Hellboy walked up behind his wife as she stood at the kitchen counter, stacking clean dishes.
"Liz, go on down to see Anderson at Transport," he suggested.
"Now? Why?" she asked.
"Go and see," he answered, with an air of mystery.
Liz gave him a playful side gaze.
"All right," she agreed. "Will I be gone long?"
"You know how much he likes to talk. It's up to you."
"Then I'll see you later." Liz came up close to Red, who was holding both children in his arms, and planted kisses on three faces. As she picked up a light jacket and headed away to the door, the youngsters seemed to hold their breaths as they watched the departure of their mother, then let go with wails of distress.
"Oh, great," Hellboy muttered. Beginning to pace the room, he bounced them gently, but they were in no mood to quit. "It's okay, it's okay," he crooned, feeling a little stupid. He should have known better than to let them see her go. They cried whenever he left home, too. Liz told him how they had once speedily crawled to the door as it was closing behind him, then sat there with their tails curled up tight in misery, inconsolable for several minutes, no matter what she did to cheer them up.
He carried them to the playroom, hoping to distract them with some of their toys. And they needed to be the toughest of toys. Anything stuffed, they pulled to pieces with their new teeth and strong little hands. Not too surprising that his kids were so physical. If one or both ever began to show signs of inheriting the pyrokinetic abilities of their mother, well, that would have to be dealt with, too.
Down on the carpet with Trevor and Gentan, Red was always in peril of becoming their favourite toy, especially since they now delighted themselves with biting down on anything and anybody. Why they didn't make these attacks on each other was a happy and merciful mystery.
In the transport section, Liz was taking instruction from Anderson, the crafter of a wonderful three-wheeled twin stroller. Actually, the wheels were large ball casters, which enabled the contraption to circle smoothly in place, and assured that little hands couldn't get a grasp on them in motion. He showed Liz how to manually set the brake over the front caster. A padded safety bar could be lowered in front of the formed pair of bucket seats with side walls, and the millwright had added T-shaped retaining belts.
"No slippage," he beamed with pride.
"I see you've heard about my kids, and thanks!" Liz said, admiring the sturdy construction. "What do we owe you?"
"Been looked after," said Anderson. "Roll it in good health."
Liz made her way home along the corridors, pushing the stroller ahead of her, getting some amused looks from the passing staff.
One of the agents observed, "That says Anderson all over it."
"All over it," Liz agreed, tossing him a little nod as she went.
Bringing it inside, Liz heard silence at home. Hellboy came quietly from a back room.
"Napping," he informed in his lowered voice. "And here it is! How do you like it?"
"I like it," Liz pronounced, "because it looks escape proof and rolls like it's on air."
Kneeling to take a close look at the design, Red gave a low whistle. "See how the frame balances the load?"
"The seats lock in place, but they can be turned to face front or back," Liz pointed out.
"Spud Anderson made it in his spare time," said Red, "What a guy."
"Pushing my big babies around the indoor jogging track should be all the cardio I need," she smiled.
"And I've been thinking..." mused Red, "that they can get introduced to Raptor, before we maybe get some other kids in here to play with."
"They need to be socialized and get used to other people, and if they learn to be gentle with Raptor first, it will be a start," Liz agreed.
As promised, Abe was a guest on the day that Hellboy went out for a short while, then returned carrying a large cat which looked about placidly at the room's occupants, slowly blinking its amber eyes. When he set it down, it walked around his legs, slinking its sides against him affectionately.
"What an impressive feline!" Abe admired, "What breed? It doesn't look common."
"I searched," Liz answered, "and Raptor is a Maine Coon cat, pretty special. His kind was bred to be big and hardy, to live aboard cold fishing boats and kill vermin."
"Raptor," repeated Abe, taking in the sight of the cat, now rolled onto its back and stretching to a length of nearly three feet, "A rather dangerous name. Why did you choose it?"
"No good reason," Hellboy shrugged.
"He lives to love," said Liz, kneeling to ruffle the cat's thick chest fur, which raised a rumbling, continuous purr. Raptor stretched up his heavy-boned front legs, curling and spreading first one white paw, then the other. The tip of his exceedingly bushy tail flipped back and forth. The rest of him was as luxuriously thickly furred in a pattern of striped brown, gray and white.
Taken to the playroom, Raptor flopped onto his side in the center. Bringing in the twins, Liz and Red sat on the floor several feet from the cat. The little ones stared, engrossed with the new creature, but gave no reaction until Raptor flipped his tail. At that, Trevor stood himself up in the circle of Red's arm, and screeched with delight. The startled cat gained his feet instantly and bounded smoothly to the top of the partition wall, where the object of wonder sat with his tail lazily swishing and washing a paw. Abe remained in the corner, observing the family. Gentan stretched her arms forward as far as possible, from her seat on Liz' lap. Raptor decided to jump down to walk back to Red. As Trevor raised his hand to slap down on the cat, Hellboy caught the blow on the back of his hand. Taking Trevor's wrist, he showed him how to enjoy petting long strokes down the furry back. Liz came closer with Gentan, who leaned out of her arms to take an acceptable light hold on Raptor's ear. When she bent down with purpose to taste it, Liz pulled her back slightly, and also showed her the way to pet the cat's head. Raptor responded by placing his front paws on Liz' knee and stretching up to give Gentan's cheeks a nuzzle with both sides of his face. The baby chortled happily. Quiet with awed fascination, the children were allowed up close to the cat to listen to his rolling purr, and he acted as Hellboy knew he would, tapping the kids' faces gently with his soft, rounded paws.
Red and Liz also expected shrieks of joy from them, so Abe moved in to help Liz distract the kids while Red covertly picked up Raptor to take him home.
"For the first session, the results have been quite satisfying," Abe assessed, "Where are you taking him?"
"Raptor lives in the cat domain, down the hall from here," Liz explained, as Red settled him on the inside of his stone arm, "and Red visits there every day, to make sure they all get their cuddle time."
Red might have blushed at that, but who would know? He gave Abe a mock-sheepish hitch of his lip and swung out the door with Raptor.
After the next morning's breakfast, the twins, each weighing thirty five pounds, were seated and buckled into their new stroller. Given toys and biscuits to occupy them, they were wheeled out by their mother.
"I'll show Anderson how fun his invention is, before I go to the track," she called over her shoulder to Hellboy.
He watched her little behind as she walked away, and called back, "Great action, Babe."
Liz had plenty of interruptions as she made her way through the corridors. Everyone she encountered wanted to meet the only babies in residence at the Bureau, let alone that this family belonged to Hellboy, and ask questions. It delayed her, but was good for the kids to see more of other people. When she finally reached Transport and asked for Anderson, the big millwright looked pleased.
"Maiden voyage, eh?" he smiled, "Such a hearty pair of babies, too."
Entering the gym's running track, she met Tom Manning on his way out.
He folded his arms, looking long at the children.
"Well, well," he said a little uncomfortably, "they, uh – almost look like real babies."
Liz glared at the boss. "Real babies are the only kind I have!" And she pushed the kids towards the track. She began a light jog, and was happy with the smooth operation of the stroller, easy at the turns. The seats had been reversed so the children could see her, adding to their contentment with the continuous movement of the exercise interval.
When she had completed her half hour, Liz headed for a visit to the big weight room.
She found Red spotting at the press bench for another agent. She waved to him after he'd finished. Seeing him, the twins began to bounce and babble. Slinging his towel around his neck, Red was about to leave with his family, but one of the men called, "Wait up, Red!"
And five agents sauntered over to get their look at his children. The guys were a little tongue-tied about what to say, as was to be expected. One surprisingly asked to be allowed to hold them to guess their weights. Hellboy gave him warning, but this stranger suffered no more than a few slaps of little red hands.
"Big improvement, kids," Red praised, securing them back into their conveyance.
Mainly satisfied with having the boy and the girl identified to them, the agents went back to their workouts.
Hellboy took over pushing the stroller as they headed home.
"I wouldn't have thought that bunch of guys would show any interest in babies," Liz said.
"Got an idea why?" he asked, knowing the answer.
"Obvious," she answered, "The novelty should go on for awhile, plus we have means of mobility to take them wherever we want around the Bureau."
Red grinned, "I figured on three wheels and one cat making a difference."