"I think that must be the real reason you came here, right?" he asked. "Or is it just convenient that you stumbled into a hidden universe with a missing divine presence?"
Lucifer tilted his head, golden eyes gleaming.
"Ah, now you're thinking, Director," he mused. "But no—convenient implies coincidence. And I don't believe in coincidence."
Fury sat back slightly, assessing.
"You did seal some of your powers, though," he noted. "Romanoff mentioned that."
Lucifer sighed dramatically, waving a hand lazily.
"Ah, yes," he said, "because what's the fun of a mystery if I already know the answer?"
Fury raised a brow. "Can you be more detailed on what you sealed?"
Lucifer smirked.
"Mostly?" He shrugged. "The big O."
Fury's brow furrowed slightly. "Big O?"
Mazikeen grinned. "Omniscience."
Fury went very still.
Lucifer, amused by the reaction, exhaled dramatically.
"Yes, yes," he mused, "I could have just looked into this world and known what makes it so special, but where's the fun in that?"
Fury didn't blink.
"You chose to limit yourself," he said flatly.
Lucifer smirked. "Precisely."
Matt, who had been quietly listening, finally spoke.
"And you can undo it at any time?" he asked.
Lucifer turned to him, his smirk softening slightly.
"I could," he said easily. "But I won't. I set a challenge for myself, if I unseal my powers, it would mean I lose and I will be kicked out of this universe."
Maze glanced at him briefly and smiled dryly. "You set a geas onto yourself? Why it doesn't surprise me."
Matt didn't respond immediately—just watched him, curious.
Lucifer watched back.
A slow, quiet understanding passed between them, before Lucifer sighed, stretching slightly.
"I like solving things," he said, golden eyes gleaming. "And this mystery? Oh, it's delicious."
Fury exhaled through his nose.
"So you're just playing detective?"
Lucifer smirked. "You say that like it's a bad thing."
Fury's fingers tapped once more against the table.
Natasha, silent as ever, studied Lucifer carefully.
"Well, as fascinating as all this divine theorizing has been," he mused, golden eyes glinting with amusement, "I did come here for a reason."
Fury raised a brow but didn't interrupt.
Lucifer leaned forward, resting his chin on his palm.
"How," he asked, voice smooth, "did you acquire my number so quickly?"
Mazikeen smirked. "Ah, yes. I was wondering that."
Fury waited a beat.
"We started looking into you the moment you appeared at the Stark Expo," he admitted, tone matter-of-fact.
Lucifer hummed, unsurprised.
"But we found nothing," Fury continued. "No records. No past. Not a single trace of you anywhere."
Lucifer smirked knowingly. "Because I didn't exist in this world, then."
Fury's eye narrowed slightly as he continued.
"But then, an hour later," he said, watching Lucifer carefully, "when we ran our searches again… suddenly, there were records."
Lucifer's expression didn't change, but his eyes gleamed.
"Perfectly crafted identities," Fury continued, voice even. "Detailed, clean, seamlessly integrated into every system."
His fingers tapped against the table once.
"And that, how perfect it all was?" he said, pausing briefly for emphasis, "was suspicious."
Natasha, silent, was watching intently.
"Just because of that?" he muttered, disappointed.
Fury didn't blink, ignoring his theatrics. "I just want to know how you did it."
Lucifer rolled his eyes.
"Reality warping," he said flatly, gesturing vaguely. "I can warp reality, you know. If I want to."
Fury's fingers tapped against the table again. "And making an entire legal identity is just… easy for you?"
Lucifer grinned.
"Director," he purred, "compared to everything else I'm capable of, something as mundane as paperwork is practically child's play."
Matt exhaled through his nose, shaking his head slightly.
Mazikeen snorted. "He's not wrong. You should see the things he doesn't bother doing."
Lucifer sighed dramatically, waving a hand. "Yes, yes, I could be rewriting the stars, remaking dimensions—but no, here I am, getting questioned about legal documentation."
Fury didn't react.
"Good to know," he said simply. "Though, something interesting happened a few hours after you appeared."
Lucifer arched a brow, intrigued.
"Do tell, Director," he purred. "I do love a good coincidence."
Fury's fingers tapped lightly against the table.
"There was a disturbance," he said simply. "An energy signature that wasn't subtle. Not like you."
Lucifer smirked.
"Oh? Flattering."
Fury ignored the comment.
"Your appearance wasn't detected," he admitted. "We only know you first showed up in front of a hospital because we retraced your steps."
Lucifer hummed, amused.
"And here I thought I made such a dramatic entrance," he mused.
Natasha spoke then, her voice as neutral as ever. "But this disturbance? It was detected."
Lucifer tilted his head slightly.
"And you think my coming and this disturbance are connected?"
Fury exhaled through his nose.
"I don't like coincidences," he said simply.
Lucifer pondered for a moment, tapping his fingers against the table for a couple of seconds. Suddenly, his eyes brightened, like a man remembering something important.
"Ah," he murmured, a slow smirk spreading across his lips.
Fury's eye narrowed slightly. "Something to share?"
Lucifer leaned back, stretching lazily.
"Now that you mention it," he said, casually inspecting his nails, "I did wake up in the middle of the night because of an interdimensional portal suddenly ripping itself open."
Fury went still.
Natasha's fingers twitched slightly.
Matt, who had been quietly listening, tilted his head.
Mazikeen grinned. "Oh, this just got interesting."
Lucifer chuckled, golden eyes gleaming.
"Oh, I quite agree, my dear Maze," he purred.
Then, he turned back to Fury, smirking.
"And do you know where this delightful little rift in reality occurred?" he asked, voice dripping with amusement.
Fury didn't move.
Lucifer's smirk widened.
"Mexico," he said smoothly.
Silence.
"That's a hell of a thing to leave out until now," Natasha muttered.
"I already sent one of my agents to check it out," Fury said, his voice flat.
Lucifer tilted his head, intrigued.
"And?"
Fury pulled out a tablet, sliding it across the table.
"They sent this not an hour ago."
Lucifer's golden eyes flicked downward, scanning the screen.
A hammer.
Embedded deep into the desert ground.
Lucifer's brows lifted slightly as Fury continued.
"They found people lining up to try and lift it," Fury said. "Like it was King Arthur's damn sword."
Mazikeen leaned in, brow furrowing as she tried to read the inscription faintly visible on the metal. Matt, equally curious, shifted forward as well. It was all well until Maze squinted.
"Isn't that…?"
Lucifer sighed.
"Yes, Maze," he said, his voice dry with amusement.
His fingers traced the edge of the tablet.
"'Whosoever holds this hammer, if they be worthy, shall possess the power of Thor.'"
He exhaled sharply, shaking his head.
"It's none other than those arrogant warriors," he muttered.
Mazikeen smirked.
"The Aesir?"
Lucifer nodded. "The very same."
Fury remained silent, watching their reactions.
Maze grinned, eyes flicking back to the screen.
"They are fun to fight, though," she mused.
Lucifer scoffed.
"Fun?" he repeated, shaking his head. "They're meatheads, Maze. No subtlety. No finesse. Just blunt force trauma wrapped in shiny armor."
Maze rolled her eyes.
"Resistant to beatings, though," she countered. "That's a point in their favor."
Lucifer huffed. "Only if you enjoy dragging out a fight."
Maze grinned. "I do."
Lucifer sighed dramatically, rolling his eyes.
"Of course you do."
Fury, so very done with them already, rubbed his temple.
Matt, however, finally spoke.
"These Aesir," he said, his voice thoughtful. "You two have met them, I get. What are they?"
Lucifer grinned.
"Oh, Matt," he purred. "We've done more than meet them."
Mazikeen's smirk widened.
Lucifer leaned back, tapping his fingers against the tablet to enlarge the picture.
"If the hammer is here," he mused, golden eyes flickering with intrigue, "then Thor must be near, searching for it."
Matt frowned slightly, processing.
"A hammer and Thor… Is the Thor you're talking about," he said carefully, "the same one from Norse mythology?"
Lucifer nodded absently, gaze shifting toward some far-off point, his expression momentarily distant.
"I mean," he murmured, squinting slightly as if peering through the very fabric of existence, "from what I can see from here, Asgard is just a part of the Tree of Life—Yggdrasil."
Fury's eye narrowed slightly. "Explain."
Lucifer sighed, rolling a hand lazily through the air.
"Yggdrasil isn't some mystical concept," he said. "It's a real structure, a cosmic framework, linking various realms together—Asgard just happens to be one of them."
He shrugged.
"From my perspective, it's simply a parallel plane of existence—not all that different from Earth, just… somewhere else in the grand cosmic web."
Matt's brows furrowed. "So they're just…"
Lucifer smirked.
"Aliens," he finished smoothly. "Exceptionally long-lived and strong aliens, but aliens nonetheless."
His golden eyes gleamed.
"And, as I said before, since there's no true divinity in this universe, they're certainly not gods."
Fury remained still, processing.
Matt, however, leaned forward slightly.
"You don't consider them divine, then?"
Lucifer chuckled.
"Oh, Matt," he purred. "I've met gods and Gods. Small g, big G. These Asgardians?" He waved a hand dismissively. "They're just warriors with better branding."
Mazikeen grinned. "And a very high tolerance for alcohol."
Lucifer huffed. "Their sole redeeming quality, I'll admit."
Fury exhaled slowly, clearly filing away every piece of information.
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