Authors Note: This was inspired by Tim Waggoner's short story (Soaring) about a boy born with wings but can't fly and lives in a carnie, but he's the only 'freak' there. He acted like a bird and sat on a stool and let people gawk at him, even though he is perfectly human except for the wings. His name was Icarus and after thinking about what would happen if he met a certain demon, well...
Disclaimer: I own Morgan, Ammo, and that's all. Hellboy is Mike Mignola's creation, so is Abe (everyone's favorite intelligent fish) and Icarus belongs to Tim Waggoner. Don't own them, don't sue.
One day, during one of his shows, Icarus noticed a particular girl. She was leaning on a rail, alone, just looking at him. She didn't stare like many did, she just looked, she didn't seem to judge him. Her hair was blonde, but with a tinge of green like partially washed-out dye, and her eyes were almost abnormally large and dark.
When the show ended, she stayed where she was, and when someone came to ask her to leave, she just shot them a look and they left. When everyone was gone, she walked up to him, smiling.
"Hello, Icarus. I'm Morgan." She held out a gloved hand and he took it.
"Hi. How do you know me?" She smiled again.
"I'm telepathic. I read minds, along other things."
"Telepathic?"
"Yes. A friend of mine taught me to use it. Look," she glanced around "is there somewhere we can go to talk? I'd prefer not to be overheard." Puzzled, Icarus led her outside to where he had practiced flying, or at least trying to fly, in the past. He sat down on a rock and she did the same. "If you were given a chance, would you go somewhere where there were people, 'freaks', some people might say, who were like you? Not people exactly like you, but people who were different, and had their own special gift. Would you go there?"
"I don't know." Icarus said slowly. "What do you mean, like me but not like me?" She smiled
"Sorry. I'm new at this. I mean not people with wings, but people who are different, who would be put in a cage and shown off in front of an audience if they were found. People who would be killed and dissected to find out their secrets if they were exposed."
"People like what, exactly?" She rolled down the neck of her turtle neck to show a high-necked wet suit. She unzipped the neck and pulled it down to expose three... things on her neck. Gloves were taken off and her fingers were spread apart and Icarus saw webbing between her fingers. She touched the things on her neck gently.
"Gills. I need to keep my skin wet, which is why I wear the wet suit. My friend, Abe, he's like me but more... fishlike. He can't just go out like this. He needs a special respirator that keeps water flowing over his gills at all times. I can breathe like this, but he can't. I don't even think he has lungs. We also have a pyrokinetic sometimes, and an illusionist." She zipped up her wet suit and pulled on her gloves. "So what do you say? At least think about it?" He nodded hesitantly, not sure what to think. "Here." She handed him a card. "Call that number when you decide, even if it's to laugh in our faces. Better call within the next three days, though. Bye." With that, she turned and walked off.
For the next two days, Icarus was lost in thought, and no matter how many times Bethany asked him what was wrong, he told her it was nothing, but it wasn't. His curiosity was consuming him, so on the third day, he dialed the number.
"Hello?" a gruff male voice answered.
"Hi. Can I speak to Morgan?"
"Uh... yeah. Just a minute." He sounded unsure, almost scared, but in a minute Morgan was on the line, sounding rather out of breath.
"Yes?"
"It's Icarus."
"Hi! You made a decision?"
He took a deep breath and said "I want to meet these people." he could hear her smiling over the phone.
"Great! The place we talked yesterday? I'll meet you there in twenty minutes."
"'K."
"You don't have to if you don't want to, Icarus." He sighed.
"I do want to. See you in twenty. Bye."
"Bye." He hung up and left for the where she was meeting him.
When he got there, she was waiting for him. She now wore a white t-shirt and jeans. He hair seemed longer and greener, and was definitely wetter, as was the rest of her. Her gills were left exposed to the air.
She smiled when she saw him, and motioned for him to follow her in the opposite direction. Eventually, they got to a dirt road and a... garbage truck.
"Sorry 'bout the ride. It's the only thing we can travel in without being seen." She walked up to it and banged on the side. The back opened and they got in. Icarus spent most of the short ride looking at the various things inside and listening to Morgan's explanations of their uses.
When the truck stopped, they stepped out into a camp at the edge of a lake Icarus hadn't been aware of. Most of the people looked to be agents of some sort, though a select few wore more casual clothes.
"Oy." Morgan groaned at the sight of a huge cauldron bubbling over a fire near another garbage truck. "Feeding time. The whole camp will smell like chili for the next hour. Sorry. Vegetarian." She pointed dramatically. "To the lake!" With that, they went towards the lake. "OK, remember I told you about my friend who was even more fishy than I am?" For no apparent reason, she paused and glared at the lake. "Shut up. Anyway, my friend who taught me to use my telepathy? He's currently in the lake. I'm going to go in and get him." She took off her pants and t-shirt, exposing a wet suit without the high neck of the one she had worn yesterday, and dove in.
He didn't see any sign of her for the next few minutes, but he saw her approach eventually. Her head popped out of the water a few feet in front of him, and a hand motioned to her left. "This is Abe." Nobody appeared. She glared at the water. "Abe?" She dove again, emerging moments later with another webbed hand in her own.
In a moment, the other person- Abe, he remembered, surfaced.
Morgan was right when she had said he was more fish like than she was. He didn't have any hair, and his skin was blue. Seeing him and Morgan side by side, he could see a bluish tinge in her skin, and a resemblance between them- probably in the way they held themselves and their eyes- both sets large and dark. "This is Abe, Abraham Sapien. Abe, this is Icarus." She pursed her lips. "I'm going to find Ammo. Try not to say anything to each other, or, heaven forbid, have a conversation." With that, she dove again and vanished to Icarus' sight.
"Who's Ammo?" he heard himself ask.
"Her real name is Amastacia. She's a half-elf illusionist who found us several years ago." They made small talk until Morgan popped up beside Abe again. He didn't seem surprised, but then again, he was telepathic.
"She's on her way. Should be able to see her by now." Icarus looked down the shore of the lake. He could just see a slim woman walking down the beach towards them. As she got closer, he saw that she had silver-blonde hair that was almost white, and probably almost long enough to sit on. Then he saw she wore a pair of black leather pants and a white top. Her skin was purple. It wasn't a vivid purple, more of a mauve, but he could see it clearly enough, even when she was still a good distance away. He rustled his wings. Even though her skin was purple, she was gorgeous. As she stopped in front of him, her hair got in her face and she absentmindedly tucked it behind an ear. It was pointed. She smiled and offered a hand, which he took.
"I'm Amastacia, but everyone calls me Ammo."
"I'm Icarus."
"How old are you, Icarus?"
"How old am I?" she smiled again.
"I take pride in being the oldest person you'll ever meet that's still breathing."
"How old is that?"
"152 and a half years."
"Abe mentioned you're an illusionist. Is your appearance one, then?"
"No. I'll live for at least several hundred more years before I begin to age. It's my elven blood taking over. As it is, I'll probably die before my mother will."
"Now." Morgan had pulled herself out of the water and into her jeans while they were talking. She didn't bother putting on her t-shirt. "You've met most of the gang, but there's still one more person for you to meet." Ammo glanced at her uneasily.
"I don't think that's such a good idea. He's not really in the best mood right now, if you catch my drift."
"I met him when he was in a bad mood, remember? I can handle it."
"He hasn't even let John in- several times." Morgan paused.
"Wow. That is bad. Any chance of Liz..."
"None. She's still in Jersey." Morgan chewed her bottom lip.
"I'll just have to make the best of it. After all, he won't hit a girl." She stuck out her bottom lip in a mock-pout. "And if he does," a sly grin replaced the pout, "I'll make him regret it. Ammo?"
"Coming. I wouldn't miss this for the world. Coming, Abe?"
"I'll pass. I prefer to remain in one piece, and I'm the one who has to work with him the most." Morgan shrugged.
"Suit yourself. Shall we?"
"Oh, let's." The two women led him through the camp to the truck he had seen earlier by the huge cauldron. Morgan had been right- it did smell like chili. They stopped by a younger, dark-haired man.
"Did he let you in?" He sighed
"After several minutes, yes."
"S'okay, John." Ammo patted his shoulder. "once we get back, he'll perk up and go back to trying to escape. Icarus, this is Agent John Myers, Reds liaison." They shook hands.
"Who's Red?" John gave Morgan and Ammo a look that clearly said 'You didn't tell him?' Morgan sighed.
"How much do you know about Hellboy?"
"Hellboy?" He had heard a bit about Hellboy, mainly scraps of gossip from various people about the latest sightings, nothing really substantial.
"Red is Hellboy, complete with tail, horns and temper." She gave him a minute to let that sink in before beckoning and going up to the truck. Banging on the side.
"What?" That one word was enough to make Icarus want to step away, but Ammo stood beside him, one hand firmly on is bare shoulder.
"It's Morgan and Ammo with a newbie. Open up."
"No."
"HB, come on. You let us in, we can go home faster." There was several long moments of agonizing silence before a groaning of metal, and the back of opened up, letting down a ramp. Morgan had walked up halfway before she looked back to Ammo.
"I'll stay out here, thanks. I don't have my shoes." Morgan glanced at the floor and nodded.
"Iron." Ammo murmured to Icarus. "I can't touch it without blisters at the very least." He nodded and turned back to the truck. He could hear Morgan talking, but not much else. After a minute, she reappeared and motioned for him to come up. Icarus walked up the ramp slowly, a bit nervous at meeting someone who sounded so formidable. At the top of the ramp, he peered inside.
Inside was largely obscured by a cloud of cigar smoke that rose from a figure sitting on the solid-looking metal bed in the far right corner. What Icarus could make out was next to nothing.
"Could you put out the cigar, HB?" He mumbled something that couldn't be repeated in any company, much less polite company, and put out the cigar.
After a few moments the smoke had cleared enough that Icarus could see Hellboy sitting on the bed, moodily rolling the cigar between the fingers of his left hand. Suddenly, Icarus felt overwhelmed. In one day, he had met a half elf, and a fish man, and now he was meeting Hellboy, just as Morgan had said, tail, horns and temper included.
"Who's the kid?"
"HB, this is Icarus, Icarus, this is HB, also called Red, Hellboy, or Red Monkey. I strongly advise against Red Monkey." Hellboy smiled slightly, and Morgan mock-gasped.
"A smile! He smiled! Dare I fantasize that he might grace us with his presence, and a storm cloud doesn't follow him around spouting rain?" The smile cracked into a grin, revealing tombstone teeth, and his tail began to twitch, resuming its normal movement.
"Mebbe." He stood up and stretched, easily touching the top of the truck. Icarus watched in awe as he turned towards him, showing him legs that ended in hooves and a right hand that was at least three times too large for its owner and appeared to be made of stone. Now that he stood up, Icarus appreciated just how big and awe-inspiring Hellboy was. He towered over him by almost a foot and was physically in much better condition than Icarus could ever aspire to be. He walked past them into the sunlight, and the skin on his bare back showed itself to be a brighter red than Icarus would have thought possible. Strange designs wound up his arm from his huge right hand onto his shoulder and when he turned to Morgan, his eyes were amber. "I think I will." Morgan smiled and nodded, looking for all the world like a normal older sister, for al she had gills and green hair. Hellboy walked down the ramp and into the camp.
"Something, isn't he?" Icarus nodded. "Just be glad he's on our side." She looked around, but Ammo had vanished. "Come on. I need to talk to you." He followed her down to the lake shore again, where she sat. "Now you have a choice. Option number 1: You can go back your life in the carnival, I tell my superiors you decided not to come out, and we all pretend you never came here; or, you can join us, fight the paranormal that, left to its own devices would 'terrorize and possibly harm' the public. That's our job, to protect the people, who, by the way, know nothing about us, except HB, and they blew him way out of proportion. Only things they did get right are what he looks like, and that he works for the FBI as a monster hunter. If you do decide to come with us, you'll have a room of your own to decorate as you wish, food, which in actually half decent, for all it's served out of a cafeteria most of the time. There's plenty of excitement, and a small possibility that we may be able to help you fly."
"How did you-"
"I'm telepathic, remember? Only one person can hide things from me that I know of, and that's Abe, who's much stronger than I am. There's bad things too, though. Minimal pay, risking life and limb regularly and possibly losing both. You lose a lot of your freedom, and there's still going to be people who talk about you behind your back, and call you a freak, even though you can hear them. Our boss, Manning, is one of them. I'm in the process of proving to him that nobody cares what he wants or thinks. Those are your choices. Let me know when you decide. Sorry that I have to give you a dead line for such an important decision, but I need it in the morning. Tell someone when you want to be driven back." She patted his shoulder and walked away.
Icarus sat there, thinking. Could he really choose between Beth, who he had known all his life, and Morgan, Abe and Hellboy, who he had just met? Could he choose between a carnival and a totally unknown place, between fortune tellers and fish-people, his old life for a new one? He sat there thinking for hours, and was no closer to a decision.
"You'll be the first to make the decision." Icarus jumped, and looked around to see Ammo approaching from the darkness. He hadn't noticed the sun set, or the darkness. She came up and sat beside him. "I was born in the 1800's in Ireland. My mom was an elf, and my father was a mortal fisherman. I left home as soon as I could, roaming the world for decades before I heard about the Bureau. It took me almost 2 years to expose it enough so I could join it. If Hellboy hadn't found me, I would have died within the week. There was an iron manacle attached to my leg, had been for a while. I don't really have any family, though my mother still lives. Elven children that were born in the same year I was haven't reached adulthood yet. Morgan's family doesn't know what she is. She found the Bureau like I did. HB has lived and worked in the Bureau all his life, just like Abe, as far as he can remember. Morgan's the only one with any family to go back to, and she chooses not to. She needed help controlling her powers, so she sought us out, and likes it here, so she stays. You'll be the first on to have to actually choose between your family, what you've known all your life, and this life. But does carnival life ever change?" Icarus slowly shook his head. "Here, every day is different. One day you'll be getting beat up by some creature, the next you could be taking swimming lessons from it. Life at the Bureau isn't easy by any definition, but it's certainly interesting. Icarus, you don't have to totally give up your old life for a new one, but you can give up a new life for an old one." She smiled at him. "I know I'm probably not making much sense. Look, I'm not here to persuade you to come with us, or to stay, I just want you to realize you have a choice. More of a choice than any of us had. Think on it." She squeezed his shoulder and left.
When the sun rose, Icarus was still sitting there, and when Morgan walked up to him, he said only four words.
"I'm coming with you."