Fanfic / Rodeo Clown

Rodeo Clown is a Helluva Boss Alternate Universe fanfic by marith on A03.

After Ozzie's one bad thing happens after another in Blitzo's life, as his coworkers and family have seemingly, finally had enough of him. Consumed by guilt and self-loathing, Blitzo does what he does best, burn down his last bridges. Leaving the company and Loona, he finds himself with nothing left…until, he accidentally ends up foiling an attempted assassination on Stolas, shortly after the divorce becomes public.

---

These fanfics provide examples of:

• Abusive Parents:
  • Already a supremely neglectful parent, Paimon pushes into much more overtly abusive territory here by leaving Stolas stranded in space for two weeks just because Stolas begged him not to punish Blitzo for robbing them.
  • Octavia is forced to admit that while she loves her mother, Stella wasn't a good parental figure, seeing her more as a tool for her rather than a daughter, only pretending to like her during her youth to better mold her.
• All Your Base Are Belong to Us: Shortly after Stolas' divorce, his palace gets raided by assassins attempting to kill him. One of them, even blows up the place entirely.
• Ant Assault: Both Striker and Blitzo end up falling into an anthill, and get covered by the pesky fire ants, during their second encounter.
• Armor-Piercing Question: When Octavia insists on joining in on the gang's big assault, Blitzo talks her out of it, by asking how responsible it would be to include her in the attack alongside her father, when the both of them are the only ones capable of using the Grimoire and she has little to no experience on the field.
• Assassination Attempt: Striker and several other assassins attempt to assassinate Stolas, shortly after his divorce, with one even blowing up his palace with a heavenly bomb. Thankfully he and Octavia weren't at home when it went off.
• Attack Hello: Upon seeing Blitzo again after bing gone for days, a distraught Loona furiously responds by charging at him like a wolf, tearing up his clothing and tossing him around, before eventually hugging him.
• Auto Erotica: Blitzo & Stolas have sex on top of Verosika's stolen car in Chapter 8.
• Aw, Look! They Really Do Love Each Other: Upon reuniting with Blitzo, Loona tearfully admits to how much she missed him, before hugging and telling her father that while she may not "need" him, that doesn't mean she wants him out of her life.
• Babies Ever After: The story ends with Stolas and Blitzo having to raise three, young Ars Goetian children, who were accidentally sent to the space dimension alongside Stella. The toddlers are grumpy and distrusting of them, but Blitzo is determined to raise them right, having already taken care of Loona.
• Big Damn Reunion: Blitzo's reunion with I.M.P. in Chapter 9, is very teary and satisfying.
• Bitch Slap: Millies gives one to Blitzo, when they meet up in Chapter 9.
• Brutal Honesty: When asked by her daughter how he could've sent three children, along with Stella and her cronies, into a vast space dimension without care for them, Stolas bluntly tells him she was the one who told him to stop holding back and do something to stop his assassins.
• Cliffhanger: Chapter 4 ends with Blitzo & Striker fighting it out in Stolas' palace…only for the place to suddenly blow up.
• Closet Punishment: Paimon did the extreme version of this to Stolas, after the young prince begged him not to punish Blitzo for robbing them. For this, the king sent Stolas out into space, the same place from the You Will Be Okay sequence, where he was felt in the vast empty, freezing void for two weeks.
• Comically Missing the Point: When Loona confronts Blitzo over mailing a box of severed fingers to Vortex, he defends himself by swearing he made sure none of them were middle fingers, as that would've given him the completely wrong impression.
• Crazy-Prepared: Blitzo, Stolas and IMP, come up with a plan to ambush Stella and her guards, with the imps killing her men, then giving the signal when it's safe for the prince to come out. Striker becomes aware of this and immediately plans around this with traps and hidden weapons stashed around the palace. However, as it turns out, Blitzo knew he might've been listening in. That was only the fake plan to keep Striker busy, while Moxxie killed the rest of guards and Stolas dealt the final blow.
• "Dear John" Letter: Two in the same chapter. Stolas writes a letter to Blitzo apologizing for his actions during their affair and thanking him for making his life a bit better, giving them Asmodean Crystals as a sign that their relationship is over. Afterwards Blitzo in a state of depression, writes a short letter to I.M.P., saying he's leaving the company, that Moxxie's now in charge and requesting they look after Loona, before leaving.
• Disposing of a Body: Moxxie and Blitzo have to dispose of the body of a client, after Blitzo killed him when he saw he had a dead horse in his sack. They both decide to dump the body in a trash compactor and the horse body at the home of an Obnoxious Youtube Critic.
• Don't Make Me Destroy You: Stolas aguishly reveals this to be the reason, why he can be a push over at times, saying he never wants to hurt anyone, despite being a powerful Goetia. Blitzo manages to convince him that if they're going to make it out of their situation alive, he'll have to step up and not hold back anymore, which seems to ring through to the prince.
• Earn Your Happy Ending: By the end of the story Stella has been defeated, Blitzo has made up with his team and gotten together with Stolas, and the pair are now raising a trio of Goetian toddlers that survived their big exile spell.
• Even Bad Men Love Their Mamas: Blitzo is reluctant to believe that Stella is the one to have put a hit on Stolas' life, due to how close he was with his mother; but is ultimately forced to see it's true.
• The Exile: At the end of the story, Stolas banishes and locks Stella and her family to the void, as punishment for their attempts on his life.
• Finger in the Mail: Blitzo sends Vortex a box of severed fingers, though none of them being middle fingers, as a warning to keep away from Loona and make sure she's safe while at parties. Needless to say, when Loona finds out, she is livid.
• Forgotten First Meeting: Blitzo encounters an old Buttler inside Stolas' palace after it's blown up. This butler turns out the be none other than the same butler from The Circus, who recognizes him, while Blitzo has long since forgotten all about him.
• Graceful Loser: Upon realizing that he has lost and since he's dying anyway, Striker willingly surrenders and even gives up his holy weapons, having become disgusted at his work for Stella and not wanting to hold a gun again. Blitzo allows him to escape knowing he won't have long.
• Hidden Depths: Stolas gets to show off his skills as a general an warrior during the later half, displaying excellent combat and strategic planning.
• Hypocrite: Striker, the racist and classist assassin with a deep-seeded hatred of Demon Royalty, who often mocks Blitzo for his affair with Stolas, is revealed to have bedded Stella, at least once, much to Blitzo's amusement.
• If I Wanted You Dead...: When Octavia accuses Blitzo of being an assassin, the compliments the princess of asking the right questions and making good calls, before assuring her and Stolas that he's not, with this trope.
• Internal Reveal: Stolas and Octavia finally find out about Striker's assassination attempt during the Harvest Moon Festival, when Blitzo tells them about it in Chapter 6. They're quite upset about the lateness of the news, especially Octavia.
• It's All My Fault: Blitzo tells Stolas that it is his fault he's getting assassinated and his family situation has turned so ruinous. The prince doesn't deny it at all, but assures the imp that he doesn't regret him coming back into his life.
• Learned from the News: Blitzo finds out about Stolas' divorce from Stella, from a TV at a bar he's eating and drinking at, along with the fact that Marquis Andrealphus is keeping his horses there, which lead to him checking the place out, in time for it to blow up.
• List of Transgressions: Stolas makes on towards Stella and her family, as he banishes them to the void.
  "Let it be known to all the citizens of Pride that the Pavo branch of the Ars Goetia has committed grave crimes against our family and Hell itself. They have conspired to murder a Great Prince. They have sought to destroy all knowledge of certain spells that protect and maintain our realm, spells entrusted to us by His Majesty Lucifer himself. They have used the weapons of the Exterminators against their own people. Even now the poisoned ruins of my palace waft contagion into the streets. They nearly killed my only child and heir."
• Making Love in All the Wrong Places: Discussed but not carried out. Blitzo tells Stolas that if he killed her as his giant owl form, he'd have sex with him right on top of his corpse. Much to the shock and lust of the prince.
• Meaningful Echo: During their first encounter Striker mocks Blitzo calling him a simple rodeo clown, who are nothing but a worthless distraction rather than a real 'cowboy' and assassin like him. Blitzo later says this line back to Striker when his true plan gets reveal, wearing the moniker with pride, just as Stolas arrives to deal with Stella and her family.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Stolas drops almost all of his usual jovial and happy side of him, during the last few chapters as the gang prepares to fight back against his assassins, much to Blitzo's worry.
• Operation: [Blank]: Blitzo dubs the ambush on Stella Operation Raptor Strike.
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Blitzo briefly calls out Prince Stolas' willingness to let other people walk all over him and taking their abuse, while being one of the most powerful and smartest Goetias out there, much to the Prince's and Octavia's discomfort.
• Rebellious Princess: Octavia admits to Stolas that while she doesn't know what she wants out of her life, she has no interest in becoming a Goetia and would rather attend college and make something out of herself.
• Royals Who Actually Do Something: After a harsh but need talk from Blitzo, Stolas decides to stop hiding and take an active part in finding and stopping the assassins that are coming after him.
• Sadistic Choice: Octavia realizes she'll never be able to talk her mother out of trying to kill Stolas, no matter how much she loves her, and is forced to choose between her or her father. She reluctantly picks Stolas.
• Sassy Secretary: The apathetic secretary at Barbie Wire's rehab clinic is unsympathetic towards Blitzo's attempts to see her again or his apology, simply demanding he leave.
• Saying Too Much: How Stella finds out that Octavia and Stolas are still alive, through Octavia texting her their status, while still not knowing she was the one to put out the hit.
• Seinfeldian Conversation: During one of their meetings, Blitzo berates Moxxie for buying smoke bombs, as he doesn't see the value of them as murder weapons, deeming them to be unnecessary. Moxxie brings up the time, Blitzo insisted on killing a target among a line of can-can dancers, causing a delay due to not fitting the corset. Blitzo stubbornly defends himself, until Stolas finally cuts him off.
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here:
  • After a series of blacklashes from his coworkers, Millie threatening to quit along with Moxxie if he ever spies on him again, Loona leaving home for a while after finding out about him threatening Vortex, and Stolas ending their monthly affairs giving them Asmodean Crystals to continue their business, Blitzo decides to leave I.M.P. behind, writing them a note, taking a stash and seemingly disappearing from their lives.
  • Earlier in the same chapter, Loona decides to finally leave Blitzo for a while to stay with some of her friends, after she finds out about him threatening Vortex.
• Signature Scent: Blitzo notes that the Goetia all have a particular but prominent scent to them, that is easily to smell. Stolas smells of the fruity preening oil he uses for his feathers, while Octavia has a hint of that and mostly the scent of a trendy goth mall.
• Smash Cut: Blitzo goes to chat with a client, who has a large sack with him, about their target. In the next scene, Moxxie's in shock that he killed said client over what he had in the sack.
• Title Drop: Striker drops one on Blitzo, during their encounter at Stolas' palace.
  "But I'll tell you something, rodeo clown. You've forgotten your role in life. The rodeo clown, acts as a distraction while the real cowboys get the job done."//
  • Blitzo later repeats the line back at Striker, upon revealing that his plan has succeeded.
• Wham Episode: Chapter 4 ticks off the main plot of the episode, where Blitzo learns of the hit on Stolas' head and the prince's mansion blows up.
• Wham Line: Chapter 8, has Stolas deciding to confront their enemy directly. When Octavia points out that they don't even know who that is, Stolas reveals that he does.
  "Oh, I know that. It's your mother."
• What the Hell, Hero?:
  • Blitzo gets several of these from Moxxie, Millie, Loona and Octavia during the first three chapters, each one calling him out on his awful, selfish behavior, which adds on to his guilt and reason for leaving.
  • He gets another one from his former team, when he goes to reunite and apologize for his behavior, with many of them being hurt by his abrupt leave, Loona in particular chewing him out while in tears.
  • Upon learning that her father's banishment Stella also sent three seemingly innocent children there too, Octavia tears into her father in distraught and anger, unable to believe he could do such a thing. Thankfully Stolas brings them back and promises to raise them alongside Blitzo.
• You Are Better Than You Think You Are: After their emotional fight and make-up sex, Blitzo gives Stolas a small speech like this in Chapter 8, complimenting the prince's kindness, saying that he deserves to be in Heaven. Stolas humorously but kindly takes it as an insult.
• You Got Guts: What gets Blitzo to like Octavia, after she states she wants to turn him into a piece of Taxidermy.
• Your Days Are Numbered: Having been around the area as Blitzo, during the holy explosion, Striker is exposed to the same radiation which leaves him scared and slowly dying. Unlike Blitzo, he doesn't have Stolas to heal him and Stella was uninterested in healing him, so when they run into him again, he's days away from dying.