Lockdown preplay

[seaoftroubles]

I can post the whole write-up so far if you'd like, or we can just roll with Evi showing up in Hell. You've seen the episode, Evi tries to get answers for Duke because she feels guilty, gets shot, and dies in his arms. We've added a bonus bit of Evi using a kid's trouble to try to remind Duke of how much he'd loved her, only for it to backfire and get Octavia her Blodreina catharsis instead. I'm thinking Evi's Hell is a replay of that.

The format we used for Eleanor seemed to work, so let's do that again! Evi talks to Lucifer in Hell, then the demon heads to Haven to yell at Duke (while he's locked in a jail cell because I am meeeeeean).

Comments

[betterthanaplan]

"Yeah, well. You -- she -- nope, can't say it in front of her dead eyes." Duke swallowed. Well, at least being in a jail cell wasn't even on his radar anymore? "Glad he's looking out for me. I guess. But Nathan already cold-cocked me and locked me in here to prevent that, so your job is . . . done."

[my_own_advocate]

"This building is under siege," Murus said, his voice a perfect monotone. "You're not technically in a state of safety, for human mortal standards, until you have cleared it."

He folded Evi's hands over themselves.

"He also has words about a Miss Octavia he insists are secondary to your 'current state of typical disaster'," he added, "But I will get back to those when you are out of potential danger."

[betterthanaplan]

Duke rolled his eyes to the sky. His head throbbed.

"Alright. I'll bite. How are you going to solve the building being under siege?"

[my_own_advocate]

"This body is dead," Murus said, implacably. "It can capture many bullets."

Surely all you'd ever wanted from life was your wife's dead body shielding you from potential snipers, Duke.

[betterthanaplan]

That was so far from being something Duke wanted.

"Yeah, I kind of just watched that body get shot, thanks. You know bullets can go through people, right?"

[my_own_advocate]

"I'm aware of the lethal angles."

Murus had been working in Hell for rather a long time, here.

"I could simply remain here until the outside threat has been dispersed," he allowed. "If you believe the risk is smaller."

He didn't care. He just knew Lord Morningstar would.

[betterthanaplan]

Duke sighed and leaned his head against the bars. "I must've been such a shit head in my past lives."

To deserve his dead wife standing there staring at him until Nathan fixed a goddamn siege.

Thankfully it didn't take all that long before the sound of rapid gunfire could be heard from the side door to the station. Duke grabbed hold of the bars, yanking at them uselessly. "Nathan!" Was he going to lose two exes in the same day? "Can't you go -- protect him or something?!"

[my_own_advocate]

"Not my concern. Humans die every day," Murus said. He hadn't even blinked. "Most of them don't have two-thousand-year-old monitoring orders."

[betterthanaplan]

"Two. . . ." Duke dragged both hands down his face. "Two thousand. . . . That's how long he's been down there?"

He was suddenly feeling very small. And very, very young.

[my_own_advocate]

"He is the First of the Fallen. Time means nothing to him."

Unlike Ted, Murus didn't have much of an ability to identify anybody's emotions.

"He says you have more enemies than you understand," he added, "Ergo, I am here."

[betterthanaplan]

"Right." Duke swallowed hard. "Because nothing says 'protectiveness' more than the fucking undead staring you down while you're locked up and helpless."

There was another commotion, this time from the direction of the bullpen. What sounded like muffled shouting, Audrey and Chris and maybe some others. But no Nathan.

Footsteps started back towards the cells. Duke backed up until he hit the back wall, dreading who -- or what -- might come in.

[my_own_advocate]

Something like distrust flitted across Evi's dead face. "Unfortunate," he said.


Her fingers found the lock on the door, and then the weakest link--

Snap.

[betterthanaplan]

Duke just about jumped out of his skin at that snap. Before he could say anything -- or run out the newly opened door, an enormous figure appeared in the doorway.

"Sasquatch?"

"Duke." Dwight nodded once, eyes flicking from Duke to Murus without so much as a flicker. "Ma'am." His shirt was open, the vest he wore beneath it riddled with bullets. Because he'd apparently had the same plan as Murus here had. "Coast is clear."

"Is Nathan --"

"He's fine. Audrey cleared up the trouble, too." He frowned faintly, giving Duke a once over. "You look like shit. Why are you in a cell?"

[my_own_advocate]

"He made attempts to rush outside into the enemy," Murus said. His voice was still oddly flat.

He did not look at the newcomer. He was making a calculation about whether or not he'd achieved his mission.

[betterthanaplan]

Duke pushed the door open just far enough to slip out, careful not to look directly at Evi's pale, dead eyes.

"We good?" he asked, figuring one of them would decide he was talking to them and answer.

"We're good," Dwight said. "Sheriff's office picked up the snipers. Coroner's coming in to clear out the dead." He gave Murus an odd look. He could have sworn Nathan had said Evi had been shot. And there was way too much blood on that shirt for it to be a graze. . . .

"Great." Duke moved to push Dwight back out of the holding area, but paused before he actually touched the beaten up flack jacket the man was wearing. "So . . . you should go . . . help clean. Right?"

"Yeah." Dwight looked from Duke to Evi, to the door to the cell. Which was meant to be locked. "I'm thinking I don't want any details here. You two have a good night."

And he was off again. Duke sagged a little, then turned back to Murus.

"You did your job. Well done. Now . . . there was some message you were supposed to pass on?"

[my_own_advocate]

"You are a fool for hurling yourself at this place once again, especially as it conspires against you," said Murus.

Those were probably not the exact words Lucifer had used, so... be grateful, Duke.

"You should return home. There is a sinner you owe, and who owes you, a conversation that does not involve gratuitous yelling and irrational displays of emotion."

Definitely not the exact words Lucifer had used.

[betterthanaplan]

Duke rolled his eyes. "And what your boss know of it, huh? He should go home and talk to her, too. But he doesn't, because he's trying to protect us. Well guess what: that's what I'm doing here, too."

[my_own_advocate]

"What you are doing here appears to be getting locked in jail cells to protect you against your own suicidal impulses," Murus said, sounding bored. "I do not understand why Lord Morningstar bothers to invest such resources in watching you at all, but it is not my place to question it."

Nobody wanted to end up the way Dromos had for the past two thousand years.

[betterthanaplan]

"This is one time --" Duke brandished his finger in Murus's face -- and found himself looking in those cold, dead eyes. He flinched back violently. "I don't expect you to understand." He'd have hoped Lucifer would understand, but apparently that was too much to ask of the King of Hell. "Fine. Message received you can go tell Lord Morningstar that the guy who ditched his favorite human is still an idiot."

[my_own_advocate]

He was railing at a demon. Murus's kind wasn't exactly known for empathy or understanding. Or figuring out when their boss was hiding 'frantic worry' by barking orders.

"I don't know how you humans get anything done with all these irrational and unnecessary emotions," Murus said.

Then Evi's body crumpled to the floor.

[betterthanaplan]

“Yeah. Me neither.”

Duke crouch led down to arrange Evi with a bit more dignity. He considered offering her a few words but — she was in Hell. Getting what she deserved.

There was nothing more to say.

He stood and went to go find Nathan.”