Helluva Accountable 3 - (Helluva Boss, Human!SI)

A day at one of the cheapest Amusement Park was not how I envisioned my job day to be without much of a warning.

Likewise, I didn't expect for my role to be the 'wallet-keeper' as we were hired by Prince Stolas himself to act as his bodyguard. I am familiar with the reasons leading the noble Goetic fellow to ask us: he was in a 'complicated relationship' with my boss.

Now, there's nothing wrong with that if it wasn't a matter that could easily fuck us over on a legal, moral and potentially deadly way. Prince Stolas was... How do I put it, a good guy.

He wasn't the classic 'snot-nosed noble', not with a degree of 'awareness' of Hell's lower classes through what little bond he had with Blitzo. The issue was the family he was born into. The entire Goetia Family was a mess and a half, with King Paimon being the hugest dickhead of them all.

Known to have multiple heirs, Paimon picked Stolas due to his affinity to the powers he was bestowed with. But, alas, one would be foolish to assume that Stolas was the 'chief in charge'. He was the heir. And his daughter, Octavia, was a 'replacement' in case he was to perish.

Octavia or 'Via' as the Prince happily called her was... a young adult. And one that was not dumb. Via was the equivalent of a sheltered girl realizing that the beautiful castle she was born to be a princess of was one of lies. Well, mostly lies.

I am not sure how long it took for her to realize this- maybe it happened when Stolas declared he would divorce her mother, but I was confident as we were strolling in this pathetic place meant to draw amusement out of families that could barely make it to the end of the day that Via was not react to this 'right'.

Stolas did a major fuck up, which was using a plan that would have been perfect if it hadn't been geared for the 'wrong age group'. In his mind, this was where happiness could be given to his daughter... back when she was a child.

Via was 18, still deep in her edgy My Chemical Romance phase, and quite distressed by the place herself as any smart adults would be. But the worst part was that she was clever enough to know why this sudden visit was happening. Which turned the expected disdain into a worse mood alright.

The main attraction of this place was a Fizzarolli Robot that was made by Mammon. An old variant at that, possibly pirated considering that Mammon would hardly invest in a shithole like this one. He may be a sellout, but I doubted the cheaply-maintained bot was a sign of 'commitment'.

Sitting down for the 'spectacle', I was already reminded why I hardly visited the yearly circus at home. The stench of animals' crap was just unpleasant and the rotting scent of the fabric of the animatronics really gave off the whole 'FNAF RL' experience a new meaning.

Right as the spectacle started and I braced for the nightmare fuel it promised, I saw Octavia stand up. "Need to use the bathroom."

"I can escort you to-"

"I can't go there without having you hold my hand, dad!" She snapped, leaving Stolas to recoil in surprise and hurt, while Blitzo nodded at me as I stood up and followed her where she was going.

Octavia noticed this, and scowled, waiting as we were out of sight from Stolas and my boss to actually turn around and gave me a harsh look.

"I want to be left alone."

I rolled by eyes. "Tough luck, I am not getting paid to follow your orders."

"Well, I don't care. I just... I just want to-"

"Be left alone, I get it. But making it seem like you are being crushed 24/7 is a bit overkill now," I argued, and she turned to resume walking.

Not in the mood of a conversation? That makes the two of us.

Ultimately we found where the bathroom stalls were and-

"That's disgusting."

Via's comment mirrored my thought as we were staring and grimacing at what appeared to be a case of public sex with a couple of Imps. Some were guys, some were girls, others were just difficult to identify beyond being Imps- it was a fucking dogpile of imps. And since this place was a little hellhole, I doubted anyone truly cared of 'cleaning up'.

"Why... why is this place still up?"

"Money laundering, possibly," I answered flatly, with Via giving me a frown and I decided to elaborate. "Those places are known as 'zombie businesses'. Paid by some investors that need to 'explain' why they are making more money than they should be entitled to."

"I am aware it's a crappy park but... Ugh," Shaking her head and turning to another hall, the Princess walked away, deep in her thoughts as she considered what she was supposed to do now. "Is there even a place to find some peace?"

"Possibly your room, but that's not exactly an option," I reminded, causing her to pause and glare at me. "What?"

"You... You are annoying."

"And you are a brat. One with reasons to be like that, but still going a bit off the bitchy chart."

"E-Excuse you!? You don't know what-"

"I doubt you even know the full story of the divorce. And trust me when I say that you are not at fault for being upset regardless of any details," I interjected dryly, giving her a sharp look. "And yes, it's available info that anyone could look into but prefers not to for reportage."

There was a lengthy pause at that and part of her anger morphed in curiosity. "You... do?"

"Well, it's not like it's a big secret. You just need to know how to look around the web."

Finding a place to sit that wasn't filthy for some unpleasant reason was difficult, but overall we did find a place where we could just sit down and I could get my Laptop operative. Via was familiar with computers, not much in the matters of 'portable ones' as I suspected hers may be a few decades older than I had imagined.

The little search was through sites I had verified already, and while it didn't exactly answer all questions, it answered a few core ones to a few things Via should be knowing.

King Paimon was a jerk (not a surprising claim) and he had forced Via's father in an arranged marriage at a young age. That bit Via was familiar with but not at the age of when she was born as she hardly knew her father's real age up until that point.

"So that's why dad was so busy with books even then... he was still studying!"

"And that's only the tip of the iceberg, Via," I argued as more stuff came up for her to read.

It was less pleasant for her to accept how her mother may have a few hands with some corrupt nobles, but she remembered their faces as frequent guests at their home. Likewise, she was familiar with her mother's outburst to accept how she may have abused a few workers at their home from time to time, so the claims of assault may not have been exaggerated. Then it came down to the issue at hand that wasn't answerable by any website.

"I guess that explains why dad is divorcing but... why so suddenly? A-And why didn't he tell me?"

I remained calm as I let her vent a little bit. This was the main issue, where all that upset truly came from. 'Why?' and 'How could he not see what he was also doing with this decision?'.

Via was collateral damage and, truth be told, I couldn't blame Stolas for taking a step in any direction that was healthy. It would have hurt Via one way or another, so it was fair to rip the tape now rather than let it linger too long.

"...Why?"

"Because it was a hurtful decision, and he doesn't want to hurt you-"

"I would have understood," Octavia argued, fists shaking as she fought off the tears. "I-I would have been strong."

"No. You are strong now that you had the chance to work it out of your system. But given that challenge back before it was announced? Probably would have done a whole lot more damage to you."

"You don't-"

"I had to deal with a lot of familial crisis as the older sibling," I remarked curtly, stopping her again. "And I don't like to interject so much, but trust me I had this kind of situation by being in your shoes. Not pleasant- far from it. But the truth is that it's best to hear it this way: life sucks for all. Yours just had one of the finest headstart into a good future, but you are going to see a lot of bad things in people around you, same for family. Your dad? Good guy, but he is not in a good situation and I doubt you haven't seen that. But try to put yourself in his position: how would you have dealt with it?"

She opened her beak and... paused. It was a few seconds later that she tried to speak up. "I would have- I guess I would just have said that- that I am..."

"The answer to that is that there's no good solution," I suggested, leaning back a moment and looking away. "There's no fucking good solution to a big fucking problem like that. You were going to be hurt regardless of the choice. In fact, this made you hurt less than it could have been with other options. And while I am not saying you should just 'suck it up' and just roll with it, at least accept the fact that you really need to talk this through with your father. You can't exactly know what made him do what he did just by some articles. He'll be honest to you."

"...You think so?"

"I know so. And I think we should get back since we've been at this for... half an hour? Unless you plan to tell your dad you had to take a dump here, I doubt you want to stay here any longer."

Gawking at the words I chose, Via playfully slapped my arm, trying to play it off as she was mildly upset but I saw her beak arc in a brief smile in that 'serious effort'.

Still, as we got back we found out that the Fizzarolli Bot went a bit crazy, Stolas was almost kidnapped and, as Via asked to speak in private with her father, I had to rely on my good ol' handgun and try to kill the motherfucking robo-wanker trying to kill my source of income.

At least this bloody place got burned down once we were through with this mess... and I got Via's number as a friend.

...

Yes, I mean just a friend as I had to actually stress to Verosika she couldn't get a booty call from Prince Stolas' daughter, or we would be screwed the deadly way.

AN

Next time... shit hits the fan about the relationship Blitzo refuses to believe exist. And John may be hitting a bit of rock-bottom for a while. The 'clever guy' may be the one in need of help.

Sadly for him, the job goes on as usual.