Disclaimer: I own nothing from Hellboy, Comic/Movie or otherwise.

Blaze of Unglory

Chapter 4.) To Play With Fire

"There, the Golden Army was locked inside the Earth, and there it is today, waiting. Waiting for a new Heir to for the Crown. Silent, still, and indestructable." Abe swam back a few inches, signalling the end of the story, Fharryn's eyes wide. Hellboy closed the book on the dias, shaking his head.

"Wow! How cool!" She looked at her father in excitement.

"What a brilliant idea too, an indestructable mechanical army . . . wonderful." Abe put a webbed hand up gasping and Hellboy gave her a shake of the head.

"Not exactly the same feelings I had when I first heard it." He laughed and ruffled her hair. As he walked away she called out to him,

"Is it real?" He stopped right before exiting.

"I don't know, is it?"

I sat cross legged on a brown rug in the middle of my mostly hard wood floored apartment. It had been almost eight months since becoming am Agent for the B.P.R.D. and they had been the best months of my life so far. I had learned and gained so much that I felt like an adult already, it didn't help the fact that my paycheck that I recieved was more then say . . .minimal wage, hell of a lot better then waitressing. With all the benefits of the Bureau I easily found myself a nice apartment that was cheap but pleasant. And even better, most the building was vacant. The only thing was that I had to be secretive about going there, I had rented it out on the other side of the city. It was the apartment that I told no one about, my place I would try to re set up at when all this was blown over. I was sure I didn't need to be any further away.

I was doing my normal routine of stretches, I jogged every morning at 5:00AM and ate a good healthy breakfast of fruits and sometimes oatmeal. I bought my own groceries so I could choose the things I wanted, it was really nice since I ate mostly vegan products and I lived with no one to bitch at me.

I liked the silence too, it suited me to be on my own, out of my mothers house I could breathe without all the nagging and screaming, out of the small cell like room at the Bureau I could move about and flap my wings. Though I missed seeing Dad and Abe when I first woke up, I wondered if it was possible to set him a tank up here in my apartment for sleepovers. I giggled at the thought.

I got up to start coffee, I'd need to head over to the Bureau soon. I always had to go early to be sure that Trevor was up. It seemed that Trevor wasn't honestly cut out for the kind of training we were required to do. We had a few weeks left and then we would be done. Trevor just might drop out though. He complained every day and got in the way of things. To think that Manning had thought that would have been me instead. No, I, Fharryn Elizabeth Sherman (I really wanted to ask dad about seeing if I could get my last name changed to Bruttenholm) was a natural at the training. Most of it was just easy physical stuff. Then there was the . .. extra curricular things.

Things like solving strange puzzles and learning symbols. Things like memorizing mythical creatures and their abilities. We weren't the Ghostbusters though, thats for sure.

The little black cellphone rang, a series of bells taking off from the counter. She walked over to it after flipping the switch on her coffee pot, the coffee starting. She'd made a habit of putting water and the filter with three scoops of ground coffee before bed. She picked the cell up and answered.

"Sherman." She grinned at how professional she sounded.

"It's Myers, Training doesnt start until noon today, so relax a while." She blinked.

"Why not?" Her voice was a little grouchy, she heard him chuckle.

"Gee, Trevor nearly jumped for joy. Some things came up." So secretive, she rolled her eyes.

"Does that mean Abe is going with you and dad?" She heard a sound that was similar to someone scoffing at the tone of her whine.

"Leave it to 'Miss Natural' to know we are on a mission." She smiled. She wasn't entirely happy though.

"Dang, I was hoping Abe and I could hang out today too." He laughed, sounded like others were talking in the background. "He was going to read to me." She had wanted him to go to the next story in the book.

"I think he was hoping that too. He almost tried to get out of going." She beamed at that though. She never could spend enough time with Abe, her adored 'bf' as her brother and father teased. He would always humor her with the whole "I'm nearly 3 times your age." deal. So what if she got along better with people that were older then her. He understood her better than anyone had ever before. It was important to her that he did too. His Empathic abilities were as strong as his psychic ones after all.

She said goodbye to Myers and hung up, the coffee was done and she got herself a cup of Black Death, her pale tail curling beofre straightening and back again. She couldn't help but think of her mom as she looked down in the blackness. She called Trevor every other day at the least, but she hadn't gotten one call from her. Nothing. Almost as if she didn't exist. She didn't know why either, it wasn't like she killed anyone. Not like her.

She had wormed her way into some files, finding hers first. Then she remembered that Manning had said her mom used to work there too and curiousity got to her so she then found her mothers. They were categorized not by alphabetically by last name, but by powers. She found hers in Pyrokinesics which completely threw her off. There was a whole other section for those with out powers that were in the Bureau too of course.

Elizabeth Sherman, before the birth of her twins she had been an entirely different person, or so her file made her seem. All these years and she too could weild fire, Fharryn had had no idea. Her file even stated accidents and killings from her flames. Why was she treated so badly then?Her own mother though, shouldn't she know better then to treat her own flesh this way? Better then she had burnt down many things and people then she should know how hard life is. It wasn't fair to be treated like some demon when her own mother had done worse. What was the deal?

She took a sip of her drink thinking about what else she had found out. In her mother's file it had said that Mission: Golden Army had been her last one there. She had tried to research on it, but the most she came out with was that some man tried to re-create an army of some kind of foriegn warriors. The point was mute on it as well, she didn't know the reason for it. Taking over the world came to mind but she shook her head and drank more of her coffee. Why did that seem so . . . familiar?

The file said that the man, Nuada Silverlance, to be deceased. She thought more on his name. What sort of name was that? It didn't sound like german, or american, nor any other european name. She felt that Silverlance meant something important too. Silver . . .werewolf? She almost choked on her coffee, laughing. She got a paper towel and wiped her mess up. She grinned, knowing that werewolf wasn't right. So lance. That was a weapon of some sort. Nuada . . .

"Nooahdah . . " She started to laugh as she said it out loud. She wondered if it had been correct. It was so . . . there in her mind. A movie or something?

"Aaaah Duh!" She looked around before cracking up again. She refilled her cup and sat back at her counter, she looked down at her toes, the nails a shiny black. Maybe she was getting somewhere though.

If he was a foe, that was something right? Against her mother. Her mother wanted her to rebel against her. . .

He wanted to raise an army. An army of what? For what? Regular humans didn't seem to match the trend. Then she ran into another dillema, something majorly obvious. He was deceased.

"As in dead." She rolled her eyes as she talked to herself. She couldn't do anything with a dead man. Well. Golden eyes squinted in her thought process. Magick. Surely . . . if her father could talk to the dead with it, then can't she do that or better? Raise him up? It was like a light bulb came on. Raise him up and then what though?

"Oh. Hi Mr. Silverlance. You've been dead for about 17 years, how about getting your muscles going and blood flowing by helping me spite my parents? Oh by the way, said parents killed you." She laughed again, the apartment filling up with a bitter sound.

"Yeah, right. Cause thats totally going to happen. Push comes to shove the fruitloop would probs try to kill me first or something." She imagined him as a big hairy man. She didn't know why. His name was elegant and fleeting, nothing that might even suggest a big hairy ugly man. She felt a prick in her chest.

"Ouch." She looked at her coffee as if it were to blame. She drank some more.

"With an axe. Balding on the top. Large hairy coat." She had no idea who she was describing. She started to laugh again. She grew serious though. She needed more information. She would do that. It was probably the perfect time to do that too. The guards would still be there, but as the daughter of Hellboy, she found it easier to get into restricted places.

Her mind froze suddenly. Her coffee almost slipped from her fingers, her eyes wide.

"OH MY GODS!" She looked around as if someone had been there.

"Nuada! As in the fucking Prince from?" Her mouth hung open and she set her coffee down.

"No fuckin' way, the real Golden Army? That psycho really tried that?" Her body grew warm, and she clasped her hands together.

"Brilliant . . . "

The files were on steel shelves that ran long and were rowed in sets. She was in the Missions and Projects Sect. No. 5 was where she would find "Golden Army". She looked and looked, heaped paper cut after paper cut. Nothing amongst these manilla folders and tattered boxes. She let out a breath after nearly an hour of searching.

Would it be under something else? Say, his name? There was a classifieds where they had their criminals. Some were actually kept there in the Bureau, serving a sentence or awaiting punishment. All had files. Though they had mostly switched to computerized cataloging these days. She crossed through the isles and nearly jogged trying to escape the Missions and Projects Sect. Finally out she tried to remember where she had seen the Criminals and Injustice Marks of the Paranormal Classifieds. Thats what it had been called right? She turned and looked straight at it. A single door to the wall opposite of the exit. She smiled, and went to it, looking for identification. Nothing, it was a simple door. That was a little unnerving to be honest. Everything in the Bureau was under survielance, everything was locked and held tight in secret. This was the dangerous information too.

She opened it, holding her breath awaiting laser beams and guns shots. Nothing happened. She searched the wall for light and found it. Turning the knob, the light flickered on. Here there were only a few isles and a table. The place was covered in dust, dirt on the floor and cobwebs scattered. She had her doubts that anything new would be in here. As she had thought that, her eye caught a box that was half placed on the table. She walked to it, it seemed a little newer then the rest. Was that it? Could it have been this easy? She sighed, dusting it off a little and reading it.

"Silverlance, Nuada - Attachement 1: Nuala"

Nuala? Who was that? She opened the top up and noticed several things. First there was a file, she breathed a sigh of relief. She wouldn't have gotten far with a box. She picked up what caught her sight directly after. It was a big hunk of blade. Silver. Her mouth opened as she pulled on it, not expecting a whole damn handle with it. She lifted the weapon out and examined it.

"Silverlance? No . . .Silver . . .Lance. A title not a surname." She moved her fingers over it, tracing the patterns engraved in it. She dropped it suddenly as she cut her finger on the side.

"Son of a !" Her bleeding finger went to her mouth immediately.

"Damn thing is sharp . . ." She started to giggle though, mostly at how careless she had been to touch the blade part anyways. She pulled out two articales that appeared to be the same map. A tanned piece with it burned into it, and a see through plastic chart. Nothing much more then that, she grabbed up the file.

She felt excited. She wanted to read it but knew that she couldn't stay here much longer. She placed the file up the front of her bodice, rolled both maps up until they were tiny cylinders tucking them up her sleeve and last the Lance. She carefulling put the base down in the pocket of her pants and pulled her coat around the rest, buttoning up so nothing was visiable. She wasn't stealing, only returning things to their owner.

She threw her coat on the rack as she walked in, surprised intensly by the lack of security there at the Bureau. Something big must have been going on if so much man power was needed. It was only 10:00am and she wondered if she should save reading the file until after she came back. Placing the maps, file and Lance on the counter, she decided to make an early lunch. Her cell started to ring as she got out her sandwhich materials.

"Sherman." She heard a laugh. It was Trevor.

"You are going to have to start saying F. Sherman or someone might mix us up." She rolled her eyes. If she could have it her way, she would be Bruttenholm.

"What do you want?" She hadn't meant to sound so grouchy. He scoffed.

"Geez, go back to bed. You'll have all day to rest up and not feel so hateful." She blinked, not understanding what that meant.

"What?" He sighed.

"Yeah, Dad called and said to tell you that they won't be back till probably Friday. Said to take it easy, go see mom and stuff." She felt a little dumbfounded. That was four days away! She didn't want him to be gone that long. Him or Abe. Myers too she supposed.

"Thanks, talk soon." She said crisply before she hung up on him before he could say anything in reply. She resumed making her sandwhich and after grabbing the file sat on her loveseat that she had bought from some woman down the street. It was biege leather, comfy too.

She pulled the file onto her lap, taking a bite of her sandwhich. She opened it, expecting there to be a picture of 'Mr. Silverlance'. To her dissappointment, there wasn't. He had been rather tall, 6 feet. Tall to her anyways. She was barely at 5 foot 5. It said his hair was blonde, skin fair and eyes . .. gold?

"Huh?" She gave a trite look, wishing there had been a picture. Well . . he was some creature from the early times.

It described him to be very fit, a warrior of his people. Her eyes squinted at his race.

"What the fuck?" She tilted the paper as if that would make the writing seem different. He was an Elf.

A real elf. So . . 'children of the earth really meant elven people. After knowing her father and then Abe, plus her abilities, she figured there was nothing that could shock her. She didnt know why this did. From Bethmoora. Son of King Balor of Elfland. Her mouth flew open.

"Crown Prince Nuada Silver Lance." Her eyes nearly popped out of her head. It really was the same one from that story! Real proof of it's she saw the name Nuala. Nuala was his twin sister. Apparently they had a spiritual link that bonded them in spirit and body. What did that mean?

She skipped to the section about this golden army crap. Her eyes bulged again as she read more. Her face going pale.

"A real invincible army . . .to kill . . .humans?" Her voice came out in whisps, sucking in and letting it out slowly. She shook her head. Why? What motive? There had to be something missing from this picture, something that someone forgot to mention. Something. No way could a Prince just up and be exiled, then plot to destroy mankind for no reason. Right? Even she had her own reasons, they were biased and weak creatures, destructable and ridiculous.

She ran a pale hand through her dark locks. She had forgotten about her sandwhich. Did she really want to bring him back? She thought about the whole using someone for personal gain. Would she feel guilty?

She sighed, closing the file and eating the rest of her sandwhich. She looked at her watch.

"Oh shit . . ." It was already 12:00 pm. She stood up and stretched. She took the file and went to the counter, gathering her other sacredly stolen items before going into her bedroom and setting the file and maps under her pillow, the lance went between the mattress and box spring. Walking back into the main room she looked at her cell. 'Should I call her?'

She wondered if she would even pick up. She sighed, walking slowly to her cell before dialing her mothers home phone. It rang three times.

"Hello?"

"Hey mom." Silenced racked through them.

"H-Hi." She tried to not let the hurt run her through. Should she tell her about knowing how she was a pyromancer?

"Daddy said that he wouldn't be back until Friday at the least. Suggested I go and see you." She wasn't sure why she would even bother trying.

"Oh, really? On some mission, galavanting around somewhere?" Well, that was something she supposed.

"Yeah, took the whole crew with him. Trevor is having a hay day I imagine." She heard her mother take an intake of breath.

"So . . how come you never . . .told me you could make flames to?" The phone was dead silent, maybe it hadn't been the right time after all.

"He and Deb just got here, i'll have to call you back." Her mother hung up and inside Fharryn knew that her mom wouldn't call her back. She slammed her cell down on the counter.

"Oh you wait and see. . . just you all wait and see. You play with fire and you will get fucked over seriously bad." Her eyes were bright as her anger burned through.