At Hexside, Principal Bump was in his office trying desperately to maintain his composure as ever since he found that Luz has been captured by the emperor, he spent the next few days when he hadn't gone to any staff meetings crying his eyes out in the principal's office. He just couldn't help but do so as while Luz was a bit of a troublemaker, an unintentional one he knew, she was still a student of Hexside with a bright future and it wasn't because she was human either, it was because she brought the light (pun not intended) to the place with her friendly personality and determined drive to become the best witch that she can be despite not having any magical abilities of her own due to her human exterior.
He just didn't know what to do. As much as he wanted to rescue the human girl, doing so would have major ramifications to his job as principal and his life overall. On top of that, he had a school to run so that takes already too much of his time as it is.
Just then, he heard a knock at the door. Quickly wiping away fresh tears and blowing his nose on another tissue before chucking it into the trashcan before telling whoever is outside his office to come in.
Opening the door, it was revealed that Lilth and the Blight trio were on the other side of the door.
Lilth then spoke. "Hello there Hieronymus, it's nice to see you again after all this time."
"Likewise, Lilth." Bump said, taking his Palisman, an imp named Frewin, off his head and placing it on his desk. "I've been hearing some rumors that you betrayed the emperor and rescued your sister, is that true?"
"Yes." was her response. "At the cost of Luz getting captured by Belos."
The two were silent for a bit before the principal spoke again. "So, what have you come here for?"
"Well, to not waste any time, I need you to set up a school assembly." The younger Clawthorne sister said.
This confused Bump. "Why? Is this about Luz?"
"Yes, so can you make the announcement?" She asked.
Bump nodded as he then turned his office microphone on.
"Students and staff of Hexside, this is your principal speaking. An after-school assembly is mandatory once the final bell screams. To repeat, mandatory after school assembly for all students and staff. Thank you for your time and have a nice day."
Bump's message went through all of the speakers in the school ensuring that everyone be it a student or a staff member have heard it.
"Thank you, Hieronymus." Lilth said with a smile.
"No need, Lilth. I'm just glad to help you out." The principle said. "I just hope that Luz is okay."
"You and me both." Lilth said in agreement. "I can't even begin to imagine what that monster is doing to her."
"Achoo!" Luz sneezed for like the billionth time.
It has been a while since the emperor had left the room in his place stood someone who was about Luz's age and height wearing a white hood and a golden mask over his face who was named the Golden Guard by Belos himself, alongside Kikimora and four Abominations who were looking like some kind of robot but using the goo monster's abilities. They were all ordered to guard the human and terminate anyone who would try and free her. What shocked Luz was that Amity's parents (actually her father as Belos revealed to her) has created these Abomatons as that was what they were actually called, to protect their summoner and hunt down anyone that they're ordered to fight and not stop until they were either caught or killed.
"For the love of Titan human, do you have an allergy problem or something?" Kikimora said in annoyance as she was getting irritated with the human's constant sneezing.
"Bless you." the Golden Guard simply said.
"Thank you." Luz said in appreciation, ignoring Kikimora's question.
Luz has been trying ever since she was placed into this cell to either find a way to escape or send a message out to her friends saying that she was alright. But with the Golden Guard, Kikimora and the Abomatons watching her, that was basically impossible. Even if she did manage to escape from the cell, she didn't have any magical glyphs to use since they were confiscated by some of Wrath's guards just before the human was incarcerated or anything to write out a glyph for that matter. Even if she did, she didn't know just how powerful the Golden Guard, Kikimora or the Abomatons were since the former two were high ranking in Belos' forces and the latter were essentially armored suits made of versatile, purple goo that was made by Amity's parents and considering she saw how skilled Amity was when it came to her abominations, the human girl assumed that these abominations were an upgraded version of them, not upgraded in the sense of using a power glyph that she remembered Lilth using one on her apprentice during the first Witch Convention that Luz went to once, so if she fought them, they would lay nothing short of a beatdown on her, if not kill her if they were ordered to, given the minion's submissiveness to those who create them.
Who knows, maybe Eda and her friends are coming up with plans of rescuing her.
So as much as she didn't want to, she needed to wait.
Wait for the right moment.
Hopefully, the information that she gave to everyone before she was captured would help in any way, shape or form.
In Bonesborough, King peeked from the side of a building and saw a bunch of Warden Wrath's subordinates putting up wanted posters of not just Eda and Luz but also but also some of the other ones that the Warden has considered a threat such as some Conformatorium escapees, King himself, and even Lilth.
"Wow, news gets around fast." The demon whispered.
"And look, they're putting posters of you up too." Hooty said.
Once the guards were beginning to walk away, King, with Hooty on his back quickly scurried to the next alley way. However, as he was doing so, out of nowhere, a net had ensnared them both.
'What the..." King began to ask in confusion.
"Oh no!" Hooty said in fear.
Suddenly, a bunch of masked and hooded figures picked up the net and dragged it into the alleyway.
Once it was just them, one of the figures released the net.
"What do you want with us?" King demanded.
"Are you associated with Eda the Owl Lady and Luz the Human?" One of the figures said in a feminine tone.
"Ye-Yeah?" King said in fear with Hooty wrapping himself around King just in case these figures were hostiles.
The tension was thick for a few seconds before the apparent leader let out a sigh of relief.
"Oh, thank the Titan that we've ran into you two." He said as he removed his bat shaped mask, revealing that it was a middle-aged witch with medium brown skin and mint-green hair with white streaks on the bottom wearing a pair of glasses and a long, black tunic with a maroon collar, gold trim, three gold buttons, a brown belt, crimson pants and black, knee-high boots.
He then spoke to the rest of the group in hoods. "It's okay everyone. They're allies."
The rest of the other hooded figures then took off their hoods and masks. Revealing that it was a slender girl with pointy ears, dark skin, black hair in a ponytail, hazel eyes, and distinguished fangs wearing the same outfit as the other two were a short, mauve-skinned humanoid with pale gray hair, freckles, and round silver eyes. She has traits similar to a bat, with large, almost bat-like ears with insides that are a darker version of her skin, a crooked nose, and black bat wings on her back and an adolescent witch with brown eyes, dark brown skin, pointed ears, and dark brown hair that is styled in a short shag parted to the right side of his head.
"Who are you guys?" Hooty asked in confusion.
King then looked at the female witch. "Hey, I remember you. You were in the Conformatorium when Luz first got here."
"I'm Katya and thanks for that by the way." The renegade teen said.
The middle-aged witch introduced himself. "I'm Raine." He then points to the others who haven't been introduced. "This is Amber and Derwin."
"Please to meet you two." Amber said.
"Likewise, now listen." King addressed to the group.
"We're BATS." Raine said. Noticing the confusion of King and Hooty, he explained. "It stands for Bards Against the Throne. That human's defiance helped push us to do this. What we're trying to do now is come up with a plan."
"We have a plan to rescue Luz but we're going to need as much backup as we can get." He then looked at the exit of the alley and noticed that no one was coming to investigate. "Let's get back to the Owl House and regroup there."
Out in the cave of the Palismen, the Bat Queen, protector of all Palismen, was watching over her sleeping triplets. After a few minutes, she flew into the sky and began to look over the other palismen, some of which were damaged and discarded.
Suddenly, the sentient queen heard a woosh behind her and instantly turned around, ready to defend her and her people with everything that she had.
"Woah, there Queeny." said a familiar voice. "It's just us."
Hearing that voice immediately told the Bat Queen who entered the forest and calmed herself as Eda landed her staff in front of her so that the elder witch, Gus and Willow got off of it.
"Hello Eda," greeted the Bat Queen kindly. "It's been a while."
"Same here, anyway..." Eda began before she reached into her hair and pulled out the Aztec death whistle. "I'm here to cash in on that favor you owed me."
"Eda!" Willow said in shock.
"Relax I'm kidding." Eda said with a chuckle at Willow's face before turning back to the giant bat. "We need your help."
"Understandable." Bat Queen said. "Considering you babysat my precious angels, it's only fair that I return the favor. I'm assuming that it's about Luz, correct?"
"It is." Gus said urgently. "She's been captured by Belos during Eda's petrification."
"So, the rumors I've been hearing from the various palismen are true after all." Bat Queen thought to herself. "Well, I understand that Luz's situation is troubling I don't know if there is much I can do to help."
Eda figured that she would say something like that so she told her something that she would try to convince her to help. "Queeny, there's something that I think you should know. Have you been noticing any Palismen disappearances lately?"
This got the Bat Queen to think a bit. "Well, some disappearances. I hope they are alright."
"Well, there's something that we recently found out." Eda said in a serious tone. "Luz told us that before she was captured that she saw Belos drain a palismen of its lifeforce to power himself up."
The Bat Queen's eyes widened in absolute shock. "WHAT?!" She roared, causing a shockwave to nearly the three witches over.
"Yes, Luz even gave us a picture to prove it." Gus said, taking out a picture from his pocket and showed it to the giant palismen.
The picture was, while a bit poorly drawn due to how rushed it was drawn. Regardless, it depicted the emperor holding a bleeding out palismen over the holes in his mask as the essence of the palismen fell into them.
The Bat Queen suddenly flew up into sky as she let out a roar of rage. Pure. Non sugarcoated. Rage. Angry and sad at herself for not figuring this out sooner and rage at the emperor for taking the lives of those innocent palismen. It's official. Emperor Belos has declared war on the Bat Queen for this transgression.
Breathing heavily, the giant queen flew back down, tears streaming down her face. "I can't believe that Belos would do this. And to my fellow Palismen no less."
"It's not your fault, Bat Queen." Willow said, placing a hand on one of the wings in a sympathetic manner. "This just proves that even someone as powerful as him can get desperate."
"But it also proves that he can be bested in some way." Gus exclaimed. "If you help us, we can finally take Belos down and make him face justice for his crimes!"
Hearing Willow and Agustus' determination helped the giant Palismen stopped the waterworks. The kids were right. Feeding on Palismen, as messed up as it was, showed them that this all-mighty emperor did have a weakness after all.
"I'm in." The Bat Queen said with a smirk.
"Then let's get back to my house, we'll have to wait a bit for the rest of our friends to show up there." Eda said, hopping on her staff.
Once Willow and Gus were on the staff as well, they all began to fly back to the Owl House.
Now that the Bat Queen has agreed to join forces with our heroes Principal Bump holding an assembly and King and Hooty bringing BATS (Bards Against the Throne) to Owl House, the question remains: Can it be enough to stop the emperor?