Chapter 7: Confrontation
The next day, Striker woke up finding himself in bed in Stolas' mansion with Blitzo.
"Welcome to the club, Strike," Blitzo said dryly.
"Yeah," Striker agreed with a yawn, just as annoyed as Blitzo.
"Good morning, my little imps," Stolas greeted dreamily, "Did you two sleep well?"
"Hell yeah, we did and no thanks to you," Striker replied with a scowl.
Blitzo also frowned at the Goetia. "Yeah, Stolas, I'm glad Striker wasn't awake to hear your baby talk."
"Thus, if I didn't know better, you treat Blitz like a plaything, dumbass."
Stolas was unfazed by the cowboy's insult and started to tell him a story of what happened yesterday, "Listen, cowboy imp. Stella tried to ambush you and your friends yesterday when she hired those little imps to take you to our mansion. The female imp called Blitzy and I jumped right into the scene to turn the tiniest imps to stone. Then the ambulance took you and the male imp to the hospital, so that you can get taken care of and later, you ended up with me and Blitzy. The end."
Striker was confused as to how Stolas managed to turn the tiny imps to stone. "Wait. There's one thing I don't understand: How did you turn those little imps Stella hired to stone?"
That question gave Stolas an idea. "Well, I have a proposition for you and Blitzy." He pinched Striker's cheeks like he would a child's, making the latter snarl.
Blitzo rolled his eyes. "Oh, boy, here we go."
"Anyway, Stella wants to kill you and I was hoping you can help me stop her."
This caught Striker's interest. "Yeah?"
"Exactly." Stolas booped Striker's nose.
Blitzo let out a sigh of relief. "Finally."
"And Blitzy," Stolas added with a hint of lust, "Would you like to call your other imp friends to join us?"
"Yes and my daughter is hanging out with your daughter and I'll see if I can reach Loonie. I can't bother her if she's hanging out with her friend."
"Tell her it's urgent."
"I'll text her." Blitzo grabbed his phone and texted Loona: Loona, meet me in Stolas' room. I need you there for your safety. He turned to Striker and whispered, "Strike, go check on Loonie and the prince's daughter."
"Got it." Striker slid out of the bed to see Octavia and Loona.
"Good luck, cowboy imp," Stolas whispered as Striker walked out of the room.
Loona texted back saying: But what about Octavia?
Seeing Loona's message, he responded: She can handle herself.
Loona replied: I'll be right there, Blitzo. As soon as she sent the text to her adoptive father, she glanced at Octavia. "Octavia, I've got to see Blitzo and your dad. It's a family emergency." She turned to leave.
"Alright, Loona," Octavia said understandingly, "It was nice spending time with you."
Loona stopped walking to see her friend. "Likewise." The hellhound winked at her and left the bedroom to find Stolas and Blitzo.
Striker was downstairs checking for any signs of Octavia and Loona. To his relief, they were still downstairs.
...
Octavia sighed and came out of her room when she saw her mother glaring down at her. "Mum?"
Seeing Stella for a brief moment, Striker quickly hid behind a wall to overhear the conversation between mother and daughter. He had a gut feeling it wasn't going to end well, although he'd be more than happy if Octavia won.
"I see you've been talking to a hellhound."
"I'm not just a hellhound," Loona corrected the Goetia.
"Loona, go!" Octavia urged, "I can handle this."
"But Octavia-" Loona protested.
"GO!"
Loona wanted to argue and protect her friend, but Stolas and Blitzo really needed her, so she went upstairs.
"Anyway, this hellhound is one of the imp's associates," Stella continued disapprovingly.
"Yeah, so? She's also my friend."
Her mother rubbed her temples. "Ugh! Why would my own daughter be friends with an imp and his hellhound or anyone who associates with an imp? You're just like your father!"
"Well, at least I didn't fuck one," Octavia corrected.
"You-" Stella was at a loss of words. "Ooh, you've stepped out of line, my dear when everything I did was to protect you."
"Dad was there to comfort me when I was a child and you weren't there for me like he was."
Striker gasped. "Poor Octavia," he said to himself, feeling sorry for the young Goetia.
"Octavia! Just remember who nursed you, fed you, clothed you, and put a roof over your head."
"It wasn't just you, Mum."
Stella gasped. "Octavia!"
"I don't understand why you feel the need to treat imps as low class and yet you had the nerve to hire one, anyway to kill my dad?!"
"Octavia, I was only trying to protect you from your cheating father!"
"You were only trying to protect yourself!"
"He broke my heart over and over again and you can be queen, which is what you've been destined to become."
"No, that's what you've been wanting me to become! You use that as an excuse to control my life, but no more! I'm done being controlled by you! I can be friends with whoever I want and Dad loves me no matter what! He, too, is willing to be friends with whatever creatures he wants. You were wrong about Dad and the imps of Hell and you were wrong about ME! And I will NEVER let you control my life AGAIN!"
Striker, who overheard this, smiled that the Goetia daughter had won the argument and realized how much her father meant to her. "Octavia loves him."
Octavia glared at her mother before flipping her off and walked away to join Loona, Blitzo, and her father.
"You want me to be the bad guy, Via?" Stella said with a huff, "Fine. Now, I'm the bad guy." She was about to follow her while Striker went upstairs to warn Stolas and Blitzo.
Upstairs, the cowboy rushed into Stolas' room. "Stolas, your daughter's in trouble!"
"Via!" Stolas gasped. "Blitzy, let's go after my daughter!"
"Alright, Loonie Toonie, let's go rescue your friend and lick some ass!" Blitzo called.
"The expression is kick some ass, Blitzo," Striker corrected as he exited the room.
Blitzo shrugged. "I like my way better." He followed Striker out the door.
"No time to waste! Octavia needs us!" Stolas and Loona took off behind Blitzo.
Striker, Blitzo, Stolas, and Loona dashed down the stairs when they heard a cry for help.
"Octavia!" Stolas cried.
"Stella!" Striker growled with resentment, "That fucking bitch!"
"Dad! Loona!" Octavia called from inside the cage she was locked in by her callus mother, "Somebody help!"
"Don't worry, Octavia!" Loona assured her as she and the cowboy, the prince, and her adopted father were getting close to finding her.
When they finally found Octavia, they breathed a sigh of relief.
"Dad! Loona! You all came for me!" Octavia said, feeling better now that they came to her rescue.
Stella was glaring at the rescue team, who were there to save her daughter. "Hello, Stolas. Striker, and imp and his hellhound," she said with a sadistic smirk.
"I'm not just his hellhound!" Loona corrected defiantly.
"Yeah, she's my daughter!" Blitzo shouted.
"Stella, why do you feel the need to treat your daughter that way?!" the cowboy demanded, hissing with his tail rattling. "I thought we were a team!"
Little did he know that as he said this, Stolas grabbed the key to unlock the cage to save his daughter.
Even Stella paid no attention to her husband and daughter when her main focus was the cowboy imp speaking to her. "Because I expected her to be my next heir when she comes of age and not associate with imps like her father!" Stella replied arrogantly. Then she advanced herself on him, bending down to his level, placing her hand on his hat, adding, "Teamwork begins with two people trusting each other. But you, Striker...are just an imp. So, you're no person."
Striker slapped Stella's hand away. "Don't touch me, BITCH! You hired me for nothing! I don't kill people who have kids, anyway!"
"I gave you those damn weapons, provided you a place to stay, and served you food!"
All of a sudden, Millie and Moxxie broke into the mansion after receiving a call from Blitzo, much to Striker's and Stella's surprise.
At that moment, Octavia was finally freed by her father. "It's okay, Via," Stolas said, "You're safe now, my owlet."
"Oh, no! My beautiful windows!" Stella shrieked.
"Team M and M to the rescue!" Millie exclaimed.
"Mox! Mildred! You came, but why?" Striker asked.
"Let's just say Blitzo called us," Moxxie replied.
"Either way, it's good to see you and your wife again, little dude."
Blitzo smiled at the father and daughter reunion and focused on M and M.
"Got my call, didn't you, M and M?" Blitzo asked.
"Don't we always, sir?" Moxxie replied.
"That's what business is for, Blitzo," Millie told Blitzo.
"I love you, Dad," Octavia told Stolas.
"I love you, too, Via," Stolas answered as he and his daughter hugged.
Striker smiled, touched by the father and daughter bonding.
"Oh, Striker, I can't believe you wasted so much time risking your life for these imps. As for you, Stolas and Octavia, my worthless husband and my ungrateful daughter relying on those imps," Stella mocked.
"That's no way to talk about me and my father, Mum!" Octavia retorted.
"Via's right, Stella!" Stolas pulled out the ring from his finger. "I want a divorce!" With that, he threw the ring in front of his soon-to-be ex-wife.
Stella glanced down at the ring, devastated. "Stolas, how could you do this?"
"Maybe you shouldn't have treated imps as low class, Stella," Striker pointed out, "Have you thought of that?"
This made the female Goetia mad, so she stepped towards him. "Why, you little! You will pay for this!"
"Or will I?" Striker taunted as he, Blitzo, Moxxie, and Millie held onto their weapons, aiming them straight at Stella, while Loona was on her phone, secretly filming the scene.
Stolas remembered just what to do, so he stepped in front of the imps and used his eyes to turn his now ex-wife to stone. The imps behind him watched in amazement on how he'd done it. Even his daughter was surprised to see her mother, who was now stone.
"Well, well, well, now I know how you turn your enemies to stone," Striker said, remembering when he asked Stolas how he turned the tiny imps to stone. "That's pretty impressive."
"Yeah, fuck you, Mum!" Octavia giggled as she flipped the bird at her deceased mother.
Stolas chuckled. "We won't have to hear from her again."
"Boy, was that bitch annoying!" Striker agreed.
"You can say that again, Strike," Blitzo told him.
Striker faced the Goetia child. "Hey, kid. That was bold of you, sticking up for yourself, your friends, and your dad. You deserve so much better than that bitch you were forced to call mother. You and your dad must be very close."
"Via and like to spend time together," Stolas told him and recalled the events that happened in Loo Loo Land, "Though I regret taking her to Loo Loo Land, which was said to be a rip-off of Loo Loo World."
"Which was then set on fire," Moxxie added.
"But at least we had a Thing," Millie remembered.
"At least Dad and I went to Stylish Occult, which sells weird taxidermy," Octavia continued, "Thus, it has books and music."
"Wow, your dad must be very outgoing, little princess," Striker stated.
Octavia crossed her arms and smiled at him. "You can call me Octavia or Via, if you want."
Striker bowed in respect. "Alright, Octavia." He then turned to Stolas. "So, what do you and Octavia do now, Stolas, since your wife is gone?"
"Well, Octavia and I can enjoy ourselves." Stolas wrapped his arm around his child.
"Sounds good to me."
