As Fizzarolli sat in the corner of the room, his was heart racing and his body trembling. He had been taken hostage by a group of Imps that were part of a gang that wanted to change the world and make it fair for everyone. Their leader, Striker, wanted to use him as a bargaining chip, threatening to kill him if the other princes of Hell did not give in to their demands. Can he successfully escape this dire situation?
Fizzarolli had been held at the gang's den for a few hours now, and was starting to lose hope of a swift rescue. He thought of Asmodeus, and how worried he must be right now. He thought of his fans, and how unsettled they would have been if they had seen him in this state. He was tired and hungry, and he just wanted to go home. He just wanted to be safe again, in Asmodeus' arms. The situation which he now understood more clearly was extremely morally complicated.
Suddenly, Striker entered the room, holding a plate of raunchy food and a glass of water.
"Here you go, Fizzarolli. Eat up." he said, mockingly.
Fizzarolli didn't want to eat anything Striker gave him.
"What's up, are you not hungry, jester?" Striker demanded angrily. "You think you're special, don't you? That you're better than us, just because you're famous." Striker said, looking at Fizzarolli with disgust.
"That's not true!" Fizzarolli protested. "I never thought I was better than anyone else!" But even though he tried hard to deny these allegations, nobody believed him. And how could they? He was rich, powerful and famous - everything that they weren't.
Striker started walking towards Fizzarolli, still holding the plate and glass of water.
"You know what, I'm not hungry." Fizzarolli said, turning his head away from Striker and closing his eyes.
"Suit yourself. You're going to need all the energy you can get, Fizzarolli. I've got big plans for you." Striker said, with an evil smirk on his face.
Striker left the room, slamming the door behind him, leaving Fizzarolli alone once again. Fizzarolli sighed in frustration and looked down at the floor. Striker laughed menacingly and took out a pair of handcuffs from his pocket, quickly locking them around Fizzarolli's wrists. Fizzarolli struggled against the restraints, but it was no use. Striker was much stronger than he was, and he had no chance of escaping.
"We've come to a resolution. You will go back to Blitzo's house and spend your time there until we will get your ransom." said Striker, after some of the other imps came into the room where Fizzarolli was held hostage and discussed things amongst themselves for a long while. They then made their way towards Fizzarolli.
"A ransom? Does anyone else know I'm here even?" uttered Fizzarolli, scared.
"Yeah, someone has noticed you were missing at y'alls little party yesterday night! Your rich boyfriend wants you back, circus boy." one of the Imp's explained.
Fizzarolli was then brought back to Blitzo's shack. However, this time Moxxie wasn't alone but was instead joined by another extremely tall imp wearing a trenchcoat and a hat hiding its face. Blitzo was also there and had a weird smirk on his face as if he had accomplished something sinister.
"Blitzo? What is happening?" asked Fizzarolli, scared.
"I convinced Stolas to get me more money to keep our plans going. Now he needs my help to clean up that fuckery that happened to his precious palace." responded Blitzo, snarky.
"What do you mean? Why would Stolas be helping you after what you did?" Fizzarolli exclaimed, bewildered.
"I think that's none of your business, jester," Moxxie replied.
Fizzarolli was confused, why was Stolas acting so friendly to Blitzo? Surely it couldn't be him under that trenchcoat...could it? But before he could ask any questions, the mysterious tall being turned around and headed for the door.
Blitzo then turned towards the other imp.
"Hey, Millie, I'll come back later to talk with you and Moxxie. We have big news!" Blitzo proclaimed, sounding confident. Then he left.
Moxxie closed the door, returning to sit with Fizzarolli, tying him up to a chair.
"Now listen here, we don't like kidnapping people. Just behave well, play along with what the others ask you to do and don't try anything stupid to escape and we will set you free sooner or later," Moxxie whispered to Fizz.
"How can you work with that thug, Striker? There are so many things I don't understand right now... I thought Blitzo cared about me, and you two don't seem as bad as the others. Why would you be targeting me when I was already trying to help?" questioned Fizzarolli desperately.
"Well, Striker doesn't give us much choice about these things. He's always been in control ever since he was a kid..." answered Moxxie with sadness in his eyes.
Moxxie didn't seem to hold animosity towards Fizzarolli. After seeing Striker almost hurt and threaten Fizzarolli to death, he felt compelled to defend Fizzarolli a little even though he also knew they were doing an immoral thing to keep him locked up. The problem was that his morality clashed against the morals of the other people inside the group, who held no compassion whatsoever to the rich ones.
However, Moxxie couldn't just let someone innocent and caring being subjected to torture at the hands of those monsters, could he? But the answer wasn't clear to him at all... He also knew his wife would want to save the poor person from these dangerous criminals, even if this meant disobeying the direct orders of a very strong Imp and leader of the group. But would he ever forgive himself for his actions if he were caught? Could he really live with himself if something happened to him because he had helped somebody else? Or was he going to stay in bed, waiting for his boss and his fellow Imp friends to return from their mission, with a guilty conscience and regret?
Fizzarolli understood immediately that Moxxie wanted to keep Fizzarolli safe as he seemed unwillingly a hostage of Striker but was conflicted to act against Striker without hurting the relationship between him and Blitzo or causing some internal conflict within the group. Then, Millie entered the room with three bags and sat near Moxxie.
"Striker told me to get rid of the leftover food from last week so we wouldn't waste our resources," she said with a hint of annoyance in her voice.
Millie and Moxxie went into another room, leaving Fizzarolli alone to ponder what could be done for his rescue, or more importantly how to get Moxxie and Millie off the hook while also avoiding the wrath of Striker after escaping his lair. As he struggled with his thoughts, Blitzo arrived home, making a huge fuss about having secured the ransom. He explained everything that Stolas told him over the phone in a hurry to make his companions excited before going inside to check up on Fizzarolli.
"Ahhh I can't believe you were here during my time of glory! Guess you're a lucky one after all!", chuckled Blitzo.
The only emotion that showed through Fizzarolli's tired and hopeless face was a slight annoyance; "Yeah well...good for you I guess." responded back sarcastically. Fizzarolli's sarcasm was not wasted upon the others around him either, but Blitzo quickly moved onto another topic;
"Alright I've got good news for you today boys!" announced Blitzo to his associates who surrounded the couch eagerly waiting for his grand announcement. "Turns out ol' money bag owl prince is finally gonna be useful to us!" said proudly pointing at Fizzarolli. All the imps except for the tied up jester applauded and cheered, which prompted Blitzo to continue further explaining in more detail why they shouldn't celebrate yet;
"Now listen carefully ya guys this isn't easy stuff alright? I've just spoken to him and he's going to mediate between us and Asmodeus, since after last night's incident he's willing to pay anything! BUT-" warned Blitzo sternly silencing all present Imp's, including Moxxie and Millie who were listening closely as if expecting good news for them too. Blitzo then continued saying:
"This does not mean that you'll receive any portion of his payment until things calm down okay? We might even end up working for him once we finish off Mammon! So don't let this news go straight into your head otherwise it won't be there anymore amiright!?" finished the tall Imp laughing like mad with no response from his followers except looks of confusion between themselves. After such an awkward silence, Fizzarolli broke it by clearing his throat loudly making all eyes look at him expectantly for his comment. When nobody spoke up, he decided to do just that despite being unsure whether or not someone would punch his teeth out afterwards, asking quietly so only Blitzo could hear him, "Excuse me sir... May I use the bathroom please?"
Blitzo looked dumbfounded by such question given their current situation, and after a moment of thinking it through answered rather annoyed;
"What- Why of course! Go ahead." allowing the hostages bodyguard to take Fizzarolli to the toilet in the basement.
After locking the door securely behind them (as if Fizzarolli could run away without Blitzo noticing), Fizzarolli was finally alone. With his incredible flexibility, he started untying his hands from each other slowly revealing deep rope marks burned into his wrist flesh along with blood oozing down slightly onto both surfaces... Fizzarolli winced when he felt cold air touch him suddenly but kept silent about how much pain he was actually feeling right now which would definitely make getting out of these restraints a lot harder than usual. Finally managing to free himself fully, he quickly moved on towards removing feet and ankles bindings until those parts followed suit, giving him enough freedom of movement to move more easily around freely... Now he needed to look for a way to escape. The jester turned around to check whether the door was still closed. Then, he noticed a window on the roof, which he could easily reach by elongating himself. However, as soon as he had put his foot on the sink to climb it, he heard noises outside. He hid behind the door, but couldn't avoid hearing what was going on.
"Hey Moxxie! What are you doing here?!" asked Blitzo in a confused manner.
"Oh uh I was just checking if our hostage was behaving properly..." replied nervously Moxxie trying desperately to think of a good excuse for why he was downstairs where Blitzo told him not to go unless ordered. Luckily, Millie came to help her husband save face in front of their boss, shouting out loud:
"Actually we were worried he might try something stupid like escaping so we thought it best to guard him until he's returned safely back home! We didn't want anything happening again after last night!" explaining in detail everything that happened as per usual when Millie covers for Moxxie whenever he makes mistakes during missions.
This seemed to satisfy Blitzo's curiosity since he accepted her explanation immediately while telling them "Well you did good! Keep it up! Now get outta my way! I needa go number 2 in peace!", letting them walk past him without another word. Once they left upstairs completely, Fizzarolli opened the window carefully, making sure nobody else was nearby before climbing out onto the roof silently.
The next part of the plan was getting down from here without being seen by anybody else around this building especially Blitzo or Striker themselves... Fortunately, he spotted some pipes leading downwards towards ground level. So without wasting any further time, Fizzarolli started sliding his body along smooth metal bars towards freedom, occasionally having to stop every now and then due to how hurt he was. Finally, after about five minutes of constant effort without stopping once (which would surely leave bruises later), he reached ground level unscathed except for minor cuts along arms and legs... Now all that remained was running away unnoticed!
As soon as he touched the dirt with his feet however, an unexpected voice echoed inside his head reminding him how dangerous it would be for him to try and escape alone since he still doesn't know exactly where they kept his cellphone or wallet... But maybe there's still hope for him yet? As long as he managed somehow to get into contact with Asmodeus, Fizzarolli could probably get himself rescued fairly quickly. With renewed confidence, he began sprinting towards where he remembered seeing a telephone box located not too far from here earlier today... Unfortunately though, just as he entered through its open door ready to dial emergency services number, he turned his head only to notice Moxxie looking at him from the distance with his eyes wide open.
Then, unexpectedly, Moxxie turned around, pretending he hadn't seen Fizzarolli.
Fizzarolli couldn't believe what happened just now... Was Moxxie trying to help him escape?! No way that could possibly happen! And yet, Moxxie had acted as if he didn't see him enter the phone booth. This was definitely weird indeed... But also encouraging since it meant that not all Imps in this group wanted to keep him hostage forever even if it did seem like so. Without hesitation, Fizzarolli dialled Asmodeus' number and waited anxiously for him to answer. But the telephone didn't work. He tried again several times before giving up on calling him directly. Frustrated by this turn of events, Fizzarolli decided to use his knowledge from earlier instead of relying solely upon luck anymore; he knew roughly how to get back to the Lust Mansion from here after memorizing its exact location while being kidnapped. So without wasting another minute, Fizzarolli ran straight ahead heading north towards safety away from this dangerous neighbourhood.