Chapter 4
Private jet or no, Hellboy still couldn't stand flying. It wasn't that he was afraid of heights or some freak accident, he just hated being cramped up in such a small space with so much compressed air. It always reminded him of what it must feel like for a zoo animal in an artificial environment, except without all the leering children. Having Manning along for the ride never made it any easier.
Liz and Abe were visibly nuzzling one another a row over from him as they shared a small laptop screen and watched a movie. Hellboy couldn't quite make out what it was, not that it would reveal any quality of Liz's or Abe's present state of mind. The film was just playing for posterity's sake as they spent more time paying attention to each other.
The lovebirds were still in that PDA stage. It was nice for his friends to be so happy but it was nauseating at the same time. Maybe it was because he still had some residual feelings for Liz or maybe he was just feeling the pang of being alone, but it still make him sick to his stomach. Gazing over to Myers and Manning who seemed just as actively interested in one another, though in an intellectual way, was just as nauseating. The combination of the two blossoming couples just made Hellboy feel the sensation of stale air even more intensely.
"I'm gonna head down to the cargo hold and make sure we don't need to pick up any supplies before we start this job." Hellboy knew that they didn't need any more supplies and, frankly, so did everyone else in the cabin, but he needed an excuse to get out of his chair. Other than a hurried 'shoo' of the hand from Manning who was too occupied with Myers, Hellboy got no reaction.
The BPRD tried their best to modify an airplane row to accomdate Hellboy's size, but it just ended up feeling like a botched handicapped row of seats in an ancient movie theater. The original seat was far too small and in an attempt to grant more space, they just removed any sign of arm or back support, complete with broken springs in the musty mastress. One stuck Hellboy at a particularly odd angle in the upper thigh as he vacated his seat.
"I know we aren't at the top of the man's list for funding, but you'd think they could afford to spend a cinch bit more on their freaking equipment." Hellboy muttered under his breath.
He cast a side-long glance out one of the portico windows as he made his way to the door at the back of the cabin that lead to the belly of the plane. It seemed that they were still over the Atlantic Ocean, but they should be getting close to the English equivalent of BPRD soon. Like the Bureau back in the states, the British version, the Ministry of Unexplanable and Mysterious Phenonmenon or MUMP, had its own small airport and compound. It was somewhere on the outskirts of London, with an office outside of Glasgow, Scotland. Hellboy couldn't help but think of his birth and what he had learned about his mother as he thought of seeing Glasgow and Scotland again. It wasn't so far in the past that he ventured back to Bromwich Church to learn more about how he crossed the plane into this world. He couldn't exactly say he was happy to be back. Much of the beauty of the Scottish countryside was tainted for Hellboy because of this self-knowledge that he so didn't need to know.
He reached the door at the back of the cabin and swung open its small pressure lock with all the force of his left hand.
"Fuck, I so don't need to be reminded of my personal BS right now. This just cannot get any better." Hellboy said as he took the small ladder steps 3 at a time into the cargo hold, not because he set out to, but because his enormous boots and feet were too large for the tiny little steps. They groaned slightly under his weight.
"At least it's darker and cooler down here." Hellboy never thought it made any sense that a cargo hold would be more comfortable for him than the cabin where all the other people sit. Maybe those years of having to ride as though he were part of the cargo sunk in or maybe he just didn't want the company.
Either way, the solitude was comforting, at least for the moment. He leaned up against one of the larger trunks in the last row of neatly and securely packed cargo and snuck a Cigar from his inner coat pocket.
"When we land, I am so drinking a glass of nice expensive Scotch."
Chapter 5
Although it may have seemed otherwise to Hellboy, Liz and Abe were not completely oblivious to his recent rise in moodiness or him vacating his seat. Abe's ability to mind read also meant an added level of communication with Liz.
After Hellboy muttered and got up from his seat, Liz craned her neck around her row of seats to watch him gaze out the window and then disappear into the back of the airplane. Abe spoke to her inside her mind.
"What do you think is eating him, Liz?"
"I'm guessing it must have something to do with us returning to Scotland. I can't believe that it didn't occur to Manning that maybe Red should sit this one out. I mean he just hasn't seemed right since he got back from his trip to Bromwich Church." Liz still cared very deeply for Hellboy and Abe couldn't expect any less concern from her.
"Maybe I should go down there and talk to him?"
"No, Abe, you know what happened the last time you did that. I think he needs to be alone for now. He'll come talk to us when he's ready to vent."
"I suppose you're right. I've never been good at these sorts of things. Still I do have to agree with you. It does seem odd that Manning didn't consider the repercussions a trip to Scotland would have on Red. Maybe this case is more than it seems."
"You know, you're right, I've got to see what's really going on." Signing out of their mental conversation, Liz stood up and walked toward the front of the cabin as Myers looked like he was going to suck every word Manning spoke right out of his mouth.
"Sorry to interrupt, but Manning, do you mind if I look at that case file, I mean none of us ever really got a good look at it during the debriefing." Liz had already started to rummage around the box of files Manning had toted with him. Although it seemed like she was asking for Manning's permission, she was just attempting politeness and was really telling him what she was already doing.
"HEY! Don't go needling through my files! Those are all alphabetized, collated and color-coded!! Stop that right now missy!" Manning was like the world's worst substitute teacher at moment's like this. He was condescending, rude, and worst of all, he didn't always realize that he was dealing with other living, breathing, adults that could think for themselves.
"O Gimme a break Manning! With all your BS about proper procedure, you most of all should know that each one of us has a legal right to examine each case file before we commence operations. You've just gotten so used to jerking us around since the Professor passed that you forgot that we have been taking you at your word on some of this stuff."
"Wow, sir, uh I think she definitely got you there." Myers said with a giddy smile.
"O shutup, Myers." Maybe some of Hellboy's moodiness had infected Manning too.
Liz had just thumbed to the section of the box that should have all the active cases, because Manning had color-coded all of those in red. The file on the case they were about to begin was sticking up slightly. Just as Liz reached for it, Manning snatched it out of your hands. Liz threw him a fiery glare.
"Miz Sherman, before I let you see this, I need you to use some discretion."
"What why? Who are we hiding this from, I thought this was just a run-of-the-mill case." Abe had appeared next to Liz with a very quizzical look on his face.
"Yes, Manning, discretion with whom or what?" Abe said as he crossed his arms.
"Alright, you all have to promise not to tell Hellboy about the details of this case."
Liz snatched the file folder out of Manning's hand and opened it. She let out a slight gasp.
"You mean you want us to lie to him about this?" Liz passed the folder to Abe.
"You want us to lie t because this case involves Bromwich Church and because the book reservation the ghost has is for Hellboy from his dead mother." Abe had, perhaps the most consistently calm voice on the team, but even he sounded distraught when he said that.
"That's insane! When we get to that church and he recognizes what's going on, it might send him right over the edge! I won't do that to him!" Liz looked like she would shove Manning out of the plane if she could.
"Well, that's essentially the idea." Manning said with his face in the shadows.
"We want to get a reaction from him, so I finally have the evidence to push him off of this team once and for all."