Preplay 2

[knivesforbaby]

Maze	The Corvette pulled into a parking lot with a low sputter. Maze grunted, irritated, as she sank back into the back seat. "I can't believe you lost my bounty," she said, kicking the back of Lucifer's chair.
Lucifer	"I can't believe you dragged us out of the restaurant for this," Lucifer said, tossing an irritated glance over his shoulder. "Why on Earth are you on this end of the country? You hate the east coast."
Maze	"No, you hate the east coast," Maze retorted. "And you still ran away all the way here."
Duke	"Now children," Duke said. He had his cellphone out, texting Octavia all about the car chase. In case it would help her to know that apparently it was him not being able to go to the mainland without Something Happening, and not her or the two of them specifically. "You can both hate the east coast."
Lucifer	"Whatever the reason," Lucifer said irritably, and, at the sight of Duke pulling out his phone, pulled out his own. "You're making me late to opening up my new club." And the unspoken meet-up with Seivarden right after.
Maze	Maze crossed her arms. "You have a new club?" she said. Growing more irritated, she added, "How long was this vacation supposed to last? Did you bail on me again?" A pause. She pulled a disgusted expression. "Is this about Decker?"
Duke	“That the detective?” Duke asked. Which was maybe a ‘yes’. “You mean the Devil’s Nest, right? Or are you running one in Baltimore too?”
Maze	"Of course it's about Decker," Maze groaned. "Look, I don't care about your new club and its stupid name. What I do care is that you made me lose a really important bounty, and you're helping me get him back. I don't care about your stupid plans."
Lucifer	"Oh, please," Lucifer said, attempting to text - sorry, a minor maze situation came up on the mainland - to Seivarden. "You tried to move in with Dr. Linda and my brother, don't complain to me about fixations."
Duke	Duke may have only been texting regularly for a little while now -- he predated texting ubiquity by a couple years -- but he thought he'd gotten pretty good at it. 😈 and 🔪 are talking LA drama now. Apparently 🔪 is obsessed with 😈's brother? its like a soap opera larceny would be all over this "How much is the bounty on this dude, anyway?" he asked. "If we help you catch him, do we get a cut?"
Seivarden	Seivarden was looking trough flower pictures, trying to decide which one to post on Covent Garden Flower's Instagram, when she got Lucifer's message. What does that mean? And then, because she was bored and didn't want to end up spending the evening alone, she added: Need help?
Octavia	Octavia hadn't been doing anything in particular when Duke's first message had come through, and now she was practically glued to her phone. I'm still stuck on CAR CHASE You could tell she was serious by how something other than the start of a sentence was in caps. But, car chase! That was just -- ridiculous. Maybe it really was him that attracted all the drama on the mainland. Also where are you? ... Look, come on. There was a whole 🔪 situation and somehow Octavia wasn't involved? That was ridiculous too.
Lucifer	Lucifer sighed as he looked back down on his phone. It means we ran into an old friend and she would like us to help her with an 'escaped bounty' situation. After a moment, he added, And that depends on how bored you are.
Maze	"Don't bring Linda into it," Maze said, pulling a face. "Who are you texting?" She tried to glance over Lucifer's shoulder, but he waved her away. She rolled her eyes and looked at Duke. "You too?" she said. "Ugh. It's thirty, and no, you don't get a cut. You broke it, you fix it."
Duke	"Yeah, so sorry, your thirty grand is not more important to me than not shooting innocent people," Duke said. He pulled up his map application, then texted Octavia the address. come join us, I think 🔪 might be even more into stabbing than you are
Seivarden	It's Tuesday and you're not here. I'm bored. Where are you? It did sound more fun than spending an evening alone. Actually, it sounded a bit exciting.
Octavia	Octavia asked no further questions. omw Yes, she knew some useful abbreviations! And yes, this was apparently something she was willing to head out to the mainland for. On her own.
Maze	Maze tapped her foot impatiently, and finally just took up stalking back and forth. "You're wasting valuable time," she said. "Lucifer--"
Lucifer	"Do you have any particular leads for us?" Lucifer said irritably, "Or are you just going to stand there and yell until we magically find your collar for you?" He sent Seivarden a quick map marker for their position. "Duke asked a sensible question earlier. Who is this man, and what did he do?"
Maze	Maze sighed, frustrated. "He's a smuggler," she finally said. "Mainly drugs, sometimes weapons. He was coming here to pick up a delivery. I was going to hit up all the fences in the city, but I got lucky. Well, he got stupid. Accepted a Facebook invite for a dinner party."
Duke	Duke choked faintly. "I, uh. Might know a thing or two about where to look for a smuggler."
Maze	Maze stopped pacing. She flipped a knife over in her hand and gestured at Duke with it. "You, talk." She pointed it at Lucifer next. "You, stop texting."
Duke	Duke eyed the knife and let out a small sigh. "Baltimore's an international port town. That means it has a seedy side. You want to know where a criminal is hiding out, that's where you want to look. Even if he's not hanging out there, his contacts will be."
Maze	"Yes, I had gotten that far. I'm not new at this," Maze said, crossing her arms, the flat end of the knife tapping against her arm. "So where would you suggest we go?"
Duke	"Depends," Duke said. "If he's a boat guy, Canton. Anywhere the dock workers hang out. If he's more of a railroad type. . . ." He let out a faint groan. "Druid Hill." Aka where he'd run into his mom. He was really hoping this bounty was a boat guy.
Maze	"He's a boat guy," Maze said, dropping her arms from the crossed position they'd been in. She stalked off in the direction of the car. "Let's go shake up some seamen."
Lucifer	"Not so fast," Lucifer said, holding up a single finger. "We have some backup incoming. Or at least a very bored Seivarden, apparently."
Duke	"Yeah, Octavia's on her way, too." Duke shrugged at Maze. "You'll like her. She carries a sword."
Octavia	Sadly, Octavia did not live up to that piece of advertising when she eventually showed up. The sword was a little too conspicuous for the mainland, and so she'd once more opted to look like any old (well, young) college kid in a beanie and a leather jacket. They could all rest assured there were so many knives on her, though. So many. "Guess I didn't miss the party just yet," she drawled as she came up to them.
Seivarden	"So, what's going on?" Seivarden asked as she approached them. She had no knives with her obviously, but she had brought a gun, concealed under her jacket. "You must be the old friend," she added, smiling at Maze. "I'm Seivarden Vendaai."
Maze	"Mazikeen of the Lilim," Maze said, arms crossed. She gave Seivarden a quick once-over, lifted her chin, and then looked towards Octavia. "Let me guess. More 'friends'."
Lucifer	"Actually," Lucifer started.
Maze	"I don't actually want to know," Maze said. "I just need to know which one of you is up for roughing up some dockworkers already." Beat. "How are any of you with bamboo and knives?"
Duke	"They're dockworkers," Duke said. "Bamboo is definitely going to be overkill. You can probably just pay them to tell you what you want to know." He flashed Octavia a smile. "And if that doesn't work, then you can bring out the knives. Octavia, Maze. Maze, Octavia. I'm honestly not sure which one of you has more blades on her right now."
Octavia	"I'm not telling," Octavia replied in her usual dry rasp, as she gave Maze a little nod in greeting. (A bro nod. It was such a bro nod.) "Hey." A beat. "I vote for knives for intimidation."
Seivarden	Seivarden gave Lucifer a questioning look, then said: "I agree with Duke here, but I'm not going to try to stop you two playing with knives if you want to."
Lucifer	"You know humans, Maze," Lucifer said, mouth curving. "They get a bit wound up about torture." He was already reaching into his pocket to check how much cash he had on hand. (It was a lot.)
Maze	"Some of them do, anyway," Maze sighed. "Whatever. Let's just get going already. There's got to be a few bars full of anchor-themed stupidity around here, right?"

--

Maze	Maze hauled the guy out of his seat at the back of the pub, dragged him to the back, and shoved the guy through the door she'd just kicked in. Nobody inside had really blinked. He staggered into the alley, looking spooked. "I'm telling you," he said, "I don't know anything!" "Yeah, yeah," she said, strolling towards him, bored but deadly. "That's what they all say."
Duke	"Man, you really want to answer her questions," Duke said. Not even deliberately playing 'good cop', he honestly figured this guy needed someone on his side in the face of Maze. "Seriously. Look at her. She will fuck you up."
Seivarden	Seivarden sighed, walked up to him, then punched him in the face and pushed him against the door. "I'm the nice person," she said, smiling. "Unless you talk I'll hand you over to the people with knives." She hadn't done this sort of thing in a while, but it still came easily, and hopefully 'people with knives' would be scary enough. This person probably hadn't heard of Radchaai interrogation, or re-education.
Octavia	Octavia was one of the people with knives, and was content to be just that, standing back, leaning one shoulder against the wall, a dagger dangling casually from her other hand. She had zero intention of actually cutting anyone, this poor sap included. But she was very good at giving off the impression that she might.
Lucifer	Lucifer lingered behind all of them, his hands in his pockets, looking curious more than particularly put out by... any of these theatrics. "Look, we all know you're going to give up your supplier anyway," he said. "Might as well get a move on with it."
Maze	The poor dockworker let out a whimper, clawing at the bricks behind him. "I... I don't know what you're talking about," he said. "I'm just-- an employee. If you've got questions about logistics, my boss--" Maze rolled her eyes. "I know you worked the shift Emil was supposed to show up during," she said. "Even if you don't have a deal with him, you've got to know something."
Seivarden	Seivarden let go of him and took a step back, happy to let someone else do the questioning. He seemed like the sort of person who would give up easily anyway, even if no one was going to bring out the knives.
Duke	"She's got a point," Duke said. "I've been where you are, man, you got any brains at all, you'd have kept track of things just to keep your ass off the frying pan." He gestured to Maze, Seivarden, and Octavia. "My friends here are the fire."
Octavia	Octavia flipped the dagger over in her hand. Just, you know. Very casually.
Lucifer	"They're the fire," Lucifer said, grinning in a way so happy it seemed utterly out of place for the situation. "I'm just here to watch." He pulled one hand out of his pockets to wave cheerfully. The man whimpered, a high-pitched noise, as he flailed against the wall. "Okay, okay, okay, I might have seen him! Okay? Please don't kill me!"
Seivarden	"Might have seen him? I think we need more than that." Seivarden smiled, waiting.
Maze	"Regularly or just the once?" Maze snapped. Oh, look. Knife at his throat. "Talk fast." "Uhhhh regularly okay look he's got his own thing set up at the docks okay okay!"
Duke	"Yeah, we're going to need you to be way more specific than 'the docks', man," Duke said, still casual and friendly, even as his own smile went knife sharp. "What's the slip number?"
Maze	"Harbor East! Uhhh, 31!" Maze stepped back, nodding. "Was that so hard?" she said, slipping the knife back where it came from. "Also, next time--" "Next time?!" the guy whimpered, reaching for his throat. "I saw you inside with those guys," Maze said. "You know you have a bad tell with your eyebrow, right? They're about to clear you out." The man stared at her for a moment. "Uhh," he said. "Thanks?"
Octavia	"That's all we need, right?" Octavia checked, straightening up from her lean against the wall. She also gave up on her idle eyeing of both Duke (look, she had a probably unhealthy appreciation of whenever his shark side came out to play) and Maze (look, there was a competent person with knives).
Seivarden	"Let's go, then," Seivarden said. "Where's the harbour?"
Maze	"I'm looking it up," Maze said, flipping open her phone as she stalked back towards Lucifer's car.