A figure in red darted across the roofs of a small city in France, the city Troyes to be exact. It was a dark and cloudy night, it was the night of a new moon. The red figure stopped at one roof top and kneeled near the edge. It was a young woman of about 20, she wore a red wide brimmed hat, a black stealth suit, and a red trench coat with lipstick to match. Across the way from the building was a large library.
"Carmen, which Vile member do you think has been committing the robberies?" A young boys voice asked through her earpiece.
"to be honest Player, I'm not sure…I doubt its Couch Brunt, she wouldn't want a collection of old books. Dr Bellum wouldn't steal it ether, she mainly just likes to hack into top secret files and steal from bank accounts. And Cleo definitely wouldn't want an old book about myths and legends. Perhaps Maelstrom would like to have the books because of there cryptic nature, but that doesn't feel quite right ether."
"What about Shadowsan?" Player raised a brow. After Shadowsan seemingly betrayed Vile for Carmen's safety, he didn't want to accuse the man of something, but he was a thief in the past.
"I don't think so. Shadowsan was only known for stealing rare weapons or martial art books, he was mainly just a thief for hire, but since he became one of V.I.L.E's directors he hasn't been directly involved with a heist for almost 30 years." She replied calmly.
Player sighed as he brought up a file on his monitor; "This is such a strange case. Century old legend books stolen from small museums all over Europe. The books are not famous enough to get a ransom from stealing them, and they aren't made of any rare expensive materials. We have no motive, but several professionally done crimes. No witnesses, no pictures, no security footage, no fingerprints, we got nothing on it."
"True, but doesn't that just make it all the more fun?" Carmen lightly chuckled.
"That it does." Player smirked. This was going to be an interesting heist.
Carmen shot a grappling hook across the street and onto a tall tree next to the library. She jumped off the building and the wire pulled her through the air, she skillfully landed on a tree branch.
"Ok, I'm going in." She took a suction cup out of her coat and jumped from the tree to the window of the Library, using the suction cup to latch onto the window. She took a small black tube out of her coat and pressed a button on its side, a glowing red sharp knife came out of the top. She used the laser knife to cut out a large oval in the glass, using another suction cup she carefully moved the glass out of the way.
She slid through the hole and silently landed on a desk inside the Library. She hopped off the table with the quiet grace of a feline and headed deeper into the library, avoiding open areas or spots lit up by the moonlight.
The book would be on special display in a glass box in the history section. She slinked past a bookcase peered around the isle's corner, standing in front of the glass box was a man in his mid-30's. He had an old-style black suit and black hair, his eyes seemed to glow red. He was currently picking the lock on the case, he seemed very calm. He started to crack a smile, one very sharp tooth visible from her angle.
"I know you're there, I suggest you run while I'm too busy to hunt you down." He stated calmly, not turning his attention away from the box.
Carmen walked past the book case into full line of sight.
She acted calm like usual "You have got some good instincts to detect me."
"Yes, but it was my hearing that gave you away." He replied, still working on the glass box.
"Humm, I thought I was hiding my foot steps pretty well, guess I'll have to better next time."
"Oh, it wasn't your footsteps that alerted me. It was your heartbeat..." The man smiled evilly, is sent a shiver down Carmen's spine.
"So, are you working for Vile? Because I've never seen you before, and I know most of the people who work there." She continued
"I'm afraid I have no idea who you are talking about. I work with a very different group of people…" There was a click as the lock of the case opened up. He quickly put the book in his brief case and closed the locks with freakish speed. "You should have ran, because now I'm too hungry to let you leave." The man smiled an evil fanged smile.
Carmen dodged as the man launched at her, she had never seen somebody move so fast. He tripped her, but as she fell to the ground, she used her leverage to cartwheel herself to a stand. The man lunged at her again, she back-flipped over a table behind her to put some space between her and the man. But he slid over it quickly and grabbed her by the throat. This man was faster and more agile than any opponent she's ever faced, and that was saying something. He knocked her back into a book case, a few books tumbling to the ground.
Before she could even move, he grabbed her be the neck and slammed her into the shelf, pinning her.
"CARMEN!" Player shouted through the ear piece.
She wasn't one to over think, it was clear that this man wasn't human, or at the very least a mutant. The man's eyes glowed red, his pupils' slits. She held onto his arm, trying to loosen his grip, he was making it hard for her to breath.
"Your heart beat is strong, I bet your blood will be delicious." He bared his fangs and hissed with a predatory smile.
Suddenly there was a loud bang, the man screamed and stumbled back, holding his hands over his chest and dropping Carmen.
She coughed and gasped for air, she looked at the man as he stumbled back. He had been shot.
"Now that's no way to treat a lady, pal" A rough male voice said.
Carmen looked towards the voice to see a very tall and muscular man in a tan trenchcoat. The man had red skin with gold eyes, he had short black hair lazily tied up in the back, and he had a long red lizard like tail, along with two strange flat "bumps" on his upper forehead. He was holding a large black gun.
"You will pay for that demon!?" the man hissed as he attempted to remove the bullet from his chest.
"Oh really? You and what army?" The demon-like man asked with a snarky tone.
Carmen could see bright gold eyes appeared in the dark behind the demon, and a glint of something sharp in the darkness.
"Look out!" Carmen threw a smoke bomb behind the demon like man, who quickly rolled out of the way as a large black paw came down behind him.
The smoke bomb hit and there was a hiss as the area was covered in smoke. The red man aimed his gun at the creature through the smoke and shot, the creature let out a monstrous howl, like a hurt hound.
The vampire attempted to grab Carmen, but she dodged and rolled away, she quickly stood up. She and the demon-like man stood back to back and prepared for a fight. A monstrous black dog facing the red man, and the vampire facing the young thief of thieves.
"So kid, you got a name?" The red man asked her over his shoulder, watching the monster dog closely.
"It's Carmen, Carmen Sandeigo. What about you?" She got out an emergency Taser gun from her coat and watched the vampire closely, he was preparing to attack.
"The names Hellboy." He said as he reloaded his gun.
"Really?"
"Yup."
"Alrighty then…" She responded as she got into a fighting stance.
Just then, the vampire and monster dog launched at them in an attack. The fight was on.