He blinked, taken aback by the intense way she was watching him and the way she said his name.
Who was this girl? And how did she know his true name? Hellboy took a step forward, his boots clunking against the tiles. "Me?"
Abe walked up, holding his out to get a read on the girl. "Her name is..." He cocked his head to the side. "Hmm, that's odd." He seemed to concentrate harder. "How unusual, I cannot find any information on her."
Accepting a jacket from one of the guards, she wrapped it around herself to conceal her nude form. The girl stood, bare feet against the cold tiles. "My name is Sonya and I am an angel."
Manning came forward before Red could get a word in. "You're a what?"
"An angel." She repeated.
"They...exist?"
"It's not hard to believe that there is a demon standing not ten feet from you but you cannot accept that I'm an angel?" She stated, a twinge of annoyance entering her voice.
He looked flustered for a moment and then extended his hand for her to shake. "I'm Tom Manning, I basically run this facility."
She eyed his hand warily until he dropped it to his side.
"Last I checked we're pretty tight on security. How did you get in here?"
"I fell." She cast her eyes up to the ceiling and pointed to the large holes that traveled upward until you could glimpse the night sky. She scanned the room and then looked back to him. "What do you exactly do at this place, Mortal?"
"We investigate and hunt the supernatural." He answered, scoffing at the fact that she referred to him as 'mortal'.
"I require your assistance," She told them and she moved toward the doorway. One of the guards pointed his gun at her.
"I can't allow you to do that, Miss. Don't move."
"Lower your weapon."
The guard didn't move, his hand tightening around the gun. Sonya looked at the weapon curiously for a moment. In one swift movement, she snatched the gun from his grasp and hit him square in the nose with the butt of the gun and turned the weapon onto the rest of the guards.
"I am not the enemy but I will not stand here while you point weapons at me." She looked at the gun in her hand and tossed it to the ground. "I need your help."
"Help with what?" Manning asked, eying the weapon the ground as if he was considering whether or not he should pick it up.
"Help me find my Grace."
"Your what?" Hellboy asked, taking out a cigar, striking a match and lighting it.
"My Grace. It's an Angel's essence, our powers, our wings. I tore it from my body to fall, but as it turns out I actually need it back." Sonya explained.
Seeing Manning's disapproving look, Hellboy took a drag off the cigar and shrugged. "I'm game."
Abe looked at Red and then back to Sonya. "I'll accompany you as well."
"No, no! I won't have you two running off with some supposed Angel that we just met, we don't know a thing about her for all we know this could be a trap." Manning protested.
"Well, it's not up to you, unless you want us to quit again." Hellboy scoffed.
"It's not a trap, trust me, please." The angel chimed in.
Angry but now compliant, Manning sighed and threw up his hands in defeat. Sonya sent a cool smile in his direction and knelt on the floor, her hands clasped together on her chest.
"Uh...what are you doing?" Red asked, for a moment he started to doubt his decision to join her in this mission.
She seemed to ignore this as she squeezed her eyes shut. Within a few ticks of the clock, her eyes flew open. "I've located it. It's in Central Park." Sonya informed them, getting to her feet again, the jacket that was draped over her riding up her thighs.
"Good, you can go tomorrow." Manning announced.
"Tomorrow?" The angel said, anger now lacing her tone.
"Yes, you need to be evaluated and given a tour of our facility before you make any further movements."
"If I weren't in need of transportation and back up, I would retrieve my Grace on my own." She snapped before she turned to Abe and Red. "Until tomorrow." Sonya allowed herself to escorted out by the guards and Manning.
"What was that?" Abe asked, following Hellboy as he exited the room.
"What was what?" He asked as he puffed on his cigar.
"What are you doing? Agreeing to go off with some woman who we don't even know, someone I can't even tell anything about."
"You told me to keep going, that the bureau didn't take us back in to just sit around. That's what I'm doing here, I'm keeping myself going."
"Not like this. We don't know if she is truly an Angel, or what her Grace really is, it's like Manning said, we could be walking right into a trap."
"Then it's a good thing I can defend myself, Blue."
After an hour or so of being interviewed and asked about her previous whereabouts and how she exactly ended up here, Sonya was finally shown to her room. It was small, confining. The walls were a dull white color that matched the bed and the dresser, the mirror was the only hint of shine in the room. There were clothes laid out on the bed for her, more confinement in her eyes, and she changed into them.
She found herself looking at the reflection in the mirror, a vain human thing to do but she couldn't help herself. Her dark loose curls hung about her neck and shoulders, her blue eyes seemed duller than ever and the white t-shirt and jeans they had bought her were far too tight.
Sonya laid down onto the bed, this would be difficult, but her mission needed to be carried out, who else would do this but her? She wished that her Grace would flow within her and show her the right path, and in a fleeting moment she swore she felt it flutter somewhere miles away.
Shutting her eyes, she felt the memories of her descent from Heaven resurface. How she had begged and pleaded with her closest brethren, the people she could trust, she wanted to persuade them to see things the correct way.
"Just think of it, Isaac." Sonya had implored one of her fellow angels.
"This is stupid," His voice rumbled deep in his chest, turning to walk away from her, from the realities she was trying to convince him to see.
"Isaac, please," She pleaded, appearing in front of him to cut off his escape.
Her fellow Angels wanted to bring about the apocalypse, they were tired, tired of not knowing what their Father wanted and tired of humans. They had assigned her to find Anung Un Rama and use him to start the end of time, and then they wanted her to slaughter him once he had gotten the job done. The angels were twisted, fed up with not knowing God's will and fed up with this tedious job.
Isaac's next words were harsh, they struck her hard and caught her off-guard. "What you are suggesting is blasphemy, disobedience."
She shook her head fervently. "The will of our Father," came her earnest correction, staring so desperately at him for understanding.
"No, Sonya. I serve heaven." His final rebuke stung at first, a light graze of her Grace that caused her to hiss silently.
"Isaac, I…" Words failed her. They were on the precipice of war, and he was feigning loyalty to an absent General despite what she promised was reality.
She tried Gabriel next, he had always liked her and he was usually lenient, understanding, and she knew he liked to rebel on occasion.
"Disobedience is different from a little fun rebellion. It is an unforgivable crime up here, Sonya, you know that." He had sighed. "God doesn't want us to abandon each other, and you cannot pretend to know that us bringing the Apocalypse is not what he wants."
"But that's my point, no one knows what he wants, he left, we shouldn't end the Earth just because he's gone."
Gabriel shrugged and had refused to say more past that. So, she moved on to Michael. Michael was the eldest, the strongest, and every one of the archangels knew he was what they should strive to become.
"Michael, I implore you—"
Michael looked at her with eyes wrought with authority and condescension. That scrutinizing stare, so harsh from the one elder brother she admired, dipped down to catch her uncomfortable gaze. "Do you think our father would be proud of this theory? Reward you for being reckless, and uncooperative. Disloyal."
Breath hitching in her throat, she returned his stare with falsified confidence. "I know he is. He has to be. He created the humans, their destruction is not what he wants."
Michael waved his hand dismissively."They were a failed project. Now, it's time for the extermination."
She sprung awake, her chest rising and falling fast. Glancing at the clock, she took note that it had been exactly five hours and thirteen minutes since she fell from Heaven. Surely, her fellow angels had not found her Grace yet, but they would soon. And without her Grace, falling from her brothers would have been for nothing.
Sonya decided that she would go to get her Grace, her energy, her everything, not tomorrow but now.
The smell of cigars and beer permeate the air, a unopened beer can was in Hellboy's hands, held gingerly. He could remember sitting here and drinking with Liz. He looked again at the can and made no move to open it.
"You're not solving anything by watching it," A voice from across the room teased in a baffled sort of way, and his eyes snapped up, it was Sonya.
He opened the can and raised the beverage to his mouth slowly, eyes locked upon her as she looked to the pile of abandoned nachos, chili and other foods in front of her.
"Generally humans develop heart conditions from this amount of food," She commented, fingers nudging the plastic wrapper of a burger to the side before she realized he had paused.
"What are you doing in here?" The red man asked, setting down the can. He struggled to sit up and look over at the clock. "What time is it? How long did Manning have you interrogated?"
Her eyes tore away from him and glanced to the clock, and then she regarded him bemusedly. "How is that of import?"
For a moment he considered mocking the way she talked but decided against it. "Did you want something?"
"Can you accompany me?" Sonya seemed as if she were utterly worried about something.
"What? Now?"
"Now. I cannot wait until morning, I need my Grace back."
"Well, I'm all for sneaking out." Hellboy smirked as he rolled off of the bed and to his feet. "Let's go."