Fanfic / Striker Strikes Back

Cover art by fangirl-creates

Striker Strikes Back is a Hellaverse Fusion Fic by Cranberryfriend.

Striker never got over the fact that Blitzo and Moxxie screwed him over…

So he has one plan in mind: Do whatever it takes to make Blitzo squirm, get his gun back, and get his revenge.

So he kidnaps Moxxie, and Blitzo finds himself on a rescue mission that turns out to be more complicated than he could ever imagine when Moxxie gets passed on from one villain to the next.

Old foes, Overlords, near-death experiences, and a whole lot of punching to get his weapon specialist back.

Currently ongoing with 45 chapters at 220,666 words, but is reaching its endgame.

---

Striker Strikes Back provide examples of the following tropes:

Tropes A to L

• Abhorrent Admirer: Valentino was already this to Angel Dust in canon, but he soon develops an obsession with Moxxie after hiring him and seeing the imp perform.
• Abusive Parents: It's heavily implied that Valentino adopted Mags when she was little. He keeps her as his ward & most trusted employer, though often mistreats her in order to make sure she stays loyal to him. In particular, starving her for days until he believes she has earned food.
  • A flashback shows that Valentino's mother Valora was just as abusive to him. She intended to turn him into a porn star from the time he was a young teenager and beat him up whenever he lost control of his powers, as they reminded her of how Lucifer callously abandoned her when she revealed to him that she was pregnant with his child.
• Action Dress Rip: As the wedding party goes horribly awry, Angel Dust begs Blitzo to rip the skirt of his wedding dress to pieces to make it easier for him to run.
• Actor Allusion: Blitzo disguises himself as a snooty woman named Karen at one point in order to enter a dance competition. Karen is the name of the Obnoxious Entitled Housewife character (Named after the modern-day slang term for such a woman) from Brandon Rogers’s (Co-writer of HB and Blitzo’s voice actor) Youtube sketches.
• Adaptational Nice Guy: Downplayed. After they befriend each other, Angel Dust is noted to treat Moxxie much gentler and nicer than even the people he considers his lifelong friends in canon. Word of God confirms in a reply to a comment that it’s because Moxxie reminds Angel Dust of himself when he was new under Valentino, so Angel develops a big of a Big Brother Instinct for him.
• Adaptation Relationship Overhaul: Striker & Husk seemingly don’t know each other in canon, but here, they used to work together in the past and were even in a relationship at some point. Though it's not a time Husk remembers fondly.
• Adaptational Species Change: In canon, Valentino is a sinner turned Overlord. In this story, he turns out to be part Fallen Angel on his father Lucifer’s side and have incubus ancestry on his half-succubus, half-moth demon mother’s side.
• Adaptational Villainy: While Verosika was already a bit of a bitch, she was still mostly just an egocentric, alcoholic pop star who only antagonized I.M.P. due to her bad breakup with Blitzo. Here, however, she’s one of the main big bads and one of Valentino’s Dragons whose crimes involve working with & betraying Striker, selling Moxxie off to Valentino, and trying to kill Stolas on Stella’s behalf just to spite Blitzo. Though she does slowly start to regret her part in everything escalating, and she's also established to not like Valentino since she finds his behavior to be crossing several lines.
• Affably Evil: Despite being on Verosika’s side for the most part, Vortex doesn’t enjoy what he’s doing and still has his moments of kindness towards Moxxie, bandaging him up after he’s been wounded and trying to take care of him. He eventually even defects from the succubi and helps everyone in rescuing Moxxie.
  • Of the Triple-Vs, Vox is by far the kindest of them, at least towards Moxxie. While he starts off being jealous of the imp, he eventually ends up helping & befriending him.
• After-Action Patch-Up: A frequent occurrence given the number of fights that happen in here. Notably examples include Blitzo in the Hosptial, after I.M.P.'s first run-in with Striker. And Chapter 30, where both Gritzer and Striker & Blitzo get treated from their wounds during their encounter with one another.
• Ain't Too Proud to Beg: After the No-Holds-Barred Beatdown of Moxxie and Vox at the studio, Moxxie ends up pleading with Valentino to not lock him in a chest and hurt an already injured Vox even more, even going Please, I Will Do Anything! as long as he leaves Vox alone. And later on, he begs to not be locked in a walk-in closet as dark, cramped spaces have become a Trauma Button for him. Sadly, since Valentino is a sadistic, manipulative Control Freak who likes seeing Moxxie in distress and was looking to punish him anyway, it falls on deaf ears both times.
• Air-Vent Passageway: Downplayed and justified. When planning his second assassination attempt on Valentino while locked in the latter’s walk-in closet, Moxxie enters an air vent to hide instead of to escape. His small size also means that he has no difficulty doing so.
• Alas, Poor Villain: Despite being abusive towards him for so long and being the one to put a hit on him, Stolas is still grief-stricken at finding Stella dead, not wanting this to happen to her. Loona is also rather distraught at finding Stella's body despite not liking her either, if only for Octavia’s sake.
• Alcohol-Induced Idiocy: After Moxxie is drugged by one of Velvet’s potions at the night club in chapter 19, he becomes so intoxicated that he loses his ability to think straight; The end result of that is that he decides to wander off instead of staying at Vox and Velvet’s table while they’re away buying more drinks, despite the warnings that Valentino hates it when his ”boyfriends” try to escape from him.^note Word of God confirms that, since he decided to do this after Striker promised him that he’d get to see Millie again, he decided to leave to look for her. He ends up running into Valentino some ways away from the club anyway (And has managed to forget how he got there and why he walked off in the first place by that point), and the pimp is simply pissed off that Vox managed to lose him.
• Alien Blood:
  • Valentino’s is pink, and when some of it drips down on Moxxie’s face as Val tortures him after the failed assassination attempt at the studio, it burns him, suggesting that it either has some acid-like properties or is simply burning hot.
  • Likewise, Vox’s blood turns out to be blue.
• Always Someone Better: Gritzer is this to Striker, being stronger, smarter, faster on the draw, more skilled in melee combat and much, much more vicious.
• And Now You Must Marry Me: Valentino forces Angel Dust to marry him after his break up with Vox. Angel agrees after Val promises to never hurt Moxxie so badly again… and threatening to break the imp's legs if he refuses.
• Anger Born of Worry:
  • Moxxie is rightfully angry at Angel for claiming that they are in a relationship… because he can’t believe the spider sinner would put his neck on the line for him without telling him first.
  • Similar in Chapter 14; Angel is furious at Moxxie for wanting to play so soon after his sexual assault from Valentino, insisting that his friend should be resting and recovering and stay far away from the Moth Overlord.
  • Angel Dust gets another one in Chapter 28, harshly reprimanding Moxxie for shouting and speaking back to Valentino since he knows the Overlord's temper and fears that he might've gotten killed had he not been so lucky.
  • The longer Moxxie remains trapped with Val, the more impatient and angry Millie gets at his prolonged capture. So much so that she eventually leaves the group to try and find him herself.
  • Upon hearing that Val threatened his life to force Verosika to sing for him at his and Angel's wedding, Vortex becomes furious, going to confront the Overlord himself and even joining up with Millie to do so.
  • When Blitzo and Moxxie are briefly reunited on the roof of Valentino’s club in chapter 42, Blitzo first pulls his weapons expert into a tight hug and tearfully apologizes to him for not being able to stop his kidnapping, and then he starts chewing him out:
  Blitzo: Don’t you EVER fucking scare me like that again! You hear me?! Don't you DARE get snatched like that again!
• Anguished Declaration of Love: Stolas finally confesses his full, true feelings for Blitzo and how he longs to be in a relationship with him in Chapter 24, when the prince confronts the imp about his attraction to Striker.
• And This Is for...: Millie & Verosika give one to each other, during their fight in chapter 9.
  Millie: This is for Moxxie.
  Verosika: And this is for me.
• Armor-Piercing Question: After seeing how poorly Valentino treats Vox, Moxxie finally asks the TV Overlord why he doesn't just leave him if he dislikes how he's being treated. Vox furiously responds that he has left him multiple times, but always comes back. Moxxie then asks why he comes back. The Overlord dodges the question, the imp having struck a serious nerve.
• Apologetic Attacker: During his time working for Verosika, Vortex frequently apologies to I.M.P. for attacking & working against them under his boss’ orders.
• Artifact Title: While the fic is titled "Striker Strikes Back" and Striker is indeed the main catalyst for the fic's events, he's very quickly sidelined as the main villain as Valentino takes on the role instead. The fic's description of AO3 lampshades this, noting that the story started with Striker, but soon turned into "Moxxie VS. Everyone."
• Asshole Victim: After Striker is backstabbed by Verosika, she tells Vortex to do with the snake imp as he sees fit. Vortex, who feels bad for Moxxie and didn’t at all like how Striker treated the smaller imp, obliges. Enthusiastically. Considering Striker is the reason any of the fic’s events happen in the first place, it’s really hard to feel sorry for him.
• Attempted Rape:
  • Valentino has several moments of these towards Moxxie. One moment in particular happens in Chapter 22 where he tries to seduce the imp while Vox is in the shower. Thankfully, the Overlord stops him before Val can carry out the deed.
  • Chapter 36 has the closest call so far: After calling Moxxie up to his private balcony during the wedding preparations, Val pulls the imp into his lap, starts molesting him again and even shoves a hand down his pant leg. He comes this close to touching Moxxie's groin before Angel intervenes, and Moxxie is left badly shaken by the ordeal; Not just because of how close Val got to flat-out raping him, but also because he feels guilty about Angel's numerous sacrifices for his sake.
• Aw, Look! They Really Do Love Each Other: Loona shows that, despite disliking Blitzo’s clinginess, she still cares about him. She’s horrified at seeing him nearly die in chapter 3, and in chapter 4, she's genuinely remorseful for not arriving on time and nearly getting him killed.
• Ax-Crazy: Of the Triple Vs, Velvet is the one of seems to enjoy killing and torturing the most. When Val asks her to kill a club full of patrons for his amusement, Velvet is more than happy to oblige.
• Badass in Distress: Moxxie, a skilled assassin and cunning strategist, spends the majority of the story captured by Striker and then sold to Valentino as a performer. Despite being severally underpowered, the imp still attempts to escape on multiple occasions with some newfound friends, though so far none of the attempts have been successful.
• Bad Boss: Valentino is nothing short of an utter scumbag to his employees, in particular Angel Dust & later Moxxie, whom he's emotionally, sexually, and physically abusive towards. He's also incredibly manipulative towards his own ward Magatha, whom he starves for days so that she'll remain dependent on him.
• Bad People Abuse Animals: Valentino kicks Angel Dust's pet Fat Nuggets several times in Chapter 16.
• Bag of Kidnapping: When Millie and Loona interrogate the man owning the hotel where Striker was staying, he mentions that the snake imp didn’t have anybody with him, but he did carry his belongings in a bag for whatever reason. The girls connect the dots and realize that Striker most likely stuffed Moxxie into the bag after knocking him out to keep anybody from seeing him.
• Ballroom Blitz: Valentino and Angel's wedding reception turns into one once the guards discover that I.M.P and the Hazbin crew have infiltrated the party and close in on them as Cherri’s smoke bombs go off. The end result is a ton of mayhem and hundreds of demons dead. And then Valentino reveals his One-Winged Angel form…
• Bastard Bastard: Valentino, the Overlord Big Bad of the story who is fond of emotional and physical abuse as well as rape and murder, is revealed to be the illegitimate son of Lucifer himself.
• Batman Gambit: Among the many horrible reasons for Valentino deciding to marry Angel Dust, one of them is to get Vox frustrated and angry enough to try and retaliate at the wedding, allowing the Moth Overlord an opportunity to take over his territory and operations.
• Battle Discretion Shot: We don't see Gritzer and Striker's fight in Chapter 26, but given the hints, it was undoubtedly very, VERY brutal.
• Beautiful Dreamer: Downplayed, platonic version in chapter 20; Vox takes a drugged-unconscious Moxxie back to his apartment and places him on the bed, whereupon Moxxie immediately curls up into a ball and hugs a pillow while wagging his tail. Vox finds himself rather taken in by the adorableness of the sight, not that he’d ever admit it out loud, and Moxxie’s cuteness is one of the reasons why Vox starts to warm up to him.
• Because You Were Nice to Me:
  • Moxxie inspires this in quite a few of the people he meets while he's Valentino’s captive, which gains him several allies over the course of the story;
  • A big contributing factor to Angel Dust warming up to him at record speed is due to Moxxie standing up for him against Valentino when they first meet (With Angel being quick to return the favor when Val almost starts to strangle Moxxie) and otherwise being patient, friendly and kind.
  • Downplayed with Mags. She was already beginning to regret her role as The Mole the more she got to know Angel Dust. But what finally makes her do a proper Heel–Face Turn is Moxxie offering her to escape with him and Angel and just being nice to her in general.
  • Moxxie showing Vox genuine care and kindness over and over again makes the latter realize just how toxic his relationship with Val is, leading to him finally standing up to him after Moxxie’s failed assassination attempt at the studio (Even though he was violently angry about it first and almost subjected Moxxie to a No-Holds-Barred Beatdown over it), cementing himself as Moxxie’s ally. He gets Bludgeoned to Death for his trouble, granted, but he gets better thanks to Alastor and leaves Val’s side for good.
  • It works the other way around, too: After Moxxie finds out that Valentino has forced Verosika to perform with him at Valentino and Angel Dust’s wedding by threatening to harm Vortex, he decides to put his hatred of her aside and cooperate with her because Vortex treated him kindly while he was in Verosika’s custody.
• Becoming the Mask: Magatha was set by Valentino to pose as a friend & helper for Angel Dust & Moxxie to keep an eye on them and ensure they don't try to escape or cause any trouble. As time goes on, however, she starts to genuinely care about Moxxie and eventually defects from Valentino to help him & Angel escape.
• The Berserker: Millie was already hotheaded and rash, but her losing Moxxie and seeing everything Val is doing to him is enough to send her into blind rages while trying to get her husband back.
• Betty and Veronica: Blitzo has to choose between Prince Stolas, the sweet, kind and loving Betty, and Striker, the arrogant, dangerous and cruel but charming Veronica.
• Beware the Silly Ones: Of the Triple-Vs, Velvet is the most light-hearted, bubbly and cheerful, acting more like a mix of a small child and a teenager compared to her fellow Overlords. She’s also the one who provides Valentino with his strength-sapping drugs and exudes such a strong aura of bloodlust that Moxxie, a Professional Killer, is driven to a fear-induced panic attack just from sensing that she’s in the same building as him and looking for him.
• Big Bad: After Striker is double-crossed by Verosika, Valentino becomes the big overarching villain in the rest of the story, being the guy who ends up keeping Moxxie when Striker is done with him.
• Big Bad Wannabe: Surprisingly enough, despite being the one who kidnaps Moxxie and sets everything into motion, Striker is doubled-crossed by Verosika fairly early on and nearly dies from the experience. He’s left wounded and without his gun, and he's forced to team up with I.M.P. in order to get his revenge.
• Big Brother Instinct:
  • Angel Dust becomes very protective of Moxxie once they become friends, not hesitating for even a second to put his own wellbeing on the line if it means keeping the little imp somewhat safe from Valentino. And Val, naturally, uses this to his advantage repeatedly to keep Angel in line. Moxxie becomes just as protective of Angel Dust in return, though sadly, he finds that there's less he can do about it.
  • Husk develops one for Millie after she befriends him, no matter how vehemently he tries to deny it to Alastor. He becomes highly concerned for her wellbeing, makes her tea when he finds out she’s pregnant, tries his best to prevent her from running off and endangering her and the baby’s health when she sees the footage of Moxxie being on the receiving end of a No-Holds-Barred Beatdown and tells Alastor to leave her alone when he implies that she might provide him some entertainment.
• Big Damn Heroes: These crop up from time to time:
  • Chapter 24: Valentino is giving Moxxie a No-Holds-Barred Beatdown for trying to assassinate him and is currently intimidating and torturing him by twisting his arms. Just as Moxxie is about to give in to the pain and mentally begging for it to stop, a previously stunned Vox slams a bottle in Val’s head and tackles him away from the imp.
  • Just as Gritzer is about to slash Blitzo's throat in chapter 27, a beaten up Striker saves him with a stab to the back.
  • Chapter 39: Just as one of Gritzer’s henchmen tosses a tied-up Octavia into the water to drown when he believes that he has Stolas at his mercy, Loona arrives and dives in to save her.
  • Two of them in Chapter 41: Blitzo is about to get tortured by a deranged, supremely pissed-off One-Winged Angel-formed Valentino for trying to pull a Go Through Me when Vox arrives to kick the pimp away. And when a clash between Charlie, Vox and Valentino creates a shockwave, Moxxie is almost blown off the roof from the force of it, only for Velvet to arrive and grab him at the last second.
• Big Damn Reunion: After everything they’ve been through, Moxxie and Millie finally reunite in chapter 40. There’s an element of Black Comedy to it as they do the room version of a Meadow Run… while in the midst of a Ballroom Blitz; They shoot and stab people left and right as they close in on each other, embrace and kiss Atop a Mountain of Corpses and Moxxie nonchalantly shoots a demon who tries to attack them while they hug. Sadly, their reunion is rather short-lived thanks to Valentino taking Blitzo and Angel hostage in order to force Moxxie to follow him to the club’s rooftop.
• Big Entrance: Charlie and Vaggie returning to the Hotel is treated like this, given everyone's reactions and Alastor's introduction.
• Big "SHUT UP!":
  • Val says this to Angel Dust after witnessing his clubs being destroyed.
  • In the same chapter, Blitzo gives a few of these to Striker after he finds him near death and still flirting with him after their fight with Gritzer.
• Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: At first, Mags was introduced as a stern but otherwise caring friend of Angel Dust & Moxxie who wants to help the little imp escape from his current predicament. But as revealed in chapter 14, she’s a cruel, greedy mole secretly working for Valentino who’s more than happy to sell them out. It's subverted later on though, as it's revealed that she's only been doing it because he's made her dependent on him. When she finally has enough, she truly becomes friends with Angel and Moxxie and helps them escape their boss.
• Blade Enthusiast: Gritzer is particularly fond of bladed weapons, like the holy knives he receives from Stella.
• Blatant Lies: After inviting Verosika to his apartment to force her and Moxxie to sing a duet at his and Angel Dust’s wedding in chapter 35, Valentino claims to her that a highly pissed-off Moxxie is ”just” mad at him for shackling him in a closet and ”not paying enough attention to him”, and that the imp is actually grateful to see Verosika again for ”getting them together”. Verosika doesn’t buy it for a second and Moxxie gets even angrier at Valentino’s outrageous lies since, yes, he is furious at seeing the person responsible for him being Val’s captive in the first place. Whether Valentino actually believes any of the things he says is left vague, especially since he’s in the throes of a pretty major Sanity Slippage.
• Boom, Headshot!: Moxxie manages to shoot Valentino in the head when he tries to rape Vox. Sadly, since it was regular bullet, all it does is take him out for a few seconds.
• Boomerang Bigot: Striker outright tells Moxxie in the first chapter that he thinks imps are disgusting, lowly creatures, despite being one himself.
• Bound and Gagged: When Striker first kidnaps Moxxie, the latter is tied to a chair and gagged with a bandana, and after his failed escape attempt, he’s tied up and gagged again and locked in a closet. During the Hostage for MacGuffin exchange, Striker even goes the extra mile and handcuffs Moxxie to a pipe in the wall to prevent I.M.P from just rushing in and grabbing him. (Blitzo thinks it’s overkill, though)
• Break Them by Talking: Valentino gives an incredibly cruel speech to Moxxie in chapter 30 after revealing his plan to marry Angel Dust. (And deliberately leaving out the part where he threatened to mangle Moxxie’s legs and permanently cripple him if Angel didn’t comply) The speech, in combination with the reveal, sends the poor imp into yet another Heroic BSoD.
  Moxxie: Why…?
  Valentino: I want to make Vox angry and distracted. I want to him to feel betrayed and like he was second best. I want Angel Dust close to me… closer to me than he’s ever been… just to watch him beg me to stop every single damn day. And I want you… *wipes some of Moxxie’s tears* … to blame yourself for Angel’s new role. So really, Moxxie… you can take this as a lesson to NEVER fucking yell at me again. ’Kay, babe?
  Moxxie: *whispers* You… can’t do that to him-
  Valentino: I can do whatever the hell I please. He’s mine. *strokes the key around Moxxie’s neck* And you are, too. So quit- *yanks on the chain* -trying to whine. It’s not a good look for you. But I suppose you can be my best man anyway… since you’re still so cute.
• Bruiser with a Soft Center: Husk acts uncaring, jaded and snappy towards others, but he does have his caring moments. Especially in regards to Millie, whom he quickly forms a bond with and comforts when she's broken up about Moxxie.
• Bullet Catch: When a crazed and jealous Angel Dust fan breaks into the club in the early morning and fires a gun at Moxxie, Mags dives in between him and the bullet and catches it between her teeth, after which she proceeds to grind the bullet into dust. Afterwards, she brushes it off as not a big deal, justifying it with ”You don’t work for long at one of Valentino’s clubs without learning some tricks.”
• Call-Back:
  • After escaping from Striker the first time, Moxxie finds himself cornered in an abandoned house while armed only with a knife; He ends up asking himself what Millie would do in this situation, using her tactics to try and get the drop on Striker. He asks himself the same question in chapter 34, but this time when trying to assassinate Valentino for the second time.
  • In chapter 12, Moxxie and Angel flee from a turf war while on their way to kill some of Val’s enemies, with Angel carrying Moxxie over his shoulder while the latter shoots at anybody who tries to intercept or follow them. They use this tactic again in chapter 42 when fleeing from Valentino… but with much less success this time.
• Calling the Old Man Out: Octavia gets a big one in Chapter 29, calling out both Stolas & Stella for their equally selfish behaviour and how it’s affecting her; She calls out Stolas for parading Blitzo around like her mother doesn’t exist and tears into Stella for hiring Striker to kill her father.
• Calming Tea: Angel Dust makes some for Moxxie during his post-Vox's death breakdown. Poor Moxxie's hands are shaking so badly from the ordeal that he can't grab the cup properly, so Angel ends up having to help him drink it.
• Cannot Spit It Out: Millie senses that Husker has feelings for Angel similar to her own feelings for Moxxie, but the cat continues to deny that this the case.
• Can't Kill You, Still Need You: When Striker is at death's door after a brutal beatdown from Vortex, Blitzo still saves his life because they need his help to track down and save Moxxie despite him being the sole reason Moxx is kidnapped in the first place. This is despite Stolas's protests, and Blitzo makes it very clear to everyone that once Moxxie is saved, Striker is a dead man walking.
• Carpet-Rolled Corpse: Downplayed. The owner of the hotel Striker initially stays at mentions to Loona and Millie that when Striker left the hotel, he carried a rolled-up, blood-stained blanket with him. Realizing that Moxxie was hidden in that blanket, (Him having been recaptured by Striker after a failed escape attempt) Millie briefly worries that her husband is dead, but Loona reassures her that the scent of his blood indicates that he was alive when it happened.
• Cassandra Truth:
  • Angel Dust at first doesn’t believe that Moxxie has a wife, believing it to be akin to a Girlfriend in Canada situation. And even as Moxxie tells him that he works for an assassination company, Angel doesn't believe that he's actually one of the assassins until Moxxie gets to demonstrate his Improbable Aiming Skills in chapter 12.
  • In chapter 16, a furious Valentino corners and tortures Moxxie backstage after his and Angel's performance to confront him about the pair's Keeping the Enemy Close plan after Mags rats them out. Moxxie truthfully tells him that the plan was his idea and not Angel's in an attempt to get the pimp to leave Angel alone, but since Val underestimates Moxxie's intellect and sees him as little more than a cute pet alongside Mags lying about who came up with the plan due to a sudden qualm of conscience, he doesn't believe him.
• Cathartic Crying: Octavia bursting into tears during her rant towards Stolas & Stella about how tired she is of their fighting, her being ignored and her mother's assassination attempt, is described as being incredibly needed for her after having endured it for so long.
• Character Death: Stella is kidnapped and brutally killed by her former bounty hunter Gritzer after attempting to call off the hit on Stolas.
• Cliffhanger: Several.
  • Chapter 3 has Blitzo nearly losing his life in front of Millie & Loona while Striker escapes with Moxxie.
  • Chapter 12 has Moxxie suddenly fainting after performing, possibly from inhaling Valentino’s smoke, and Loona finding out about his performance online.
  • Chapter 26 ends on several doozies. Blitzo goes to rescue Moxxie, having found out about Vox's death and knowing where he'll be, only to be confronted by Gritzer who has just beaten up Striker. Velvet finds Vox's broken body and is ready to confront Valentino, only to find Alastor there and apparently planning to bring his rival back to life. And finally, Angel Dust is called to Val's home where he finds the broken Moxxie and told to calm him down by the next day. Or else both of them will pay.
  • The very next chapter ends with Vox broadcasting the footage of his death and resurrection to the world, sending a message to his ex and murderer.
  • Chapter 31 ends with Gritzer starting his attempt on Stella & Octavia's lives after being fired, with the two Goetias being trapped inside their car.
  • Chapter 32 has two. The first is Gritzer calling Stolas, telling him he has Stella & Octavia hostage and demanding that Stolas surrenders himself and brings Striker in tow to decide whether the gator sinner kills the prince, his wife or his daughter. The second has Millie showing up at Valentino's club, willing to wait for the others to arrive so they can start their rescue mission.
  • Chapter 42 ends on a major one; Velvet has been beaten to near-death by Valentino, most of the rescue party is down for the count and have evacuated to the hotel, Vox is leading Charlie to the only place he can think of Valentino escaping to when cornered (with Blitzo and Striker silently following them), and Moxxie and Angel’s escape attempt is thwarted when Valentino catches up to them, resulting in both of them getting badly injured and knocked unconscious before Valentino abducts them again.
  • Chapter 45 ends on Lucifer entering a hidden area to find a cursed weapon to take out Valentino and Val arriving at the hidden Torture Cellar where he’s taken Moxxie and Angel in order to do ”whatever he wants” to them.
• Closed Door Rapport: While Moxxie is hiding in Vox’s recording booth in chapter 17 after almost walking in on Vox and Val getting it on, Valentino enters the room and tries to first coax him into coming out. When that fails, he proceeds to taunt the thespian through the door by pushing his Relative Button, having blackmailed and tortured Angel into revealing everything he knows about Moxxie’s past, in order to further break his will. It doesn’t work; The only thing that happens is that Moxxie gets angry and starts plotting to kill him instead.
• Commitment Issues: As usual, Blitzo is a bundle of these. Though they get more focus during the latter half of the fic, in particular Chapter 32: He can't bringing himself to take the next step in his & Stolas relationship after it forced the Prince to neglect Octavia's safety just to check on him.
• Comically Missing the Point:
  • After Moxxie receives a key from Valentino, which turns out to be a key to his penthouse suite, Angel reacts in horror at seeing it and asks Moxxie what he thinks the key leads to. Moxxie’s initial takeaway from it is that Valentino now wants him to be a locksmith.
  • Chapter 14; As Angel and Moxxe wait for Valentino, who wants to see Moxxie in private in his limo, Angel tries to get his exhausted friend to stay alert (Since he’s still groggy from being drugged unconscious by Valentino’s smoke after performing) to keep Valentino from taking advantage of him:

  Moxxie: *annoyed* It’s not like I’m not trying [to stay awake]. I’ve never BEEN this tired. Ever. And I thought my REAL boss was exhausting.
  Angel Dust: Then you need to at least pretend you’re conscious or your little ass is gonna get flipped like a pancake!
  Moxxie: What? *pats his legs and glances at his backside* My ass is that flat?

  Angel Dust: THAT’S NOT WHAT I SAID.
• Complaining About Rescues They Don't Like: When Moxxie sees Valentino sexually assault and attempt to rape Vox in Chapter 24, he attempts to finally kill the Moth Overlord by shooting him through the brain. Rather than being thankful, Vox is furious and almost beats up Moxxie, being absolutely furious that he took his kill from him.
• Conflicting Loyalty:
  • Vortex has a hard time dealing with the situation, feeling bad for Moxxie and what he’s going through, but still wanting to remain loyal to Verosika. Eventually, he starts helping I.M.P. and even fully leaves Verosika once her grip on her sanity starts to fade.
  • Mags has had many different loyalties throughout the story. At first introduced as a friend to Angel Dust & Moxxie, she's revealed to be a Double Agent for Valentino so that he can keep tabs on them. But eventually, when she starts feeling bad for Moxxie and becomes more disillusioned with Valentino, she becomes a double agent for the two of them instead.
• Control Freak: Valentino, of course. He expects his ”boyfriends” to be completely under this thumb and obey his every whim. He’s such an extreme case of this that he even wishes to control their emotions by way of torture and More than Mind Control, refusing to let Moxxie find Safety in Indifference because he likes his ”cute little doll” the best when he’s crying, terrified and hurting.
• Conveniently Placed Sharp Thing: During his first time as Striker’s captive, Moxxie gets a knife thrown at his head when he mouths off one time too many, the knife getting embedded into the wall behind him… And Striker doesn’t bother to remove it afterwards. So when he leaves Moxxie Bound and Gagged while he goes to talk to Verosika, Moxxie uses his tail to grab the knife and cut himself free. Not that it helps him in the long run since he’s soon captured again and locked in a closet in a different location instead.
• Conveniently Timed Attack from Behind: Just as it seems Verosika is about to kill Loona & Stolas, Vortex finally has enough of the succubus and knocks her out.
• Converse with the Unconscious: In Chapter 9, Angel Dust has an emotional confession to sleeping Moxxie, apologizing for putting him into Valentino’s spotlight and admitting how close the two are starting to become.
• Cover Innocent Eyes and Ears: At Vox’s studio in chapter 24, Moxxie sees two actors filming a porno and is about to ask what position they’re doing it in when Vox covers his eyes and carries him off… To Moxxie’s slight dismay.
• Cry into Chest:
  • Two instances in chapter 4; When Blitzo wakes up in the hospital after getting fatally shot by Striker with the angelic rifle and learns that Stolas saved his life, he ends up crying bitterly in the Goetia’s arms over his failure to save Moxxie from Striker. Meanwhile, while in Verosika’s custody, Moxxie bursts into tears when he’s reminded of Blitzo Taking the Bullet for Millie and potentially dying for his trouble. Vortex’s guilt almost overtakes his sense of duty when he sees this, leading to him lending Moxxie a literal shoulder to cry on.
  • Played for Horror in chapter 24; Moxxie weeps into Valentino’s shoulder after getting a No-Holds-Barred Beatdown and then locked inside a storage chest and forced to listen to Vox being Bludgeoned to Death. What makes this disturbing is that Valentino not only is Moxxie’s captor and abuser, but also the one who beat Vox to death in the first place and then pushed the blame on Moxxie. But the poor imp is so traumatized and desperate for comfort that he’s willing to accept it from any source.
  • Moxxie gets to do the same thing with Angel Dust in the following chapter when Valentino calls Angel over to the penthouse suite in order to calm Moxxie down.
  • In chapter 45, Moxxie cries into Angel’s chest again as part of his panic attack when he realizes that they’ve been taken to a Torture Cellar. He sobs even harder when Angel tells him that he should be the one to make it out if it turns out that both can’t escape, feeling guilty about all of Angel’s sacrifices and blaming himself for all of the misfortune that has happened to the two.
• Cute and Psycho: When she's not brutally and cheerfully killing random demons for her amusement, Velvet can be pretty amicable and sweet at times.
• Daddy's Little Villain: Played with. Mags is implied to be the adopted ward of Valentino, but while she seems to enjoy working for him, this is mostly out of a believed necessity. She eventually turns on her boss and ends up helping Moxxie & Angel Dust.
• Dance of Romance: Played with. Blitzo starts getting turned on from dancing with Striker during the competition. He tries to deny his feelings, knowing what Striker has done, but the bounty hunter confronts him about them after the dance, nearly managing to seduce the imp right then and there.
• Dating Catwoman: Despite everything Striker has done to Blitzo, neither can deny their attraction towards each other. Of the two, Striker is the most open about it, frequently flirting and trying to get with Blitzo while the later desperately tries to deny it and hate him, but lets his feelings slip through the cracks at times.
• Deal with the Devil: In desperation, Blitzo makes a rash deal with Alastor in exchange for information & help with saving Moxxie. If they fail to keep the Radio Demon entertained with their efforts, he makes it clear they will all suffer for it.
• Death Glare: Stolas shoots several at Striker while in feral form whenever the cowboy complains about his ride, which promptly shut him up.
• Defiant Captive: A downplayed version in that Moxxie doesn’t mouth off much to Valentino, but for all of the latter’s abuse, manipulations and gaslighting and how close Moxxie comes to crossing the Despair Event Horizon, he never truly gives up on escaping in order to both save Angel and reunite with his loved ones. And then there are his assassination attempts on Val…
• Delayed Reaction: When Angel reveals that the key Moxxie has just received is the key to Valentino’s penthouse suite, which means that the Overlord has started developing an obsession with Moxxie and wants to make him one of his ”boyfriends”, it takes a little while for the horrifying realization to sink in:

  Angel: *shaking Moxxie* THAT’S FOR HIS PENTHOUSE! YOU. INNOCENT. LITTLE MAN! IT LEADS TO HIS ROOM!''
  Moxxie: *blinks* … Oh.
  Angel: ”Oh”?! Is that all you’ve got to say?!

  *several seconds of silence*
  Moxxie: *horrified* WHAT THE FUCK?!
  Angel: Right?!
• Delirious Misidentification: When approached by Striker at a night club while Vox and Velvet are away, a drugged and very drunk Moxxie is left too intoxicated to fully recognize him, merely noting that the other imp ”looks like this one guy [he] truly hate[s].” Striker finds this hilarious and plays along in order to seduce Moxxie.
• Denied Food as Punishment: The main way Val keeps Mags in line is by starving her for days on end and only giving her food when she does something that pleases him.
• Depraved Bisexual: Valentino is this in stride. Not only is he sexually & emotionally abusive towards Angel Dust, but he slowly grows a sick attraction to Moxxie, subjecting the poor imp to similar treatment.
• Despair Event Horizon: Eventually, all the emotional, psychological and physical abuse he has suffered from Val starts to drain Moxxie's will and hope for freedom. He briefly reaches his breaking point in Chapter 33, as he becomes numb and doesn't stop Valentino's advances on him like usual. However, this makes the now crazy Val angry, as he enjoys it when the imp fights back, causing him to lash out and bring him back from the brink.
• Didn't See That Coming:
  • Valentino is completely blindsided by Moxxie swaying Vox over to his side simply by being his adorable, kind, Endearingly Dorky self and getting Vox to see just how unhealthy his relationship with Val is. This leads to him losing one of his ”boyfriends” after a Bludgeoned to Death Vox is revived by Alastor and destroys several of Val’s clubs as payback. Valentino is not happy about this and immediately shifts the blame on Moxxie.
  • Vox is caught off-guard when, during their fight at the studio, Valentino suddenly reveals to him that he has wings. Wings powerful enough to create gusts of wind that toss the TV Overlord around like a ragdoll.
  • The plan to kill Valentino that Angel, Cherri, Mags and Vox hatch relies on Cherri planting smoke bombs in the club that are laced with not just Val’s own drugs, but also cedar wood since Valentino is allergic to it and it would thus weaken him. During the Ballroom Blitz, Husk turns out to have the same allergy, meaning that his rescue of Blitzo and Angel goes horribly awry and leads to them getting taken hostage by Valentino.
  • Nobody could foresee a One-Winged Angel Valentino being able to No-Sell a shot from an angelic weapon.
• Didn't Think This Through: Moxxie and Verosika are forced to sing together for Val and Angel’s wedding, and Moxxie is understandably not happy about it and wants nothing to do with her since she’s the one who sold him to Valentino. Verosika responds to his anger by taunting him some more… And then she realizes that in order for the performance to be pulled off, she needs to be on at least civil terms with him for Vortex’s sake, so mocking him and angering him further is probably not the best idea. Unfortunately, the damage is done and Moxxie locks himself in the bathroom, refusing to come out simply because he’s too angry with her to concentrate. Though she does eventually manage to calm him down somewhat with a song from Labyrinth.
• Did You Just Flip Off Cthulhu?:
  • After abducting Angel and Blitzo and taking them to the club’s roof during the wedding reception, a delusional, One-Winged Angel-formed Valentino goes into a crazed rant about Vox’s ”betrayal” and how he owns Angel, Moxxie and Mags and doesn’t need anyone else, after which he moves towards grabbing Angel. Cue Blitzo slapping away the hand with his tail and daring the Overlord to go through him first. He almost gets to experience the consequences of taunting an Overlord first-hand, but he’s saved by Vox at the last second.
  • Moxxie’s Shut Up, Hannibal! to Valentino after Vox is brought Back from the Dead also qualifies due to just how badly outclassed he is. Though this does end up having some pretty bad consequences.
• Dirty Coward: Gritzer, for all of his smug posturing and supposed superiority, turns out to be this in the end. He takes Octavia hostage in order to get the drop on Stolas, and when he finds himself losing against Striker and Stolas in chapter 39, he tries to convince Striker to join his side instead and later gets the hell out of dodge, leaving his henchmen behind without a thought. Striker finds himself absolutely disgusted with the man’s cowardice.
• Do Not Adjust Your Set: Val has Vox broadcast Angel Dust & Moxxie's duet throughout Hell, allowing everyone from I.M.P to The Hotel, to Veronica to Stella & Octavia to watch it. Vox does this again in Chapter 27 to show all of Hell that he survived his supposed death.
• The Dog Bites Back: After Valentino beats him to near death, Vox starts taking big measures to ruin his ex's life however he can. His first act is to gleefully broadcast himself & Velvet blowing up almost everyone of Val's club set to music.
• Domestic Abuser: Valentino is every bit as depraved towards Angel & Vox as he always is. And when his attention turns to Moxxie, the poor imp is forced to endure similar sexual & emotional abuse.
• Dramatic Drop: Played for Laughs. Upon seeing Stella, the one responsible for hiring Striker and by extension starting this whole chain of events, Blitzo's so pissed he drops the badly wounded Striker on the floor.
• The Dreaded: Valentino becomes this to Moxxie due to all of his manipulations and abuse. While Moxxie was already uneasy and scared of him, Valentino cornering him, beating him up, kidnapping him again and forcing him to perform a private solo act in chapter 16 manages to crack his resolve, filling him with dread and hopelessness and driving him to tears. While he does somewhat bounce back from that to continue plotting his and Angel’s escape, he’s still left completely and utterly terrified of Valentino afterwards.
• Dynamic Entry: During the Ballroom Blitz, Husk’s part in his and Striker’s rescue of Blitzo and Angel involves flying onto Valentino’s balcony and punching him in the face, knocking out one of his teeth and momentarily distracting him.
• Easily Forgiven: While Angel Dust and Cherri are still pretty mad and hesitant to fully make up with Mags after they find out about her spying on Valentino's behalf, the hellbird doesn't suffer too many consequences from Angel Dust and Cherri and ends up joining their side rather quickly. Moxxie is fully forgiving and willing to save her once he finds out without being upset with her. Justified, as being a victim of Valentino's abuse himself, Angel realizes that Mags was more than likely forced into this role and is thus more understanding of it, offering to help her escape from the Overlord alongside him.
• Embarrassing Slide: When Blitzo is about to present his rescue plan to the rest of the team, the slide that’s shown at first has the title ”My bitchy ass getting arrested and fucked, best day of my life”.
• Emotion Control: Valentino appears to have a limited version of this; In chapter 35, he manages to calm down a seething Moxxie in an instant by kissing him on the cheek, which dampens his anger. (Though Moxxie is so angry that the effect doesn’t even last for a couple of minutes) A flashback reveals that his mother Valora also had this power as part of the succubus/incubus package.
• Enemy Mine:
  • Despite everything Striker has done, from trying to kill Stolas to kidnapping & selling off Moxxie, I.M.P. and he join forces in order to save Moxxie and get their payback on both Verosika & Valentino. While Striker mostly uses them to get back his rifle and recapture Moxxie, he comes to care a little about them in time, or a least about Blitzo, though not enough to stop carrying out his plans.
  • Moxxie and Striker also team up at the wedding when Valentino has taken Blitzo and Angel hostage on the club’s roof. Though Moxxie understandably refuses at first, telling Striker in no uncertain terms that he hates his guts, trusts him about as far as he can throw him (And scoffing in disbelief when Charlie tells him that Striker has actually helped Blitzo with the rescue plan) and would rather leave him to rot. He only relents once Striker angrily tells him that he has his own reasons for following Moxxie and Charlie to the roof (That being his Villainous Crush on Blitzo) and doesn’t actually need Moxxie’s permission to do so.
  • Alastor and Vox have a long, bitter rivalry with each other, but are more than happy to put it aside, in order to finally deal with Valentino.
• Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Verosika genuinely cares about Vortex and greatly appreciates his loyalty and kindness. So much so that when Valentino threatens the hellhound's life, she agrees to work for him again.
• Even Evil Has Standards:
  • Striker is a sadistic, smug, wholly unapologetic asshole who has no qualms about performing kidnappings and taking hostages - After all, him doing just that is what kickstarts the whole plot in the first place. But he draws the line at using children for this, if only because he thinks a pro shouldn’t have to resort to it, and is disgusted when Gritzer takes Octavia hostage to get the drop on Stolas.
  • While Verosika has undergone a case of Adaptational Villainy in this fic, she does eventually start to regret her part in the events unfolding and feel a bit bad for Moxxie, having had no idea that Valentino would become so obsessed with the little guy and noting that she wouldn’t have wished that fate on her worst enemy.
• Evil Gloating: Valentino engages in this whenever he feels that he need to remind his ”boyfriends” of who’s in charge and when he’s ”won” over them. Special mention goes to the incredibly cruel spiel he gives to a devastated Moxxie in conjunction with his previous brutal breaking speech in chapter 30, following it up with molesting and drugging him once again:
  Valentino: Now [hyperventilating in a panic] is more in character, isn’t it, Moxxie? You’re much more fun like this. When you’re trembling and powerless… and absolutely punished. *strokes Moxxie’s tail* So, if you want Angel Dust to have a white wedding instead of a black one… You’ll behave for me today, won’t you? You’ll be good for me? Hmm? You’ll be a cute little doll for me, won’t you? *yanks tail* Won’t. You?
  Moxxie: *sobs* Y-y-yes… Just… just-
  Valentino: Oh, baby, I won’t hurt him - not on his wedding day. But I can’t promise anything for the honeymoon. How I treat him there? All depends on you. Every hit he gets from now on? All on you. And he’s already gonna get hit from his own disobedience… so you don’t wanna add to it, do you?
  Moxxie: *whimpers*
  Valentino: Didn’t. Think so… You big baby. *chuckles darkly*
• Evil Is Petty: Verosika teams up with Striker and takes custody of Moxxie, eventually selling him off to Valentino, and later tries to kill Stolas with Striker’s holy gun... all just to spite Blitzo for dumping her.
• Exact Eavesdropping: While trying to get Moxxie back in chapter 19, Striker manages to see Stella. Following her, he finds her right in the act of hiring a replacement bounty hunter, Gritzer, to kill Stolas using his previous holy weapon.
• Exact Words: Valentino orders Vox to "sleep" with Moxxie, all but saying that he wants the Overlord to have sex with the imp. Instead, Vox decides to simply sleep with the imp, sleeping next to the already unconscious Moxxie without trying anything else.
• Extreme Mêlée Revenge: When Moxxie and Charlie chase after Valentino, who has taken Blitzo and Angel hostage to lure Moxxie to him after the wedding goes off the rails, they run into Striker who got himself severely injured in a failed attempt to hold Valentino off. Since Moxxie is sober enough to recognize him this time, the weapons expert finally hits his Rage Breaking Point upon seeing the one who started everything and goes ballistic on Striker, starting with punching him in the crotch and then pummelling the ever-loving crap out of him. The only reason he stops is because he gets too exhausted to keep it up and is already worried sick about the captive Angel and Blitzo. But Striker’s continued taunts (Like pointing out that Moxxie has a gun and could’ve just shot him if he truly wanted him dead) and complete lack of remorse for what he’s done almost drives Moxxie to attack him again, forcing Charlie to hold him back.
  Moxxie: I’m going to beat you until your ass concaves so badly… that your shit will spew upwards!
  Striker: Wait-
  Moxxie: THEN I’LL SHOVE IT BACK INTO YOUR MOUTH!
• Eye Scream: During his second assassination attempt, Moxxie gets a hold of a knife and ends up stabbing Valentino in the eye with it so hard that the knife pierces his brain. Unfortunately, this doesn’t end up killing Val either, with the Overlord, once he’s ”back to life”, nonchalantly removing the knife from his head, eye still attached to the blade, and removing the eye and popping it back into its socket.
• Fainting: Several characters pass out during the story for various different reasons, with Moxxie being the one who ends up unconscious the most frequently; Striker knocks him out via Tap on the Head when he’s first kidnapped, Valentino drugs him into unconsciousness on several occasions and he even faints in shock a couple of times.
• Faint in Shock: Blitzo passes out in chapter 7 after Stolas informs him of Moxxie being under Valentino’s employ. He doesn’t wake up until the next day.
• Fake Defector: Mags pretends to be this for Valentino in order to learn more about Angel Dust & Moxxie's plans to escape or outsmart their boss. Later Subverted in Chapter 21, where she regrets her actions and realizes how abused she is under Valentino's care and defects for real over to Angel Dust and Moxxie's side.
• Fake First Kiss: To further cement their relationship with each other for Val, Moxxie & Angel Dust kiss at the end of their duet in Chapter 16.
• Fake Relationship: After Valentino misinterprets Angel Dust’s interest in Moxxie as them being in a relationship, the two of them go along with it in order to keep each other safe.
• A Father to His Men: Blitzo is as protective of his employees as always, not hesitating to make a deal with Alastor himself rather than let Millie put her soul on the line once he hears about her plans to do so. (As he snarls to the woman, he’s their boss, and all deals go through him) He also chews out Verosika for attacking his employees to get back at him for being a bad boyfriend, punches a hole in a wall out of anger when he sees the social media photos from Moxxie’s first ”outing” with Valentino, chases after Striker in a rage after discovering that the latter tried to seduce Moxxie instead of bringing him back to the hotel, and after Loona sends him the leaked security footage of Valentino beating up Moxxie and bludgeoning Vox to death, he becomes so horrified and angry that he enters full-on Papa Wolf mode; He decides to forego the ongoing plan to assassinate Gritzer and leave it all to Striker in favor of tracking Valentino down and rescuing Moxxie immediately. Too bad that Gritzer, who’d already taken care of Striker, puts the kibosh on that…
• Faux Affably Evil: Valentino is usually fairly polite and always calls his ”boyfriends” by various cutesy pet names. But he also constantly slips in swears, insults and breaking speeches when talking to them, and it overall doesn’t take much for the facade to fade and reveal just how disingenuous he is.
• Fell Asleep Crying: The traumatizing events at the studio leaves Moxxie curled up on the floor and crying once he’s been taken from there. And since he’s already physically and emotionally drained from all of Valentino’s abuse, he passes out in the same position.
• Fire-Forged Friends: When Moxxie first meets Angel Dust, the sinner is very cold & uncaring towards him, seeing him as little more than a nuisance and another coworker. He quickly warms up to him, however, upon learning what he’s been through. The two bond from there and become True Companions, helping each other endure the heartache they go through.
• Foe Romance Subtext: This makes up much of Blitzo & Striker’s relationship when they’re forced to team up. Blitzo starts becoming attracted to his former nemesis the longer they spend time together and tries to deny his feelings, still being mad over what he’s done. Striker is well aware of his enemy’s feelings and uses it to his advantage by flirting with Blitzo and trying to seduce him on several occasions.
• Foil: Valentino serves as one to Stolas in this fic. Both are high-ranking demons in Hell (An Overlord and a Prince of Hell, respectively) who have gained an imp as an object of their affections, and they both alternate between treating the imp like a small child and a Lust Object. The difference being that Stolas, for all of his flaws and creepiness, does genuinely love and care about Blitzo, whereas Valentino is a Love Hungry, abusive, manipulative Psychopathic Man Child who ultimately sees Moxxie as little more than his cute little toy to do with as he pleases.
• Forced to Watch: After being on the receiving end of a No-Holds-Barred Beatdown as punishment for trying to assassinate Valentino, Moxxie is locked inside a chest and forced to listen to the pimp beating Vox to death. This traumatizes him so badly that it sends him into a Heroic BSoD and makes him develop something akin to Claustrophobia. Word of God suggests that this was actually supposed to be a slight act of some twisted form of mercy on Val’s part, as he didn’t want Moxxie to actually see it happening.
• Force Feeding: More like force drinking, as Valentino often forces Moxxie to drink in order to get him more lively and passive to his liking. And during their first "outing", he also does it in order to interrogate him regarding his "relationship" with Angel Dust.
• Forceful Kiss:
  • Valentino gives one to Moxxie during their limo ride, both to force feed him smoke and for his own pleasure. This is something he proceeds to do repeatedly to both Angel and Moxxie over the course of the story.
  • Striker plants one on Blitzo, after noticing the imp’s growing interest in his enemy during the dance competition. It nearly would’ve turned into something else, had Alastor not arrived.
  • Valentino gives one to Angel Dust while he crashes his performance in Chapter 21.
• Freak Out:
  • Poor Moxxie has a heartwrenching breakdown the day after his limoride with Valentino.
  • Moxxie has another bad one when he and Angel Dust find themselves recaptured by Valentino after the ruined wedding and taken to a hidden sex dungeon, realizing just what’s in store for them. He has a full-blown panic attack and blames himself for every traumatic event that has happened to him and Angel Dust. Angel telling him that he wants him to be the one to make it out in case both of them can’t escape only makes Moxxie panic even more out of guilt, and the sinner has to give him a Cooldown Hug and teach him a breathing exercise to calm him down.
• The Friend Nobody Likes: Nobody on the Save Moxxie team likes Striker. More than justified as he's the reason Moxxie's forced to work for Val in the first place. It doesn't help that the imp is not even remotely apologetic for his actions, doesn't change his behavior, constantly antagonizes everyone and is clearly plotting his own schemes behind the scenes. The only reason they still work together is because they need his info.
• Friendship Moment: After Angel comes clean about lying about his and Moxxie’s relationship to Valentino, Moxxie gets upset with Angel for putting his own wellbeing on the line and not planning on even letting Moxxie know about it, the imp already aware of how abusive and scary Valentino is. It leads to this exchange:
  Moxxie: Then why risk it? I’m just some guy you’re forced to perform with.

  Angel: You… don’t think we’re friends already?
  Moxxie: *perks up and wags his tail* Of course I do.
  Angel: Then that’s why… I think. I… see you as a friend, too.
• Fun with Flushing: When given a key to Valentino’s penthouse, Moxxie gets rid of it by shitting on it, vomiting on it, and then finally flushing it. Angel Dust finds it disgusting and absolutely hilarious in equal measure.
• Genki Girl: Velvet is the most openly friendly of the Triple-Vs. She's very lively, eccentric and cheerful most of the time, even while doing morally reprehensible stuff and having bad company.
• Get Out!: Stolas has this reaction to Alastor when the radio demon attempts to stir up drama and make him jealous by teasing him with the possibility that Blitzo might be falling for Striker.
• Gilded Cage: By all means, aside from the cellar room where he spends the first couple of days examining weapons, the accommodations Moxxie ends up at while in Valentino’s custody (Angel’s backstage room, Vox’s apartment and even Valentino’s luxury penthouse suite) are pretty nice, with Vox’s apartment in particular having books, classical music records and even a piano - All in line with Moxxie’s own tastes. But it’s repeatedly hammered in that Moxxie is Valentino’s captive and thus not allowed to leave any of these places on his own under any circumstances. Played with in Vox’s case: He admits that he doesn’t keep his front door locked and won’t stop Moxxie if the latter tries to make a run for it (In fact, he welcomes any chance to get him out of his hair as soon as possible), but he notes that if the imp was to try, Valentino would find out, hunt him down and punish him, so it’s really in Moxxie’s own best interest to stay put.
• Give Me a Reason:
  • After noticing how close Angel and Moxxie are becoming, Valentino starts to use it to his advantage and tells Angel that if he shows off any more plotting or rebellious tendencies, Val will make sure to separate the two in order to punish them. This is something the pimp actually hopes will happen in order to get his hands on Moxxie, and a promise he makes good on in chapter 16 when Mags reveals the two’s Keeping the Enemy Close plan to him; After Moxxie and Angel’s performance, he drugs Angel unconscious on-stage and corners, beats up and kidnaps Moxxie when the latter is alone backstage.
  • After Moxxie’s Shut Up, Hannibal! speech, Val responds with a furious Shut Up, Kirk!, silently daring Moxxie to continue the argument and give him an excuse to deliver another No-Holds-Barred Beatdown to the imp. Fortunately, Moxxie has enough of a sense of self-preservation to keep his mouth shut, merely glaring in response.
• Good Smoking, Evil Smoking: Valentino is seen smoking in nearly one of his appearances. In fact, he often uses it on Moxxie, forcing him to inhale the smoke against his will. It's eventually revealed his smoke is actually a gaseous drug that drains the strength of those who inhale it and render them unconscious.
• Guns vs. Swords: More knives than swords, but this is most highlighted in the rivalry between Gritzer, the large alligator man who prefers to use knives to kill his targets, and Blitzo/Striker, both highly skilled gunslingers with a large arsenal of firearms to fall back on.
• Hand Gagging:
  • Valentino clasps his hand over Moxxie’s mouth in order to shut him up a handful of times; First in chapter 16 when kidnapping him, then in chapter 19 to keep Vox from hearing him over the phone after the intoxicated imp has wandered off, and in chapter 36 to keep him from protesting when Angel interrupts Val’s Attempted Rape of him.
  • A strangely more wholesome example occurs when Vox sneaks into the office-turned-changing room while Moxxie and Cherri are out shopping for best-man and bridesmaid clothes in chapter 31. Moxxie’s excitement over seeing Vox leads him to almost shout his name, so Vox slaps a hand over his mouth to make him quiet down. Moxxie makes his joy known by wagging his tail instead.
  Vox: Damn, you’re like a pathetic puppy.
• Hate Sink:
  • Valentine is utterly reprehensible in this story. He's physically, emotionally and sexually abusive and manipulative towards his boyfriend Vox, his workers Angel Dust and Moxxie and even his own ward Mags. While he's later revealed to have been an abuse survivor himself, it does little to help justify or redeem him from all the monstrous acts he does to the people around him.
  • Verosika Mayday comes across as a spiteful, petty, vengeful, self-centered glory dog who'll do just about anything to get back at Blitzo. Wether it be selling Moxxie off to Valentino or trying to kill Stolas on her own. Her redeemable and sympathetic aspects are toned downed here, giving her very few moments where we feel bad for the succubus. Though she does eventually start to regret her actions when she sees for herself how badly everything starts to go south, downplaying this trope somewhat.
• Healing Hands:
  • Stolas is shown to have the ability to heal somebody on the brink of death back to health, something he demonstrates on Striker (On Blitzo’s insistence since he believes they need Striker to track down Moxxie, though neither he nor Stolas are happy about it) after the snake imp is almost beaten to death by Vortex.
  • Valentino turns out to have this as one of his many strange powers, healing Moxxie’s injured leg by just rubbing his hand on his thigh.
• Heel–Face Turn:
  • Vortex starts out being loyal to Verosika, even as he’s forced to fight against I.M.P. and allow Moxxie to be sold. But due to his regret over his actions and as she grows more unstable, he begins to aid I.M.P. and the rest of their side behind her back, starting in Chapter 15 when he knocks out Verosika right as she's about to kill Stolas & Loona. He finally switches sides in Chapter 22 when he takes Octavia to Stolas.
  • Having finally had enough of his abusers' manipulation and treatment at the hands of Valentino, Vox stands up to his toxic lover and takes his supposed death as an opportunity to secretly help out Blitzo & Angel Dust, leaking footage of his beatdown to them.
• Helpful Hallucination: Moxxie eventually starts hearing Millie's voice calling out to him, encouraging him to keep holding out hope for her to arrive and to try and kill Val while he's distracted, giving the imp some much needed relief and a good boost.
• Hero vs. Villain Duet: Angel Dust goes to do what he believes to be a standard pole dance and song in Chapter 21, only for it to turn into a forceful duet as Valentino joins him. He does this as a show of his power over the spider sinner after he finds out about their plans behind his back.
• Heroic BSoD:
  • Moxxie is barely able to function and register the world around him after helplessly witnessing Valentino beat Vox to his apparent death. It and Valentino's gaslighting manipulation leaves him a traumatized, broken mess, believing himself to be responsible for it.
  • Millie suffers an emotional breakdown when Husk stops her from jumping out the hotel window to save Moxxie while pregnant.
  • Moxxie enters another one in chapter 30 after Valentino reveals that he's forcing Angel Dust to marry him and wants Moxxie to blame himself for it, gloats about it and then molests him again.
• Heroic Self-Deprecation: Valentino’s abuse is shown to really take its toll on Moxxie’s already low self-esteem, most likely by design. His Freak Out after his and Val’s first ”outing” firmly establishes that he figured that his job would’ve left him better prepared to deal with the Overlord’s manipulations and chastises himself when this turns out to not be the case:

  Angel: You didn’t tell on me [about the Fake Relationship]. It’s OK. And even if you had...
  Moxxie: It’s not… It’s not! I… I literally SHOOT people for a living! I sh-should’ve been… *sobs* … t-tough enough to-

  Angel: Moxxie, Valentino’s been getting away with shit like that for who knows how long. There’s nothing you could have-
  Moxxie: I… I could’ve bitten him! Or something!
  Angel: He probably would’ve liked that.
  Moxxie: Damn mother fuck - *pukes*
• Hidden Depths: Striker turns out to be quite an accomplished dancer, which comes in handy when the I.M.P crew needs to win a dance competition in order to get tickets to Valentino’s club.
• Honest Advisor: Loona & Charlie act like this to Blitzo & Stolas respectively on the matter of their relationship. Loona bluntly tells her father that she doesn't like the relationship as it is now due to his commitment issues and how it would make Octavia feel secondary to Stolas, and she even encourages him to try to acknowledge his feelings for Striker and start a relationship with him if the bounty hunter truly redeems himself. Charlie, while a romantic at heart, understands Stolas's reasons for wanting to leave Blitzo to focus on his daughter and encourages him to tell Blitzo this.
• Honey Trap: Blitzo & Striker's initial plan to take out Gritzer is for the latter to seduce the bounty hunter, as he's known to have a thing for reptiles, so they can get close enough to kill him and reclaim Stella's holy weaponry. It doesn't work as Gritzer was already onto him, but the alligator still takes the opportunity to attempt to rape Striker while he tries to flee.
• Hope Spot:
  • While cornered in an abandoned house and subdued after his first escape attempt, Moxxie manages to free himself from Striker’s grip by kicking him in the face and dives through a hole in the wall to escape… only to pass out outside from shock, blood loss (Since he was slashed and stabbed in the leg during their brawl) and possibly his earlier head trauma, allowing Striker to easily capture him once again.
  • Chaper 24 sees Moxxie finally getting hold of a gun and shooting Valentino in the head when the latter tries to rape Vox. Vox does attack Moxxie in a rage for his Unwanted Assistance, but it at least seems like the evil Overlord is finally dead. That is, until he gets up, digs the bullet out of his head and throws it away, groggy but alive… and livid.
  • Chapter 34: Moxxie, in full-on Cornered Rattlesnake assassin mode, manages to stab Valentino in the eye so hard that the knife pierces his brain. He approaches the Overlord’s body on the floor and experimentally touches the knife’s handle, checking to see if he’s actually gone for good… And that’s when Val grabs him, revealing that this attempt has also failed.
• Horrible Judge of Character: Velvet has a messed up view of Valentino and his relationship with Vox. She doesn't see anything wrong with the way the moth sinner treats Vox and assaults him; She believes it's how Valentino expresses his love and that just it means that he loves Vox the most out of everyone.
• I Gave My Word: Striker tries to use this as an explanation on why he hasn't betrayed Blitzo and tried to take his rifle back on his own, but the boss sees through it and realizes the cowboy is still around because he enjoys his company.
• I Have Your Wife:
  • The central plot of the story is kicked off when Striker kidnaps Moxxie and demands that Blitzo gives him his holy gun back in exchange. While he gets his gun back, I.M.P. is unable to save Moxxie, and from there, things only get worse.
  • Gritzer pulls this same move on Stolas, kidnapping Stella and Octavia after the swan cancelled her hit, and calling the prince on his daughter's phone. He demands that the prince, along with Striker, arrive at a specific location where Gritzer will then kill either Stolas, Stella or Octavia.
• I'm a Humanitarian: Aside from Alastor, Mags has grown to enjoy eating the flesh and blood of other sinners, though she's mostly been conditioned to do so by Valentino.
• Implausible Deniability: After Vox broadcasts the security footage of Val’s No-Holds-Barred Beatdown of Moxxie and Vox (and Vox’s subsequent destruction of his and Val’s shared clubs as revenge) to everyone in Hell, Husk heads to Millie’s room and finds her in the process of climbing out the window. When he asks her what she’s doing, she answers that she’s about to take a piss.

  Husk: With all of your weapons? And pants still on?
  Millie: Yes?
  *awkward silence*
  Husk: Don’t… Don’t you dare jump out-
  *Millie jumps anyway, to Husk’s horror*
• Improbable Aiming Skills: As in canon, Moxxie is an absolute crack shot, which helps both him and Angel when they find themselves in the middle of a turf war in chapter 12. Valentino also forces him to demonstrate this by sniping an innocent demon on a far-away balcony during their first ”outing”. And in chapter 24, he manages to shoot Valentino in the head to save Vox from getting raped… while hiding behind a chest, facing the opposite way and using only the shadows on the wall to aim his shot at the right target.
• Improvised Weapon:
  • Valentino uses the thin chain with the penthouse key that Moxxie starts wearing to strangle him whenever he’s interrogating or torturing him.
  • Moxxie gets to return the favor in chapter 34 when he ambushes Valentino in his walk-in closet for a second assassination attempt: He hides in an air vent and tries to strangle Val with a scarf, having figured out that Val is a Hellborn rather than a sinner-turned-Overlord and thus figures that even he needs to breathe. And when this fails, Moxxie goes full-on Cornered Rattlesnake and uses anything he can get his hands on to try and take Val down, from strangling and slapping him with his tail, blasting him with cold water from the shower and finally shoving a kitchen knife into his eye so hard that it pierces his brain. Unfortunately, this doesn’t kill him either.
  • After being knocked out by Valentino and dragged under a table at the wedding, Blitzo uses this in combination with Husk distracting Valentino with a Dynamic Entry to his advantage by kicking the table straight at the Overlord’s head.
  Blitzo: Think you can bench ME?! I think the FUCK NOT!
• Inconvenient Attraction: Despite his best efforts to bury his feelings in the wake of everything he's done to them and Moxxie, Blitzo can't deny his feelings towards Striker, which only grow more passionate as the mission goes on. It gets to the point where he considers making things more serious with the bounty hunter.
• Injured Limb Episode: Part of Valentino’s No-Holds-Barred Beatdown of Moxxie in chapter 24 involves stomping on his thigh, leaving his leg badly injured; Not broken, as it turns out later, but so severely sprained that he can’t walk or even support his weight on it. This leaves him having to be carried around and being confined to a wheelchair for a couple of chapters… And Valentino using the injury to torture him.
• Instantly Proven Wrong: In chapter 30, when Blitzo returns from his and Striker’s failed attempt on Gritzer’s life and Husk informs him of Millie’s previous attempt to ditch the group and save Moxxie herself, Blitzo compliments Husk on getting her to listen to him… Only to discover that her room is empty, revealing that she ditched the group anyway as soon as Husk left her alone.

  Blitzo: *glares at Husk* I take back the compliment. You suck.
• Instant Web Hit: Moxxie’s violin & piano number at Valentino’s club becomes a viral sensation overnight, helped by the recent rumours of him & Angel being in a relationship. This soon draws in some unwanted attention, including from a very frustrated Verosika Mayday, but it also enables I.M.P to locate him thanks to Loona finding the video.
• In the Back: Striker gives Gritzer a stab in Chapter 27 just as the gator's about to kill Blitzo.
• In Vino Veritas: During Valentino’s first night with Moxxie, he gets the imp drunk and tries to get him to confess about his & Angel’s plans of escaping. Thankfully, Moxxie still has enough sense to keep him from telling the Overlord the truth about their Fake Relationship.
• Internal Reveal:
  • At the end of Chapter 12, Loona finds out about Moxxie performing at Valentino’s club through browsing social media.
  • In Chapter 16, Stella finds out where Moxxie is performing at and the imp starts to suspect that Mags might be spying on them for Valentino.
  • Chapter 20 has Blitzo finally learn about Stella hiring Striker during the Harvest Moon Festival from the assassin himself.
  • While Cherri was suspicious of Mags's loyalties, Chapter 21 has her and Angel Dust discovering that she's been secretly relaying info back to Valentino.
• Ironic Name: The Doctor who comes to treat the injured Moxxie, who is very morally sound and uncorrupt by Hell Standards, is named Dr. Sin.
• Irrevocable Order: Stella finally cancels the hit on Stolas shortly after hiring the bloodthirsty Gritzer for the task. However, by that point, the alligator man is so furious about being wounded in battle and then humiliated by being fired that he continues his hit on the Prince, gathering together all his men while also vowing to kill Blitzo, Striker and anyone else who gets in his way.
• It Amused Me: Alastor is in fine form here, as usual. Blitzo uses this to sign a deal with him (After stopping Millie from doing the same thing on the basis that he’s the boss); Alastor gives I.M.P anything he finds out about Moxxie, and in return, they make sure to make the rescue operation as entertaining as possible. But even then, Alastor remains a Wild Card whose every action, whether it helps the heroes (Reviving Vox) or hinders them (Making the angelic rifle stop working just as Blitzo is about to shoot Valentino), is geared towards making the proceedings more fun for him to observe. He even admits as much to Husk when the pair eavesdrop on Octavia calling her parents out; His aim in all of this is to help create the most entertaining chaos Hell has ever seen.
• It's All My Fault:
  • Loona blames herself for Blitzo’s near-death experience in chapter 3. Since she arrived late to the scene as usual, figuring that Blitzo and Millie didn’t need her help, she reasons that she could’ve prevented it from happening and that they could’ve saved Moxxie right then and there had she just been there from the start. Blitzo is quick to comfort her and tells her that it’s not her fault.
  • Moxxie sinks deeply into this trope, believing himself to be responsible for Vox's apparent death, being the one to encourage the Overlord to stand up to Valentino and having angered the Moth demon. It gets worse when Vox comes back and Valentino makes Moxxie think he's partly responsible for his wedding to Angel Dust in addition to the above. Heck, Val even outright admits during his breaking speech that he's deliberately invoking this trope with Moxxie.
  • Stolas understandably blames himself horribly for putting Octavia through so much pain and misery, making her feel like she's secondary to Blitzo after having ignored her issues while trying to help his paramour. Enough so for the Prince to want to call their relationship off entirely.
  • Blitzo turns out to blame himself for Moxxie’s kidnapping.
  • When he and Angel find themselves in Valentino’s hidden sex dungeon in chapter 45, Moxxie breaks down and starts blaming himself for everything that he, Angel and their friends and allies have gone through since he arrived at the club.
• Jack Bauer Interrogation Technique: Millie shoots Striker’s landlord and threatens to kill him for information on the assassin’s whereabouts.
• Jealous Romantic Witness: Stolas won't admit it, but seeing Striker & Blitzo being so close and kissing during the dance contest starts to wear on him emotionally. Especially since Striker tried to kill him not too long ago. He wonders if this is what Stella felt like when she learned of his affair with Blitzo.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Vox becomes this to Moxxie. While he's initially cold towards the imp, jealous of the how much Valentino's beginning to focus on Moxxie rather than him, as time goes on, Vox starts to grow to care about him, though he will often deny it.
• Keeping the Enemy Close: The first escape plan that Moxxie hatches hinges on this. Since his and Angel’s Fake Relationship has done nothing but make Valentino even more interested in the imp (Since he always wants what others have), he reasons that they can use this to their advantage; By pretending that their ”relationship” is shaky and that Val has managed to get inside Moxxie’s head, Moxxie can lead him on and flirt with him in order to act as a ”spy” for the two friends and find out anything that might help them escape. Unfortunately, since Mags is The Mole and participates in the discussion, she rats the duo out to Valentino, who stops the plan before it has a chance to go anywhere.
• Kick the Dog:
  • Good lord, does Valentino go all-in on puppy-punting in this fic - Not a chapter featuring him goes by when he doesn’t perform a deplorable act just to be a manipulative, sadistic, spiteful asshole, with Angel and Moxxie being his favorite targets.
  • Katie Killjoy is as much of a bitch here as in canon. Not only does she grill Charlie on her and Lucifer’s total failure on preventing Valentino and Vox’s turf war during Val and Angel’s wedding, she also antagonizes Mags for no reason, and her reaction to seeing Moxxie in person is to tell him that she found the security footage showing him and Vox on the receiving end of a No-Holds-Barred Beatdown to be ”scrumptious.”
• Killed Off for Real: Stella is killed by Gritzer as revenge for calling off his services.
• The Kindnapper: Discussed. After Vox severs ties with Valentino after being revived by Alastor and finds out about the pimp’s plan to marry Angel Dust, he decides to help Angel, Mags and Cherri with their plan mainly in order to rescue Moxxie. He mentions to Velvet that, should the group’s plan fail, his backup plan is to simply kidnap Moxxie himself. Though he only plans for it in order to get his new friend away from the abusive Overlord, and he admits that he doesn’t want to have to resort to that and intends to just let Moxxie go home afterwards.
• Knockout Gas: Valentino has cigarette versions of this, courtesy of Velvet, which he uses on Angel Dust and Moxxie to tire them out and make them weak.
• Learned from the News: Having been away from the hotel for business related to Heaven in Sloth, Charlie and Vaggie haven't been up to date on everything that's been going on with Moxxie, Angel Dust and the Triple-Vs. It's only after Vox makes his grand display of blowing up Valentino's clubs that they find out about it all.
• Leeroy Jenkins: Millie's prone to split from the team and try to find & rescue Moxxie on her own. Most notably, she slips away while everyone wi distracted and putting together a big rescue plan, taking one of the four tickets to Val's big club in order to save him herself after finding out about Val's planned wedding.
• Let's Split Up, Gang!:
  • Happens to the main party (minus Millie, who ditched the group earlier) at the start of Chapter 34. Stolas has already left with Striker to confront Gritzer who has Octavia, Charlie, Vaggie, Husk and Blitzo go to try and save Moxxie and Angel Dust, and Loona goes to help Striker and Stolas.
  • The "Save Moxxie and Angel Dust"-group also decides to do this when infiltrating Valentino and Angel’s wedding to cover more ground; Charlie and Vaggie draw people’s attention on the dance floor, Husk heads to the bar in order to hear some gossip and Blitzo sneaks off towards Valentino’s balcony to try and get a shot at him with the angelic rifle. It backfires when Blitzo finds himself cornered and subdued by Valentino and realizes that he went up there by himself because he wanted to be the one who saves Moxxie, lamenting to himself how stupid the plan was before he passes out from Valentino’s drugged tobacco smoke.
• Liar Revealed: Val finally learns about Angel Dust's Fake Relationship with Moxxie in Chapter 28, confronting the spider demon about it.
• Locked Up and Left Behind: Moxxie worries that this is the case when he wakes up in Valentino’s closet after another failed assassination attempt, shackled to the wall and dressed in his best-man suit; He considers the possibility that the wedding is over and Val is on his ”honeymoon” with Angel, leaving Moxxie behind in the outfit as a way to taunt and punish him. Ultimately averted, though, as he was only out for about an hour and Val wants him to sing a duet with Verosika at the wedding.
• Love Hungry: For all of his claims that he loves his ”boyfriends”, it's obvious that Valentino doesn’t care for them in the way he wants them to care for him, something Moxxie definitely picks up on early. The pimp is desperate for the thespian imp to also fall for him the way he’s managed with his other ”boyfriends”… but it’s also the one area where he can’t get what he wants due to Moxxie being Happily Married and completely devoted to Millie.
  Valentino: *as he locks Moxxie in a closet and thus pushes the latter’s Trauma Button* You be good in here, Moxxie. I’m only doing this because I love you. Would break my heart if you went around acting like a spoiled little asshole. So really… this is aaaaall to help you learn just how good you have it.
  Moxxie: *thinking* You don’t love anyone! You’re selfish and cruel! So cruel… And you try to convince people it’s love… when really, it’s just your fear of a lack of control! You’re a monster.
• Love Martyr: Vox shows signs of this, having internalized Valentino’s abuse and believing that Val hits him because he loves him. The fact that Velvet supports this point of view (Because she genuinely believes it, too) and feeds into it by claiming that Val beats Vox the most because he loves him the most doesn’t help either. He’s therefore initially puzzled at Moxxie’s concern for him, like drunkenly telling him that Millie would never do something like that to him while gently touching Vox’s cracked screen and generally showing him patience and kindness. The end result (Combined with a moment of Attempted Rape) is that Vox finally sees the relationship for the abuse that it is and severs ties with Val. He gets Bludgeoned to Death for his trouble, but Alastor revives him.
• Love Triangle: Between Blitzo, Stolas & Striker. Stolas loves Blitzo but hates Striker. Striker likes Blitzo and tried to kill Stolas. Blitzo has feelings for both, but is deeply conflicted on how to handle the situation.

Tropes M to Z

• Mad Love: Despite how much Valentino mistreats him, Vox is always quick to fall back in love with his partner with little more than a few empty promises and kind words. Thanks to his growing friendship with Moxxie, who helps him see how unhealthy and bad this relationship is for him, Vox finally decides to leave Valentino for good.
• Make an Example of Them: When Valentino suspects Angel Dust of leaving him for good, the Overlord sadistically shows him the consequences of such actions by using his new smoke to knock out Mags in front of a large crowd, showing the control he has over everyone.
• Manipulative Bastard:
  • Valentino is this in spades, emotionally and psychologically manipulating others for his pleasure. This includes making Mags believe she needs him to survive, tricking Vox into loving him despite everything he puts him through and the various psychological trauma he puts Angel & Moxxie through.
  • Striker also deserves a mention, as he frequently and sometimes almost successfully manages to sweet-talk Blitzo into doing what he wants.
• Mistaken for Cheating: While not technically in a relationship yet, Stolas has this reaction to Blitzo upon seeing him making out with Striker during their dance.
• Mood Whiplash: Chapter 22 starts out sweetly enough, with Moxxie waking up in Vox's apartment, getting his first shower in a while, snuggling with Vark and making the Overlord breakfast… and then Val shows up.
• The Mole: Mags was originally introduced as a friend and ally to Angel Dust & Moxxie, working with them to escape Valentino. However chapter 14 reveals that she has actually been working for Val the whole time. From chapter 21 and onwards, she truly becomes this to Angel Dust after having grown to care about the Spider Demon.
• Morality Pet: Moxxie becomes this to Angel Dust, Magatha and Vox, slowly bringing out their better kind side, the longer he gets to know them.
• Morning Sickness: Chapter 18 has the first hint of Millie being pregnant, with her suddenly vomiting and feeling nauseous.
• My God, What Have I Done?:
  • Mags has this reaction in Chapter 21, after seeing Valentino's terrifying display of power over Angel Dust during his performance and after being outed as the spy. It's this that causes her to realize how dependent she has become to the Overlord and that she does truly care about Angel, Moxxie and officially causes her to defect over to their side.
  • Downplayed example with Verosika. When she lays off the alcohol and sees just how badly everything starts to escalate, she starts to feel a little bit bad about her role in it all as she genuinely didn’t know that Valentino would become so obsessed with Moxxie: She’d been banking on Val keeping Moxxie for a little while and then firing him when he grew bored of him.
• My Significance Sense Is Tingling: Velvet is able to sense that Vox has apparently been killed, despite being miles away from where the murder took place. It's the first time we see her truly scared and concerned for her friend.
• Never My Fault: Valentino will often blame others, most notably Moxxie & Angel Dust, for any plight he faces.
• Never Smile at a Crocodile: Gritzer, the deadly bounty hunter hired by Stella to kill Stolas, is an alligator demon. He is also powerful enough to match Striker & Blitzo in combat.
• No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: Immediately after Moxxie is assigned to be Angel’s ”assistant” in chapter 7, Angel’s regular guitarist gets sick just as they’re about to perform, leading Moxxie to offer to play in his stead. He performs so well that it leads to him getting Valentino’s attention… And things just escalate from there.
• No-Holds-Barred Beatdown:
  • With Verosika’s blessing, Vortex subjects Striker to one of these in chapter 6 as payback for how he treated Moxxie. Striker deserved every second of it, and by the time Vortex is done with him, he’s on the brink of death.
  • Valentino brutally beats both Moxxie and Vox up in chapter 24; Moxxie for trying to assassinate him and Vox for finally fighting back against him. Moxxie is left with a badly injured leg from the ordeal, and Vox in particular is turned into a bloody pulp and appears to have actually been Bludgeoned to Death. He gets better when Alastor revives him.
• The Nose Knows:
  • Valentino is able to figure out that Vox contacted Moxxie shortly after his resurrection when the moth smells his Ex's cigarettes on him.
  • Despite her nose being busted from a previous encounter, Loona is able to track down Stolas & Striker thanks to the prince's rage and pheromones being so strong.
• No-Sell: As he and Angel Dust flee from the One-Winged Angel-formed Valentino, Moxxie shoots the Overlord head-on with an angelic pistol… And it has little to no effect on him aside from some burns. Considering that angelic weapons are the only weapons that can kill demon royalty, Angel and Moxxie’s horrified reactions are quite justified. (This is due to him being Lucifer’s illegitimate son - A Fallen Angel is still an angel, it seems)
• No Sense of Personal Space: As part of his shtick as a manipulative Control Freak, Valentino won’t maintain any distance from his ”boyfriends”, constantly invading their personal space with forceful kisses and unwanted touching and groping. After Moxxie becomes an object of his ”affections” and obsession, he becomes particularly touchy-feely with the imp’s tail, constantly stroking, tugging and yanking on it and using it to pull Moxxie closer to him.
• Not Afraid of You Anymore: After years of abuse and mistreatment from Val, during their Mad Love relationship, Vox finally stands up to his lover and attempts to kill him for all he's put him through. Too bad it nearly gets him killed.
• Not Quite Dead:
  • Moxxie shoots Valentino through the skull in Chapter 24 when he assaults Vox. Unfortunately, it was with a regular gun, so Val shakes it off and returns back to life no worse for wear.
  • In the same chapter, Vox is brutally beaten by Valentino, leaving him a broken, unresponsive mess. Believed to be dead by Moxxie and Valentino, they leave his body. But when nobody's looking, a single spark escapes his body and into an outlet. This turns out the be what's left of the Overlord, who goes on to leak the footage to all of Hell before showing another broadcast of him alive and with a new body thanks to some help from Alastor.
  Vox: Hey Valll. I lived...Bitch.
• Not So Invincible After All: Downplayed, but even as Moxxie’s two assassination attempts fail, he notices that Valentino does have scars after them - One on his forehead from the bullet and some discoloration in the eye that got stabbed. Moxxie takes some solace in this, since it indicates that Val can, in fact, get killed.
• Not So Stoic: In chapter 4, Loona breaks down in front of Blitzo at the hospital, apologizing for her apathy and blaming herself for not arriving on time and almost getting him killed.
• Now, Let Me Carry You: As the two friends are escaping from Valentino in chapter 42, Angel ends up collapsing out of exhaustion and beckons Moxxie to go on without him. Moxxie, who feels guilty about Angel’s numerous sacrifices for his sake, refuses and scoops Angel up into his arms, resolving that this time, he’ll be the one who protects Angel. Unfortunately, they don’t get very far before Valentino captures them again.
• Obfuscating Stupidity: As of Chapter 23, Valentino is well aware that Mags has betrayed him and is working on Angel & Moxxie's behalf, but pretends not to know, believing he can benefit from it in some way.
• Odd Friendship:
  • Moxxie, the neurotic, easily flustered imp assassin eventually becomes close friends with Angel Dust, the cocky, flirtatious spider sinner stripper.
  • Moxxie also develops one later with Genki Girl Mad Bomber Cherri Bomb.
  • There's also Millie, the energetic, optimistic, bloodthirsty imp who strikes up a friendship with Husker, the grumpy, pessimistic alcoholic cat sinner with a gambling addiction.
  • And of course, we have Loona, the angry, phoneaholic, gothic adopted hellhound daughter of Blitzo, becoming friends with Octavia, the downer, moody princess daughter of Stolas, becoming fast friends shortly after meeting.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business:
  • Seeing Blitzo close to dying after his failed rescue attempt is enough to shock the usually apathetic Loona and even make her drop her phone.
  • Moxxie is wholly, utterly devoted to Millie and would never even consider being unfaithful to her. So when Millie sees Moxxie and Angel kissing each other after their broadcasted performance in chapter 16, while she can’t help but feel a little bit hurt, she’s mostly horrified because she knows that Moxxie would never kiss someone else like that willingly unless he felt like he had to.
  • Since the setting is in Hell, it should come as no surprise that most inhabitants don’t think highly of Heaven. But when Moxxie is locked in a chest and forced to listen to Vox being Bludgeoned to Death in chapter 24, he becomes so distraught and disturbed by what he’s hearing that he actually starts legitimately praying for it to stop.
  • Valentino’s drug-infused tobacco smoke is usually red. So it speaks volumes of how furious he is in chapter 30 over Moxxie’s defiance and losing Vox as a ”boyfriend” when the smoke is black.
  • In terms of physical prowess, Moxxie is Weak, but Skilled and usually doesn’t resort to physical violence since he’s better with firearms. But when he encounters Striker again during the wedding gone awry, he loses it so completely that he goes full Extreme Mêlée Revenge on him despite finally having access to a gun.
• One-Man Band: On top of playing guitar and piano, Moxxie can also play the violin and keyboard. At the same time.
• The Only One Allowed to Defeat You: When Moxxie saves Vox from Val's sexual assault by shooting him in the head in Chapter 24, Vox lashes out at the imp, furious that he took his kill from him; Believing since he loved him, Vox should've been the one to kill Val.
• Original Character: Of note, there is Magatha, aka Mags (a female bird demon and one of Angel Dust’s coworkers, who grows to befriend Moxxie and is secretly working for Valentino), Gritzer (A powerful alligator bounty hunter demon who takes Verosika’s place after she fails to kill Stolas and becomes rivals with Striker) and Valora, Valentino's half-succubus, half-moth demon mother and Lucifer's old flame.
• Our Vampires Are Different: Mags turns out to be a type of demon known as a hellbird. Hellbirds are more akin to vampires rather than other bird demons, being able to eat and digest normal food but only getting sustenance from blood and demon corpses, something Valentino uses to his advantage by starving Mags for weeks on end in order to keep her in line. Since hellbirds are very powerful and dangerous, they were practically hunted to extinction, meaning that Mags may or may not be the Last of Her Kind.
• Out-Gambitted: Angel Dust, Cherri Bomb & Magatha all set up a plan to escape Valentino by setting up smoke bombs filled with his knockout drug during a live performance, rendering everyone unconscious long enough for them to get out. Unfortunately, Val sees this coming and forces Mags to perform on-stage during their big attempt so that he can knock her out in front of everyone, making their escape impossible and demonstrate his dominance over the three demons, in a terrifying display of cunning.
• Out-of-Character Alert: When talking to the kidnapped Moxxie over the phone in chapter 1, Blitzo asks him how hurt he is. Moxxie responds that it’s hard to stay awake and that he’s bleeding a lot… and punctuates it with ”Blitzo” rather than ”sir”, tipping Blitzo off to the fact that, for whatever reason, Striker wants Blitzo to believe that Moxxie is more injured than he actually is.^note The fic was started before ”Truth Seekers” aired, where Blitzo gives Moxxie explicit permission to call him by his first name.
• Pet the Dog:
  • Verosika gets a couple of moments, despite her Adaptational Villainy:
    • In chapter 6, she gives Vortex free rein to do whatever he wants with Striker after double-crossing him because she could tell that her bodyguard didn’t like the way Striker treated Moxxie.
    • When Blitzo confronts her about her Revenge by Proxy and uses it to force a favor out of her in chapter 24, she ends up (kind of) apologizing to him for her involvement in Moxxie’s kidnapping and the attempts on both Stolas and Millie’s lives. Blitzo, in turn, apologizes to her for being a crappy boyfriend.
    • In chapter 36, when she and Moxxie are forced to perform together at Valentino and Angel Dust’s wedding, she lets Moxxie know while they’re tuning up their instruments that his wife and friends are on their way to infiltrate the party in order to save him. She does this so that he can have something good to focus on during their performance, and he gets so touched by the gesture that his earnest gratitude actually makes her blush and leaves her feeling just a little bit worse about her previous actions.
  • The first hint of Vox's softer side is revealed in Chapters 16 & 17 where he disobeys Valentino's orders to have sex with Moxxie. Instead, he simply sleeps by the imp's side and gives him coffee & food when he wakes up.
    • Furthermore, Vox is established to not like Angel Dust very much due to being jealous of him. But he still understands that Angel is worried about Moxxie when the latter is in Vox’s custody, so Vox sends him a text at one point just to inform him that Moxxie is fine.
  • Despite his main focus being to save Moxxie, when Blitzo finds a drugged Angel Dust on Valentino’s balcony during the wedding reception, he finds himself unable to just leave the poor guy there and resolves to try and save him, too. It probably helps that he recognizes the sinner as Moxxie’s friend by this point.
• Pets as a Present: A rare villainous example. Valentino gifts Moxxie with a puppy as a false apology for the imp's rough night with Vox and Velvet at the club.
• Pint-Sized Powerhouse: Mags is only slightly taller than Moxxie, but she’s noted to dish out spine-crushing ”gorilla hugs” to people when she’s proud of them, has enough jaw strength to grind a bullet to dust between her teeth, and when forced to fight, she’s strong enough to almost be able to go toe-to-toe with an Overlord.
• Playing Possum: When Verosika attempts to drown her, Millie pretends to die in order to survive. The trick works as the succubus leaves her body, allowing the imp to escape.
• Plot Allergy: Valentino is allergic to cedar wood, and enough exposure to it will make him rash and damage his eyesight. Velvet and Vox plan to exploit this by making smoke bombs from the wood to weaken the Overlord during their big attack. Unfortunately for the heroes, Husk turns out to have the same allergy during the Ballroom Blitz, which results in his rescue of Angel and Blitzo going south.
• The Power of Love: This is what keeps Moxxie going through all of the abuse he endures under Valentino and why he refuses to give up on escaping: Because he wants to reunite with his wife. Even as he’s about to cross the Despair Event Horizon, he envisions Millie giving him encouragement and pushing him to not give up.
• Precious Puppy: Moxxie gets a small puppy from Valentino in Chapter 22, which he ends up affectionally naming Phantom.
• Pregnant Badass: Pregnancy doesn't stop Millie from being a murderous beast.
• Previously on…: Due to a Schedule Slip, Alastor leans on the fourth fall for a little recap on the fic's previous events in chapter 42.
• Properly Paranoid: Cherri is the first to suspect that Mags might be a double agent for Val. She is correct at the time, though Angel is hesitant in believing her, due to how close they are.
• Psycho for Hire: While not a full psychopath, Gritzer is not a honorable or sane hitman, taking great pleasure in the idea of killing people, slowly torturing them for his amusement and even attempting to rape them while they're powerless to fight back. Even after the hit is called off, he continues to stalk everyone as a means to prove his superiority.
• Psychopathic Man Child: Ultimately, for all of his manipulations and intelligence, this is what Valentino is; When his Mask of Sanity starts to slip, he reveals himself to be a dangerously immature man who sees everyone around him as toys to play with as he sees fit, throwing tantrums when he loses them or doesn’t get his way.
• Punch a Wall:
  • Blitzo ends up punching a wall out of anger when he sees the social media photos of Val forcing Moxxie to drink alcohol and forcefully making out with him.
  • Val does this after Vox blows up his clubs, followed by him going into his room to throw furniture around.
• Puppy-Dog Eyes:
  • When Angel refuses to let Moxxie perform with him after the latter’s traumatizing first outing with Valentino, despite the imp insisting that he needs it in order to forget, Moxxie tries to convince his new friend to change his mind with these. It doesn’t work, but Angel still relents after Moxxie promises to rest first, and it turns out that Valentino was going to force the two of them to perform a duet anyway.
    Angel: That’s not gonna work on me, you little vomit-smelling shit.
  • Both Velvet and a very drunk Moxxie double-team Valentino with these in chapter 20 to keep him from beating Vox up for letting Moxxie out of his sight, which resulted in the latter wandering off. It actually works, if only because Valentino found the whole scenario troublesome and annoying.
  • Millie flashes these to Husk in chapter 25 in order to convince him to let her ditch the group and look for Moxxie on her own. While Husk does understand her distress, (She’d just witnessed a broadcast of her husband being on the receiving end of a No-Holds-Barred Beatdown, getting locked in a chest and forced to listen to Vox getting beaten to death) he refuses to be manipulated and tells her to stay put for her baby’s sake. (She doesn’t)
• Pushed in Front of the Audience: Moxxie was initially meant to just be Valentino’s weapons handler. But after the regular guitar player suddenly becomes sick and Moxxie wows everyone as the last-minute replacement, he takes over the role and eventually is forced to become one of Valentino’s regular performers.
• Rage Breaking Point: After all of the abuse, manipulations and horrors he’s experienced since he was kidnapped, Moxxie finally reaches his when he sees Striker again during Valentino and Angel’s wedding - Understandably so, since Striker is the one who started everything by kidnapping him in the first place. I.M.P’s sharpshooter loses it completely and foregoes his pistol to instead beat Striker with his bare hands, crying Berserker Tears all the while and only stopping when he becomes too exhausted to continue.
  Moxxie: THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT! You damned monster! How dare you show your face?! HOW DARE YOU?!
• Ragin' Cajun: The powerful bounty hunter Gritzer sports a thick southern cajun accent.
• Rape Is a Special Kind of Evil:
  • Even in Hell itself, Valentino's sexual assaults and attempted rape towards Moxxie and Angel Dust is treated as utterly reprehensible by most of the cast.
  • How do you establish that Gritzer is much more dangerous and villainous than Striker? You have him attempt to have his way with the imp, during their first encounter together.
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech:
  • Vox gives on to Valentino in Chapter 24 when the moth Overlord tries to hurt Moxxie, finally standing up to his abuser and calling him out on everything he's put him through.
  Vox: Do you even realize why he shot you? Why he wanted you dead?! It’s because you’re a selfish jerk!
  Valentino: Don’t make me crack you even more, Voxy. Move over and wait your cute little ass on that bed for me—
  Vox: Fuck off. Fuck off! Why—why do you always act like this…?
  Valentino: Vox...babe—
  Vox: Don’t babe me you— asshole. You get meaner everytime we get back together— everytime —and I—damn, I pretended things were okay—even thought our issues were my own fault! All because you made me think it and...now I think I maybe realize that you’re not in love with me— you just need me. You need puppets. But how relieved I was when I thought this nasty little pet of yours had somehow been lucky enough to kill you— oh, I wish you were dead. For the first time in a long time, I can finally admit, I wish your abusive, manipulative ass was dead!
  • Blitzo gives Verosika a smaller one during their next confrontation, calling her out on all the shit she's put Moxxie through for the sake of petty revenge.
• Relative Button: A variation in that it’s not a reminder of who’s been taken from someone, but who they’ve been taken from: After Valentino forces Angel to reveal everything he knows about Moxxie’s past by threatening to hurt the latter if Angel doesn’t comply, he goes to Vox’s apartment (Where Moxxie is currently being held) and tries to use this in order to further manipulate Moxxie and break his spirit. It backfires; Instead of despairing, Moxxie gets pissed off and hardens his resolve to escape, leaving him to decide that Valentino has to die.

  Valentino: Do you… think about her often? Do you think about your wife? Angel Dust was so kind to tell me about who you are. Immediate Murder Professionals isn’t something I’ve ever heard of, but it’s so cute that a bunch of imps think killing humans is any sort of achievement. Well, I’m here to tell you that you can forget about your old life. Forget about your damn wife. Your dumb boss. Forget everything about who you used to be. Because in a few days time, you’ll be mine. All of you.
• Remember the New Guy?: Niffty's introduction is treated as such, as she makes her first appearance in Chapter 30, having supposedly always been at the hotel, just never noticed by anyone. Blitzo and Striker both react in shock at her sudden presence.
• Revenge by Proxy: This is why Verosika not only helps Striker kidnap Moxxie and sell him to Valentino, but also why she later tries to kill Stolas; She's doing this simply to get back at Blitzo for being a crappy boyfriend to her in the past. When she and Blitzo meet up again in order for the latter to force a favor out of her, he wastes no time calling her out on how petty and misplaced her actions were.
• Right Behind Me: During the wedding party, Blitzo sneaks onto Valentino’s private balcony in order to kill him and finds a drugged-up Angel Dust there. After trying to talk to him, he realizes that he should hide in preparation for taking the shot at the Overlord and turns around to sneak away… only to discover that Valentino was standing behind him the entire time and heard everything.
• Royal Bastard: Valentino is revealed to be the illegitimate offspring of Lucifer himself, making him Charlie's half-brother and a technical heir to the throne... and capable of surviving hits that most demons would die from.
• The Runaway: Octavia briefly runs away from her mother after she's been kept from her father for too long.
• Sadist:
  • Valentino’s every action makes it crystal-clear that he thrives off of the suffering and pain that he inflicts on others. While gloating to Moxxie after giving him a brutal breaking speech, he tells him that he finds Moxxie much more fun when he’s ”trembling, powerless and absolutely punished”. And when Moxxie later tries to find Safety in Indifference, Valentino gets angry (As he sees it as yet another act of defiance from his ”pet”) and strangles him until he snaps out of it because he likes Moxxie the best when he’s crying and trembling in fear and pain.
  • Gritzer is also firmly established to enjoy hurting people. When cornering Blitzo in the bathroom, he smugly notes that he’s going to be ”mean” to him in the same way he’d been to Striker, and he takes a sick pleasure in making Stolas squirm when he’s taken Octavia hostage.
• Sadistic Choice: In Chapter 3, Blitzo is forced to either shoot Striker and save Moxxie, or take the holy bullet meant for Millie. He takes the latter, thus allowing the cowboy to escape with his hostage.
• Safety in Indifference: After Valentino reveals his Healing Hands, Moxxie almost shuts down completely in the face of the sheer hopelessness he feels regarding just how powerful his captor is, resolving to retreat into himself to prevent Valentino from hurting him anymore. Too bad for him that the sadistic Overlord sees this as an act of defiance and refuses to allow it, strangling him until he has a panic attack from lack of air and snapping him back to the fear, pain and despair he felt previously.
• Sanity Slippage:
  • Verosika steadily grows more & more unstable and bloodthirsty as the story goes on. Her obsession with her image and hatred of Blitzo, being the root of it. Eventually she becomes more focused on killing Stolas & ruining I.M.P. than her own career, costing her Vortex & much of her fame, forcing her back to Valentino.
  • Val also starts showing symptoms of losing his sanity and calm after Moxxie shots him through the brain, making him much more dangerous and unpredictable. The revived Vox destroying several of Val’s clubs, taunting him about it and severing ties with him for good on a live broadcast only escalates the slippage, and by the time of Val’s and Angel’s wedding going awry thanks to the arrival of I.M.P and the Hazbin crew, he’s ranting like a possessive lunatic about how Angel and Moxxie are his toys and that he’ll never let them go.
• Save the Villain: When Striker shows up at I.M.P., close to death from Vortex's No-Holds-Barred Beatdown, Blitzo reluctantly has Stolas heal the cowboy as he still needs him alive in order to find Moxxie.
• Scarpia Ultimatum: Valentino dishes out the marriage version to Angel Dust, threatening to mangle Moxxie’s legs and permanently leave him wheelchair-bound if Angel doesn’t comply. He does this both to keep Angel and Moxxie under his thumb even more and to punish Moxxie for standing up to him.
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here:
  • Millie briefly leaves Blitzo & Co. to find Moxxie on her own after their failed rescue attempt in Chapter 3. She eventually rejoins them when the two groups catch up at the Hazbin Hotel.
  • Eventually, Vortex also leaves Verosika and joins I.M.P. after she becomes a bit too obsessive & crazy for his liking.
  • Millie once again ditches the group at the hotel to try and save Moxxie on her own after the footage of him getting brutally beaten by Valentino and Vox getting beaten to death is broadcasted to all of Hell.
• Seduction-Proof Marriage: For all of Valentino’s abuse, manipulations and gaslighting, the one area where he simply cannot manipulate Moxxie and the one area he so desperately wants the imp to be manipulated in is by getting him to fall in love with him, because Moxxie is Happily Married to Millie.
• Shipping Torpedo: Loona privately voices her disapproval of Blitzo's relationship with Stolas in Chapter 32; shis is due to many factors such as the prince's selfishness, the fact that the imp is reluctant to take it any further than what they have and out of worry that it might cause Stolas to neglect Octavia as a result. Blitzo agrees, further causing strain on the relationship between him and Stolas.
• Shower of Angst: Happens to Vox in Chapter 22. Despite already having had a shower, Vox takes another one after an intense moment with Val.
• The Show Must Go On: Moxxie volunteers to take up the role of stand-in guitarist during one of Angel Dust’s shows after Angel's regular guitarist becomes sick.
• Shut Up, Hannibal!:
  • Moxxie finally stands up to Val in Chapter 28 when the Overlord attempts to beat and blame him for losing his clubs after killing Vox. The imp harshly calls Valentino out for killing Vox, saying it's his own fault that his clubs are destroyed and how the Vox deserved better.
  • The trope is then swiftly deconstructed. While the speech was richly deserved, Valentino still outclasses Moxxie in every way, shape and form, and as a possessive Psychopathic Man Child, he does not like it when his ”pets” mouth off to him. Angel chews Moxxie out for doing it out of concern for his friend’s safety since Valentino goes into his bedroom to destroy it afterwards, and part of the reason Val issues his Scarpia Ultimatum to Angel Dust afterwards is because he wants Moxxie to blame himself for Angel’s new role for daring to stand up to him.
• Simple Solution Won't Work: When I.M.P catches wind of Stella hiring Gritzer to assassinate Stolas and try to figure out how to get rid of him, Loona asks why they don’t just shoot him with the angelic rifle that they have in their possession. Blitzo responds that Gritzer is probably too experienced a mercenary to let anyone get close enough to shoot him and that he himself isn’t a skilled enough sniper to take the shot from far enough away. The only ones he knows that would be able to pull it off are Moxxie and Striker… and the former is Valentino’s captive thanks to Striker, and the latter would probably just take the rifle and flee.
• Sinister Suffocation: Valentino strangles Moxxie on a couple of occasions, most of the time by using the penthouse key that Moxxie starts wearing on a chain around his neck. It’s Played for Horror every time, and at one point, Val strangles a numb Moxxie in order to snap him out of his state… simply because a Moxxie that’s terrified and in pain is the Moxxie that Valentino likes best.
• Slap-Slap-Kiss: This is apparently a constant of Valentino & Vox's relationship, as highlighted in Chapter 17: Valentino confronts Vox about disobeying his orders and hitting him for it, which eventually turns into them having violent sex with each other.
• So Proud of You: Blitzo declares this to Loona after hearing about her fight with Verosika. She’s naturally embarrassed by it.
• Song Fic: Many of the chapters set in Valentino’s Clubs, have a song accompanying it to fit the setting.
  • Chapter 8 has Angel Dust singing a slow piano version of Addict, with Moxxie providing the music.
  • Chapter 16 has two. A duet between of Night Crawling by Moxxie & Angel Dust and a rendition of Adam Lambert's Mad World by Moxxie for Valentino & Vox.
  • Chapter 21 has a surprise duet number by Angel Dust & Valentino, to the tune of Kesha's Take It Off.
  • Chapter 23 gives Magatha a song, that being Scarlett Johansson's Set It All Free.
  • Chapter 26 features a song from the popstar succubus Verosika Mayday herself, singing Sofia Carson's Rotten to The Core
  • Chapter 28 has an epic one, with Vox gleefully singing Taylor Swift's Look What You Made Me Do next to footage of him & Velvet destroying Valentino's clubs.
  • Chapter 35 has Verosika singing a song from Labyrinth in order to calm a seething Moxxie down.
  • Chapter 40 has a dark duet of Black Wedding by In This Moment performed by Moxxie & Verosika
  • Chapter 45 has Val listen and sing along to I'm A Straight Up Villain by K/DA.
• Springtime for Hitler: Valentino strongly suggests Mags sing for his club in chapter 23, hoping to humiliate the hellbird in front of a large audience and then scare her back under his thumb. This backfires horribly, after Mags manages to get back her confidence and surprise the whole crowd with her talent.  He then uses his new drugged smoke to knock her out in front of everyone to achieve the same goal.
• Stockholm Syndrome: Valentino tries so hard to invoke this trope with Moxxie, but it’s the one area where Moxxie just straight-up won’t be manipulated since he’s Happily Married and knows what a loving relationship is supposed to be like, something he acknowledges in an internal monologue to himself:
  I will never love you, Val. Ever. And that just eats you up, doesn’t it?
• Stress Vomit: As part of his Freak Out after his first outing with Valentino, poor Moxxie tosses his cookies not just from the trauma of Valentino forcing him to kill an innocent person, molesting him in order to drug him and then forcing him to drink copious amounts of alcohol so he could get interrogated, but also because he was so drugged up that he can’t remember if he revealed his and Angel’s ruse and potentially put Angel in danger.
• Stronger Than They Look: At one point, Striker is able to throw the much larger Gritzer around, possibly due to sheer adrenaline.
• Sudden Lack of Signal: While there is a cellphone signal and wifi service in Sloth, it's so insanely slow that it took Charlie, who was there with Vaggie on business, two weeks to find out what was going on back in Pride.
• Talent Contest: One of the plot points of the story is a Dance Competition hosted at one of Valentino’s Clubs, the prize being a pass to Angel Dust’s Club. Blitzo & Striker enter together, and luckily win.
• Tastes Like Friendship: In Chapter 26, Loona and Octavia bond while eating some chips together.
• Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: I.M.P. is eventually forced to hire Striker, the one who kidnapped Moxxie in the first place, in order to find their coworker and save him from Valentino. Needless to say, no one’s happy about it, especially not Millie. And both parties constantly get on each other’s nerves.
• Tempting Fate:
  • While Moxxie may not enjoy being locked in a hot basement room and fixing weapons at the beginning of his time as Valentino’s captive, he thinks to himself in chapter 7 that it’s at least better than being kidnapped by Striker since he’s not tied up or beaten. Little does he know just how bad things are about to get for him…
  • In the same chapter, he notes that, at that point, Valentino won’t so much as glance at him let alone speak to him, and he hopes that it stays that way during the rest of his imprisonment. It really, really doesn’t.
  • As Valentino goes into a full-blown Villainous Breakdown after the wedding goes awry and chases after the escaped Moxxie and Angel, Charlie asks Vox if he knows where the pimp would go if he was cornered so they can track him down and finish him once and for all. Vox nervously says that he does know a place (A hidden sex dungeon/Torture Cellar), but that he hopes that Moxxie hasn’t been captured and taken there. Chapter 45 reveals that Valentino, after capturing Moxxie and Angel at the end of the previous chapter, has indeed taken them there.
• Terms of Endangerment: Val calls Angel Dust ”Angel Cakes”, as in canon, and when Moxxie gets his attention, he starts calling him ”Moxxie Doll”. This is to emphasize that, while he develops an obsession with him, Val ultimately sees Moxxie as not much more than a cute little toy and his plaything. Angel immediately realizes that this spells bad news for the imp when Val gives him a nickname right after his first night as Angel’s backup musician, because it means that Moxxie has caught Val’s interest.
• Terrible Artist: Blitzo, as usual. In fact, his rescue plan presentation gets completely derailed because Loona and Striker keep ragging on his complete lack of artistic skill, much to his irritation.
• Third-Party Peacekeeper:
  • On top of keeping Blitzo & Striker under control, when they start fighting like children in his car, Vortex is forced into this role during Blitzo attempts to call a truce with Veroiska, having to keep the two from killing each other and make sure everything goes civil.
  • During her confrontation with Stolas & Stella, Octavia often has to keep them from fighting each other and listen to her issues.
• Thwarted Escape: Moxxie attempts his own escape from Striker in the first chapter, but doesn’t get far before he collapses and is subdued again. He and Angel Dust have several escape attempts from Valentino; most of which end in failure.
• Title Drop: Striker drops on in his thoughts in Chapter 34 as he prepares for his rematch with Gritzer.
  Tonight Striker Strikes Back.
• Took a Level in Kindness:
  • Angel Dust is at first cold & slightly uncaring towards Moxxie, not wanting to get attached to the new blood but through a series of events, he slowly reveals his more kind, supportive side to the imp. When Val develops a liking towards Moxxie, Angel is the main one making sure he’s okay & safe through it all.
  • Same thing happens to Vox, who is initially jealous of all the attention Moxxie's getting from Val. The more he spends time with him, though, the more Vox beings to care about the imp, even managing to overcome his toxic relationship with Valentino.
• Toothy Bird: Mags, despite being a bird demon, is noted to have fangs. This is because of her nature as a hellbird.
• Trauma Button: Dark, cramped spaces become one for Moxxie after he’s locked in a chest and forced to listen to Vox getting Bludgeoned to Death. Valentino deliberately pushes this button later when he locks Moxxie in his walk-in closet as a way of torturing and manipulating him. Despite this, he does manage to keep himself from crossing the Despair Event Horizon by thinking of Millie and pushes his fear aside in order to hide in an air vent for a second assassination attempt.
• Troll: Forced to go wedding shopping for Valentino's marriage to Angel Dust, Cherri makes the most of it when she and Moxxie end up at a high-class establishment, using the imp's fame to her advantage to mess with the manager of the store.
• Troubled Fetal Position: Moxxie ends up curling up into a ball whenever he’s having a Heroic BSoD. The first time is after Vox has been Bludgeoned to Death, which also leads to him crying himself to sleep. The second time is when Valentino reveals his plan to marry Angel and that he wants Moxxie to blame himself for it, followed by the pimp molesting him again. And the third time is when Valentino locks him in a closet and therefore presses his Trauma Button.
• Underestimating Badassery: Even after Moxxie tells Angel Dust about his past, the latter doesn’t take him seriously when he mentions that he can provide backup for Angel when they find themselves in the middle of a turf war while out on an errand. Thus, Angel is completely blindsided when he sees for himself just how good of a shot Moxxie is.
  Angel: Where the hell did you learn to shoot from that distance?!

  Moxxie: I told you - I work at a company of assassins.
  Angel: I DIDN’T THINK YOU WERE ACTUALLY ONE OF THEM-
• Undressing the Unconscious: After his second failed assassination attempt on Valentino leads to some quite shocking revelations, Moxxie faints from a combination of shock, an adrenaline crash and his previous exhaustion. When he comes to, he’s shackled and locked up inside Valentino’s walk-in closet again… dressed in his best-man suit, with a fresh pair of underwear, his wounds bandaged and smelling like he’s taken a shower. The realization that Valentino stripped him completely naked and bathed and bandaged him while he was unconscious makes Moxxie feel so violated that he almost throws up.
• Unspoken Plan Guarantee: Striker & Blitzo plot a simple yet brilliant way to kill Gritzer by seducing him, stealing his holy weapons and then using them to kill Valentino with some help from Verosika. All seems to be going well until it's revealed Gritzer knew about their plan all along and starts beating them into a bloody pulp.
• Unsuspectingly Soused: The ”not aware of the potency” version is used here: When Moxxie is dragged to a night club with Velvet and Vox, Velvet drips a potion into their drinks in order to make them ”that much sweeter”… which is true, but the main effect is that it causes the alcohol to enter the system much faster. And since Moxxie already Can't Hold His Liquor, the end result is that he gets very drunk very fast, much to Vox’s irritation when he finds out.
• Use Their Own Weapon Against Them: One of Angel Dust's first idea to escape from and kill Valentino is to use his own knockout cigarettes against him, knocking out most of the club and leaving him vulnerable to attack long enough for him and Mags to escape with Moxxie. It doesn't go too well.
• Villainous Breakdown: While Valentino’s sanity had already begun to slip after Moxxie shot him in the head in chapter 24, it’s when his wedding to Angel is thrown into complete chaos thanks to the arrival of I.M.P and the Hazbin crew that he starts to completely lose it. And then Velvet, whom he thought he’d gotten under his sway once more, rejects him… And he gets even more deranged from there.
• Villainous Friendship: Gritzer & Verosika used to date. And while they have since broken up, they're still on good terms. Enough for them to work together to deal with Blitzo & co.
• Vomit Discretion Shot: After Blitzo and a severely injured Striker return to the Happy Hotel after their failed attempt to kill Gritzer, Millie stumbles out to greet Blitzo... and ends up throwing up right in Striker's face. The scene cuts away just as Striker starts screaming in disgust.
• Water Torture: Valentino soaks and nearly drowns Moxxie with ice cold water from the shower when the Overlord catches Vox's scent on him.
• Wedding Smashers: I.M.P and the Hazbin crew infiltrate Valentino and Angel Dust’s wedding to rescue Moxxie and Angel, and when the guards find out and close in on them, it leads to a full-blown Ballroom Blitz.
• Wham Episode:
  • As soon as chapter 5, things are drastically shaken up. Blitzo makes a deal with Striker, Moxie ends up under Valentino’s control and Striker is betrayed & left for dead by Verosika, who even steals his holy gun.
  • Chapter 24 takes quite a turn for everyone as Blitzo & co. begin to prepare for their first attempt at rescuing Moxxie, but more importantly Vox finally stands up to Valentino after Moxxie shoots him, only for the Moth Overlord to apparently kill him in front of the imp. This causes Moxxie no end of trauma, though once they leave Vox escapes through an outlet.
  • Chapter 28 ends with Valentino threatening Angel Dust into marrying him, Vox & Velvet planning to hurt Val through Moxxie and Charlie & Vaggie finally making their debut in the fanfic, rushing to get back to the Hotel.
  • Chapter 34, is the biggest one in a long while, with such turns as Verosika arriving at Val's club, Stella found dead by Stolas having been killed by Gritzer, and Valentino being the illegitimate offspring of Lucifer Morningstar himself!
• Wham Line:
  • In Chapter 7, Striker leads Blitzo to someone he knows, who might know where Moxxie would be kept. He implies that the figure is a cat and likes alcohol, hinting that it might be Husk. The final line confirms it: “He’s staying at a place… called the Happy Hotel…”
  • Millie gets one in Chapter 23 after having been puking for a while.
    “I think Ah’m pregnant.”
  • Chapter 34 drops one hell of a doozy after Moxxie’s second failed assassination attempt, which sheds some light on why Valentino has all of his strange powers:
    Lucifer slept around, Moxxie! Is it really that surprising?
• What the Hell Are You?: In chapter 34, after Moxxie fails to assassinate Valentino a second time and sees to his horror just how effective his Healing Factor is, it confirms to him that Val isn’t just some sinner and asks him just what he is. The answer he gets is so shocking that he passes out.
  Moxxie: What… are you? You’re not just some sinner from Earth. You can’t be.
  Valentino: Something that should’ve never existed. But here I am~ Thanks to dear old Dad.
• What the Hell, Hero?: Mags wastes no time calling Angel Dust out when she finds out that he’s told Valentino that he and Moxxie are in a relationship. Angel objects that he did it to protect Moxxie from Valentino (Which, for the record, doesn’t work - If anything, it just makes Val even more interested), but Mags won’t have it and tells Angel that he needs to tell Moxxie the truth, even it it makes him angry. After Angel comes clean, Moxxie is indeed angry… angry that Angel would put his life and wellbeing on the line for him and not even tell him about it.
• Why Did You Make Me Hit You?: Valentino pulls this on Moxxie after his assassination attempt fails, causing Vox to be brutally killed in the crossfire. Having grown close to Vox and been forced to hear his new friend being beaten to death, poor Moxxie falls for the moth's manipulations hook, line and sinker.
• Why Won't You Die?: Valentino gets killed or brought to near death multiple times, yet he keeps coming back alive and well, though crazier each time, much to the horror and dread of everyone.
• Worf Had the Flu:
  • Due to a near fatal shot from Verosika using Striker’s Gun, Stolas is left with a broken arm and unable to do tasks he would otherwise have no trouble with, like opening portals and fighting back when he & Loona are attacked by her again.
  • Even though he eventually wears Moxxie out, Valentino takes one hell of a beating from Moxxie in chapter 34 thanks to his Sanity Slippage and him having been drunk off booze and the imp's medicine.
• Xanatos Speed Chess: When Valentino's plan to humiliate Mags in front of his club, by having her sing live, fails to yield his desired result, he instead uses it as an opportunity to test out his new smoke on her and set an example for Angel Dust.
• Yandere: Valentino slowly stars dripping more and more into this, as the story goes on. While he was already clingy and emotionally manipulative of Angel Dust and Moxxie, he really steps it up after Vox breaks up with him.
• You Can't Thwart Stage One: Despite their best attempts, Striker is able to escape with his gun and Moxxie, allowing the poor imp to end up being sold to Valentino.
• You Have GOT to Be Kidding Me!: Angel reacts like this when it turns out that Valentino is somehow able to No-Sell a shot from an angelic weapon.

  Angel: ARE YOU KIDDING ME?! What does it fucking take to kill this guy?!
• You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: Verosika does this to Striker in chapter 5 after she sells Moxxie to Valentino, taking his gun & cash and leaving him at the mercy of Vortex. Striker barely manages to survive, however.