WARNING: The following contains graphic violence, strong language, sexual themes, graphic torture and injury description, self-harming, character death, as well as rampant demon horniness... so yes, it's intended for mature audiences.

VIEWER/READER DISCRETION IS ADVISED!

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Short AN- Switches in POV between Ayden and M&M in this chapter

3rd Person POV

*Zzzzzzz....*

A pile of blankets on the couch in Millie and Moxxie's apartment slowly rose and fell with the snores of the demon cat slightly curled up under them.

*BV-VVV!*

But a vibration from her phone woke her up as she stretched like a cat would before shaking herself off and freeing herself from the blankets haphazardly wrapped around her.

*BV-VVV!*

With a yawn while rubbing her eye with a fist, Ayden disconnected her phone from the charger and turned it on revealing her lock screen to be a group selfie with the I.M.P. group before unlocking it to reveal her home screen wallpaper to be a collage of pictures of her and Via as well as her, Remi, and Alex and one of her and Loona.

Finally navigating over to the Messages app, Ayden perked up a bit when she saw she had two messages from Via, who had a yellow heart and stars emojis by her contact name,

*Hey, can't wait for our sleepover tonight*

*Don't forget the snacks!*

A jolt shot through Ayden as she remembered that their sleepover was in fact that night at Via's place and she had agreed to bring food over.

Only...

"Shite! I did fo'get snacks!" She remembered making her bolt off the couch to rush to the bathroom before realizing she had forgotten her clothes and hurried back to grab them.

Millie was walking out of her and Moxxie's room, already dressed, when she saw Ayden hurrying by with her clothes in paw and questioned,

"Good morning?"

"Mornin' Millie." She rushed past her to get to the bathroom and shut the door behind her.

"I didn't think you'd be in such a rush for today." Millie spoke to her through the door making Ayden ask, voice slightly muffled through the door,

"Whaddya talkin' 'bout?"

"Today's Loona's Hellbies shot day."

"What?!" Ayden threw the door open to reveal she'd finished changing before going back over to her "bed" to half-ass fold her blankets to hide them under the throw pillows and couch cushions as she asked her, "I thought that wa'n't til t'morrow?"

"Nope. It's today." Millie responded before noticing Ayden scrambling around replacing the weapons in her satchel for her phone charger, her pj's, and a few other things before asking her, "Uhh didja have something else today?"

"T'night's my sleepover with Via an' I gotta go grab snacks b'fore." Ayden turned to face Millie as she was grabbing her wallet from her drawer set, failing to notice that her family photo was stuck in the outer pocket before it was shoved into her satchel, "'Nless you all need me the'e now?"

"No no!" Millie was quick to assure her, "Go get your things together for your night with your little friend, I'll let B know you had a change in plans."

"I jus' hope Loona doe'n't get mad at me fer bailin'." Ayden shivered a bit as she thought of the possible things Loona could dish out when she was pissed enough.

"Oh psh!" Millie waved a hand as Ayden finished packing up with a wrapped gift box decorated in little childishly drawn stars and made-up constellations and a long gray feather in the bow, taking extra care to pack that in, before Millie continued with, "You two've been on the best footing I've ever seen since the L.A. thing."

At the reminder of that event, Ayden's ears dropped a bit and she halted in her actions to zip up her satchel and Millie seemed to catch onto that so she hurried to say,

"Ya better skedaddle before Moxxie gets up and starts complainin' about the change in plans."

Making Ayden bolted back up as she slung her satchel over her shoulder and waved to Millie,

"See ya t'morrow!"

Before she rushed out the door, closing it loudly behind her making Millie smile just as Moxxie walked out, already dressed too, but needing coffee from the way he was yawning,

"*Yaaaahhhh...* Where's Ayden? Blitzø's gonna be here in a few minutes..."

"'Parently she has her sleepover with Stolas's kid tonight and needed to get some things last-minute."

"That's nice..."

"You're not mad about the plan changing?" Millie asked a bit confused as to the change in behavior for him.

"Nah..." Moxxie waved a hand dismissively as he went to the kitchen to ready the kettle for coffee explaining, "She's 16, teenagers usually do things and make plans without telling their parents but, as long as she's safe, it's alright..."

"Wow when did you get all ~laissez-faire~..." Millie purred in a French tone while swirling a finger under her husband's chin making the both of them blush as he answered while taking a sip of coffee to hide his sheepish grin before kissing his wife,

"I guess the day we became semi-official adoptive parents to a human hellcat hybrid teen.*MMMWAH!*"

The two of them stayed in their kiss before Moxxie eventually pulled away to ask,

"Speaking of, what about our surprise?"

"Eh we can surprise her with it when she comes home tomorrow morning. We still have a few things to get done and papers to sign right?"

"Right." Moxxie confirmed before they heard the I.M.P. van skid up to the curb on the street below before the horn honked,

*BEEEEEP!*

"Let's get going then. Better tell Blitzø the change in plans." Moxxie poured his and Millie's coffees into to-go cups before they headed out only for a few seconds later-

"SHE FUCKING WHAT?!"

Meanwhile, later that day, Ayden was walking out of Riskway with a shopping bag full of spicy popcorn, rat jerky, a jug of soda, and different types of sweets for her night with her best friend,

*GRRRR...*

When her stomach growled at her for what felt like the millionth time in the last few days making her tempted to eat one of the snacks now but she stopped herself and shook her head to reason,

"Not til we get ta Via's."

*BV-VVV!*

"Speakin' of..." Ayden pulled her phone out of her pocket to see her message,

*Where are you?*

Before texting back,

*Got the grub!*

*Be there in a few*

Smiling when she got a thumbs-up reaction on both messages from Via, Ayden pocketed her phone before looking around for a place to duck into to make a portal to the Goetia mansion.

"The'e's good." She noted as she walked toward "Richest Cup Café," snorting derisively at the slogan "Where the poor pour for you!" posted on the side, and hurried behind the building.

Right as she slung the shopping bag over her shoulder to ready her digit for portal drawing though, her ear twitched as she faintly heard the sound of some gunshots fired off from inside the cafe.

"What the...?" She let her paw fall and she tilted her head in the direction of the scuffle sounds.

*TCH!*

Abruptly, the door from the cafe to the alley was thrown open right before Stolas flew out, only to fall to the ground with a glowing white rope wrapped around his torso and his hat falling off his head as he commented unworriedly,

"Oh, dear... this is worrisome."

"Stolas?!" Ayden exclaimed before dropping the shopping bag to get to him while reaching into her satchel for her scythe head-

"Shite!"

Only to remember she left it at home along with most of her weapons and decided to try clawing the rope off-

*TCHR!*

*TSSS!*

"YAH!"

Only to feel as if she'd stuck her paw in a pot of freezing cold water the second she made contact with the glowing rope making her pull back as wisps of smoke rose off her claws but that didn't stop her from trying again.

"HRR-AGH!"

But, just as she was about to bring her claws down again, something smacked into her side making her fly against the wall on the opposite side of the alley.

"Ah ah ah..." A notoriously familiar voice mocked her making her grit her teeth and hiss,

"You!"

Facing Striker as he sneered,

"Long time no see, Kit... Looks like ya saved me the trouble of findin' ya later so now... I get to kill two birds with one stone."

"I do hope you mean that metaphorically..." Stolas spoke up from his position on the ground but neither of them seemed to notice as Ayden got into a fight-ready stance with sparks popping around her fists as she hissed,

"I'd like ta see ya try dickwad..."

As Striker whirled one of his Blessed Revolvers into his grasp to shoot at her.

*PEW!*

But she managed to dodge and rushed forward to try and throw a flaming punch-

*CLINK!*

But Striker managed to catch her wrist in some kind of Angelic manacle, negating her hellfire abilities from the way they almost instantly extinguished once it locked on making Striker smirk and give a haughty snort.

"I don' need my powers to kick yer arse..." Ayden growled despite the seeming disadvantage as she quickly yanked on her chained paw to pull Striker forward in an attempt to throw him off balance so she could sweep-kick him off his feet like Millie taught her.

However, Striker seemed to catch onto what she was planning and he stomped his boot down to stabilize his footing and instead swung Ayden off balance before slamming her back first into the wall hard enough to disorient her just as he snapped the other manacle onto her other paw and let her drop to the ground.

"Hrrr..." Ayden growled in dizzying pain as she lay on the ground before she hurriedly pushed herself upright with her feet as Striker sneered down at her,

"You were sayin'..."

In a quick second, her tail came out to try to sucker-punch him but he caught it with ease with both hands to scoff,

"Since ya didn't learn last time..."

*KRCK!*

"GAH-RR!" Ayden bit down on her scream and even Stolas grimaced as Striker broke her tail in two opposite directions again.

*CLICK!*

Some bystanders were starting to see what was going on with one of them taking pictures before Striker hissed at them with his tail rattling threateningly and his pistol in hand making them scurry away just as fast before he muttered,

"Time ta go..."

Putting his fingers to his mouth to whistle,

*FWEEEEEET!*

Summoning his hellhorse Bombproof, who arrived a few seconds later, stomping on Ayden's shopping bag of snacks to make it over to his master.

"Let's move it." Striker loaded Stolas onto Bombproof's back with little to no resistance from him while Ayden struggled a bit more until Striker gave her a swift punch to the diaphragm to weaken her even more before she was loaded up next to Stolas and Striker mounted his steed to start riding off.

Meanwhile, with the imps and Loona, Blitzø was driving the van before his phone started to ring with a bird chirping hoot ringtone as he answered with a light-but-hiding-some-tension tone,

"Oh, shit. Stooolaaas! It's really not a good time, buddy..."

*I'm sorry it's a bad time yet again, Blitzy. But, umm... we seem to have found ourselves in a bit of a sitch.*

"We?"

"Ayden and I are tied on the back of a horse at the moment." Stolas was revealed to have his phone in his hand on the call as he surveyed the passing area around him.

"What?!" Millie and Moxxie exclaimed in unison with worry for Ayden but Blitzø just scoffed,

"Pretty sure she's not enjoying it but pffttt... you lucky bitch."

"Um, well, no. Rather unlucky. We seem to have been stolen by that little cowboy friend of yours."

"Ohh, which one?" Blitzø asked making Moxxie question incredulously,

"How many cowboys do you know?" Before he asked Stolas through the phone, "What does he look like, your highness?"

Making Stolas glance up at Striker's smirking face before he answered honestly,

"Hmmm... sexy?"

"That's Striker, sir!" Moxxie realized and Blitzø questioned,

"Oh, for fuck's sake! Can't either of you just get away? Aren't you both powerful?"

"I believe he has bound me with blessed rope and Ayden with blessed manacles, which limits our abilities to free ourselves, I'm afraid. So, I think you should come save me errh.. us."

"Oh, shit. Stolas, I can't today, alright? I'm sorry. I-I'm literally on my way to take Loona in for her very important Hellbies s-h-o-t." Blitzø told him with a slight stutter as he tried to keep from freaking out Loona even more than she already was at the moment before he continued with, "It takes years to book an appointment at this place, it took five for me to get this one. So, you know- eh, and she's been doing a lot of field work. So, you know, she needs it."

"Oh, ha, ha. Well, I do agree that is very important... But, I-" Stolas agreed but was about to start protesting when Striker interrupted with,

"Would you shut up already? I can hear you, by the way."

Swiping Stolas's phone with his tail he told Blitzø and the couple,

"Don't worry about your lanky birdy... he's in good hands." Striker started to crush the phone in his hands as he threatened, "And you can tell the pair they don' hafta worry 'bout this kid 'nymore cause her Pa's reeeaaally looking forward to a family reunion heheheheh..."

The call cut off from their end with a cracking sound and the imps exchanged worried looks.

"Oh, shit." Stolas started to realize, "Am I in danger right now?"

"Wh't was yer fi'st fuckin' clue...?!" Ayden slurred out as she started to come to but was still too out of breath and weakened to do anything.

Back with the others, Blitzø crushed his phone in his grip angrily before moving the clutch forward beyond what was allowed so the van could barrel down the highway, forcing other cars aside as he snapped,

"Gaaagh, damn it!"

Before Millie spoke up,

"Sir, let me and Moxxie handle this one."

"Okay, are you sure that you two got this alone?" Blitzø asked while facing them as he drove blindly down the road.

"We can do it, sir. Together, we are a lethal combo." Moxxie assured him as Millie placed a red cowboy hat on his head before he added, "And we both have a score to settle with that dickhead outside of him kidnapping our kid."

"Alright. Well, hurry. Stolas sounds like he might be in real shit this time with the Furball." Blitzø told them as he pulled the van right up to the St. An's Hospital before dropping his keys into Moxxie's hand as he added, "And knowing THAT guy's aesthetic, my money's that he's in Wrath."

"Now, get your asses down there and look for some cowboy crap or something." Blitzø told them as he carried Loona out of the van over his head, slamming the door shut behind him so Moxxie could drive the van away.

As the couple drove, Millie noticed Moxxie's hand clenching on the steering wheel and tried to assure him,

"We're gonna get them both back."

"We have to get her back!" Moxxie emphasized before rambling as his grip kept tightening on the steering wheel with each emphasis, "That fucker doesn't care what's gonna happen to her if he uses her for that messed up plan of his and after the last time we faced him a-and almost immediately after with her mom-"

"Hey." Millie put a hand on Moxxie's on the steering wheel to bring him back from his panic as she told him, "Let's just focus on one problem at a time... OK...?"

"OK." Moxxie affirmed after a quick breath and they focused back on the road as they approached the car Ring Elevator.

At the same time, Striker is seen directing Bombproof out of the Pride Ring toward the edge of a cliff branching out over a train track.

After making Bombproof jump down onto the moving train below, Ayden started to notice the voices of a mariachi imp quartet singing as they followed them,

♫ He's galloping over the dusty plains ♫

♫ Even the cacti know his name ♫

Leaping off the train, Striker directed Bombproof down a mining shaft tunnel where a rickety elevator on a rope pulley system was a couple of feet from the edge of the cliff they were running toward,

♫ If you don't want to die, don't cross his path ♫

♫ The best assassin in the Ring of Wrath ♫

♫ He's Striker! He's Striker! ♫

But Bombproof managed to leap across the distance so Striker could pull the lanyard with his tail to make the elevator drop down to the Wrath Ring.

*HLEGH!*

Ayden puked right over the side of Bombproof making it melt the floor under him before he jumped off at the bottom and they rode upwards to appear in Wrath from a well.

♫ Sure-shootin', darn-tootin', his name is Striker ♫

♫ Gonna bring that bird and kid back to his lair ♫

♫ With his magic rope and his Western flair ♫

Catching a ride on the train again before-

♫ He's very good at causing pain ♫

♫ And he loves to ride on the choo-choo- ♫

Striker and Bombproof glare at the mariachi quartet imps before they can say "train-"

"Traaaaiiiin..."

But Ayden "sings" it anyway making them all glare at her before they continued going on the railroad tracks leading up to a volcano and the quartet kept singing,

♫ Dirty-dealin', prince-stealin' ♫

♫ He's a villain, Striker! ♫

♫ He's fast and strong and tall and mean ♫

Sliding down the tracks inside the volcano, Striker lassoed an overhanging broken railing to swing them all across to another track set,

♫ The foulest imp you've ever seen ♫

♫ He'll break your bones to hear 'em crunch ♫

♫ He likes to eat pâté for lunch ♫

Before they finally arrived at Striker's hideout and one of the imps started riffing much to Striker's annoyance but Stolas and Ayden just watched him in interest.

♫ He's Striker, hmm, ye-ye-yeah ♫

♫ He's Striker ♫

♫ Heeeeee's Striiiiiker, he- ♫

"SHUT THE FUCK UP! I'M TRYIN' TO DO MY FUCKING JOB! YOU COMIN' IN HERE SINGING ABOUT ME FOR THE MILLIONTH FUCKING TIME! LEAVE ME THE HELL ALONE, YOU FREAKS!" Striker finally yelled at them, scaring the quartet into riding away in the cart they were in before Stolas asked,

"How does one get their own theme song?"

"An' is it possible ta do a rewrite?" Ayden added in a bored tone.

Back with Millie and Moxxie, they managed to make it to the Wrath Ring too but the van needed a quick refill so they quickly pulled up to a gas station as Moxxie devised,

"Crumbs! I'll grab the gas. Millie, go and see if anyone's seen Striker anywhere."

The two of them exited the van before splitting up to do their parts, but then a biker gang pulled up and one of them who was most likely the leader noticed Moxxie and yelled at him,

"Hey, queer boy! You stealin' my hat?"

"What?" Moxxie questioned in confusion before the biker reinforced,

"Same hat."

"Oh, sorry. My wife just put this hat on my head." Moxxie answered plainly while adjusting it before stammering in explanation, "You know, because it was... hot... outside..."

"Saaame. Haaat." The biker drawled out angrily as he got in Moxxie's face and his friends got on either side of him to box him in making him sigh in an "over it" tone,

"*Haaah...* So, we're doing this, huh?"

"Howdy, boys!" Millie walked up to the mariachi imp quartet from before while holding up a childish drawing of Striker as she asked them, "Y'all seen this motherfucker riding around here?"

♫ He's galloping- ♫ The quartet started to sing but Millie quickly cut them off with,

"No, NO! No singing! Just a yes or no, please."

"Yeah, he lives out by the Badman Lands, in the old train tunnel by the mine shafts. Very outlaw aesthetic, ya can't miss it." One of the quartet members told her pointing to the volcano in the distance.

"Was this kid with him?" Millie pulled out another photo of her, Moxxie, and Ayden with the two women smiling and making peace signs, Ayden winking while sticking her tongue out, and Moxxie looking slightly exasperated from in front of them both but slightly out of the frame.

"Oh yeah, spunky little thing with a bit of a pukin' sitie-ation?"

"That's her!"

"Also with'im."

"Oh thank goodness..." Millie sighed to herself, relieved she was still alive since she'd been assuming the worst when she hadn't heard her on Stolas's call earlier, while Moxxie was seen fighting the bikers in the background.

Smashing the head of the leader through the van window before swiping his credit card to pay for the gas, taking the gas nozzle, wrapping the hose around his neck before putting the nozzle into the tank and leaning against the van with his phone in hand as the gas got pumped while the leader got strangled.

"Thank you, kindly." Millie thanked the quartet before running back to the van to tell her husband, "Come on, Mox! We got a lead!"

They both got in the van and drove off, slicing off the leader's head with the hose and making the gas station explode from the nozzle still in the van.

Back in Striker's hideout, the snake-like imp was sharpening a Blessed Knife on a whetstone while Stolas was seen in the background tied upside down on some broken railroad tracks while Ayden had been forced into a smallish pet kennel.

She squirmed around cramped from not being able to shift into hellcat form since the blessed manacles were still on her wrists and her broken tail stuck out from one of the holes in the back of the cage with her satchel just out of reach outside the cage close to a lava stream.

Alongside her things was a spray bottle with a cat paw and a marijuana leaf on it; pure catnip which alone was enough to get Ayden to not resist too much when Striker was forcing her into the kennel.

After Stolas struggled a bit in his restraints with some hooting sounds, he looked over to Striker before snarking slightly,

"So, my wife paid you for this, hmm? Wouldn't a holy bullet have sufficed? Or can you not afford those?"

"I was paid to give you the real royal treatment; your wife must REALLY hate you." Striker chuckled while waving the knife around in stab-like motions as Stolas stated,

"You have no idea."

He started looking around before noting critically,

"So. Train tracks? Really? Seems a bit clichéd, doesn't it?"

"It's a classic." Striker argued before Stolas retorted with,

"Is the giant statue of yourself also a 'classic' or...?"

A look at the aforementioned statue behind Striker revealed himself in a dramatic pose with a cocky grin on his face and a giant erection with the spotlights underneath really emphasizing its size.

"Ove'compensatin' much?" Ayden spoke in a mixture of disgust and slight entertainment at making a jab to his manhood, both literally and metaphorically.

Looking pissed off, Striker threw down the whetstone before scoffing while tossing his hat up to land on the end of his statue's dick,

"Are you both seriously judging me right now?!"

"I'm just impressed you seem to want to suck your own dick this badly." Stolas commented with mild entertainment.

"'M su'prised ya haven't broken your back 'n neck tryin' ta do it 'lready." Ayden taunted from her cage making Stolas snort from trying to hide his laughter before Striker went over and kicked her cage onto its side making Ayden move with it and grunt painfully as it did.

"I'll deal with you later..." Striker hissed at her with his tail hitting the door closest to her face in a "shut up" motion before stomping on her broken tail as he walked away.

"Hrrr..." Ayden bit her lips shut to not give him the satisfaction of hearing her cries of pain as her tail throbbed painfully from the stomp on top of the broken bones and muscles.

"As for you," Striker approached Stolas as he ranted, "Not every ring is some fancy-ass city, with some fancy-ass mansion, that only fancy-ass royals get to live in. Some of us have hard lives to live. And some of us have everything we care about taken away by fuckers like you."

"I have no- *TSSSS* AAAGH!" Stolas started to say but was cut off when Striker stabbed Stolas in the shoulder with the knife before cutting him down to hit his head on the floor before rolling to a laying position as he breathed heavily from the injury as Striker snapped at him,

"YOU don't get to talk over me!" Striker slapped Stolas's face with his tail as he snarled, "I don't have to listen to your bullshit! All you royals ever do is try to talk over us!"

He jammed his foot into Stolas's open wound, spraying his blood out and making Stolas groan in pain.

*MROOOW!*

*TCH!* *TCH!*

Ayden started thrashing fiercely in her cage trying to get free to help Stolas, only succeeding in making it turn her upside down, as he tried to petrify Striker but the blessed rope kept him from using his powers so Striker mocked him,

"Don't bother trying to use your little eye trick on me; those ropes ain't gonna let you do anything. Got somethin' to say about that? Your Highness?"

Stomping on Stolas's wound again as he mocked his title before Stolas grunted out,

"Well.. you seem to be forgetting; you are working for a royal right now!"

Stolas reared his legs back to kick Striker in the face but he just grabbed his ankle and lifted his foot up to stomp down on his leg to break it with a sickening crack,

*KRCK!*

"Blitzø handles me rougher than that in bed; nice try." Stolas tells him, barely flinching, making Striker try to stab him in the leg,

*SCHLL!*

*TCH!* *TCH!* *TCH!*

Ayden started pushing herself against the sides of her cage but Stolas didn't miss a beat as he expressed, drawing out suggestively,

"Blitzy's knife is bigger... and hits ~sooooo~ much ~deeper.~"

"Being a smartass hmm?" Striker was starting to get fed up with Stolas's blasé reactions so he grabbed him by the head feathers, making him let out a bird-like screech, to threaten with his knife right up against his neck, "'Cause, once I split your neck open and let you choke on your own blue blood, you won't be worth any more than the tombstone you'll be buried under.

"Blitzy says far dirtier things to me with much sharper objects at my throat." Stolas spoke quickly, still refusing to give in to Striker's threats so he threw him to the ground and started to sulk away, stopping to give Ayden's cage a harsh kick as he barked,

"Pipe down in there!"

Before finally walking away so she could mutter, referring to the exchange earlier,

"Sooo much I di'n't need ta hear..."

Until she noticed Stolas rolling over while shedding a few tears so, after shuffling around to make her cage face him better, she tried to assure him,

"Hey 'm su'e he'll be 'ere soon..."

"He seemed pretty adamant that he was too busy..." Stolas spoke despondently before adding, "Things have been... uneasy between us ever since..."

"Since Ozzie's...?" Ayden brought up making him look over at her in confusion,

"How did you...?"

"Afte' I found ya blotto beyond all belief that mornin' 'fter, I sta'ted tryin' ta find out what happened and... I found a video someone took from inside the club that night..."

"Oh noooo..." Stolas laid back down when he realized the implications that meant before asking, "Why did you never mention this?"

"Blitzø made me prom'se not ta get involved between the two o' ya..."

"And you take promises very seriously..." Stolas spoke in realization, remembering their encounter with Ade.

"The only thing wo'se than a liar ta me is someone who doe'n't keep thei' promises, me included..." Ayden looked down at the floor with a guilty look on her face from all the times she'd had to keep her mouth shut between the two of them.

"I'm so sorry we've been putting you in that position..."

"Who ca'es? I've been wo'se spots b'fore..." Ayden rolled her eyes flippantly but Stolas protested,

"But that doesn't make it right since I've tried using you to prod into Blitzø's life..."

"I've had people use me b'fore.. least this time I'm not being hu't..." Ayden had muttered the last part under her breath but Stolas looked to have heard at least some of it from the worried expression he wore so Ayden tried to brush it off jokingly, "B'sides, relationships a'e complicated, least that's what I've hea'd..."

"That they can be..." Stolas tried to smile ruefully but his injuries made it hard to before he commented mildly, "Not like you and Via..."

"W-what...?!" Ayden sputtered out in disbelief before Stolas added with a hint of teasing,

"Like I don't know you hold a modicum of fondness for my daughter."

"'T's not really-"

*BV-VVV!*

Both of their eyes widened and their gaze slowly turned to the side pocket of Ayden's satchel where the vibration had come from before Ayden hiss-whispered,

"Holy shite! He di'n't take my phone!"

"Hurry!" Stolas urged in a matching loud whisper, "Perhaps you can call for help."

"Jus' gotta..." Ayden grunted as she tried to flex her tail out as far as she could despite the crunching sounds coming from the broken bones.

Her tail was brushing the edges of her satchel-

"'Lmoooost..."

*PEW!*

*TSSS!*

"AH!"

When a glowing bullet pierced her tail making it drop down as the wound started seeping glowing blood with burning around the edges from the angelic properties.

"Nice try, Kit..." Striker leered down at Ayden as he grabbed her phone from her satchel, saw the messages, and mocked while crushing her phone in his hand when he emphasized,

"You seriously think that royal rugrat gives a damn about you?"

"Stuff it..." Ayden tried to tune out his words but he kept going,

"She only cares about using you like everyone else-"

"Stop it!" Ayden spoke louder but he kept going,

"-and she, like the rest of your pathetic little 'family,' will leave you allll alone, as you should be..."

"SHUT IT!" She yelled as she pressed her paws and face against the bars of the door-

*PSH*

Before a spray to the face made her eyes snap open as wide as they would go and her pupils dilated to nearly fill her entire eye space before she started thrashing and squirming violently around the kennel like a fish out of water.

*TCH!* *TCH!* *TCH!*

She started bashing her head into the bars of the door before a particularly hard hit cut her forehead near her hairline and she slumped down as her glowing blood dribbled down her forehead, through her eye, and onto the floor of the kennel with her tears as her raspy breaths came in slow and shallow.

"What have you done to her?!"

"I'd be more worried about yourself right now Your Majesty..."

The sounds of Stolas being tortured faded to the background as Ayden slowly blinked with voices storming around in her mind but she was helpless to fight back,

'You'll always be alone!'

'Worthless!'

'You are nothing without us... we can do whatever we want with you and you take it...'

'Just end it!'

'You should learn to take a joke...'

'~Relax this'll be over soon...~'

'Your life is over!'

'You'll have nothing and no one in the end!'

'You're nothing on your own!'

Her blood continued to mingle with her tears as she squeezed her eyes shut before she was able to refocus back on the situation at hand when Stolas was thrown to the ground, scratches and bruises littering his face and body as he whimpered and breathed painfully, while Striker spoke in faux apology,

"Well, this has been fun, but every good thing has to come to an end. Shame you won't see your kid again."

Making Ayden focus up, adding after Stolas seethed,

"Don't you dare breathe a word about my daughter..."

"Leave'er outta this...!"

"Ohh... Finally hit a nerve, huh?" Striker mocked.

"I swear, if you go near her, I will destroy you." Stolas threatened before Ayden,

"An' if he doe'n't, I will.."

"Big talk." Striker hissed as he sunk his knife into Stolas' shoulder with a wet squelch as he mocked, "But, just that. Any last words, Goetia?"

"Blitzø will-" Stolas started to say weakly before Striker laughed darkly,

"That rodeo clown told you he ain't coming; Nobody is coming."

Striker pulled his knife out to raise it above his head, aiming for Stolas's heart when-

*BRRRR!* *BRR-!*

"Hello?" He answered his ringing phone and Ayden's ears twitched as she listened in on the phone call with Stella as she told Striker,

*Change of plans, darling. I need the prick alive.*

Striker looked over Stolas with an annoyed 'are you shitting me?!' look before telling her,

"I'm kinda in the middle of killing him."

Covering Stolas's mouth with his tail when he tried to speak as Stella gave him new orders,

*Well, stop it. We need him alive to get some affairs in order. I will pay you more to spare him and bring him to us.*

After groaning in annoyance, he eventually responded with an irritated-but-forced-compliance tone,

"Yes ma'am."

*Glorious.*

*BEEP!*

After she hung up, Striker threw his phone against a rock shattering it before turning back to Stolas as he tried to talk through his tail,

"Well, good news for you, Feathers; your royal cunt said she don't want you dead no more. But, she didn't say what condition you had to be in."

About to bring the knife up to his face when a raspy voice hissed,

"Yoooouuu.... big hypocrite..."

With a gritted scowl, Striker looked back at Ayden as she tried to get back up to seethe,

"Badmouthin' royals and people wi'h'em when you'e takin' o'de's from one now like an unde'ling... you're the one who's nothin' but a two-faced, chode-dicked bogan..."

"*HSSS!* That's enough outta you!" Striker hissed before stomping over.

*PSH* *PSH* *PSH*

Multiple sprays to the face made Ayden bolt back up to ram herself against the walls enclosing her and, when it became clear she couldn't escape, she began dragging her claws down her face and arms, leaving lines of glowing blood behind but didn't stop and yowled in pain as she continued to mutilate herself with no self-control thanks to the drug.

With a smirk of satisfaction, Striker went back over to Stolas, knife in hand as he pressed it to his eyes with a sizzle to threaten,

"Back to business... I think these reds might be a pretty trophy; can't have you seeing me again, can we?"

Right before a musical car horn sounded in the near distance causing Striker to growl and get up as he tried searching for the source of the sound.

*KRCK!* *KRCK!*

Cracks appeared in the cavern ceiling right before the I.M.P van broke through, breaking through the railroad ramp that Striker had used before before tumbling down an embankment in a sideways roll.

Once the van came to a stop, it was revealed that Moxxie was ready in the backseat with his rifle in hand aimed at Striker before firing off a few rounds.

But Striker managed to get away before throwing his knife toward Moxxie's rifle making him fire in a different direction and the bullet ricocheted off the cavern wall, the statue's dick, Ayden's kennel door, before hitting a boombox, turning it on,

♫ Whatcha think about now? (Whatcha think about now?) ♫

♫ Whatcha think is gonna begin? ♫

♫ Whatcha think about now? (Whatcha think about now?) ♫

After cracking his neck, Striker twirled out two Angelic revolvers before Millie attacked out of nowhere with a katana in hand while Moxxie fired his own two revolvers as the two of them ganged up on Striker while the song played in the background,

♫ Whatcha think is gonna begin? ♫

♫ Natural, natural, natural ♫

♫ Natural, natural, natural, yeah ♫

♫ You ain't never shoulda called (You ain't never shoulda-) ♫

When Striker broke the tip of Millie's katana, the shard flew out and hit the boombox changing it to the bubblegum pop version of the song they'd been listening to-

♫ Oh, woah, can ya tell me whatcha thinkin' about? (Whatcha thinkin' about?) ♫

Striker was surprised by the song switch at first, but quickly shook it off as Moxxie and Millie resumed double-teaming him with a battle axe.

While the fight had been going on, Ayden had nearly knocked herself out from all the self-harming but when she saw Millie and Moxxie fighting, a new fire rose up in her and she got up to headbutt the door, this time it opened because of the lock being damaged by the bullet fired earlier.

"MREOWW!" She yowled as she burst out of the kennel, nearly falling over from the pain of her injuries and from the fact her front paws were still manacled together but she shook herself off and ran on all fours towards the fight.

She managed to get behind Striker to trip him up just as Millie and Moxxie were forcing him back and Millie had managed to use her knife to slice off the fronts of his Angelic revolvers,

♫ Oh, nuh, I ain't never wanna let you down (Whatcha thinkin' about?) ♫

♫ So, I got you all in my mind (Woah, oh-oh-oh) ♫

♫ Oh, woah, got my head spinning round and round (Whatcha thinkin' about?) ♫

But right as Millie was about to deliver a final blow, Striker used his tail to grab and fling Ayden toward her causing her to lower her axe in time before it could hit her.

♫ (Whatcha thinkin' about?) ♫

♫ So, I got you all in my mind (Woah, oh-oh-oh) ♫

♫ Oh, woah, got my head spinning round and round (Whatcha thinkin' about?) ♫

With the distraction, Striker grabbed his lasso and snared a stalagmite to swing toward Moxxie, but Millie took the hit and managed to right herself with her axe in the ground.

Just as Striker moved to pull the same move on Moxxie, Ayden barreled into his legs from behind while trying to grab the rope with her broken tail, nearly succeeding until he grabbed her by the scruff of her neck and whirled around to fling her towards his statue.

♫ Oh, woah, can ya tell me whatcha thinkin' about? (Whatcha thinkin' about?) ♫

♫ Oh, nuh, I ain't never wanna let you down (Whatcha thinkin' about?) ♫

More blows were exchanged between Striker, Millie, and Moxxie with the former pulling a fancy swing maneuver using the railroad to rope a stalactite to launch down to the ground, separating the couple as Millie was thrown against the stone wall, her axe falling from her hands, and Moxxie had still been standing until Striker sprung down and swiftly kicked him to the ground with a pained yelp.

Ayden opened her pupil-blown eyes from where she'd been thrown earlier in time to see Striker use his tail to launch Millie's axe toward her and it narrowly missed decapitating her to instead pin her to the wall.

As Striker was snapping in an "oh shoot" manner that he missed Millie's head and had launched another stalagmite at Moxxie's back, knocking him out as he tried to reach his revolver, Ayden managed to spot the Angelic knife on the floor a little ways from her and pushed herself up despite the cracking now sounding from her left wrist to grab it.

"HAAH!" Ayden yelled after she managed to push herself to her feet and charged over to try and hit Striker when he dodged the hit, twisted the knife out of her grip, and-

*SCHINK!*

Time seemed to freeze as Ayden's eyes flew open, her pupils constricting down to pinpricks before she slowly looked down and saw the Angelic blade embedded in her chest.

"NO!" Millie cried out but Ayden couldn't focus on her as her breathing turned raspy and glowing blood started to drip from out of her mouth.

"Well looks like ol' Den'll hafta settle for just this then." Striker hissed as he reached up to tear Ayden's choker off her neck before shoving her backward into the stream of lava with the knife still in her chest, her eyes briefly meeting Millie's teary ones as she fell.

*PSH!* *TSSSssssss....*

The scorching lava bubbled as Ayden's body sank through and the smell of burning hair wafted out as Striker chuckled darkly before looking down at the glowing choker in his hands,

"Heh heh- huh?"

*TTTRRRRrrrrrr....*

Out of nowhere, the gemstones on the choker stopped glowing and their warm colors faded to cold grays as the power and life forces seemed to disappear from it.

"The fuck...? Grrr! It's useless now!" Striker tossed the choker towards Millie before lassoing his hat back from his statue to fix it to his head with a frustrated and disappointed expression on his face.

His frown turned to a smirk when he saw Moxxie had come to and was struggling to reach his revolver before he stalked over to turn him over and start choking him as he sneered,

"Oh, I remember how easy you are to choke the life out of, little one."

"Ohhhh, ~haaaardeeeer....~" Moxxie moaned out weakly, making Striker immediately get up afterward with a disgusted look on his face, giving Moxxie an opening to kick his legs out from under him.

After grabbing his lasso, Moxxie roped Striker by the neck to swing him around shouting,

"You cowboy piece of shit!"

As soon as he was in position, Millie shouted as she struck the base of the statue with her axe after she managed to free herself,

"RAH!"

Seeing that it was coming down on him, Striker made a move to get away when the statue came down and sent dust and rubble flying out.

*KRSSH!*

Moxxie approached where Striker had been, hoping to find him trapped or dead but instead found the red bandana he wore around his neck pinned to the ground as he snapped upset,

"Fuck..."

Before he looked back to the lava stream where Ayden had been pushed into yelling,

"No!"

Only to see no sign of Ayden's body within the molten lava with her satchel by the kennel that was still stained with her tears and blood, not glowing anymore.

After grabbing her satchel, not noticing the family picture and the long gray feather falling out toward the lava by the edge, he looked over to Millie who, after grabbing Ayden's choker from the ground where it'd been tossed, was leaning over Stolas, who had fallen unconscious sometime during the fight.

"Oh, crumbs! We've got to get him to a hospital!" Moxxie exclaimed worriedly as he went to join his wife before she shouted,

"What about Ayden?!"

"She's gone Millie! We have to help him otherwise all this was for nothing!"

A short while later, the I.M.P. van pulled up right outside of St. An's where reporters from all over were swarming around the front entrance where Blitzø and Loona were finally emerging after their.. problematic hellbies shot appointment.

Loona was wearing a cone around her neck that practically covered her entire head and a lollipop in her hand while Blitzø was beaten up and scratched all over before he caught sight of the van and started to express in a relieved tone,

"Oh, good. You guys actually managed to-"

Before he was trampled by the crowd of medical personnel and reporters as they rushed the van where two plague doctors loaded Stolas on a stretcher and quickly wheeled him inside, Blitzø getting a passing look of Stolas's tail feathers when he was wheeled over him.

He was looking at the crowd trying to follow the doctors when Moxxie asked him while helping him off the ground,

"Uh Sir, are you alright?"

"Oh, peachy. Yeah, no. Today's been wonderful!" Blitzø snarked while brushing himself off before motioning to the doors as he asked, "What the fuck was THAT about?"

"Stolas got hurt, bad." Millie told him, shocking him as he spoke worriedly in disbelief,

"Stolas got what? Wh-How...? He can get hurt?"

After a few minutes of stunned processing, Blitzø turned back to the couple to ask,

"Where's Ayden?"

Millie started sobbing with her hands clenching onto each other to her chest and Moxxie was holding onto her, making the sinking feeling amplify in Blitzø's gut as Moxxie explained with tears welling in his eyes,

"Striker.. stabbed Ayden's h-heart with an Angelic knife before pushing her into lava... h-he.. killed her..."

Millie hiccuped as she brought her clenched hands up to reveal Ayden's choker in her hands, the gemstones still dull and lifeless,

"This died.. when she did..."

Blitzø gently took the choker from her, staring down at it before using a claw to open it and reveal the pictures she had replaced the family one with; the photo of her, Stolas, and Via from after her first power lesson with them on one side and the group selfie Blitzø had taken with her and the team after her first successful mission with I.M.P. on the other side.

'Guess yer all stuck wi'h my arse for a while then huh?"

The memory of Ayden saying that after the mission echoed in Blitzø's mind before he muttered,

"She's... gone...?"

...

...

...

Over with Via, she was sitting in her room reading a book, sleeping bags set out on the floor along with the do-it-yourself taxidermy kits she had bought so she and Ayden could do them together as she was waiting patiently for her when her phone rang.

"Hello...?" Via answered the call with a hesitant tone after seeing the unknown phone number.

"Is this Via, Stolas's kid?" Millie asked from her side where she and Moxxie were in a room in an apartment; their new one they had bought with an extra room for Ayden that they had been planning to surprise her with before...

"Yeah...?" Via answered as she closed the book she was reading to lean forward expectedly.

"There's... s-something we need to tell you Sweetie..." Millie stuttered as she fought the stinging sensation rising back up in her throat.

Via's hand flew to her mouth with tears welling up in her eyes as Millie told her what happened before she wordlessly hung up and cried into her knees as she hugged them to her chest.

...

...

...

Later that night, back in Striker's ruined hideout, one of the flames from the fight flared up before Den appeared calling out,

"Heellllooooo!"

Before noticing the ruined hideout and whining childishly,

"Maaan, why'm I always late for the party?"

He kicked a piece of rubble aside before his gaze fell on the family picture near the lava stream where he sensed some energy remaining within the molten rock.

"~Well helllooo power-up...~" He kneeled down beside the stream, picked up the picture to pocket, and held a paw out to draw the energy back upwards where it wrapped around his arm in a swirling manner giving him a boost of energy.

"Oh yeeaaaah!" He cackled triumphantly before red cracks started to spread through his body and he unleashed a yell of pain,

"YAAAAHHHH!"

Panning back over to the long gray feather from before, it lay still on the ground when a molten paw stomped on the ground near it.

*FWOOO!*

A breath made the feather rise to the air to reveal a molten lava hellcat that looked nothing like any of Ayden's previous forms and whose eyes glowed scarlet red edged with black wisps instead of pinkish red as soon as it caught onto the scent from the feather.

*Haaaah...!*

The hellcat dissipated into a flurry of ashes with a breathy hiss that then streamed through the air in a swarm of ember-like particles as a whisper echoed in the air,

*Others....*

AN- Here it is! The episode that started it all for me! Have I been planning for Ayden's death to take place in this exact episode since the beginning? Yep!

For next week's slightly-shorter-than-average chapter, it's gonna focus less on Millie and Moxxie's actions in the week-long mission and more on the before, effects, and aftermath following Ayden's death with a few surprise POVs thrown in O.O

Plus, if I'm being really honest, I didn't like Unhappy Campers that much which is why I won't be focusing on the camp mission and while I'm gonna be including M&M's argument for the sake of their relationship development, it won't be like the main plot to be focused on.

Other than that, I managed to finish "Oops" this last week since I didn't have any final exams (just A LOT of final papers and presentations) and I'll be trying to work on "MAMMON'S MAGNIFICENT MUSICAL MID-SEASON SPECIAL (ft Fizzarolli)" during Winter Break while I'm home so I can finish the year by catching up on Season 2 ^^

Anyway, until the next one, Bye!