A child's cry rang out forcing Striker to sleepily open his eyes. He glanced over to the other side of his bed... only to remember no one was there. The imp sighed as he sat up rubbing his head. He wished Serenity was still here to help him, but what's passed has passed and all he could do now was keep going; she would've wanted that.
Striker threw the sheets of himself and went to check on Maria. Upon entering the nursery and approaching the cradle, the first thing he did was reach down to stroke her cheek, letting her know he was there. Maria's crying died down and she looked up at him, small tears in her eyes. She reached her hands out to him and Striker scooped her up in his arms.
"Hey, sweetie, what's the matter?" he asked her softly. He took a quick sniff, but thankfully smelled nothing foul, and she couldn't have been hungry. Maybe she got scared or lonely. His suspicions were confirmed when Maria started to whimper and cry again.
"Aww, do you wanna cuddle with daddy, baby girl?" Striker held Maria in a loving embrace and she snuggled into him, cooing. Smiling, he walked around the nursery holding her close. After a while, his back started hurting but rather than put her back in her cradle, he carried her to his own room. He didn't mind her sleeping with him, they'd keep each other company anyway.
Striker sat on his bed then slowly started to lay down on his back, gently adjusting his daughter so she lay on his chest. Lucky for him, Maria wasn't roused by this even as he was rubbing her back and with a cute yawn, she drifted off to sleep.
Striker smiled warmly at her and kissed her on the cheek, whispering, "Sweet dreams, princess. Daddy loves you."
"M n' M, Strike, Ria, get in here! We're going to Loo Loo Land!"
Maria looked up curiously. "What's Loo Loo Land?"
"A complete rip-off of Lucifer's Lu Lu World." Striker said rather dully. Having seen the many commercials for Loo Loo Land, he knew very well what a cheap rip-off it was. "But seriously, Blitz, exactly why are we going there?"
"Stolas just gave me call-"
"'Course he did." Striker rolled his eyes.
"Anyway, he says he'll pay us extra to look after him and his daughter."
"Wait a minute, you're sayin' he's paying us to be their bodyguards?" The cowboy raised an eyebrow. "Doesn't he already have a legion of guards?"
"Well, look at it this way, we get to kill off whoever's stalking them." Blitz was nudging him, clearly eager to do this. "What do you say?"
"Besides, you and Maria'll get to spend some quality time together." Millie added just as eagerly.
"No offense, you two, but guard duty ain't my thing." Striker was about to turn away when Maria suddenly jumped up to him.
"Oh daddy, I wanna go! C'mon, can't we?! Please please please?!" she pleaded, bouncing up and down.
"Sweetheart, I don't-" Unfortunately, he didn't get the chance to finish as his daughter was giving him the 'puppy dog' face. He sighed, "Okay..."
While the rest of I.M.P. picked up the blueboods in their van, Striker and Maria rode Bombproof to the very place; they did prefer the hellhorse as their mode of transportation anyway. Once they'd arrived, Striker's expectations were right on speck as pretty much a majority of the rides, games, and such looked really dirty and broken down.
He noticed that Octavia clearly didn't wanna be here either judging by her irritated expression whereas her father looked rather excited; Striker couldn't help but wonder which of the two was actually the adult.
Meanwhile, Maria was looking around, her eyes and smile widened. She couldn't understand why her dad never took her to a theme park before, this was amazing! The rides, the food, the toys; she wanted to try everything out at once but, at the moment, was too awestruck to make words.
Millie certainly shared her enthusiasm as she spoke, "Wow! I haven't been to this place since I was a tot! It hasn't changed a bit. Oh, look! It's Big Woobly!"
The large and clearly malfunctioning animatronic dinosaur let out a loud demonic shriek, prompting Maria to cover her ears. Striker, seeing her discomfort, came over and gently wrapped his tail around her, which managed to calm her.
"That is... deeply upsetting." Moxxie said, looking disturbed.
Striker nodded. "You said it."
"Aww, come on! It's fun!" Millie smiled. "You guys have never been here?"
"Nah, never considered myself a theme park kind of guy."
"Me neither, theme parks always disturb me." Moxxie shuddered slightly. "Especially the mascots."
"Well, hey there!" Striker jumped when a guy dressed up as large apple with an eerily huge smiling face appeared out of nowhere by them. Moxxie shrieked as he fell back into Millie's arms and Maria squeaked with fright, clinging to her dad's legs and closing her eyes. Luckily, Striker made sure to keep his tail coiled around her. "I'm Loo Loo! Welcome to Loo Loo Land! If y'all get hurt here, just try and sue us!"
"Stay close to me, baby girl." Striker said softly to Maria, who nodded quickly while clinging to him.
"I have a question." Octavia spoke up.
"Well, ask away, little girly!" The mascot poorly attempted to make a goofy laugh.
"Is it true this park is just a really shameless spin-off of Lucifer's far more popular Lu Lu World?" Striker snickered quietly at the teen's smirk as she asked this which got a "no?" out of the mascot. Octavia sneered, "This place reeks of insecure corporate shame."
A few moments later, Striker managed to lead Maria away, following Moxxie and Millie.
"Okay, sweetheart, you can open your eyes now." Maria did so, one at time, sighing in relief when she saw it was safe.
"Well, besides that creepy thing, you seem to like this place, don't you, Millie?" Maria asked curiously.
"I love this place!" Millie smiled brightly. "My parents would bring me and my siblings here when they could swing it. Money-wise."
"Yeah, the prices do seem rather criminal." Moxxie said as they went over to a gift shop, gesturing to a cup that was worth 29 souls. "I mean, that much for a novelty cup that you use one time?"
"Cause it's Loo Loo Land!" Millie spoke.
"Listen to your hoe, Mox." Blitz said, already sipping out of the cup he'd purchased. Maria caught sight of a plush dragon and almost asked for it when Striker's voice interrupted, "Absolutely not."
"But daddy, I didn't even-"
"Sorry, baby doll, but at that price, not happening." Striker gestured to the price tag, which read 300 souls.
"Aww..." Maria sighed.
"Hey, Strikes, how about you and me take the first watch while these three have a little fun?" Blitz spoke up.
"Oh, can I go, daddy? Can I?" Striker cleared his throat and Maria quickly corrected herself, turning to Moxxie and Millie, "I mean, may I go with you guys?"
"Of course, sweetie!" Millie smiled, Moxxie adding, "If it's okay with your dad."
"Well..."
"Pleeeeaaasssssseeeee?" There it was again, that big smile and bright eyes, how could he say no to that?
Striker sighed with a smile, "It's alright with me."
"YAY!" Maria cheered and jumped in the air.
"As long as you stay close to Moxxie and Mildred." Striker called as she went after them. "And do what they tell you, you understand?"
"I promise!" With that, the three had disappeared.
Striker watched them go before Blitz spoke up, "Hey, first one to take out the most shitbags gets to lead the next job."
Smirking, Striker pulled out and loaded his rifle. "You're on."
As it turned out, their bet was well worth this watch as there were indeed a lot of beings out to get Stolas. Unsurprisingly, Striker was winning. He'd occasionally cast glances at Octavia, who clearly was getting more and more irritated just at the fact she got roped into this. And of course, her father just had to make more flirtatious remarks to Blitz. Honestly, Striker couldn't understand for the life of him what that ditzy blueblood saw in him.
"Oh, look, Via!" Stolas cried in excitement, drawing Striker from his thoughts for a moment. He was pointing at what looked like a circus tent. "You used to cry such tears of joy at this show!"
Judging by Octavia's terrified expression, Striker could tell that was NOT the case. Despite her sulking the entire time, he couldn't really blame her for feeling this way. This particular part of the park seemed uncomfortable and even as they went inside to witness whatever this crappy show was, he silently hoped Maria was having more fun than him.
Maria waited patiently by the petting zoo as Millie literally carried Moxxie to a ride called The Lawsuit. She chose to sit that one out more so because it looked huge and she didn't really like heights anyway. In the meantime, she'd wandered around looking at the different animals there. She did catch sight of some hellhorses that looked almost identical to Bombproof, the one big difference being their flames were a minty green to go with the Greed ring; his had turned the exact same color when they arrived. She noticed every time they entered the Pride ring, they'd turned red and figured maybe it was a thing for hellhorses.
Suddenly, she heard what sounded like crying coming from a nearby pen. She walked over and saw a little imp girl looking really scared to approach one particular animal. That was in fact a huge red, black, and white dragon-like creature. Maria had only seen them in her storybooks and was quite surprised that there was even one here live and in person. She guessed right away why the little impling was scared, even as her older brother kept trying to push her towards it and tell her to quit being a baby.
"Hey," she spoke, getting both the kids' attention. "Don't worry, he can't hurt you."
"What do you know?" the boy sneered, but Maria wasn't fazed.
"Here, let me show you." Maria then slowly approached the dragon and held her hand up. It looked at her curiously, then lowered its head down giving her hand a little sniff and placed its snout into her palm. The kids watched in astonishment as Maria smiled up at the dragon and gently stroked it.
"How'd you do that?" the girl asked in amazement.
"It's how my daddy introduced me to his hellhorse." Maria smiled. She gestured the kids to her side and both of them cautiously walked next to her. "Now, you try. Just do as I do."
The kids both held up their hands up just like she did (the girl closing her eyes) and Maria gently moved her hand from the dragon's snout.
"That's it, let him come to you." she said to them. The kids stood still as the dragon turned its attention to them and after a few seconds, it placed its snout into their palms just like it did with Maria. When the kids realized this, they both let out excited cries.
Maria smiled brightly the whole time. She almost didn't notice Millie and a sickened looking Moxxie approach from behind. When she did look back at them, she figured out that Moxxie's stomach must not have handled The Lawsuit very well at all.
"That was... amazing." Moxxie spoke, legitimately surprised despite throwing up earlier.
"I bet your daddy will be very proud of you!" Millie beamed.
Maria giggled and blushed. From there, the rest of the time was spent riding rides (she could actually handle a lot of them more than she thought), eating sweets, or just wandering around the park. Maria was, in fact, having the time of her life. She just wished her dad could be with here, he'd probably like some of these things. A few moments later, the three were walking along a row of game booths when a voice got their attention.
"Hello, hello! Step right up and win a thing!"
Maria's eyes lit up when she saw a plush version of the dragon she'd petted. Millie, meanwhile, was smiling gleefully at what looked like a purple stuffed penguin-like creature with imp horns wearing pink overalls.
"Oh, look, Moxxie! A thing!"
"Wow, look at that thing!"
"Oh, you two like those things?"
"Yeeeeesss! I don't know what that thing is, but I want that thing!"
"Oh, me too, me too, me too!"
Moxxie smirked, "Ahhh... Finally, something I can handle."
He then placed a soul bill on the counter. "Okay, one game, please."
The carnie running the game rolled his eyes, but gave Moxxie the fake gun anyway. Just as Moxxie was about to shoot, he paused for a moment... before handing it to an excited Maria. She didn't even need to ask and eagerly aimed the gun before firing. The cork that popped out hit the target right in the bullseye, but the target itself didn't budge.
"Ohhhh! Strike one, little lady!"
The three imps blinked in surprise at this as Maria piped up, "But I hit it."
"Hmmm, I don't know what to tell ya, honey." the carnie said to her. "The target, see? It didn't go down. So, yeah, no go, kid."
Moxxie growled and slammed down another soul bill. "Give it another try, Maria!"
She did so, but was met with the same result. "Hey, what gives?!"
"Huh? The Heaven's wrong with this thing?!"
"Oh man, a real shame, I tell ya!" The carnie then made mock crying gestures as Maria started to look sad. This angered Moxxie and he slammed yet another soul bill onto the counter. "Let me at it!"
Striker was bored out of his mind by now. The musical number as well as the animatronics that were playing was by far the weirdest thing he'd ever seen. And he was pretty sure at one point, the robotic clown singing and dancing the whole time had stolen a line from Princess Charlotte. No copyright infringements, huh? Yeah, right!
He wasn't the only one annoyed, Octavia by now looked like she was gonna snap any second as her father and the small number of children were having the time of their lives. Finally though, it was over, thank Satan! However, an assassin was just about to literally stab Stolas in the back when Blitz shot him before Striker could even blink.
"Ha, that's five for me, Strikes!" Blitz said smugly.
"Heh, you got lucky this time, bossman." Striker spoke. "I'm honestly surprised you pay more attention to this than that damn blueblood does to his own daughter."
"Hey, it's none of our business. We're not their fucking therapists." Blitz responded. "You're just lucky Maria's not here for this."
Now that Striker could agree with. If Maria were here, he knew she'd cry and beg for them to leave and he'd gladly do so and keep as far away from the place as possible. Speaking of daughters however, Octavia suddenly exploded and ran out of the tent, Stolas going after her.
"I got this covered, Striker. You go see if you can find Maria while I'm at it and tell M n' M it's their turn to keep watch."
Striker nodded and ran out of tent. He quickly found Moxxie, Millie, and Maria at a shooting game booth. He noticed the pile of soul bills Moxxie spent in the carnie's hands as well as Moxxie's seething angry expression and Maria's look of sadness.
"Wow! Man, you're really starting to make this sad." The carnie said smugly to Moxxie. "Y'know, if you suck, you suck. Guess you won't win your honey or little one here a prize..."
"'Scuse me, is there a problem here?" Striker asked walking up to them.
"Well, howdy there, partner! You look like ya might be a better shooter than these two poor little saps here!" The carnie made a fake gasp upon seeing Maria's sad face, her eyes on the verge of tears. "Oh, looks like someone's got a frowny face. Oh well, better luck next time, youngin'."
Striker growled slightly. He knew very well that a lot of vendors like this were rigged in order to scam customers and, on seeing the 600 soul bills, he knew this guy hustled Moxxie good. But what really got him was hearing him mock his daughter to her face; he absolutely hated it when someone upset her. An idea then came to him.
"Okay, my turn."
Striker took out a soul bill of his own, handed it to the carnie, then pulled out his own pistol. Moxxie immediately got the idea, smirking, "You might wanna stand back."
The other three imps quickly moved out of the way as Striker aimed. Just then, he started firing at every single one of the targets flawlessly, the bullets leaving nothing but holes in their place. The carnie had ducked down to avoid being shot at and was now curled up in a ball, trembling.
"And that's game!" Striker smirked.
"Oh, daddy, you did it!" Maria cried with delight, hugging him.
"Just doin' what I do best, princess." Striker chuckled, petting her head.
"Now then," Moxxie sneered, leaning down at the carnie from the counter. "I believe you owe us all a couple of things!"
Suddenly, something crashed through the roof of the shooting game and on top of the carnie. The four imps looked and saw a briefly dazed Blitz.
"Sir?" Moxxie asked in surprise.
"Really, Blitz?" Striker groaned as he looked around and noticed that now the whole theme park was on fire. "I leave you alone for a few minutes and you've already fucked shit up, huh?"
"Oh hey, guys." Blitz said, not really listening to Striker as he brought out his own pistol. "You should probably go, uh, make sure Stolas is okay. I got some... unfinished business to take care of."
The unfinished business turned out to be the robot clown from the show which was now starting to show its more robotic features thanks to the fire while walking towards them. Moxxie and Millie, picking up her plush thing, quickly took off to find Stolas and Octavia. Striker grabbed Maria and moved out of the way as Blitz shot at the robot, which suddenly caught the bullet in its teeth and spat it out.
"Oh, what a mouth!" Blitz spoke. The robot then started rolling its way towards Blitz, who immediately jumped out of the way just in time for it to hit the booth, destroying it in a large explosion and went up in flames.
"Daddy, should we help him?"
"We might as well before he sets the whole place in flames, us with it!"
Maria then noticed the dragon had gotten loose in the inferno. "Hey, daddy!"
Striker saw this and quickly got the idea. Honestly though, he wasn't sure it was even a good idea; true, he's dealt with hogs, hellhorses, and many wild hell beasts, but never anything like a dragon. But, he'd never turned his back on a challenge before, so why start now? He found a rope and tied it into a lasso, then placed Maria on his back and she gripped him by the shoulders.
"Hang on tight, baby girl, we're going for a ride!"
Maria's eyes lit up as Striker threw the lasso and caught the beast around the neck. He pulled it tightly, causing it to roar. Striker then hauled himself onto its back, Maria holding on tight, and then pulled on the ropes around its muzzle as if they were reins. The dragon thrashed about, spreading its wings.
"Easy, big fella!" Maria shouted over the roars. "It's alright! We're on your side!"
Thankfully, the dragon stopped thrashing after a while and Striker couldn't resist letting out a "yee-haw!" as he guided it towards the clown robot, who Blitz, Moxxie, and Millie kept trying to shoot but to no avail. Maria was laughing with delight during the ride; to her (and her dad actually), it was like riding a giant Bombproof.
They both held on as the dragon lunged at the robot, snatched it in its jaws, and tossed into the air. The robot ended up landing in the dragon's jaws, who swallowed it whole.
"Nice ride, Strikes! Can I ride Bombproof now?!"
"As if, Blitz!"
Once that was taken care of, the group barely got out of Loo Loo Land as it was now completely in flames and got away from there as quickly as they could. Mammon would have their heads if he ever found out about this and who caused it.
By the time they got home that evening, Striker and Maria both crashed onto the couch, panting; Maria, who managed to get her plush dragon out of the inferno, more from excitement. To her, this had to be one of the best days if not the best day ever.
"That was... amazing!" Maria beamed, laughing in-between pants. "Let's do that again someday!"
Striker groaned in exhaustion, "If you think for one damn minute... that I'm going anywhere near there again... yer outta your mind... After that mess, I don't even wanna get up from this couch."
Maria crawled up to her dad, who opened his arms, allowing her to enter his embrace. As he held her, he started to lay down on the couch, Maria snuggling into his arms.
"Hey, daddy?"
"Hmm?"
"Do you think we can have a trip together? Just the two of us?"
Striker chuckled, "We'll see about that, sweetheart. We'll see."
Maria smiled then let out a yawn. "Aww, sounds like somebody's getting sleepy."
"No, I'm not..." she yawned again. "Maybe, a little..."
Striker couldn't help but chuckle at her cute yawns as she closed her eyes. "It's okay, baby girl. You had quite a day."
Maria hadn't been able to protest and was suddenly sound asleep. Sitting up, Striker cradled her in his arms as she hugged her dragon plush and carried her upstairs to her room. After taking her boots off, he lay her in bed and she shifted into a more comfortable sleeping position after he placed the covers over her.
"Sweet dreams, princess." Striker whispered as he leaned to kiss her on the cheek. "Daddy loves you."
Just before he left her room, he heard her soft reply, "Love you too, daddy."
