I'd like to thank LadyAnaconda and DarkWriter2020 for becoming my beta readers. I couldn't have done it without them. I'd also like to thank Jamison1209 for the review.
Chapter 4: Striker Visits Blitzo's Business
It had been two days since Striker had left the Goetia mansion and Stella's patience was wearing thin.
"Where is he?" Stella asked herself as she paced around in the mansion, "It has been two days and there's no sign of him." But then, an evil thought occurred to her. "Well, if he's not going to help me kill my cheating husband, I'm just going to kill him, instead."
…
Meanwhile, Striker dreamt about the Goetia's daughter. The one who reminded him of his younger self with a loving family. He thought back to the conversation about Blitzo having a sister. Barbie Wire, was it?
No, screw that! He was hired to do what Stella paid him to do, why should he throw it away? Although Stella had always treated imps as low class in society, Striker was an exception because of his undeniable skills. She'd even given him food and a place to stay.
Part of Striker hated Stella ever since she woke him up until her daughter reprimanded her for it. At that moment, he was grateful that the young Goetia had defended him by giving him a back massage until he went back to sleep.
What would his parents think of him after killing a blueblood like Stolas?
Blitzo, Moxxie, and Millie still haven't forgotten what happened back at the Harvest Moon Festival. And yet they took good care of Striker. It would take a while before they trusted him again, though. For now, they did their best to have a good night's sleep.
On the bright side, they had fun with him today. Moxxie and Millie seemed happy that Loona opened up to Striker, even though she hardly knew him. The cowboy felt the same way, but Blitzo ruined the moment until Moxxie intervened.
Striker dreamed of returning home to the Wrath ring with Bombproof, where his farm was. He'd give anything to go back home, where he belonged.
…
The next morning, Blitzo was the first to wake up and poured himself a cup of coffee.
Moxxie woke up, stretched, and yawned. "Good morning, honey."
Millie yawned. "Good morning, sweetie."
The two kissed passionately and together, they scrambled out of bed to get breakfast.
Striker shifted awake as his blanket was lifted off him and something rubbed against him. As he opened his eyes, he saw a large horse head nuzzling against him.
"Good morning, Bombproof," Striker chuckled, patting the horse's head as he slid out of bed with a loud yawn.
Downstairs, Blitzo accompanied his bagel with cream cheese with a warm cup of coffee. "Good morning, M and M!" he shouted as Millie and Moxxie entered the kitchen.
"We're already here, sir," Moxxie murmured.
"You don't need to yell, Blitz," Millie added.
Striker stepped into the kitchen, rubbing the back of his head. "Yeah, Blitz, everyone's up."
Blitzo bit into his bagel. "Well, good morning, Strike!" he spoke with his mouth full. "Did you sleep well?"
Striker stretched out with another yawn. "Like a baby. Are you always this loud in the mornings?"
"YES!" Loona, Moxxie, and Millie glared at Blitzo.
Blitzo shrugged. "What? I just thought I'd get the ball rolling, that's all."
"Not by waking the whole neighborhood!" Striker growled.
Blitzo let out an angry sigh. "Fine."
Striker, Loona, Moxxie, and Millie helped themselves to coffee and bagels, somehow managing to enjoy a quiet morning.
"Strike, would you like to check out my workplace?" Blitzo asked after breakfast.
Striker thought for a moment, then shrugged. "I don't see why not." Blitzo grinned.
"That's what I wanted to hear!"
…
That morning, Blitzo, Moxxie, Millie, and Loona rode in the I.M.P van, while Striker rode his horse, Bombproof to the I.M.P business. Once inside, the imps and Loona gave Striker a tour. Blitzo gestured towards a long desk with lots of chairs. "This is headquarters."
"Where he draws a bunch of nonsense and he needs an art class," Moxxie finished.
"My drawings ideas and you have no idea how fucking expensive art classes are," Blitzo snarked.
"Uh, you're rich, so don't complain."
"Hoard money much, Blitzo?" Striker asked.
Blitzo turned around to face his speaker. "What did you say, Striker?"
"You can easily afford anything you want and need with all the damn money you have."
Loona was on her phone. "They got you there, Blitzo. You can technically buy more eels if you want. Just throwing it out there."
"And a new TV," Millie added.
"Plus, you need to pay us a little more," Moxxie concluded.
Blitzo growled and rubbed his temples, shifting away from the group. He couldn't believe everyone seemed to be on Moxxie's side. What the hell? he thought, I thought we were friends.
A couple minutes later, he gathered up his thoughts and calmly said, "This is where I make announcements and I announce we check out someplace else." He led his crew to another area: His office. It contained portraits of Blitzo as a boss or king, bobbleheads of Moxxie and Millie, and a big water jug with cups.
Striker entered the office and helped himself to a small cup of cool water to drink. "Ah, refreshing," he said after sipping his water.
"That's good stuff," Blitzo commented.
"You live like a king, Blitzo," Striker complimented as he browsed in Blitzo's office, "Wish I could do that."
"And you can. You'll just have to do it your own way."
Striker nodded.
"Next place is Loonie's office," Blitzo announced as he led his employees and Striker to Loona's office, which consisted of a computer and a hell telephone.
"Yeah, this is my office," Loona said in a lethargic tone.
Striker took a look around the room as Loona continued, "This is where I answer phone calls to clients and help locate Blitzo, Moxxie, and Millie if something were to happen to them. I sometimes tag along in the living world since I have a human disguise in case they need me and they don't have human disguises."
"She's good at luring our targets somewhere so we could kill them without being detected, right, Loona?"
"That's right."
Then Blitzo realized he forgot what he was going to show Striker. "Oh, Strike, I forgot to show you a portrait of me and my twin sister." He motioned for the cowboy imp to follow him.
Back in headquarters, Blitzo showed Striker a picture of himself with his twin sister, Barbie Wire. "Barbie Wire," Striker commented.
"You should see her in person."
Just then, another imp lady caught Striker's eye. "Who's Tilla?"
"My mother."
Striker eyed him with confusion. "How come you never mention Tilla?"
Blitzo rubbed the back of his head. "I don't know. I just forgot. What I do know is she was always with me and Barbie Wire whenever my dad was an ass, too."
"Families stick together."
"Yeah." Then Blitzo decided to change the subject. "Whenever we get clients who want our help offing who they want us to kill on earth, we use Stolas' Grimoire to have access to the living world."
Striker cocked an eyebrow. "What's a Grimoire?"
"A magic book to help us with our job in taking out anyone who screwed sinners over when they were alive. We use chalk to create a portal to earth and back."
"Blitz, that's impressive."
Blitzo laughed nervously. "I had help from a few friends."
Just as he said this, Loona, Moxxie, and Millie returned to headquarters.
"Speak of the devil, Blitzo," Striker pointed out, "There they are."
"We heard you two talking," Loona said.
"Why did you leave us in Loona's office?" Moxxie asked, "I mean why did you bring Striker and not us? We could've gone with you."
Blitzo shrugged. "I just thought it'd be me and Striker time."
"He's right, Mox," Millie said, "They just needed privacy. Just like we need a moment together alone."
Moxxie was about to say something when he knew his wife made a point. "Touché."
"Speaking of privacy, I think I'll head home so I can give you some space considering what happened back at the festival because you can't forget about what happened overnight."
"Okay, here's my business card you can use to reach me," Blitzo said, offering him his business card.
Striker took the business card and put it in his pocket. Then he grabbed onto a sticky note and pen and wrote his number down. "And call me when you need something." He handed me the note with his phone number.
"Thank you, Striker. I was wondering if you'd be interested in borrowing Stolas' book to use to take out the living. What we do is sleep with him one night and he lets us borrow the book."
"I don't know, Blitz," Striker said hesitantly, "That seems risky, especially with that bitch of a wife. She might kill me."
"She wouldn't know we are there."
"She woke me up from a nap on their couch and I was so pissed, but their daughter defended me and rubbed my back until I went back to sleep."
"He probably sleeps alone now."
Striker considered this, knowing that his last visit with Stella didn't end well and feared that she'd kill him. Yet he remembered how the young Goetia treated him and he liked it. So maybe she'd intervene and defend him and Blitzo.
"Besides, you're sneaky enough to run right past that bitch," Blitzo said, interrupting his thoughts, "We'll do it together."
"Thanks, Blitzo. I'm in." Then he reminisced about the tour he was given. "Oh, by the way, thanks for the tour. Goodnight." With that, he shook Blitzo's and Millie's hand, ruffled Moxxie's hair, and put a hand on Loona's shoulder. "If you need anything, little lady, give me a call," he told the hellhound.
"Blitzo, what's Striker's phone number?" Loona asked, "I need to add him to my contacts."
"666," Blitzo began as Loona was typing the number to add to her contacts, "482, 6661."
"Got it," Loona said, once she added the phone number to her contacts.
"I'll see you all later," Striker said as he tipped his hat and walked all the way downstairs from the building to greet Bombproof. "Ready to head home, Bombproof?"
Bombproof nodded and his owner climbed up on him and together they returned back to the Wrath ring.
AN: Ever since the Ozzie's episode, which is a two-part episode, I realized that Tilla was Blitzo's and Barbie Wire's mother.
