"I'll be there," Veracity agreed.

Lucifer stood up as he went upstairs again.

​​

He brought the key out of his pocket and unlocked the door before he stepped inside the room.

"You're still eating?" he asked, but he soon noticed that a few things had been moved from their places.

"So, how did the search go? Did you find an escape?" Smirking, Lucifer sat back on the chair.

"Do you think you'll be able to escape after doing this to me? You're making a big mistake," Ayn warned Lucifer grimly.

"Ayn, I made many mistakes in my life. But this won't be one of them," Lucifer told Ayn, shaking his head. "Anyway, I heard that Xander is still alive? How is he doing?"

"He's still living, no thanks to you," Ayn said, rolling her eyes.

"Is he still in a coma?" Lucifer asked, laughing.

Hearing his words, Ayn glared at him.

"I suppose it's the truth," Lucifer let out, noticing Ayn's reaction.

"You know, I'm surprised he managed to survive even after all that. I mean, not many people survive that type of attack," he said. "I wish I could've said the same for the kids he killed that day."

"The kids died because of an accident. He didn't mean to attack them. He was attacking you. You dodged, and that happened. It's not like he wanted to kill innocents," Ayn replied.

"Ah, right. It's my fault. I should have let him attack me without dodging. That poor soul was really innocent," Lucifer said as he laughed. "God, I missed your hypocrisy. The way you people turn a story."

" His killing of innocents was an accident, and Varant killing me is something I made up. That's what you think, don't you? You know what you are?" Lucifer asked, smiling.

"What?" Ayn asked, frowning.

"You are nothing but a sheep. Anything that goes against your narrative of APF being the good guys is something you can't accept. It's fine. I understand the hypocrisy. I'm the same sometimes," Lucifer replied, smiling.

"In your mind, you're the hero of the story. So you can't accept any intentional wrongs that you people did."

"But in my head, I'm the villain of this story, so I can accept that everything bad I did was intentional. And it'll be intentional in the future, too," he continued as he placed one leg above the other to sit more relaxed.

"So you won't stop doing it? Since you already accepted that you're the villain? You will never become a good guy?" Ayn asked.

"You know how many people you can help with the strength you have? You can make the world a better place instead of making it worse," she further said, still trying to make Lucifer surrender.

"That's right. I won't stop doing it. I'm the necessary evil that this world needs to teach it its place," Lucifer replied.

"As for the people that I can help with my strength? Tell them to go f*ck themselves. I don't give a single F about their lives."

"I'll do what I want, when I want, and where I want. My life is my own. No one will get to control me again," he claimed.

"Your end is going to be really bad if you keep going down that path. And that will be the day when you regret what you did," Ayn scoffed as she opened the box of chocolate and placed one inside his mouth.

"By the way, happy birthday. Cherish your birthday. People like you don't have many birthdays, after all," she continued.

"Hahaha."

Hearing her words, Lucifer started laughing as if he had heard a joke.

"Are you trying to say that I'll die before my next birthday?" he asked.

" I don't know when and if I'll die, but what I do know is that it won't be before killing Varant and getting what I want. So I suppose I have a couple of years to live," he replied. " Anyway, thanks for the wish."

Ayn opened her lips to speak as she said, "You-'

Knock!

She couldn't even finish as she stopped at the knocking on the door.

Lucifer stretched his arms as he stood up. He walked to the door and opened it to find Veracity there. Cassius was also with her.

"Come on in. We can start," Lucifer told the two of them as he stepped aside. After they stepped inside, he closed the door.

"So you got a team for yourself. Don't you two feel any shame supporting a mass murderer?" Ayn asked the two people that had just entered. "Especially, you Veracity! How can you do it too!"

"Hey, don't blame me. I'm not a criminal. I'm just here as a consultant. You can say that he kidnapped me too, but I didn't resist." Veracity replied as she walked close to Ayn.

"So I'll help him since my life depends on him. Moreover, I also want to see what things the precious APF is hiding,"

She sat on the bed, right beside Ayn. Cassius also picked up a chair and sat near Lucifer.

"So, Ayn. Do you want to be able to leave here? You just have to answer my questions," Lucifer reminded Ayn.

"Fine. Ask!" Ayn said firmly as she glared at Lucifer.

"It's about Variant Uprising headquarters. Do you know where their base is?" Lucifer inquired.

"Do you think we wouldn't have destroyed it if we knew?" Ayn let out, rolling her eyes. "None in the APF know. They take extreme precautions to keep their base safe."

Lucifer glanced at Veracity, who nodded her head.

"That's better. I don't need to ask about the base of APF since that's public knowledge, but I do have a question regarding that. What's the strength of APF? How many Variants are there? And what are the security measures you guys have?" he asked again.

Unfortunately, Ayn didn't reply this time. She picked up another piece of chocolate and placed it in her mouth.

"I don't know," she told Lucifer.

Even though Lucifer knew it was a lie, he still looked at Veracity. Veracity shook her head.

"As expected," Lucifer muttered as he sighed. "Look, Ayn, we can go two ways about this thing. The easy way or the hard way?"

"I'm trying to use the easy way, but if you want to select the second path, you're welcome," he said as he took off his gloves and kept them on the side.

Ayn observed Lucifer and noticed that he was threatening her. She also knew what powers he had, so she understood the meaning of his.

"So, Ayn. I'll ask again. What's the strength of APF? How many Variants are there? And what are the security measures you guys have?" Lucifer said, repeating the question.

Ayn fell into deep thought. She knew she couldn't lie since Veracity was here to catch her lies. But she couldn't tell the truth either, as that meant betraying her people.