Character: Liz Sherman

Fandom: Hellboy

Rating: PG-13 (language)

Prompt: scifi_muses Week 2 Vol. 7

"You cannot bribe a hero. My heart is true. My spirit unbreakable." – Hiro

Setting: Post Hellboy II

AN: Manning's a prick; I love him. I guess you CAN bribe a hero if you have 300 thousand dollars.

He's late. I can't believe he called me out of the blue, told me to meet him in this fancy restaurant and he has the nerve to be late. 30 minutes late. I hope this is worth it. I can't come up with any other options, really.

I stand and storm towards the door after waiting another 15 minutes. My eyes are down, embarrassed to be seen like I look in a place like this, when I slam right into him.

"Elizabeth, were you leaving?" Dr. Tom Manning's tone is as condescending as ever. He thinks he's better than me, better than us. What the hell am I even doing considering this?

"Please, sit down. I'm sorry to have kept you waiting." He puts his hand on my back and guides me to the chair I was just sitting in, and then sits across from me. "It was unavoidable."

"Manning, the only reason I'm here is because of my family." I nearly spit in his face. Asshole. I can't believe I'm even considering this. I may as well cut off his small talk. I hate his small talk.

"Please, Agent…" He stops. He did that on purpose. He thinks it will bother me, calling me an agent. "I'm sorry, Miss Sherman. There's no reason to be so defensive." He points to the menu when the waiter arrives and holds up 2 fingers, ordering for me even though I didn't ask him to.

"I'm not…" I call after the waiter; annoyed he's ignoring me. "Hungry." I finish, glaring at Manning.

"Take it home then. I'm sure Hellboy would love a meal like this, don't you?" He stirs his coffee and smirks at me. "How is your brutish boyfriend anyway?" He doesn't care. He's just trying to upset me.

"Husband." I snap back at him.

"Oh, made it official, did you? Congratulations." He laughs and shakes his head. "Wouldn't want to be living in sin with a demon, now would you?"

I slam my hands on the table and stand, leaning towards him. "Manning, do you want my help or not? Because I am this close to torching your sorry ass and walking out that door!" I don't care who sees me. I'm used to being stared at by now. He seems uncomfortable by it, though. That's something, makes me smile a bit.

"Liz," He glances around the room, nodding an smiling at the people looking at us. "No need to make a scene. You wouldn't want your husband to find out you're talking to me about a side job?" He leans back in his chair.

Fuck, he's got me. I sit back down in the chair and stare at him.

"If I help you, I want full access to the systems. Everything. I need that information so we can continue working." I hiss at him. " And the 50%, I'll need that today."

"Of course, my house is your house." He starts eating the salad the waiter set in front of him. I push the one set in front of me aside. "As for your payment." He reaches into his pocket and hands me a small stuffed envelope. "100 thousand now, 200 thousand more when you've complete your mission." He shrugs like he's throwing around milk money. The extra 100 grand is a nice touch though. That'll buy a lot of diapers.

"You do not breath a word of this to anyone." I continue. "It never happened, you understand?"

"Of course." He takes a sip of water and smiles at me. Neither of us speaks for some time. Not until he pulls a sealed envelope from a briefcase and hands it to me. "You know, you were always my favorite, Liz. Never understood want you saw in the stupid monkey though."

I can feel my eyes flare a bit. I have to keep it together. We need this; my family needs this. I ignore the comment. God, I hate Manning so much.

"You have my number." I stand, shoving the envelope of cash and the mission details in my jacket. "Day time is best, that's when Red's asleep." I add softly.

"Pleasure working with you again, Miss Sherman." He nods as I look down on him. "Or are you going by Mrs. Un Rama now?" He drops his head and laughs. Doesn't even attempt to pretend he's hiding it. Bastard.

"Liz is fine, Manning." I say as I move towards the door.

I can't believe I'm doing this.