely, completely ignoring the scowl he got for using the name.

"Last I checked, this helicarrier isn't anywhere near Lux," Tony replied with a furrowed brow and a roll of his eyes. "What are you even doing here, Morningstar?"

"Well, I wouldn't miss an alien invasion." Lucifer clapped his hands together. "What have we got so far, anyway?"

"Loki has a number of agents under some sort of mind control," Fury started. Lucifer didn't miss the slight shiver Steve gave. "About an hour ago, they attacked a gala in Germany and stole a precious metal, iridium."

"Hang on, why are we divulging this to the nightclub owner?" Tony asked, sounding genuinely curious. He looked back at Lucifer. "You have secret superpowers?"

"I'm the devil."

"Right, right, that whole thing." Tony waved a hand. "That doesn't tell me if you have superpowers."

"He's the seventh Howling Commando," Steve offered, smiling innocently at the surprised, wide-eyed looks he receives. "Wasn't in the history books?"

"We knew there was a seventh soldier," Agent Hill replied tersely. "All records kept his identity hidden."

"He can best me in combat," Thor added helpfully. "And he can outmaneuver Loki in the Game of Star."

Steve frowned slightly. "He invented that game, that shouldn't count—"

"Gentlemen," Fury interjected with a raised brow. "To answer your question, Stark, Morningstar is a valuable asset to this team. If he wasn't, he wouldn't be here; he's even more volatile than you."

"That's true." Lucifer hummed with a smile while Tony squawked something about being outdone. "Now, Steve, you started saying something was going on?"

The blond blinked in mild surprise, thought for a second, then nodded. "Loki's going easy on us."

"Easy?" Agent Romanoff frowned. "Not all of us are unstoppable super soldiers, Rogers."

"No," Steve shook his head, "I mean Loki is a trickster. He's known for his illusions, his silver tongue, his spell casting. Why hasn't he used any of that to escape or attempt to manipulate us? And using the Chitauri. They're the worst army to lead an attack with. Just destroy the mothership and they all drop."

It was Fury's turn to frown. "And how would you know that?"

"No, Captain Rogers is correct." Thor interjected. "My brother has much more power than he is using. Though how you know about the Chitauri's weakness is interesting, for even I did not know that."

"That would be me, actually," Lucifer interjected. He waved a hand when everyone looked at him. "It seems Steve does know how to listen sometimes."

"I listen," Steve argued.

"Oh, not to sense, you don't. Anyway!" Lucifer cut the blond off when Steve went to protest some more. "The Chitauri aren't known to Asgard because they tend to stay out of the nine realms under Asgard's protection. They're well-known enough throughout the rest of the universe. As Steve said, destroy the mothership and you destroy the entire army. It's a hive mind, of sorts."

"And you know this how?" Agent Romanoff asked skeptically.

"Devil, remember?" Lucifer gave her one of his most charming smiles. "I've been around since the beginning of time."

"The devil doesn't exist," Doctor Banner interjected with a frown.

"Ah, a man of science," Lucifer and Tony spoke at the same time with two very different tones.

Steve pinched the bridge of his nose. "Just do the eye thing, why don't you? Worked for the Commandos."

"Excellent idea."

Lucifer smiled nicely and pulled hellfire to his gaze. His vision reddened slightly as he did so and he couldn't help the smirk that came to his lips as Tony, Doctor Banner, Agent Romanoff, and Agent Hill all looked some form of shocked.

Next to him, Thor chuckled slightly. "Mortals always look so surprised. There are much bigger things in the universe."

"The existence of Heaven and Hell tends to be it for a lot of humans," Steve replied idly. Tony spun to pin him with an incredulous 'why aren't you shocked?' gaze. "It was for me, for a while. Eternal paradise or eternal damnation, kind of daunting, you know?"

Thor shrugged. "Valhalla or Hel, Asgardians believe in earning your afterlife by dying in glorious battle."

Steve nodded in consideration. He really had come far from the man Lucifer had met in the woods. Then again, he supposed anyone would after everything Steve had seen. Steve had always been a thinker, rather than shoving his own beliefs on others. He stuck to his beliefs, but he was willing to listen to reasonable opposing views. Lucifer liked that about him. In fact, he could go on about what he liked about Steve for a while, but he had other important business to attend to at the moment.

Like finding the source of the energy he had been sensing ever since landing on the helicarrier. There was something powerful on board now, something Lucifer hadn't been close enough to sense in eons. The tesseract and the space stone was one thing, but the mind stone was another, so without a word, Lucifer flew out of the room to prevent anyone from stopping him.

He landed in a laboratory. He grimaced instantly. Labs weren't his place, no. His places were much more bright and fun, but there was an alien scepter sitting on one of the lab benches and Lucifer knew he had to bear it. It was an ornate scepter, flashy and just Loki's type. Lucifer almost laughed at the design. It wasn't so much menacing as it was dramatic, to him, but he was also the devil and he had seen much worse.

The energy being radiated from the scepter's centerpiece was much stronger here, but that was expected. There weren't any walls between them anymore. Lucifer held a hand over the glowing blue stone for a moment, feeling the power coming from it. Then, with a pleasant smile and hum, he tore it from the metal holding it in place. It was a bit of a grapple, even for the devil, but the metal yielded eventually.

With a smirk, Lucifer tossed the glowing blue stone up into the air and caught it. Now, how to break the outer shell… Well, that could wait a while; he had a trickster to speak with. Lucifer's smirk widened when he heard heavy footsteps heading towards him in the hallway. He was wondering what was taking the guards so long. Not that they would be able to apprehend him.

More volatile than Tony Stark indeed.

Lucifer tucked the scepter's gemstone into his jacket pocket and spread his wings again. This time, he landed in the glass cage where Loki was being contained. He scowled at his surroundings one again. Honestly, what was it with the helicarrier and being so dreary?

"Well," Loki greeted with a sneer from where he was standing in the middle of the cage, "If it isn't the Morning Star. I haven't seen hair nor hide from you in centuries."

Lucifer shrugged uncaringly. "Ruling Hell and all, it's a full time job, you know. At least, it was."

"You abandoned it, then?"

"Earth is much more fun, I'm sure you'd agree."

Loki's sneer became more of a vicious smile. "I don't suppose you'd be interested in conquering it, then?"

The devil's lips pursed. He glanced at the camera in the cell, waved nicely at it, and then turned back to Loki and shook his head.

"I'm afraid conquering isn't exactly my clique. Free will is the new big thing. I'm sure you've heard of it?"

"Oh, you always were about 'free will' and 'making our own choices.'" Loki rolled his eyes—eyes as blue as the tesseract, interestingly enough—and sneered spitefully. "Can't you see that humanity needs guidance? How lost they've become, straying from the path that was laid for them, once upon a time ago?"

"Please, the path dear old dad laid for humanity was dreadfully sad. Mindless, even. Eternal generations following the desires of a careless higher power? Like lambs to an eternal slaughter."

"What's the meaning of this, Morningstar?" Fury's voice came over the sound system, droll and demanding.

Lucifer glanced back at the camera in the cell and smiled sweetly. "Have patience, Director, I hear it's a virtue. Steve, I believe Mazikeen taught you and the Commandos in detecting supernatural control?"

"Uh, yeah?" came Steve's surprised answer. "Yeah, she did."

"Do me a favour and teach the rest of them, now, hmm? You were right about there being something wrong here."

"Understood."

When no other replies came through the system, Lucifer turned back to find Loki still sneering at him with those unnatural blue eyes. The Asgardian had begun stalking around the outer edge of the cell, intent behind every step, as it usually was with the silver-tongued man.

"I am under no one's control," Loki hissed once he saw Lucifer was paying him attention again.

"That's what everyone wants to believe," Lucifer countered easily. "No one wanted to be under someone else's thumb. Unless it's their kink, I suppose, but that's not the point."

"Then what is, Morning Star?" Loki surged forwards now, stopping less than a foot away and leaning into Lucifer's space. "Surely you didn't come here just to engage in conversation with me?"

Lucifer tilted his head in consideration. "Well, that was the initial plan. Invading and conquering isn't your style, God of Mischief, so I planned to figure out what changed."

A small, mocking smile grew on Loki's lips now and he took a step back. "Oh? And did you?"

"I believe so." Lucifer pulled the scepter's stone from his jacket pocket. He tossed it carelessly from hand to hand, watching Loki's eyes track it like a stalking feline. "Is the new eye colour a decision to mix some things up with you? It's not another Thor-look-alike phase coming, is it?"

"That was millennia ago," Loki hissed angrily. "It lasted less than three months."

Lucifer smirked widely. "Oh, but you admit it lasted. But if it's not a willing choice, then I believe it's this."

The devil tossed the stone once more, then closed his fist around it and squeezed. Power lashed out in waves, physical but not forceful. It was a biting wind rather than a brick wall being thrown around the cage. Loki's eyes fell to the stone, wide in surprise at Lucifer's actions. Then he was taking another step back and screwing his eyes closed at the energy circling around them.

The shell around the stone cracked slowly at first, but those first cracks let even more energy seep out and the following cracks appeared faster. It was only a matter of time until the shell shattered and the glowing yellow Mind stone was sitting in the devil's palm. The crackling energy settled as he relaxed his grip on the stone, shifting it to his other hand to shake out the glass that was in his other hand, unable to pierce his skin. Immortality did have its benefits.

"That's… one of the infinity stones."

Lucifer's gaze turned back to Loki's wide eyes. Wide green eyes. That was very much a relief, because Lucifer wasn't sure how to wield the stone if it didn't release its hold on the Asgardian. The Mind stone was finicky like that, being more temperamental than the others. At least, in Lucifer's experience it was.

"Better?" Lucifer questioned pleasantly.

Loki scoffed and rubbed at his temples. "Please, anything must be better than being slave to your own rage."

Lucifer nodded in agreement as he tucked the Mind stone securely into his inner pocket. "I suppose so. Now, about your point on the Asgardian armour against demon daggers—"

"That debate was literal centuries ago," Loki cut him off with a roll of his eyes. "You can't still be hung up on it."

"I have a perfectly reasonable argument now—"

"I already won this argument—"

"You haven't heard my new points—"

"Guys, there's a portal opening above New York," Steve's voice interrupted the conversation. "Can you wrap this up and come lend a hand, wing or otherwise magical assistance?"

Loki's brows raised. "The captain knows about you then?"

"The captain has known since nineteen-forty-three," Steve deadpanned before Lucifer could reply.

The trickster looked in the general direction of the speaker system, an amused smirk curling his lips. "You always did like the feisty ones, Morning Star."

"Loki, Father wants you returned to Asgard for trial," Thor's voice said simply. Just a fact, no opinion. "The Morning Star informed us of your survival."

The demigod rolled his eyes again. "Of course he did." Lucifer smiled innocently when Loki looked at him. Then the Asgardian turned and started pacing the cell, deep in thought. "If that bloody stone released me, I imagine it would have released the others as well. If the portal is open, then Selvig will be with it. Barton and the others should be on their way here."

"The plan was to release the big green beast then, was it?"

"Destroy this team before it could form, more like." Loki stopped pacing and turned to the camera. "It's too late to stop the invasion now."

"I don't believe in too late," Tony's voice replied flippantly. "Now, I owe you a good punch or twelve, Reindeer Games, but if you're with us, then I suppose it can wait. We're on course for New York."

A smirk curled Lucifer's lips as he turned to the Asgardian. "Are you interested in a fight?"

Loki's upper lip curled in a vicious snarl. "While I'm no longer overwhelmed by it, I am still full of rage, Morning Star. I'm in."

Lucifer and Loki arrived in New York after everyone else, but to be fair, everyone else had left before they did and Lucifer could only fly so fast. It was speed of light fast, but the point still stood. They'd also had to make a stop to grab the scepter because stone or no stone, Loki liked its style. Lucifer wasn't surprised. And they'd had to wait for the agents previously under the Mind stone's influence to show up so, per Fury's demand, they could take Barton to the New York fight with them.

New York was in ruins. Overturned cars littered the streets, alongside various fires and rubble. It was chaotic and the Chitauri were at the center of it all. Lucifer had landed in the street near Steve, because Steve was the only Avenger he liked, and that's where most of the action was. Loki had looked around, grimaced, then leapt up and hijacked a passing Chitauri chariot to fly himself up to the top of Tony's tower. Lucifer had to admit that the tower was quite nice. It was his style at least, elegant and sleek. Not nearly as good as Lux, however.

Lucifer spun just in time to avoid an energy blast. He rolled his eyes at the attempt and punched the offending Chitauri in the face for its efforts.

"You keep showing up late," Steve remarked from nearby, ramming his shield into another of the aliens.

"This time wasn't my fault," Lucifer argued. "Does Anthony have any unnecessarily large explosives in that tower of his?"

Steve repeated the question into his comm. "He says he's off the weapons market, so unfortunately no."

There was the sound of a roaring engine and then a motorcycle was coming to a halt so suddenly in front of them that the back wheel lifted off the ground. While that happened, the passenger on the bike fired twin pistols at the surrounding aliens, then leapt off the vehicle and joined the fight.

"You're a goddamn idiot, Rogers," Bucky hissed furiously as he gunned down another alien.

He was wearing his Winter Soldier tac gear, minus the mask of course. He looked every bit of the Winter Soldier's fury too, killer glare and deadly skill and shining metal arm all out on display. Maze made her own leap from driving the motorcycle, letting it crash to the ground—it must've been stolen then if she showed so little care—in favour of getting up close and personal with the closest Chitauri soldier.

"This isn't my fault!" Steve attempted to protest. "And I thought we agreed I'd take care of the invasion."

"Yeah, like I wasn't gonna be watching your six. Duck."

Steve followed the order easily because it was Bucky giving it. It was easy to see that the blond would obey any order the sergeant gave him. They were so in love it was almost sickening.

Bucky shot at the Chitauri behind Steve and Steve threw his shield at an alien behind Bucky and their terrifying duo of skill and efficiency was back. Lucifer could remember the impressive display the pair could put on back in the war and the only difference now was that—without Bucky needed as much defence as he'd needed back then—they were a powerful whirlwind that could afford no hesitation to scan their surroundings. That made them that much deadlier.

Maze was her own force to be reckoned with. The Black Widow was good, but Maze had millenia of experience and blades that could cut through anything. Maybe if it were an even playing field, they would be evenly matched, but life wasn't like that.

"We aren't too late, are we?" Maze asked from atop an alien's shoulders.

Lucifer shook his head and ducked under an energy blast from a new opponent. "Perfect timing, as always, Mazikeen. Though you did just allow HYDRA to find the sergeant they stole."

"HYDRA's being taken care of," the demon replied. She flipped another Chitauri soldier over her shoulder and stabbed her blade into its throat. "We've prepared a data dump of all HYDRA's files online. Flush them all out of hiding. Pierce has a bounty on his head now too, courtesy of an underground friend of mine, but that's if I don't get to him first. What's with the weird energy?"

The devil frowned slightly, then remembered the Mind stone in his breast pocket. He smiled widely, throwing his current opponent into one of the many burning fires around and then pulling the stone from his pocket. The Mind stone was a little more temperamental than the other infinity stones. It wasn't a fan of routine. It liked regular change and excitement, often manipulating its way into changing hands whenever it got… bored. If a stone could get bored in the first place.

Lucifer was willing to bet this would be one of the most interesting things the Mind stone had seen in a while.

Maze did get to Pierce first. The group of them—her, Lucifer, Steve, Bucky, Loki, Thor, Tony, Doctor Banner, Agent Romanoff, Agent Barton—were in the penthouse of the tower. It had taken a bit of an explanation before Agent Romanoff and Agent Barton stopped edging on attacking Bucky, so it had therefore taken just as long for Bucky and by extension, Steve, to stop giving the pair furtive, guarded glances. Then there was the detailed explanation about Loki having been under his own form of mind control and that no, he was not going to attack anyone now unless they annoyed him.

The Chitauri mothership had been destroyed and the portal was closed. The tesseract was now locked in a briefcase and being closely guarded by Thor with the plan for it to be locked in Asgard's treasury. As for the Mind stone…

"Do you trust the Mind stone within reach of the demons?" Loki argued.

The devil hummed and tilted his head. "Do you trust it within reach of whoever gave it to you in the first place?"

The trickster's lips pursed and Lucifer knew he'd won this argument so he kept the glowing yellow stone tucked away in his breast pocket until a good moment came to visit Hell.

Then the elevator doors slid open and out strode a very official looking team that Lucifer was able to place as SHIELD's STRIKE team. Walking in front of them was a man whose presence made Bucky snarl and cower at the same time. In turn, Pierce looked shocked at seeing Bucky there. Steve had barely raised his shield before Maze had Pierce by the collar and was dragging him towards the glass wall of the penthouse. Specifically, towards the one panel that had been shattered and now opened into an eighty-story drop to the ground.

A well-placed throw of the shield played pinball with the STRIKE team's heads and easily incapacitated them. Lucifer knew he liked Steve for a reason. Agent Romanoff and Agent Barton were both on guard again with the attack against SHIELD and Tony's eyes were wide and impressed and Doctor Banner honestly looked too tired to care anymore.

"These are men of the hydra, correct?" Thor asked with no lack of disgust in his voice as he glared at the men now unconscious on the floor.

"They are," Steve confirmed with a furious sneer.

"I'm sorry, hang on," Agent Barton injected disbelievingly. "He doesn't mean supposed-to-be-defeated HYDRA, right? Because they're definitely gone, right?"

"If gone now means 'hiding within SHIELD,'" Bucky replies tersely, still eyeing Pierce, "Then yeah, HYDRA's 'gone.'"

The two SHIELD agents paled. Doctor Banner looked a little green, but Lucifer couldn't tell if it was the Hulk or a feeling of sickness. Tony's lips had pursed and he definitely looked ill. Loki sneered hatefully while sparks of lightning rippled across Thor's skin. Overall, Lucifer would say their reactions were all appropriate for the situation.

Maze had one hand fisted in Pierce's collar and was dangling him out in open air over the edge of the shattered glass. Her other hand was keeping the point of her blade under his chin.

"I've been wanting to have a talk with you," she said idly. Lucifer smirked; she was Hell's best torturer for a reason. "Your little organization is going to be exposed in an hour or two. You can decide if you're alive to see that happen if you tell me what I want to know."

Pierce sneered at her, then looked over her shoulder to where Steve was standing partially in front of Bucky. "Asset, neutralize—"

"He doesn't answer to you," Steve spat with a rage Lucifer remembered him always wielding when it came to protecting those he loved.

"It will." Pierce barely acknowledged Steve's growl of rage or Bucky aiming a gun at him. "Желание—"

He was cut off by Maze's blade pressing into the underside of his jaw. Lucifer saw the trickle of blood that welled up, saw the way Pierce clamped his mouth shut and swallowed. Bucky had given a full body flinch at the word, but Lucifer and Maze had thoroughly dismantled the hideous programming scheme in his mind so the trigger word had no effect anymore. No effect that Pierce is looking for, anyway.

"I suggest that you not antagonize her," Thor advised helpfully. "Not unless you wish for that blade to skewer your tongue."

Pierce sneered, seemed to consider his options, and then one again tried to command the Winter Soldier. "Марионетка—"

Maze let go with nothing more than a droll, "Oops."

The man disappeared from view, plummeting towards the ground. The trigger word, of course, had no effect except eliciting another flinch from Bucky and a hiss from Steve. Agent Romanoff was sneering at the empty space where Pierce just was while Agent Barton was clenching his fist around his bow with a snarl. So it seemed they hadn't known about HYDRA beforehand… Excellent.

With a sigh, Lucifer gave in to Maze's expecting gaze and dove out of the window to catch the biggest source of information they had before it could crash into the pavement. Really, he was using his wings more in the last day than he had in years. He the devil, he wasn't some sort of winged servant.

It was child's play to grab Pierce by the back of his shirt just before he reached twenty feet above the ground. The sudden stop in his fall must have been a jolt but Lucifer didn't particularly care as he flew back up to the penthouse. When he landed, Lucifer threw Pierce to the floor and stepped over him towards the bar.

"Anthony, you really should get some higher quality stuff here," he said as he inspected the selection.

"Some of that is worth more than a monthly rent downtown," Tony quipped in return, coming closer to defend his bar.

Lucifer felt rather than saw the way Maze rolled her eyes. "Please, my private selection would total more than—"

"Gentlemen."

Fury stepped out of the elevator followed by Agent Hill and Agent Coulson.

"What took you so long?" Maze asked with a lazy raise of a brow. She had her boot planted firmly in Pierce's back, keeping the man on the ground. "We've done both of your jobs for you."

"And what jobs would those be?"

"The invasion's been taken care of," Steve said, lifting one shoulder in a half–assed shrug. "And apparently, HYDRA's also being taken care of."

"They'll be exposed," Bucky corrected from the blond's side. "There's still dozens of bases worldwide that need to be destroyed."

A grim sneer curled Steve's lips. "Well, it looks like we have a team willing to help with that."

Lucifer looked over the rest of the Avengers and noted that yes, they did indeed seem to be willing to aid in HYDRA's takedown. Less work for him. It was good because like hell was anyone going to be letting Steve take on HYDRA alone. Lucifer was going to bring a demon army if he had to, as long as Steve had more people than just Bucky at his back.

From one problem right into another. It was just Steve's style, really. Lucifer wasn't exactly sure what he was expecting. All he could really do was be ready to help.