Rainy Days Chapter 1: One Stormy Afternoon, a hellboy fanfic

Rainy Days – A Hellboy fanfic

I got the idea while it was stormin' outside my dorm room. There was lightning and rain and maybe a little hail. It was fun! 'specially when I ran around outside and sang "Singin' in the Rain!"

Ahem, anyway, this is a Hellboy story, of course. However, I will not be using the live-action movies for appearances; I am using the Hellboy Animated appearances (Sean "Cheeks" Galloway equals win!). This takes place in 1994, about two years before Professor Broom Dies in the comics. Now, I realize John Myers appears only in the first "Hellboy" movie (which has Broom dying in 2004), but I think he's kinda silly and I like him, so he gets into this story too.

EDIT:

This story will be set in early March of 1994. Also note that I made the mistake of believing Professor Broom dies in 1996 when really it is May of 1994. I know better now because I am 100 times more of a Hellboy fan than when I started writing this story.

Thank you and please enjoy the story!

Disclaimer: Hellboy and all things Hellboy related belong to Mike Mignola, Dark Horse Comics, Tad Stones (because this story involves Hellboy Animated and Tad is the awesome in the Hellboy Animated series), Sean "Cheeks" Galloway (because he DESIGNED the characters in Hellboy Animated), and Guillermo Del Toro (because his movies turned me into a lover of the Hellboy series! X3).

Warning: Bad language. No other things at this moment in time, but that may change as the chapters go on.

Summary: It was her favorite kind of weather. Was it by chance this foul-mouthed brat met Hellboy and company in one of the worst storms England has ever seen? Rated M for adult language.

"Of all the days Manning had to pick to go on a mission, he had to pick this one..." An angry secret agent muttered as he stood next to an over-sized, canvas-covered truck bed. It was raining heavily and everyone involved was one of three things: damp, soggy, or absolutely drenched. This angry agent happened to be the third, along with the cigarette the hung limply and unlit from his lips. Despite the horrible taste, it was solely by pride he held the cigarette in his mouth. This agent was a legend and considered a myth for the past fifty years of his existence: Hellboy, the half-demon, half-human brought to the United States government in December of 1944. Hellboy was tall, standing just short of seven feet, sported a pair of filed-down horns on his forehead, had a pair of piercing golden eyes, a long prehensile tail, cloven hooves for feet and bright red skin flecked with darker red, much like a human with freckles. Hellboy's tail twitched irritably as his closest friend, named Abe, nicknamed Blue, approached him.

"Oh, it isn't so bad. At least it isn't-" Abe started. He was abruptly interrupted by the bright flash of lightning and a deafening boom almost half a second later. After a small pause, Abe resumed his statement, "Never mind." Hellboy growled angrily and slowly sawed his way through the tobacco stick and his teeth ground together in his frustration.

Abe sighed at his response and continued to enjoy the rain. Abe, full name: Abraham Sapien. He was discovered alive in a secret chamber of St. Trinian's Foundling Hospital in Washington with no prior memory to his being discovered; he was named Abraham for the date that was posted on a plaque on the outside of his tank: April 14, 1865, the same day Abraham Lincoln was assassinated. Abraham is much like Hellboy: completely different from normal humans, especially because of his appearance. First off, he has gills, a blue-green skin complexion with spots and stripes of dark blue on his head, nose, lower lip and chin, shoulders, legs and back. His ears are narrow and pointed and his all-white-blue eyes are often half-lidded. He also has filmy fins on his chin, forearms, and in between his fingers and toes, for better movement through the water. He is a fish man, you see, but a very intellectual, empathic fish man that has become an invaluable member to the BPRD and Hellboy's closest companion.

"Perfect! Just perfect!" Hellboy shouted, finally grabbing the cigarette from his mouth and dumping it in one of the trash receptacles his fellow agent put out for him. He folded his arms over his chest, his right arm over his left, and glared out into the rain. Abe patted Hellboy on the back and gave him a "there, there" of comfort. Abe didn't mind the rain, he slept in a tank, after all, and the heavy humidity and rain pouring over him made it so much easier for him to breathe.

"Look on the bright side, Red. The entity we're looking for only comes out during a storm or when it rains or mists. The sooner we catch this entity, the sooner you get out of the rain." Hellboy couldn't help but smile at that; catching a monster usually meant beating them, and beating the crap out of monsters was his job. Most of the time, monsters didn't even need to be beaten into submission, Hellboy just liked hitting things.

"Meh...I guess...but did it have to be raining so damn hard?" Hellboy whined. One of the newer agents, named John Myers, walked in on this part of the conversation with an umbrella and a fair-sized box of various monster-fighting knick-knacks and another full of files.

"That's Mother Nature for you." Myers said as he passed. Hellboy pouted at his comment and Abe chuckled slightly at Myers' attempt at humoring the red agent. Myers shrugged and set down the box of junk and held out the box of files to Abe, the umbrella staying over the files to keep them from getting wet as Myers took the brunt force of the rain.

"So Blue, what exactly are we looking for?" Hellboy asked, flipping the subject to another spot. Even though he'd already gotten a briefing on the mission, he was half-asleep when it was first given to him.

"A nymph. She has been seen causing havoc around these places with floods, power outages, death of crops, plagues, and still-born animals by the dozens." Abe answered, "There have also been reports of people shredded to pieces with bits of bark and various natural paraphernalia embedded in their corpses. The nymph is believed to be the cause of that, too." Hellboy couldn't help but wonder why the nymph of all creatures, typically peaceful and never any trouble to the paranormal investigators, let alone normal humans, would suddenly rise up with such horrible abilities.

"One Helluva nymph." Hellboy commented simply. Most of the time, he never worried about facing against a monster, but in complimenting a case without even facing the creature? Almost unheard of. Perhaps it was the fact he'd only faced three nymphs before, but they scurried away when he told them to, never causing any more problems, but this one seemed to be a bat out of hell by Hellboy's standards.

"And that is precisely why we are meeting the new BPRD recruit here to catch this creature." Abe said. Abe's gills fluttered gently as he searched through the boxed files and Myers winced in the bitter cold rain; oh how he wished Abe would hurry up.

"You don't say. So, who is this kid?" Hellboy asked, peeking over his broad shoulder to look at his fishy friend; his tail flicked and twitched slightly in interest.

"Her file said her alias was 'Demina', no records as to her actual name, and she is quite the...er...spark." Abe said as he glanced through a file, trying to find the right words. Hellboy quirked an eyebrow in interest, silently asking Abe to continue. "There isn't much; five feet tall, yellow-green eyes, dark brown hair, though she tends to dye it, and talents in drawing, martial arts, and rock climbing. It says she has quite the temper and is often in a bad mood. She never had a comfortable relationship with her parents and has even gotten in trouble for once electrocuting her boss." Hellboy laughed at the last part of Abe's statement.

"Is that why the squirt is being transferred to the BPRD?" Hellboy asked, still laughing.

"Actually, yes. I think it is." Abe admitted. Hellboy paused a moment before sputtering back into fits of laughter; Abe shook his head, he never seemed to find anything amusing like Hellboy did. Then Abe's fishy eyes spotted a vehicle in the distance. "Ah! There's her caravan now!" Abe replaced the folders in the box and Myers gratefully held the umbrella over his head, especially since he was already soaked to the bone, as he jogged around to the driver's side of the vehicle, box tucked under his arm. Hellboy wiped away the tears brought on by laughing and hopped into the back end of the large truck. Abe jumped into the passenger's side and watched the other vehicle as the trucked started forward.

--!--

It was not long before the two vehicles stopped next to each other and the driver of the caravan rolled down his window and shouted at Myers. Myers quickly rolled down his window and yelled back at the other driver. The rain was falling so hard now, that it made it difficult for two people to even yell a conversation at each other. Hellboy poked his head out the back of the truck and snuck around the side where nobody could see him, and then around the front.

"Hey! Is Big Red inside?" The second driver shouted. Hellboy knew that voice! He also knew the face that it belonged to.

"Jimmy! How long has it been?" Hellboy shouted through the rain. He went right up to the window and casually looked inside. Whoever was in the passenger seat jumped clear out of their skin when they saw Hellboy; the driver, named Jim Sugg, just grinned at the red demon.

"I'd say about...ten or so years?" (1) Jim said as he placed his elbow in the open window space.

"Good to see ya Jim! How's the ghost hunting business treating you?" Hellboy asked curiously. He blinked often to keep the constant downpour out of his eyes. Jim, you see, was and still is a ghost hunter; not for profit, but more because he has an ability to see apparitions and has connections to spirit mediums and the like.

"Fine, fine. Too bad I can't say the same for Demi." Jim answered. He took his thumb and flicked it back behind him. Hellboy gave his old friend a confused look.

"'Demi'?" The red man asked.

"Demina. She likes shutting herself away, probably because nobody really respects her space." Sugg answered, nodding his head towards the back of the truck this time.

"Oh...speakin' of, where is the little squirt anyhow?" Hellboy asked, looking around Jim at the passenger next to him. The passenger, who had only just gotten over his surprise of seeing Hellboy, jumped again when his and the demon's eyes met. Suddenly there was a loud bang as the truck's back door was flung open with immense force. A small hand grabbed the corner of the truck and then the wet, glaring face of a young woman turned to face them.

"I'm not 'little' you big red monkey!" The female shouted with a slight English accent. She was small, about five foot nothing, with black and neon blue (obviously dyed) short, choppy hair, livid yellow-green eyes, and a grimace on her pale-skinned face. Hellboy wasn't too impressed.

"So you aren't." He muttered under the rain. The girl huffed and hopped out of the truck, getting her black combat jackboots muddy in the wet dirt road, and marched through the heavy rain and sucking mud. She paused about four feet from Hellboy and sized him up, hoof to horn. Hellboy did the same; now that she was out of the truck, he was able to get a decent glimpse of her. Her camo-pattern jacket was thick and buttoned tight against the cold, even though it only ended an inch beneath her breasts and was near ineffectual at best. She wore a thick black, long-sleeve turtleneck shirt, black fingerless gloves, and a pair of camo-patterned pants that tucked into her black, and now muddy, jackboots.

"You must be Hellboy. Jimmy's told me all about you." The female said bitterly as she glared defiantly at Hellboy. He smirked; this girl had some spunk to be able to spit hate and venom through this kind of downpour, he liked spunk.

"And you must be this 'Demina' nobody seems to know anything about." Hellboy remarked, stuffing his left hand in one of his coat pockets and casually leaning back on his heels as his right hand swung slightly from the motion. Demina growled and her glare grew fiercer, if it actually could that is.

"Like I want them to! I hate humans. I hate being a human! Clumped with things like them!" Demina shouted and whipped her head at Jim, who flinched slightly. Hellboy's eyebrows flew up to meet his horns; he knew Jim wasn't an easy guy to startle. "It's disgusting!" Demina spat angrily, her accent coming through especially strong in her rage. Abe chose this moment to chime in from his side of the BPRD vehicle.

"Well, perhaps if you learned some manners-" Abe started, slightly irritated at the small, vicious girl.

"Can it egg-sucker! I don't give a shit." Demina growled, causing the fish man to fall back and blink in surprise. Never once has anyone other than Hellboy ever said anything so vulgar directly at him. Demina marched back to the back of her caravan and hopped in before slamming the truck's back door with as much force as she had used when coming out. Hellboy glared after the girl. Nobody got away with calling Abe an egg-sucker in front of him.

--!--

Later, when the BPRD and their European contacts had finished setting up a base camp, Hellboy sat on a strong bench that buckled slightly under his surprisingly great weight. He had a towel around his neck and was wearing a black tee-shirt; without it, he may get a lot of unnecessary stares from everyone and with it, at least he kept a little warm without having to sit in his sopping wet trench coat. Demina was sitting across from him, sideways on the bench, scowling with her arms folded and her knees pulled up in front of her. She had chosen not to use her towel and so her normally spiky hairstyle was slightly slumped from the wet. Neither of the two tried to form a conversation.

"Crap I'm bored...I wish Liz was here..." Hellboy muttered, wiping the towel across his horns. Demina's eyes flicked in his general direction as she was removing her gloves.

"Liz who?" She asked. Hellboy lowered the towel and looked blankly at her. His tail twitched and betrayed his slight irritation from her calling Abe an egg-sucker just short of an hour ago.

"Sherman. And why do you care?" Hellboy asked, his tone even. Demina turned her eyes to focus forward again and smirked.

"I remember Lizzy." She murmured, catching the red man's interest.

"How?" He asked suspiciously.

"I met her on a mission to a power plant in Bermuda." Demina answered with slight smugness in her voice. Hellboy's eyebrows rose faintly; bells rang in his head like the Notre Dame church in France.

"Oh yeah...Liz told me about that one. I didn't think it was you she was talking about. Mentioned a different name..." Hellboy said, "Deedee? Delilah? Dayna?" He rifled through several names and Demina's eyes widened in slight horror, hoping he'd forget one specific name. "Oh yeah! It was Daphne!" Hellboy smiled in remembrance. Hellboy never was too good at remembering names, but he'd scored well today.

"Fuck..." Demina growled under her breath, looking at the wall beside her. Hellboy grinned mischievously.

"What? You mean your name is actually-?"

"Shut up! It is not! I fucking hate that name and the people that gave it to me!" Demina hissed furiously, cutting off Hellboy's question. She stood to her full height and looked oddly menacing to the red demon, causing his grin to be replaced by a small line for a mouth and his bows to rise again. Demina fumed for a moment before huffing and returning to her previous position, only now with her arms wrapped tight around her legs.

"You hate your parents?" Hellboy asked. His tone was neither curious, nor teasing, or even angry, but more concerned than anything else. Demina was silent for a minute before she closed her eyes and sighed.

"Yes." She answered. Her eyebrows, previously knitted in anger, moved into a saddened slope and her eyes seemed to lose their fierce shine. Hellboy was quiet and watched the girl; she seemed to be debating with herself.

"Why?" He finally asked. Demina's expression flipped back into anger and she turned her head back to face the wall. Hellboy deadpanned. "I'll take that as a 'maybe later Hellboy, I'm in a sour mood right now.'" He said smartly. For one reason or another, Demina's mood swings just ticked him off.

"How 'bout never because I'm always in a sour mood?" Demina said bluntly. She turned to look at Hellboy with a glare before returning to staring to the front. Her eyes glazed slightly as she continued, "My story's my story. Back off." Hellboy was slightly surprised but took her weak apology anyway.

"Fine, fine..." Hellboy said as he took the towel and set it on a nearby coat hook. It was quiet for another minute, then two, then five. Demina just seemed to be in her own little world and Hellboy would go between checking to see if he had everything in his utility belt and keeping an eye on the girl with two personalities. Suddenly, Myers appeared in the doorway, drenched in rain, and caught the attention of Hellboy and Demina.

"She's here! Everybody out!" He shouted. Hellboy smirked; this mission was finally getting interesting. He pulled on his semi-dry coat and made sure his favorite gun, the Samaritan, was holstered at his right hip. Demina quickly stood and donned her gloves.

"Get the lead out D. We got a Nymph to catch." Hellboy said before running out into the rain. Demina scowled slightly at him and followed at a hasty trot.

"Fucking fantastic..." (2) She muttered; the rain was even heavier now than before and lightning was crashing loudly above their heads. Fighting this nymph would not be an easy venture.

(1) Page 176 in "Hellboy: Unnatural Selection" by Tim Lebbon - it says that Hellboy last met Jim in 1984, thus giving me a perfect time to work with my plot.

(2) Originally said by Hidan in Ninjagrrl's "The Prettiest Princess" (Story, plot, & original idea © Ninjagrrl here on FF, Hidan © Masashi Kishimoto-dono); forgive me, it's just a funny line and I got the idea from reading the story...again.

Alright! That was fun! Review or whatever, I need to start the next chapter. Bye!