A hot pursuit is just what the Devil needed...not. One minute, they were grabbing their drinks at their local Starbucks and the next, they've joined the fray after a car, in an obvious attempt to escape the other cops who are trailing it, grazed Chloe's cruiser.

Lucifer did not understand why the Detective joined the chase when she's in the Homicide Division. She said so herself that one time, 'I do not go around checking criminals,' or something, and yet here they are.

"Much as I love this tailgating, would you mind telling me why we're in pursuit? This doesn't look like the case we were onto this morning, Detective," He manages to blurt out as he holds on the handle tightly when she swerved on the opposite lane, narrowly missing a head-on collision.

"Also, your driving is horrendous. We should switch places,"

A brief cursory look and she frowns at him, "Shut up, Lucifer. I'm trying to focus here,"

"But you didn't answer my question! Why are we chasing this dullard?"

"I recognize him from a previously unsolved case,"

"Ah," He replies as he sees her glare at him for a full two seconds. "Harley Davidson!" The devil continues and she doesn't get it at first until she's almost an inch away from the bike. They sway yet again as she quickly maneuvers to avoid contact. "See? Wretched driving,"

He comments but she's just relieved nobody got hurt. Not taking chances again, she removes one hand from the steering wheel real quick to give him a smack on his arms.

"What?" He exaggerates that Chloe had to roll her eyes, "Well, don't get us killed," He adds and the blonde had to reply.

"Stop whining and keep your eye on the target,"

Lucifer sighs and suggests "Why don't we just pull over and let these other cops handle him? Or better yet, let Maze hunt him down? I mean she's the best bounty hunter there is. Plus, it will save us from certain doom. Did I mention your driving is wretched?"

"God, you're annoying,"

"That He is."

"What?" For the second time, he annoyed her too much that she took her eyes off the road.

Something hits them from the back and propelled their vehicle into the rear of a semi-truck. The airbags deploy but the impact of the collision itself knocked them out cold.

He feels sore all over and lightheaded. It takes him a second to remember what had occurred and to realize he's strapped to a chair with the Detective right across him, breathing, bleeding from the side of her head and still unconscious.

Lucifer surveys the environment and sees various pieces of machinery; the place looked like a rundown soda plant or something. He gives himself another moment to breathe and gather his thoughts. Normally, he'd wait for whoever it is but his goal is to get Chloe out. Punishment will have to come later.

"Are you ok, Detective?" He asks when he sees her stir, finally coming to, after what seemed like hours.

"Where the heck are we?" She asks him groggily, mild panic stretching across her features when she found out she's unable to move freely.

"I have no idea. Worry not, Daniel or the others must be searching for us,"

A man in a ski mask enters the room.

"Ah! Hello there. How nice of you to grace us with your presence. Shall we make a deal to get this all sorted out?"

The guy did not say anything and proceeded to turn on a particular switch.

"Or, I'll get out of these and, well, let's say the alternative is going to hurt," Lucifer says smugly; nothing can restrain him although he had to consider that their captor must have something in his sleeve to leave them alone unattended until they regain their consciousness.

"Sure," The man finally responds, "If you get out of those cuffs, it's going to trigger a reaction which will electrocute Miss Decker over there. Pretty sure you wouldn't want that. I wouldn't that. She's nice,"

Lucifer's gaze turned dark. Once he gets his hand on mister kidnapper, he would know never to mess with his Detective.

"What do you want?"

"Your death," He tells him simply.

"In that case, you can let her go. No need for her to get involved,"

"Oh, no. She's crucial for this to succeed," The devil frowns. Things are not looking good at the moment.

"What the hell are you talking about?" Chloe dares to ask.

"You make him vulnerable, Miss Decker. In the literal sense,"

Lucifer's jaw tightens. Where the heck did he get that information? Or were they being observed for quite some time? It would be really good if Maze busted in right about now and eliminate this scum of a human. Too bad he had severed ties with her. In any case, Chloe's safety is his top priority.

"Have your way with me then, if you please. Then let her go afterward, deal?"

"Deal,"

"Excellent,"

"Lucifer, what the hell are you doing?"

"Are you deaf, Detective? I just made a bargain for your life. It will all be over soon,"

A punch connects to the side of his face and opens a cut above his cheekbones. The brass knuckles normally wouldn't have worked on him but, well. Mortality sitch.

Chloe gasps as tears prickle her eyes.

Meanwhile, Lucifer groans and closes his eyes for a moment, the searing pain almost made him break out of his restrains. He wonders how much time he has should he decide to break off the cuffs before it activates the trigger. But he couldn't risk it. Rather, he wouldn't.

Blood oozes out of the wound and the culprit laughs maniacally.

"See? The first time I hit him with a bat, the bat broke in half! Man! If I knew, I would have set a trap earlier and kill you in one fell swoop!"

"Is that all you've got? Maze hits harder you know," He taunts as he winces and shakes his head.

"Oh don't worry, the pain is coming. We're just getting started,"

"I'm used to pain so this is nothing new. But tell me, what is it that you really desire? Hmm? Come on,"

"I want to kill you. That's all I want," Lucifer looks down and kidnapper snaps out of the trance, immediately lands another punch on the same spot.

The club owner locks eyes with the blonde and tells her, "Just look away, Detective,"

So he did all kinds of torture and at each one, Lucifer's screams were muffled, perhaps not to scare her more than she already was.

Whether or not he ran out of voice or was dying, Chloe didn't know. She couldn't do anything. Her cuffs were rigged too. One wrong move and she's going to make it worse for Lucifer.

At one point, Lucifer lost consciousness and his torturer got tired. So he lets up and leaves them. Chloe calls on to her partner who is unresponsive.

"Lucifer! Please, I don't care. Just get out here. Don't let him win," She begs. If her partner had half a mind, he would. Yet she knows he probably wouldn't. For some reason, he had always put her first.

"Ah, Detective. Better me than you. Besides, this is nothing compared to what I went through during the Fall," He smiles through the pain, teeth stained red as he continues "Find solace in the fact that once he dies, I will personally be returning the favor tenfolds. Don't worry about me,"

"No! You're not gonna die. Not like this,"

"Definitely not the way I wanted to kick off too, thank you very much. But if this is what it takes to keep you from the Silver City a while longer, then be it,"

"What are you talking about?"

They hear a loud noise from above and her consultant braced himself for another round of torture as footsteps descending from the metal stairs got more prominent.

"Lucifer?"

Oh, how he loved the sound of Maze's voice.

"Mazikeen," He said weakly. "You're late,"

"Was busy. You look like hell," The demon examines the chains as Lucifer warns about a trigger.

"Careful. Don't want to electrocute the Detective. Where's our dear friend?"

"Knocked out cold, upstairs."

Maze disconnects the source and frees Lucifer first.

The devil wheezes as he hunches forward while his right-hand demon releases the remaining cuffs on his ankles.

"What's wrong?" She looks up and takes in his beat-up appearance.

"Bastard stabbed me. Not looking good," He whispers "At this rate, I'll-"

"Like Hell you are. Not on my watch. Let's get you out of here,"

"Can't let me die in peace?"

"Can't let you die, period,"

"Hmmm. Refrain from sharing the gruesome details to the Detective,"

"One look at you and she'll know. She's not blind, dumbass."

"Ughh," He groans. His demon is right.

Maze then releases Chloe and the latter immediately goes to Lucifer to assess the damage.

"Damn it!" The Detective curses, ignoring her own injuries as they're minor compared to his. "I need to call backup. Do you have your phone?"

"Of course," Her roommate hands over the device and the latter dials straightaway. "Yeah, do that, Decker. Secure the man upstairs, too and I'll take care of Lucifer. I'm no doctor, but I'm sure you'll be alright by yourself for a few minutes,"

"Yes," Chloe stammers. Maybe it's the adrenalin talking. She's sore as well, her head is pounding but it's imperative to get her consultant to the nearest medical center. "You're right. I'll wait for backup. Let me know the name of the hospital and I'll be there with you,"

Maze nods. As if she'd bring Lucifer there. No. She's going to take him back to the penthouse to recuperate.

They were about to leave, with the club owner's arms across the bounty hunter's shoulder for support, when Lucifer suddenly gasps and goes limp, dragging the demon down.

"What's wrong?"

The culprit has something in his hands, a controller of some sort. In a matter of seconds, Maze bridges the gap and had her hands on the assailant's throat while Chloe tends to Lucifer.

"No, no, no!"

"What's going on, Decker?" Maze shouts while keeping hold of the struggling human.

"He's...he's gone,"

"What did you do?" Maze asks the culprit.

"Stopped his heart. I finally killed the Devil!" He says proudly.

"You wished you did. Surely you know where you're going,"

"I'm going to Heaven. I got rid of the Devil, so I'm going to Heaven."

Maze laughs diabolically, "I don't think so, buddy,"

The bounty hunter snaps his neck instantly, rage swelling, while the thunder seemed to have followed suit. Maybe the Almighty cares for his son after all.

Chloe could only stare. She couldn't try CPR what with the extensive damage to her partner's chest.

"He'll be fine," Maze tries to sound confident even though she isn't sure it'll work. Nonetheless, she ushers Chloe to the side and sits Lucifer up so that she could carry him in her arms.

"What-what are you doing?"

"Maybe if we get out of here, there might still be a chance he'd come back. I know it doesn't make sense to you but you need to trust me. Stay here and take care of police business. Okay, Chloe?"

The Detective nods. She looks at her shaking hands and back at Maze - who apparently isn't there anymore. Maybe she should start believing what her roommate and partner says about being a demon and devil.

Mazikeen enters Lux, makes a beeline to the elevator with Lucifer over her shoulders like some sack of meat when she was interrupted by a scrawny twenty-some male.

"Hey, you're not supposed to go in there. Boss isn't around."

The demon glares at the young staff and says, "Boss is right here," Pointing to the club owner as if it wasn't obvious who she's carrying. "He's fine. Just drunk out of his mind and I'm bringing him back to the penthouse,"

"Right, well, I…"

Patrick stares wide-eyed at the tense exchange and quickly intervenes. He hasn't begun the orientation of the new guy.

"Ms. Smith, I apologize. He's new, um, I'll make sure he knows the VIPs,"

"Thanks, Patrick," She turns around and enters the lift.

Lux's manager/bartender sighs and returns his attention to Greg.

"Dude, that's Mazikeen Smith, Mr. Morningstar's right hand. Don't make that mistake again, you wouldn't want to be on her bad side,"

Newbie gulps.

"Anyway, come take a look at these pictures and memorize them."

The elevator reaches the top floor and Maze sets her former master down gently on the ground and waits.

"Come on, Lucifer," She taps on her heels impatiently; he's far enough away from Chloe to heal, if he does heal. "Don't leave me here. You promised,"

She almost growls to his ears but he remained still.

"Come on!" She pounds his chest once and then kicked him on the ribs for good measure. "Wake up!"

Maze has her hands on her head, panic slowly creeping in. What if he never wakes up? His Mom is not around anymore, Amenadiel is useless and so is she.

She wasn't on the verge of breaking down, she really wasn't, when Lucifer gasped. Taking a lungful of air as Maze turn him sideways so he could expel the blood.

"Bloody Hell, Mazikeen. That hurt,"

"You're not dead,"

"Well, I died on the way here. But remember, I have my wings. I don't feel guilty anymore of Uriel's passing, so I just flew back. Must you really hit me with those blasted boots?" He whines and coughs some more.

"You're welcome, asshole."

"Ugh, you and your potty mouth. Nonetheless, thanks for finding us."

"I wasn't tracking you for starters," The demon goes behind the consultant and wounds her arms under his armpits to help him up the couch.

"So, you were there for Chloe?" He wipes the blood with the back of his hand, another perfectly ruined suit.

"Nope. Was there for the punk Kevin Jolson. Too bad I killed him,"

"It's fine. He was on his deathbed anyway. Terminal cancer,"

"He told you that?"

"Yup. Sought him out while I was downstairs. He wanted to torture and eventually kill me as payback for making his sister go insane, he said. Foolish bloke,"

"I hope you took his punishment up a notch or two for his trouble,"

"Of course I did, Maze. I rarely visit so might as well put a flare on the hell loops of my favorite tenants. You know, to make the visit count. But, damn it! That hurts!" Lucifer nurses his ribs. He's going to be in pain for a few more hours until he fully heals.

"Stop being a baby. Clean up while I go check on Chloe, make sure she steers clear of Lux until you're you again,"

Lucifer gives Maze a thumbs up. Good thing he doesn't have to throttle any more people after getting answers from a very willing new tenant.

Kevin had been watching them since his sister ended up in a mental institution. He laundered enough cash to hire people who helped him finally capture the Devil.

The club owner will have to hire Maze again to hunt down two more people involved in the incident. Although that can definitely wait.

Back at the scene of the crime, Chloe gives a very brief summary of events, not even bothering to get patched up by the EMTs who came with the backup. She's about to have one of the units take her to Lux when Maze came back.

She shoves almost everyone to meet her roommate, desperate to know Lucifer's state.

"He's fine," The demon starts "you, on the other hand, needs to have that looked at." She points to the dried blood on Decker's head, "Trixie is definitely going to have questions. Also, it would be a good idea to stay away from Lux for a couple more hours for Lucifer to be decent,"

"I-"

"Come on," Maze latches her hand on Decker's elbows and drags her to the passenger seat, speeds away directly to the nearest medical center.

After signing the necessary paperwork, Chloe's free to go and Maze is there to keep her company.

"Is he really okay?"

"Yep," The demon glances at her watch and tells her roommate, "Ready to go?"

"Yeah."

Chloe thought they were headed to the apartment, but a left turn at a particular street and she knew they were going to Lux.

"It should be fine now," The former bartender simply says, "I'll watch over Trixie tonight."

"Thank you."

The lift opens and she doesn't immediately see the person she's expecting to see. She thought he's up and about, drinking like there's no tomorrow, but as she walks over to his bedroom, she sees him fast asleep.

To appease her worry, she takes a closer look and is relieved to see the rise and fall of his chest. He doesn't look as beat up as before, but the bruises are still there.

The bed dips at her weight as she sits beside him and this little movement woke him up.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to wake you,"

"Ah, Detective."

"You're okay,"

"Of course I am. You look a little bit better," Chloe offers a guiding hand on his back as he sits up slowly.

"Hmm, got patched up before I came here at Maze's insistence,"

"Right. Well, you don't have to stay. I'm fine, I promise."

"Maze has Trixie for the night," She explains but she still couldn't shake off the fear from having seen her partner get tortured in front of her. "You died, Lucifer. Your heart stopped."

"It did. I got better,"

"Thank God Maze got there when she did,"

He cuts her off with "My Father had nothing to do with it. Maze was tracking the scumbag. Even if she didn't come, I would have found a way to at least get you out."

"Don't ever do that again, please."

"If I didn't, he would have forced you to do something and it will have the same result. I'll always choose your life over mine -"

"Stop. I don't want you to sacrifice your life for me."

"But I wanted to,"

"Why?"

"You're worth saving,"

This time she doesn't stop the tears from flowing and hugs him tight.

"Why are you crying, Detective? Was it something I said?"

"Shut up, Lucifer."

The consultant's brows knit together but quickly softens as he returns the embrace.

"You're probably exhausted, Detective. I have a guest bedroom where you can stay,"

"I think I'll stay here. To sleep. No funny business."

"If that's what you desire," He pauses, then quickly adds, "Detective?"

"Hmm?"

"Let me drive next time?"He gets a light snore as an answer that he had to bite back a snort and arranges himself instead.

In the morning, she found herself unwilling to move from his chest, glad to hear his heart beat.

A/N: Yey! I made it a one-shot. I had this for a while as well. Why am I working on this when I still have another WIP? Coz I got stuck, that's why. Maybe a fresh idea will pop up if I write another. Oh well. Hope you enjoy this one. Started this fic Dec 2017.