It had been heartbreaking. Watching in horror as the crown he had worked so hard to reclaim, was destroyed in seconds as Liz melted it with her power. Nuada had been given no choice but to renew the truce with the humans and never again try to wage a war against them. He refused to submit himself to any kind of imprisonment, and that he would simply go back into exile. Hellboy frowned against the idea, thinking that Nuada would just turn his back on their agreement. That is until his sister suggested he work at the BPRD.
The group hesitated at the suggestion at first but decided all together that it would be best for Nuada. They could at least then keep an eye on him. He still hadn't been convinced himself that it was a good idea, but it wasn't as though he had a choice in this.
He still hated humans with a passion however. No matter what his sister had tried to tell him, he still found humans to be greedy and selfish, only thinking about themselves and their short little lives. Except, his thinking had started to change somewhat about the human female, Liz. Regardless of her short temper, she still cared for others. Most of the human woman would find Red despicable and would not want to come near him, yet Liz still loved him, showing that with her emotions and new born twins.
Nuada smiled at the thought of the twins. When they were first born, they were completely red, just like their father. They each had a tail, and on first look, Nuada had thought he was staring at possible mirror images of Red when he was a child. The only difference was that the twins were born without a stone hand or horns.
Not long after exiting their mother, who was still screaming bloody murder at Red, the twins ignited in fire. Everyone in the room had a panic attack, not knowing that the twins had been born with their mother's powers. With the yelling and inflamed children, Red had fainted. Luckily, Nuada had stayed in his rooms, not wishing to witness a human giving birth.
Looking up, Nuada looked at the clock that hung from the wall opposite of him. It read 11:48, which meant that Nuada had to leave soon to go to the transport hanger.
The team had been informed that the BPRD wanted to recruit another member; a young woman at the tender age of 23 with strange abilities. Apparently, she was able to manipulate the shadows and darkness into anything, whether it was a simple flower or something deadly such as a sword.
Apparently, she had learned of her powers when she was young, and not knowing what to do with them, she experimented. It was hard for her at first because whenever she would go out into the sun, she would realize that her shadow was bigger in proportion to her body. As she continued to learn about her powers, she had started to hurt herself with her own shadow; bruises, scratches and sometimes a broken bone here and there. Too scared to go to the hospital to tend to her wounds, she would try to nurse to them herself, but had unfortunately been left with a few scars.
Nuada wondered why they needed a new member. The five of them, meaning Liz, Red, Abe Johann and himself were doing well so far. Except for a few more cases where Red exposed himself to the public, all of them never had trouble with anything. Nuada thought that a new member would be a hassle to the team, creating as much trouble as Red did himself. Not only this, but he was loathing to get to know another human agent. He had enough trouble bonding with the ones already working at the bureau.
Shaking his head, Nuada forced himself to get off the bed. In just a few minutes, the woman would be arriving and Manning wanted to talk to them before she entered. He apparently needed to warn them about her powers. He pushed back all the thoughts of bailing out of the meeting. Nuada would have liked it best if he could meet her of his own accord, rather than be forced to.
Nuada walked out of his room, locking it behind him. He walked the few hundred yards that separated him and the transport hanger. He turned the corner and found Abe, Nuala and Johann waiting already. Red and Liz were of course missing, obviously late. As they always are for everything, it usually being Red's fault.
Yelling was heard all the way down the corridor, many agents running out of the raging female's path. No doubt was Liz on fire as she walked and shouted towards the library.
"I mean it Red, if you don't start doing your share of diaper changes..." Liz screeched at him
"Fine, I will. Just calm down," Red said trying to placate her.
Liz's nose flared as she closed her eyes, forcing herself to calm down. The fire that engulfed her body gradually extinguished, leaving the cross pendant on her neck glowing a flaming red. Just then, Agent Manning entered the Library, looking quite frustrated.
"Liz, next time, try to keep your temper down. You burned one of the agents," Manning said.
Nuada looked over at Liz who had a worried expression on her face. She asked Manning if he was okay and Manning replied that it was just a minor burn that should heal in about a week. The worried expression faded from Liz's face but her eyes still held a bit of concern.
"Now, this new recruit's name is Samantha Falon. Be careful around her and do not let your shadow within touching distance of her own. With just your shadow, she could kill you. Now, Samantha is a quiet girl, she tends not to speak to people, as she all but secluded herself from society at a young age of 13."
"Why did she do that?" Liz asked in confusion.
"At 13, she was said to have seriously hurt three of her classmates at her Elementary school, while experimenting with her powers. This had a great effect on her, as she felt deep regret, thinking it was best if she did not interact with other people."
An agent entered the library, signaling for Manning.
"Sir, she has arrived."
"Alright. Now remember everyone, be nice," he said turning around only to stop to talk to Red, "And Red, unlike Johann, I suggest you keep quiet around her if you want to be breathing."
"Oh c'mon, she can't hurt me that bad," Red said waving his hands in the air.
"Don't say I warned you then," Manning muttered under his breath.
The group turned to the door, watching as a young woman entered through the library doors, surrounded by guards that constantly looked down at their shadows. She was a fairly average woman, standing at, at least five foot five, a slender build, yet clearly strong, and had long black hair. Her eyes were fixed on the group intently, as though she was surveying them with her mind. Her eyes were a strange deep blue, with specks of gray throughout. Manning approached her, careful to keep his distance.
"Welcome to the Bureau of Paranormal Research and Defense. I will introduce you to our team. First here is Abraham Sapien, our resident physic," Manning said leading the woman to Abe.
"Nice to meet you," Abe said, nodding his head once
He stuck his hand out, waiting for her to greet him. Samantha gave his hand one glance before reaching up and grasping it firmly. Nuada heard a small gasp escape from his lips and he knew that Abe was reading about Samantha through her hand.
Samantha looked at him confusedly and slowly pulled away her hand, cautious as though a wrong move would trigger something horrible. Manning pushed her slightly to Liz, but her eyes glanced back Abe who was staring at her quite surprised.
"Next, we have Liz Sherman. She is human like you, but she can control fire."
Liz demonstrated by igniting her hand in flames while waving at Samantha. Samantha smiled at the display, her shadow rising from the ground, becoming an exact replica of herself, just a shadowed version. Her shadow waved at Liz, whose expression clearly showed how impressed she was.
Manning then turned to Red, who had a goofy grin on his face, showing that he was going to have fun with this woman. Liz shook her head, noticing the same look.
"And this is Hellboy, or Red as he prefers."
Red reached out and placed a large hand on her small shoulder, engulfing it. Her eyes flickered to his hand before blinking back to his face in slight annoyance.
"Welcome to the team Darky," Red said, already making a nickname for her.
Before anyone could register what had happened, Red had started to smack himself in the forehead. His brows furrowed in confusion until he looked down onto the floor to see that her replica shadow had merged with the floor once more and was holding onto Red's shadow, forcibly making him smack himself.
Red yelped each time his palm made contact with his forehead, stumbling back a bit at the same time. Nuada stared at Samantha, seeing her glare furiously at Red. Her hands were clenched at her side, her knuckles becoming a snowy white. Apparently, she didn't like to be called names. Nuada wondered to himself if teasing was what caused her to hurt her classmates.
Nuada then knew at that moment that Red and Samantha weren't off to a good start. Especially in Red's position.
"Yes, well Samantha, this is Princess Nuala of the Unseen Realm and her brother, Prince Nuada," Manning said, pushing Samantha towards twin's direction, making her shadow unwillingly let go of Red
Samantha's gaze snapped from Red to the next two. As her eyes rested on them, they traveled up a bit until they met with the twins faces. Nuada couldn't blame the woman as her eyes widened a bit. Both elves towered over her. Nuala almost reached a height of six feet, and with her brother standing a few inches taller than her, he definitely looked down at Samantha.
Nuala's lips curved into a smile as she looked down at the girl. As Nuala's eyes radiated kindness towards the woman, her brother's held the opposite, staring at the woman with a glare, his orange eyes flaring with fierceness.
Nuada glared down at the woman, supposedly angered that he had to come to this little meeting just to meet a girl who did not have the decency to introduce herself properly. Why would Manning take his precious time away from him, time that he could have been using to practice his skills, rather than make him introduce himself to a girl that wouldn't even introduce herself to him.
Samantha simply glared back, not allowing Nuada to intimidate her in the slightest. To her, he seemed incredibly arrogant. Perhaps he too would need to be shown a lesson.
Manning noticed the Prince's glare and would not allow him to make Samantha feel in any way insignificant so he pushed her along the way, introducing her to the last member, Dr. Johann Krauss.
"And this is the paranormal expert, Dr. Johann Krauss."
Johann bowed in front of the woman and she smiled down at him.
"Well, that is the whole team. Would you like to see your room?" Manning asked her.
She turned to look at him and she nodded once. Manning then waved his hand out the door and led her out, leaving the rest of the team there to ponder about the new girl.
"I think she will be a great asset to this team. She puts Agent Hellboy right where he belongs," Johann said.
"I don't like her one bit," Red muttered, still clearly not happy about the smacking.
Nuada did not know what to think of the new girl. She did indeed put Hellboy in his place, yet she seemed rather angry and easily offended. Her eyes betrayed her annoyance. They seemed to convey a certain remorse that she had not been able to let go of. She was a bit cruel to Red, yet he was asking for it. He had a feeling her temper would easily match Red's. It could spell trouble for the team if they didn't get along.
She certainly didn't need any protecting, not that he would volunteer if she did. Of course, he was protecting people for the BPRD, but he did it because he was forced into it, not that he wanted to do it. He may live for a long time, but he didn't plan on living it all here. That would go against his condition however; this place was already like a dying prison to him.