A Helluva Boss fic starring a sadistic mercenary who develops a Villainous Crush on his Foil is ripe for Nightmare Fuel scenarios.
Beware of unmarked spoilers!
- The fic in general is laced with tension, with breather moments being incredibly rare... And Striker is the main cause for this, as his growing Villainous Crush on Moxxie and the resulting possessiveness and entitlement is milked for all of the horror it's worth.
- It starts as early as chapter 1, which shows Striker masturbating to an erotic fantasy of him torturing and raping Moxxie, which is just as creepy and gross as you can imagine... And this is before he starts developing his crush on the other gunslinger.
- Chapter 3 has him tricking Moxxie into coming to a bar by pretending to be a sinner with a job for them, knowing that Blitzo doesn't do background checks on clients and wording his hit request in a specific way to make sure that Blitzo would send Moxxie there. And once he believes that he has Moxxie exactly where he wants him, he makes his intentions for him very clear while trying to invade Moxxie's personal space as much as he can to trigger his PTSD. The whole scene is very nerve-wracking and uncomfortable, and the only reason he doesn't get his way is because he accidentally ends up pissing Moxxie off and gives him the motivation to pull an Indy Ploy to escape... And even then, Striker's persistence in coming after him to reclaim his hostage is still rather horrifying, and he would've succeeded in capturing Moxxie had Loona not arrived just in time. Not to mention, this turns out to ultimately be the starting point for Striker's growing feelings of entitlement towards him...
- Striker is also shown to take unrepentant glee in noticing that Moxxie is scared of him, both during the scene at the bar and the later ambush at the hotel when he believes that he has Moxxie at his mercy... And what makes it even worse is that his sadism means that seeing the fear in Moxxie's eyes is turning him on.
- Chapter 18 is mostly a rather peaceful chapter taking place after two mostly relaxed and light chapters... But at the end, Striker approaches Moxxie at a bus stop and beckons him to follow him to a motel... Which he does, having dropped his guard around the mercenary due to their Enemy Mine situation in order to survive the Extermination still being fresh in his mind. Upon arriving in chapter 19, Moxxie gets his stolen phone back and is presented with a news article about Sulfus's death, with Striker saying that there's a supplier of angelic weapons that needs to be tracked down and that he's willing to lend help to I.M.P to catch them... When the reader knows that he's the one who killed his fellow mercenary, which combined with him trying to gaslight Moxxie about what happened during the Harvest Moon Festival foreshadows that his intentions are much more sinister... Which is proven when he refuses to let go of Moxxie's hand after a handshake and immediately starts kissing him and forcing himself on him, ignoring Moxxie's protests and pleading and insisting that he "wants it". Fortunately, Moxxie does manage to get him to back off by biting him and aiming a gun at him once Striker lets go of him, but Striker then uses Moxxie getting a little bit aroused to try to "prove" that Moxxie returns his feelings and that him not wanting to cheat on Millie is just him making excuses. The man's insistence on trying to manipulate and rape Moxxie in this way and refusal to back off is enough to make your skin crawl.
- And then it reaches its climax in chapter 30 and the end of Act 1: After four months of not having to deal with Striker, the latter suddenly shows up at I.M.P's doorstep while Moxxie is alone at the office to talk about a "job" that apparently concerns their actions during the Extermination. Moxxie is alarmed, but Striker's refusal to say what the "job" actually entails raises his suspicions and makes him send a group message to the others asking for backup when Striker is not looking... But alas, the Enemy Mine situation turns out to have impacted him so much that, despite everything, he still drops his guard around him... And this is what ends up costing him his freedom; When the office phone rings a third time, which he notes is unusual this early in the morning, he decides to answer it... Only to hear nothing but heavy breathing on the other end... And that's when Striker suddenly attacks him, restraining him and biting him with what turns out to be a poisoned fang meant to paralyze him and knock him out so that Striker can kidnap him without resistance.
- This is the chapter that shows just how over the edge Striker has been driven, his Villainous Crush causing him to go full Yandere and throw all tactics out the window and just straight-up abducting the object of his affections... And despite Moxxie's precautions, his group message is never read, meaning that nobody is there to rescue him this time... And with Striker deleting the message, the rest of I.M.P will be left in the dark as to what happened. And to cap it all off, we get a glimpse of Striker's internal monologue as he possessively glances at the paralyzed Moxxie:Caught you.
- The feeling of terror and helplessness that Moxxie feels once the reality of the situation sinks in really cannot be understated; Striker restrains and hand gags him in a similar fashion to how he did it during the Harvest Moon Festival, which makes Moxxie have a PTSD episode so severe that he at first doesn't notice that Striker has bitten him, and he panics even more when Striker reveals that he's poisoned him. Knowing that you're in the same room as a psychopath who not only touches you all over without your consent once again, but also intends to kidnap you, and you being unable do anything about it as that same psycho has just paralyzed you to ensure your "cooperation", is a borderline And I Must Scream scenario. The betrayal Moxxie feels is as horrifying as it is heart-breaking, as his inherent good nature and willingness to give Striker a chance despite everything once again bites him in the ass.
- When Striker reveals that he's taking Moxxie away from the Pride Ring, Moxxie at first tries to resist and object, only for Striker to grab his chin even harder and angrily growl at him that, yes, he is, showing another culmination in how badly Striker takes being rejected. And while he tries to claim that it's for Moxxie's own good and that I.M.P is "holding back his true potential" (With the unspoken implication that he can "only" reach it under Striker), Moxxie sees right through the bullshit and asks him why he's actually doing it... After which Striker laughs and plants another Forceful Kiss on Moxxie to make the poison act even faster and knock him out completely. The message is clear; Striker is done playing the long game - He's going to claim his "property", now, and he doesn't care what the object of his "affections" thinks of it... Because regardless of his justifications, this is ultimately about Striker getting what Striker wants, which is a "plaything" that he can manipulate, use and abuse as he pleases.
- Remember the entry detailing Striker's rape and torture fantasy in the fic's very first chapter? Now that he's finally kidnapped Moxxie with the intent of claiming him for himself with force, that scenario may very well become a reality soon.
- This is the chapter that shows just how over the edge Striker has been driven, his Villainous Crush causing him to go full Yandere and throw all tactics out the window and just straight-up abducting the object of his affections... And despite Moxxie's precautions, his group message is never read, meaning that nobody is there to rescue him this time... And with Striker deleting the message, the rest of I.M.P will be left in the dark as to what happened. And to cap it all off, we get a glimpse of Striker's internal monologue as he possessively glances at the paralyzed Moxxie:
- The Extermination arc is called Survival Horror by the author, and ain't that the truth; Moxxie and Striker being trapped in the Pride Ring during the annual purge, with very few safe spaces for them to use and having to rely on their own wits and cooperation to survive results in an incredibly tense affair, where Exorcists, sinners and other Hellborn alike are just as likely to result in their doom. Oh, and about those "few safe spaces"? It turns out that not even they are much of a reprieve when an Exorcist suddenly shatters a barrier meant to keep them out in chapter 10, marking that the rules for the Extermination have changed and that nobody is safe.
- The concept of the slaughter houses is also rather uncomfortable. After being knocked out by Sulfus, Moxxie and Striker come to in a weird building where they're shackled to the wall and surrounded by similarly restrained sinners... And it's revealed that the purpose for the slaughter house is to give the Exorcists a load of easy targets to mercilessly slaughter. This serves as a stark reminder that, as sadistic and terrifying as the Exorcists are, this fic is still set in Hell, where its inhabitants deliberately set up these places to have anybody who is chosen for some kind of "sacrifice", anybody they just don't like or, heck, even somebody who just happens to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, get erased from existence. It's rather telling that even the Ax-Crazy Millie is horrified when she hears that her husband had been taken to one.
