The Life and Times of Mecca Montgomery: Chapter 1
By: Randa A.
Hellboy, Liz, Manning, Abe, Broom, and Myers do not belong to me…except for the ones I created. J
Slowly everything started to come through. On the ground, Mecca felt cold and dizzy as she awakened. When she tried to sit up, she only fell back down on her back tired and woozy. Above her a light shined brightly down on her. She slapped her hand down on her face, shielding her eyes from the light. "Ouch." She mumbled as she tried to think of what happened. Mecca then flipped to on her stomach as she groggily stood on her hands and knees crawled looking down of the bright light until she smacked her head into something…hard. "What the hell?" she said as she sat back and looked up to see nothing at all. Thinking, she stretched her hand out and it smacked right into a glass wall. "Glass containment?" she said as she stood up, almost falling back and then finding her balance. She then rubs her neck to find a large band. As Mecca tries to pull it off, she trips and falls on her back. "What the hell is going on here?" She said silently as she closed her eyes.
Hearing a door opened, she parted her fingers to take a look. Two elderly men were standing next to each other although one of them had a large nose while the other one looked a little more kind almost like a father figure. "Can one of you let me out of here because I'm getting a little claustrophobic when I don't know if I'm going to bump into a wall or not." She asked as the large nosed man circled her, studying her.
"Hey, hey! I ain't dead yet so if you're looking for a free meal, it ain't going to be me." She told him watching him, cautiously. The other man come over to the glass wall and looked at her, "We mean you no harm my dear." He soothed gently.
"Right, and the whole glass box just screams protection," Mecca said as she placed her hands on her hips, "Why am I here? What do you want from me?" She asked as she placed her hands on the wall.
"Hands off the wall." The large nosed one said.
"First I want to know why I'm here." She replied with a cool tone.
"I said hands off the wall." He said a bit louder.
"Bite me!" she challenged him, glaring at him.
He pulled out a small remote and pushed a small button. Suddenly her throat started to sting and then it started to burn. Grasping her neck, she fell to her knees. Everything went black as she fell backwards, her head hitting the cold and hard floor.
Broom looked at Manning with a look of displeasure. "Manning, what in morning's glory did you do to her?" he asked as he opened the glass wall and checked on her. "Believe me Broom, she's a little smart ass and she's probably not even what her profile says she is." Manning snorted, "Our job is to help not to shock those who we meet!" Broom said checking Mecca's pulse. The door opened and Big Red himself and Liz entered the room.
"Hey what's with the leftovers?" he said jerking his head at Mecca. "It looks like Manning over fried another guest." Liz said when she spotted the girl. "Hellboy, take her to the medical room please." Broom said. Hellboy walked over, picked Mecca up gently and carried her into another room where he set her down on a small table.
A blinding light was turned on as Mecca came through. Her neck was sore and her body was stiff. When she picked up her head, everything seemed to move a fast speeds before her eyes and she dropped her head back down on the padded table. She drew in a big breath then tried to sit up, except for the fact that she wasn't moving upward. Mecca then realized that she was strapped down onto the table with a little lock holding everything tight. She tried again using all of her strength as she attempted to get up. "Damn it." She muttered under her breath as she relaxed.
"I need a key." She said to herself looking until she spotted it, all the way on the other side of the room. Using her hand closest to the key, she started to beckon the key to come to her using her hand.
Slowly the key stated to float towards her as she bit down hard on her lip. "Concentrate!" she thought as the key slowly inched towards her. She smiled in satisfaction until a large red hand came and snatched the key in mid-air. Out of the corner of her eye she spots a red tail, moving much like a cats would.
Mecca then looks to the side of her to see a large man holding up the key smiling at her. He had a large red tail, which swayed at his side; his right arm was a solid stone with little carvings. "Trying to escape us I see?" he asked waving the key. She gave him a weak smile before she telekinetically pulled it out of his hand. "No, no." he said as he snatched it back. Aggravated, she lets her head drop.
"Can someone please tell me what the hell I'm here for? Strapped to a table!" She asked closing her eyes. "I dunno, ask Father." He replied balancing the key on his finger. "Father? Who?" She asked. The door opened and the long nosed man entered the room. "Is that little witch awake?" he asked the man with the tail. "Hey! I am not a witch, dumbass!" she replied lifting her head up in alarm. The red man then walked over to her, looking and examining the burn on her neck. "Yikes, Manning. Why don't you just kill her next time?" he said jokingly but Mecca looks at him in alarm. "Little joke." He assured her as she flinched when he touched the burn. "Is that Father?" she asked biting her lip. "What? Him? Hell no," Big Red responded.
"He'll be coming by to check on you any minute, but since the burn is so mild you'll have to stay here for a couple of days." He said as he starts to wash and bandage her burn. "What? No! I gotta get going, I have to baby-sit my nephew for my sister and she's going to be so pist at me." She said as she bit her lip of the pain. "She'll understand, now shut up." The long nosed man said. Spotting a rolled up newspaper, telekinetically she picks it up and gives a whack at him. "Hey!" he said as he started to duck. "Oops, did I do that?" she said as she gave as small snicker. "I think we may be very good friends." The red man smiled as he watched as the long nosed man grab the paper and rips it up. Once it was all ripped up on the floor, neurotically he poked it with his shoe. "I think it's dead now." Mecca teased.
"Alright, enough with the crap. Today you used your powers to hurt people and I know because I saw you." The long nosed man said pointing his finger at her. "What? When?" she asked enraged. "Today at the subway, a guitar player jumped up and hollered." He accused. "Oh, him. I helped him out by blowing four hundred dollar bills to him by telekinesis, he was so overjoyed that he jumped up and yelled in joy." She said remembering the poor guitar playing fool she pitied.
"Alright, how about the little girl? She was crying and you just stared at her." He said. "That little sweetheart? What kind of sicko do you think I am? I love children! And besides a little boy didn't give her back her toy and I just returned it to her when she started crying." She explained. "Telekinetically?" the red guy asked next to her. "Yup, I have telekinesis and nothing else." She replied. "Fine proof it!" the long nosed man scoffed at her.
"Manning-" the red man started to say. "No, I want you to prove it right now! How can we tell is she's telling the truth?" he said pointing at her. Concentrating on him, she narrowed her eyes. Slowly he started to float, about five to eight inches from the ground. "Whoa." He said as he held out his hands for balance.
"Believe me now?" she asked, tempted with the thought of dropping him. "Yeah, just put me down!" he finally said annoyed. Raising an eyebrow, she gently lets him down. He looks at her with a bewildered look. "Alright, now that I answered your problems, now answer mine! What am I doing here?" She said.
The door opened and the other elderly man came through and sat down on the chair next to Mecca. "First tell us your name, my dear." He asked politely.
"My name's Mecca Montgomery." She replied as she struggled with the straps. The man noticed and turned towards the long nosed guy. "First you shock her then strap her to a table? Release her!" he commanded. The long nosed man grabs the key away from the red guy and then unlocks Mecca form her containment.
"Alright, my turn. Who are you?" She asked as she got off from the table. "You may call me Broom. I help run the Bureau and keep my son it place." He said smiling. "Bureau?" she repeated as she sat up. "The Bureau of Paranormal Research and Defense." The long nosed guy answered. "You have a son?" she said. "Yes, his name is Hellboy," Broom said nodding his head at the large red guy, "He also helps us by keeping everything in order and that's what we need your help for."
She looked at him, suspiciously as she raised an eyebrow. "I saw what your power can do, Mecca. It's a magnificent power to have and we need someone as powerful to keep up with Hellboy. We need you." He told her with his gentle eyes. "Wait, Hold on. How can we tell if we can trust her? Huh? First I want to ask her some questions." The long nosed man said "Give it a rest Manning." Hellboy told him leaning up against the wall. "No, no. I want to know if I can trust her!" he said as he took out a small writing pad and pen. "Alright, how old are you?" he asked her. "Twenty, today." She answered. "Whom do you live with? Are you married? Do you have an children?" he questioned writing down her answers down on his pad. "I live with my three sisters, Molly, Michelle, and Melinda. I'm not married…yet. And I don't have any children yet either." She smiled at the thought of having her own children some of these days. "Do you have any other powers? How about your parents?" he asked as he wrote down her previous answers. "My-My parents?" she stuttered as her heart started to race. "Yes your parents?" he asked looking at her with dullness.
Hellboy begins to notice that Mecca seems nervous. "I think that's enough with the questions Manning." He said getting off the wall. "Fine, if she won't tell us, we'll just have to see it for ourselves." He said placing the pad and pen back in his pocket. The door opened and tow other men entered. Mecca looked at them alert along with Broom and Hellboy. "What's going on here?" she asked taking a step back. "Strap her down, get Fish gills down here now." Manning said to the two men. The two men ran at her, grabbing her arms, she was then banged down on another table and strapped down.
Telekinetically, she picked up the two men and threw them out of the room as she twisted trying to get of her trap. Abe enters wearing his respirator. "Hey fish gills, can you see into her past for us?" Manning asked raising an eyebrow at the struggling Mecca. "Manning, I think this girl had enough confusion today release her." Broom demanded. Manning ignored him, and Mecca stared at him with her eyes narrowed. At a quick speed, Manning is left up into the air, higher than he was lifted up last time. "Put me down, you damn witch!" he cursed. She then throws him into the hallway and sending him down the hallway, yelling. Abe walks over to her as she struggles. "Now calm down, we're just going to look into that pretty little head of yours." He told her gently. Finally stopping, she blows a piece of hair out of her face.
"I can block you, and I will try because you're a physic one that can read the future and past about anything." She said. "You're really an intelligent woman for your age." He said as he stood at the head of the table she's in looking down on her. "Well this pretty little head knows some things about the paranormal." She told him. Abe then exchanges a look with Hellboy and then slightly puts his hands near her temples and closes his eyes. By looking into her mind, Abe sees the first time her mother held her, her mother being hit by a car, her mother's funeral, her grandmother and father arguing, her father's cab leaving, the school children throwing mud at her, the school children throwing stones at her, her grandmother's funeral, and finally the school children shooting at her. It's all too much for him and he's blasted into the wall behind him. Mecca strains her neck to look at Abe as Hellboy runs over to Abe and checks up on him. "I'm sorry." She apologized. Hellboy looks up at her with a puzzled look. "For what?" he asked. "That." she said beckoning to an unconscious Abe. "It wasn't your fault my dear, it was your memories that did it." Broom comforted her. "Well that's why I at least tried to block him, I have very painful memories. Memories that haunt me still to this day." She said looking down at the floor. Hellboy then walks over to her, grabbing the bonds that straps her down to the table and rips them from her body. He then helped her sit up.
"We can help you through those memories and help control your powers but you have to let us and trust us." He told her as he held out his hand for her. She accepted, gently taking his hand he helped her down from the table. Looking at Abe, with her mind she picks him up and gently places him on the table. "What do you say, my dear?" Broom asked. With a smile on her face she answers with a shrug, "Why not? It could be fun." She said. Broom offers his hand and she takes it and gives it a hard shake. "Welcome to the family, me dear." He said with a smile. Just then Manning appeared in the doorway, breathing hard his clothes all covered in dust from the floors. "You!" He breathed pointing a smiling Mecca. "I want you out! NOW!" he said kneeling over breathing hard. "Hey, that's no way to treat a new member." Hellboy said with a grin. "You mean?" Manning said looking up. "Yep, she joined. Now there's another power here to annoy you." Hellboy said. Mecca gives a little smile and wave when he looks at her with a desperate face. Family. She was part of a family, maybe not a relative one but still it felt good to be part of a real family for the very first time for a long time.