The first thing Evelyn saw when she woke up was the fogged up glass of car's back passenger side window. She couldn't recall when she had dozed off but it must of been somewhere after they had passed Ashbourne, she could just vaguely remember seeing a sign with the towns name on it. Stretching out her swore body in the little space that she had in the back of the small vehicle, pushing one of her and brother's dogs, Bertha off her lap, she recalled how her brother, her and two other BPRD agents ended up on this little expedition to Northern Ireland.
Smoke came up in wisps from the mug that she held in her hands; Edgar and Evelyn had just finished devouring the last few bits of their father's leftover birthday cake, and settled to drive out the cold from their bodies with coffee. Evelyn adored coffee, the bitterness often helped her to clear her mind and remind her that the world wasn't the sugarcoated sweet fairytales that the government often tried to portray. It was a nice evening, she thought to herself and indeed it was; she had spent the majority of the day with Abe pouring over some ancient Mesopotamian scriptures that had came in earlier the week, taking in the swirl writing and the musty smell of parchment, and the remainder of the day was spent between eating, firing practice with the boys, and taking the dogs out for a walk through the snow laden streets with her brother. Sweet and utter perfection. However in the Bureau such things never lasted to long, not with big bad Agent Manning on the prowl but the twins had somehow managed to keep clear of him for the vast majority of the day. Key word majority; at the very moment said agent came barreling in, looking like the perfect picture of someone who had just gotten their rear-end handed to them. He was taking frequent deep breathes, his tie was hooked over one of his ears and the rest of his attire fit the picture perfect description of disheveled; he looked as if the apocalypse had hit and he had tried to out run it. The twins exchanged a puzzled look as they took in the appearance of their "superior."
Edgar was the first to speak, "something the matter Manning? You look like you just outran a stampede," Evelyn nodded her head in assent. Manning's only response was to let out a pained groan and slap his hand across his face. The twins shared a look again.
"Manning, IS everything okay?" Evelyn slipped off her seat at the island, one hand busy keeping the mug in her grasp while the other was outstreched and placed on Manning's shoulder as the girl gave him a worried look.
"No, no, nothing's okay! There's been a breach!" his exclamation, instead of clearing up the puzzlement, only served to increase it, "I need you two to pack your bags, all of your gear and winter coats, snow shoes, skis, get the dogs, grab Gary and Cartier and get to the Docking Bay. You've got twenty minutes!" Manning wiped off the sweat from his brow, "what are you two doing still standing here? GO!" They didn't have to be told twice, they abandoned their drinks and made of to the living sectors to get ready.
According to the mission file, there had been some disturbance of the censors in a high risk area and they were being sent there to stop whatever was periodically setting off the censors. Evelyn groaned, knocking the side of her head into the window, she abhorred these types of missions. Manning gets all fussy, over exaggerates the situation, sends them in with all their gear and the dogs, and what ends up setting off the censors? A rat. Every. Freaking. Time. Though, even Evelyn had to admit, this time seemed off. The censors hadn't ever been set off til now, and they were set up a good twenty two years ago. Manning's behavior was also off; he always got red in the face but he never began to sweat up a storm and shake like a leaf, and to add to that when Edgar informed their parents where they were being sent, Evelyn couldn't help but notice their dismayed expressions. Even Abe and Krauss, seemed put off.
Evelyn's thoughts were interrupted by Gary lowering the passenger seat and nearly smacking her with the head rest. The seat along with a disgruntled Gary ended up situated instead in her lap. Gary looked up at her with a sheepish grin, to which she rewarded him with scowl. He was so lucky that Bertha had retreated to the other side of the car.
"Heh, chair fell back, sorry Eve," Gary was always technologically challenged, "Um, so what do you think set the censors off this time?"
"Probably some stupid little burrowing mammal, what else would it be?" the husky french accented voice came from the man sitting next to her, Cartier. The bearded Frenchman had become part of the team before the twins had even been born. If memory served her right, Evelyn was certain that he was part of the European team that Krauss had worked for before he came to work with the BPRD. Cartier was well into his life, nearing 72 years of age and he was still as agile as any of the younger agents. It was rather a funny tale of how he came into association with the twins. He had originally only come to work for the BPRD for a short while but the fates somehow ended up making him their babysitter. Evelyn chuckled to herself as she remembered one particular moment that incorporated the Frenchman and bouts of flame. A cold, wet sensation stopped her currents actions as Bertha came to move back into her lap.
Evelyn took another look around the car from her position. Edgar was busy trying to light his third... eighth cigarette while keeping them on the road, Shep was stretched out across both the driver's and front passenger's seats, Gary was fumbling with the road map effectively bashing his forehead into the dashboard, Cartier upon seeing Gary's excellent performance burst into laughter nearly choking on the amber liquid that he had been sneaking sips of from his canten and of course Bertha was busy trying to get her attention by pushing her nose into the junction between her jaw and neck. Yup, this was her team and she wouldn't have it any other way.
"Edgar, Evelyn, you two take the dogs and go through passage that was taken during the original mission, keep watch for anything that could've tripped the sensors. Gary you're with me, we'll be going through the-GARY! FAIRE ATTENTION!" Gary jumped up, dropping the dog treat that he had been teasing the dogs with. After Gary had been delivered a severe lecture, the team split and went to there designated points, keeping in my mind to keep to keep all communication channels open.
"Wow!" Egard gave a low whistle sharing his sister's sentiment at the old city which they were in. One could only imagine how this had all once looked at the height of it's splendor. Even looking at it now was breath taking. Countless structures jutted out, patterns warped and curved. It almost seemed as if the ancient ruins once they had subcumed to rot and had lost their once famed glow had become part of the raw earth that surrounded it. Evelyn's awe struck atmosphere was pierced by her brother's hoarse voice.
"The dogs they've found something," sure enough following the path illuminated by her brother, Evelyn's eyes came to rest on the two dogs at the top of an enormous flight of stairs, barking at something on the other side of a huge opening. Sighing, Evelyn resolved that the sightseeing would have to be postponed until whatever the dogs were barking at was investigated. The entire length of time that had spanned for Evelyn and Edgar to get to the stairs and reach the top, the dogs had yet to stop their insistent barking. The only other time they had barked that much was when they caught their dad sneaking around the hallways dressed as Santa. However, when the twins came to stand at the top of the stairs and were finally able to look into the colossus room, they weren't able to see anything that could have caused the dogs to go off like they had. In fact other than a massive platform and set up of various moving gears the only other thing within the room was what appeared to be pieces of a broken statue.
"Your dogs are going crazy," if looks could kill, it could safely be said that Edgar would've been a pile of molten flesh. However before Evelyn could throw back any form of a retort, something moving in the corner of her eye caught her attention. The pieces of the broken statue were moving, as a matter of fact they were coming back together to reform the statue and now that Evelyn was paying better attention she was almost positive there was a second one at the top of the platform. Within a few seconds time, the statue had been completely formed and as if someone had decided to give the staute the breath of life, the stone began changing to the point where Evelyn was almost certain that it could pass off for a really being made of flesh.
"WHAT THE?" Edgar being the least discrete person in all of the world had successfully allowed his barton voice to resound into the area effective gaining the reanimated statues undivided attention. Within a few seconds Evelyn found herself ducking out of the way of an experienced warriors fury. Thankfully for her, the being's fury wasn't directed at her but at her brother. Not that was good either.
"Calm down. I'm sure there is a perfectly logical reason for why their signal has gone off the air," the amphibian man spoke up in a failing attempt to calm down the disgruntled heir of Hell.
"Abraham iz correct, Agent Hellboy. They've gone to inveztigate the wardz, and itz wouldn't be the firzt time that the radio zignal from the communicatorz haz dropped in that area. The wardz often interfere with the frequenzy. Itz nothing to worry about," Krauss spoke up, reinforcing Abe's previous statement in reference to the twin's magical disappearing act on the communications radar in Ireland.
Hellboy looked up at the two men, if you could call them that, from his position on the inside set of library stairs. Shaking his head, he took another swig of beer from the can that he had nearly crushed in his fist. As much as he could understand their logic, something in his gut told him that whatever had caused the disappearance of the twin's communicator signals was not good. He knew as soon as Edgar had come to tell him and Liz of the mission that no good could come out of it.
The door of the library cracked open enough to allow for Liz to peak in through the door. She knew why her husband was currently trying to drown out the pain that was present in him. The mission had been dread by both of them, and as she stood there memories of days long passed resurfaced, memories of two golden twins and a gilded army. Much time had past since then, Liz had aged. Her once short ebony hair had grown out and grey streaks had taken there place along the strands of darkness. Time had taken its course, and the ever present stress of being a mother and an agent of the B.P.R.D. showed upon the her face in the the laugh lines and crow's feet. Inching forward she made her way forward to the small gathering.
"They're fine Red. We would've gotten word if something had happened," she came around Abe to lay a hand on his shoulder, pale ivory contrasting against scarlet. Age had not been a friend to the demon either, "they're okay."
Taking Liz's presence as a cue, Krauss and Abraham left to let the two parents be alone. As the door of the library shut, Hellboy embraced Liz, hiding his face in the crock of her neck. It would've been clear to anyone who could've chanced to witness the two that all they wanted was to have their children back and safe.
Edgar groaned in pain. Being knocked into a wall was not fun but he didn't have time to worry about the pain that pulsated through his body in time with his heartbeat nor the stream of blood that was slowly making it's way down the side of his face. No he didn't have time for that because at the moment there was a more pressing issue to handle. Stupid ninja elves, Edgar thought with malice as he unholstered his pistol. Gripping it, waited for the right moment when he would be able to whip out the pistol to shot the being that currently was running head first at him. Just a little closer.
Except Edgar never got his chance to unleash the metal fury. Evelyn had darted in front of him, arms stretched out at both sides in a defensive position. The shocking thing wasn't that his sister had jumped in front of him to protect him but that the elf had stopped in his tracks. Evelyn stood face to face with the elven male, who stood staring down at her with an expression of shock. Nuada, couldn't believe his eyes. Before him, aged by a definite number of years, was the young girl who had been his only salvation in the dark abyss of limbo. His eyes deceived him, it was the only way that the girl could be standing before him at the current moment. Silver liquid pools started back at golden eyes.