So the other day, as I was rewatching clips from Helluva Boss (as one does) I started thinking about possible character interactions that I wanted to see. And strangely, the idea of Bee and Striker stuck out to me. I mean, imagine watching Striker try so hard to justify Bee's behavior in his "eat the rich!" mentality while Bee is just being her sweet self. So, this oneshot was born! Hope you all enjoy!
Striker growled.
He wasn't sure from what-anger, pain or even a mix of the two, considering the day he'd just had. Everything seemed to be going perfectly! He had managed to snag a new job and captured both Blitzo and Asmoedus' fuck toy. Sure, he couldn't gut either of them as soon as he caught them, but Crimson assured him that he'd get his chance.
Said chance never came.
Instead, what Striker got was to be humiliated by that clown's stupid song, burned by Blitzo and then forced to run away like a sewer rat, grunting in pain all the while.
So there he was, growling and crawling through a sewer pipe full of who knows what, unarmed and a complete mess. At this point, all he wanted was to be back with Boomproof, who he'd been forced to leave at his hideout.
"Here's hoping this leads me back to Wrath," Striker thought to himself. Once he was back in familiar territory, he could worry about other things, like if his employer was dead or treating his burns that he was fairly certain were now infected. Finally, he saw light coming out of the pipe. It was fairly bright as well, so Striker allowed himself to feel hope.
Only for said hope to quickly be dashed.
Rather than the burning orange of the Wrath sky, Striker found himself under the yellow of Gluttony. Sure, he was still closer to Wrath than he was before, but it still wasn't where he wanted to be. Striker couldn't help but kick a nearby trash can, causing a few people to stare at him, but Striker didn't pay them any mind.
"DAMN IT!" He roared as he clawed at his hair. "Why can't ONE THING go right today!?" Growling again, he stormed off, looking for a sign or something to tell him where the ring elevators were. He didn't get far however, before the adrenaline and rage stopped overriding the burning pain that his body was in. Everything felt like it was on fire. As Striker passed out, he vaguely noticed someone running towards him.
Striker groaned as he awoke. Everything still hurt, but the pain was much duller now. Looking around, he noticed that he was in a hospital of some sort, but he was still in the Gluttony ring from the look of the sky.
"Where am I?" He asked, not expecting his question to be answered.
"You're in my personal hospital!" A cheerful voice declared from the doorway. Striker turned to see one of the people he was pretty sure he wanted to see the least.
The Queen of Gluttony herself, Queen Bee-Lzebub.
In his head, Striker was internally freaking out. He was face to face with a Deadly Sin, completely helpless. He had no weapons and was far too weak to even consider facing her physically. But he couldn't let her see his weakness. No, he refused to look helpless in front of a royal.
"Why did you bring me here?" Striker asked, trying to make sure his tone wasn't sharp or demanding. The last thing he needed right now was for the Queen to get mad and decide to gut him on the spot.
"Cutting right to the chase, huh?" The Queen said with a laugh, causing Striker to bite his tongue to keep from saying anything. "Well, I happened to be on a stroll, making sure everyone in my ring was having a bitchin' good time when I saw you pass out in front of me! You looked pretty roughed up, so I brought you here to recover! What happened to you, anyways? You look like you belong in Wrath, but all your infections are from stuff that I'm pretty sure is in Greed anyways."
"I was down there for a job," Striker replied. No real reason to lie. He would just…leave some details out. "It…didn't go well and I had to crawl through a pipe to escape."
"Damn that's gotta suck. Big payout?" She asked. Striker wanted to tell her to stop sounding so sincere, but, again, he couldn't risk her getting angry with him. At least, not while he was defenseless or lacked any leverage over her.
"Huge one," Striker admitted. That wasn't even a lie. Even without the personal satisfaction he'd get from killing Blitzo, getting all of Asmodeus' Greed ring assets would be huge for Crimson and, by extension, him.
"Oof. Well, if you're feeling better, you can feel free to swing by one of my parties later!" Bee offered. "They're usually most popular with the Hellhounds, but I still get a decent amount of other people."
"Not really my scene," Striker responded. Again, not a lie. He'd never really been a partier and the thought of spending the night with a bunch of drunk idiots wasn't one that really appealed to him. "Although some Beelzejuice sounds great right now." That part slipped out before he could stop himself, but Striker had always been curious to give it a shot. But with how expensive the damn stuff could be, he'd never been able to actually try it. The best he'd gotten was moonshine that was trying to mimic it, but he knew that it would never be as good as the real stuff.
"I can arrange that," Bee assured him. "Just do your best to try not to hurt yourself. I was listening to the doctors and they said you got really banged up. Even if you should be free to go in a few days, you're probably gonna be on antibiotics for a while."
"'Least I'm not dead," Striker grunted out. Flashing him a smile, Bee headed out, leaving the cowboy to stew in his own thoughts. Bee was…weird. All of Hell's royals were stuck up, smug, arrogant bluebloods with silver spoons so far up their asses, they could probably be used to scoop out their brains. But Bee wasn't like that. She seemed, dare Striker say it, actually nice.
"She's putting on an act," His brain scolded him. "She doesn't care and she's going to want something from you when this is all over. Just like they all do." Striker grunted as he realized that was most likely true and that the queen was no doubt putting on an act to keep Striker from getting too hostile. He debated running, but he knew that with all of his injuries, he wasn't getting far. Besides, she'd already pegged him as being from Wrath, so no doubt that she could possibly send someone after him, or have Satan do it for her.
So, much to his dismay, Striker was stuck in Bee's "care" for the time being.
Deciding to see how bad it really was, Striker pulled back the covers and looked over his body. Much of his chest, his wrists and his tail were covered in bandages and Striker had no doubt, judging by the smell, that most of it was infected. Yeah, no way he was getting far even if he did escape. With a groan, he flopped back onto the bed. As soon as he did, a nurse walked in with a couple pills, a bottle and his phone on a tray.
"The drugs are for the infection and Queen Bee insisted on giving you the booze and your phone back. Said she didn't want you getting bored," The nurse said before Striker could ask. She then headed off. Striker first took the pills, scowling at them as if they would magically turn into some date rape or knock out drug. From what he could see, they were normal antibiotics, but he knew that if a royal was giving them to him, there had to be a catch. Still, best to just bite the bullet since he didn't have anyone else to test it for him. He tossed them down his throat and waited.
And waited.
And kept waiting.
After what he could only assume was a decent amount of time, Striker was forced to admit that the pills most likely were antibiotics. Striker then grabbed the bottle and gave it a sniff. It was extremely sweet and Striker realized that it was most likely the Beelzejuice he'd accidentally requested. Still, if Bee had given it to him, he didn't trust it…but at the same time, his curiosity was overpowering him. Slowly, he opened the bottle up and tipped it down his throat.
"Fuck that is sweet!" Striker exclaimed aloud. Thankfully, no one came in to check in on him. He looked back at the bottle and noted that, while a bit too sweet for his taste, wasn't bad. Again, he waited for a bit, fully expecting himself to feel woozy or fall unconscious. And once again, he found that nothing happened.
"She's trying to gain your trust," Again, Striker snapped at himself that there was no way that Bee was actually willing to treat this stranger that crawled out of the gutter without plotting something in return. Still, since he had his phone, it might be best to call Crimson or one of his goons, just to make sure he still had a job. Punching in the contact, Striker held the phone to his ear as he waited for a reply.
"What!?" Crimson's voice snapped on the other line. "What the fuck are you!?"
"Had to crawl through one of the pipes in the junkyard to get away. A fire got started," Striker explained with a grunt as he took another swing from his drink. "Got picked up and I'm stuck in the hospital."
"When do you think you'll be out?" Crimson asked, the frustration clear in his voice. "Normally, I wouldn't be this nice, but I happen to be down on manpower due to a…mistake I made earlier this year. So I need someone of your talents." Striker heard him mumble something about a "fucking shark fucker" but he didn't say anything.
"The doctor said a few days. Some burns and infections," He replied. "Do you need me to come back down to Greed?"
"No. I need to focus on rebuilding so I won't need you for the time being. But stay in contact! Might need you to gut my son and his idiot boss," Crimson grunted before hanging up. Striker couldn't help but crack a smile at this. At least he could spend some time with Bombproof before his next job. Setting his phone aside, Striker went back to his booze. Getting drunk didn't sound like the worst idea right now, mostly so he didn't have to think about being stuck with the Queen of Gluttony for the next few days.
Striker was fairly certain he was going insane.
It had only been about two days, but to Striker, it felt like years. It wasn't just because he was stuck in bed (although that was part of it, because he was always an imp of action who would rather be roaming around Wrath when not on a job) but it was because Queen Bee still had yet to show her true colors! Striker was due to be released in a few days (partly because he had assured the doctor he would be fine and that he wanted to get back to Boomproof as soon as possible) and yet Bee made no attempts to threaten him or warn him that she'd make him pay her back for the treatment in some horrible manner like enslaving him.
Frankly, he wasn't sure what he was planning at this point, but he had a feeling it was going to be utterly horrible.
"Hey! How's my favorite cowboy doing?" Oh, speak of the (literal) devil. Bee strolled through the door, all smiles and linking arms with a Hellhound. "So, we were hanging out and I mentioned you and Vortex here wanted to meet you! Oh, and Tex is also my boyfriend!"
"ANOTHER non royal dating one!?" Striker internally snapped. Sure, he didn't care about Hellhounds, but seeing a lower level demon dating a royal still made his blood boil.
"Hey man! Nice to meet ya!" Vortex greeted him and offered his paw for him to shake. Again, Striker did the thing he knew would keep him safe and just shook it. "So, you got a name, cowboy?"
"...Rather not say," Striker replied as he looked away.
"You got some secrets, huh?" Vortex asked, even though he wasn't really expecting a response. "I can respect that. No one here has a clean slate."
"Well, unless you are Lucifer's daughter!" Bee chimed in with a chuckle. "Like, I don't know how that bitch was even born down here! She doesn't have a mean bone in her body!"
"She does. It's just behind closed doors," Striker internally replied, but, again, refused to voice his thoughts. After all, anyone who was willing to work with the Radio Demon of all people was bound to have something up with them.
"ANYways, speaking of her, I've got a meeting with the other sins, so I gotta bounce," Bee said as she took up. "Tex, sorry to cut this short, but you know how Luci gets!"
"It's already babe," Vortex assured her. The duo shared a quick nuzzle before Bee flew off. Vortex then moved to do the same, but then Striker decided to speak up.
"So what's her plan for me?" He asked bitterly. "How's she making me pay her back?"
"Uh, what are you talking about?" Vortex asked, both a little concerned and a little curious.
"You know what I'm talking about," Striker replied, a little annoyed at Bee's little pet daring to play dumb when he was probably in on it. "She's a royal. She'd never treat someone like me out of the good of her heart. There's something in it for her."
Vortex couldn't help but laugh. "You've got quite the chip on your shoulder, huh? Is it so hard to believe that Bee really is a good person?"
"Don't laugh, mutt," Striker growled. He still wasn't feeling his best and Vortex clearly had some muscle on him, but he was hoping he could intimidate the Hellhound into backing down. "She said it herself-nobody down here is clean and all of those blueblood bastards are parasites who leech off the lower classes."
"Not gonna lie, you do have a point," Vortex admitted as he leaned against the wall. "Bee rants a lot about how stuck up and snobby she thinks the Goetia are and, from what I've heard about him, Mammon is certainly a piece of work. But just like how us Hellhounds aren't all slobbering, savage mutts, not all royals are bad people."
"I'll believe that when I see it," Striker grumbled as he looked away.
Vortex simply chuckled again. "I think you already have. You just don't want to believe it." With that, he headed out, leaving a disbelieving Striker. Was it true? Could…could a royal actually care about a lower demon?
"...Yeah, right," Striker mumbled as he decided to get some sleep. "She's just waiting until I'm better."
"You said you needed to get back to Wrath, right?" Bee asked. Striker was feeling a lot better and, dare he say it, Bee actually looked happy about it.
"Yeah. Got a Hellhorse I need to get back to," Striker replied, still doing his best to keep his answers short and unrevealing.
"Well, the Hellavator isn't too far from here," Bee began to explain. "Head into town and it's right in the center. You shouldn't miss it."
"Thanks," Striker said with a nod. He then decided to bite the bullet. Best to just get it over with now then waiting for some goons to jump him. Last thing he needed was them botching up a job. "So…what do you want from me? People like you don't give people like me free shit unless you want something from me." Bee took a moment to regard that response as she thought about her reply. Vortex had warned her about how bitter Striker was towards the higher ups of Hell, but she still found herself at a loss on just how to get through to him.
"Is it so wrong to believe that I was just after the good vibes I'd get from helping someone who needed it? Like, I usually can't make my own vibes, so getting to do it is like, fucking crazy," Bee responded. "You know, the offer to swing by one of my parties still stands. You seem like you need it."
"Er…" Now it was Striker's turn to be at a loss for words. Bee really was just as nice as Vortex said and as she appeared. But that was impossible! She was a member of the Seven Deadly Sins! They only answered to Lucifer himself! So why wasn't she acting like an entitled bitch?! "I…think about it." With that, he headed out and felt like he was stumbling around in a daze as his bitter, twisted mind tried to process everything he just learned.
A royal of Hell could actually be good. Or at least, good by Hell standards.
And Striker found himself unable to summon the same hatred he could for a Goetia that he could for Bee. He was trying so hard to hate her. But he just couldn't.
As Striker continued to walk towards the Hellavator, he felt something in his pocket. Quickly reaching in, he pulled out a bottle of Beelzejuice. A rather fancy looking one from the looks of it. It was then when Striker finally allowed himself to smile.
When he finally staked his claim over Hell…he'd spare Bee. At least there was one good egg in that mess up top. And maybe, just maybe, he'd think about going to one of those parties.
So I know this interaction is never going to happen since Bee is most likely never going to appear again (considering who voices her) but I just had to give it a shot. But how did I do? Let me know!