ToGellybelly: Yes, this is a slash fic 8D It'll be more obvious in the later chapters, but I'll just play with the characters for now.
Move along now.
Halimaw crossover.
"So, this place.... this.... shop?"
"It's selling crap."
"It's not crap, Red. These are artifacts. They've got a lot of years in them. You really have to appreciate the importance of stores like these that preserve the spirit of their culture."
The agents entered the antiques store without incident, the shop being quite out of the way, a place you wouldn't have found if you weren't looking for it.
Hellboy and Abe were quickly pushed into the shop as some children ran past. Liz was about to follow when she stopped to pick up a toy dropped by one of them.
A milk carton cut into the shape of an airplane, the toy was returned to thankful children. Their dark skin was caked with dirt, their clothes no more than ragged hand-me-downs, six sizes too big even to play in.
And yet, the children smiled at Liz. They exposed their yellowing, broken teeth, their faces so openly cheerful.
"You'd better get in there too, Miss Sherman." Ray said softly, egging the agent on.
The shop was much bigger than it looked on the outside. The counter was a few paces away from the first person they saw in there. A canvas was set up on an easel, a long-haired young male sketching intently. His red-toned hair was tied back with a bandanna, his face stained by the black mark of charcoal.
"S'Rio here, Mayon?" Ray asked. The reddish-brunette looked up at the inquiry, revealing dark eyes. As a Filipino, it might have been normal, but there was just something...
"Master's not gonna be back til tomorrow." Mayon answered, going back to his sketch. "Where exactly did your master go?" Hellboy questioned, looking down at the young artist. "Cebu." The man answered, looking up defiantly. "It's the meeting of the monarchs, the mahiwaga ambassadors."
"I was afraid of that. Hey, Mayon, know if our friends here have somewhere to stay til his return?" Ray asked placidly. Mayon turned his attention to the old man. "Out back. You can ask Mana; she stayed to guard the place til Rio comes back." He replied.
The group passed the artist, noticing the shape of a man with a horse's head, standing tall and proud like a soldier. They entered the back room.
"Stairs. Hellboy, mind if-?" Ray gestured to the rug. Red pulled it up and found the small hole through which he inserted one of his left fingers. With a heave, he pulled up a wooden door, revealing a stairway leading down into the darkness. "Only been here once. Better watch your step. Count seventy two steps." With those words, Ray descended, followed by Abe and Liz. Hellboy was the last to follow, using his tail to pull down the trap door.
They counted silently, one step after another, in the darkness. At seventy-two, they stopped on some solid ground. "Business?" A calm voice echoed through the dark cavern. "It's Ray, Mana. I've some agents over. Mamalarang, mambabarang, whatever you folks like to call it. All's I know is, it's bringing trouble to the big men in Washington."
"Agents? That BPRD you're always talking about, hey Ray? Well, I can see them fine from here. Seem like an interesting crowd."
"Interesting, but they've been waiting around awhile, I don't think you should try their patience."
"Fine. Move to your left, it's open."
In the utter darkness, it was difficult to see what exactly WAS open, and yet once they took a few steps, the black gave way to good lighting, as though they'd just gone through a shroud. No light escaped into the cavern, but all of it seemed present in the next room.
A wide area, similar about a quarter of the entire BPRD headquarters, opened before them. All in one room, there were tables and shelves filled with files, an area for food, pictures hanging on the wall.
At one of the tables sat a woman, her black hair seen over the chair's back. She was stooped over something on the table, looking hard at work. "Glad to see you again, Ray. It's been, what, four months?"
"Not too long. I saw Rio a month ago, but you weren't there. Mana, these are my friends, agents from the BPRD. Abraham Sapien, Liz Sherman, and the infamous Hellboy." Ray introduced. "It's like our own headquarters. Granted, it's a little smaller, but it feels quite familiar, doesn't it, Liz?" Abe said.
"Yeah. A lot like the old place, except with less people." Liz agreed. "And less locks." Added Red.
"We've got our own security measures." The girl spun in her chair, revealing a thin, white face, long black hair like silk draped over her shoulders. Her eyes were darker than black, much like Mayon's own eyes. And also-
Abe was the first to break the silence. "If you don't mind me asking....where are your legs?"
Mana reached over the back of her chair and raised her thin legs with one hand, legs that wore black jeans, limp in her arms as she pulled her legs, connected at the hip, to where her own upper body ended. "It all stays in there, don't worry." She said as she gestured to where her body ended, covered by her immaculate white T-shirt.
With a sickening pop, she propped herself up on her legs, walking casually towards them as what looked like veined, black wings folded into her back. "Welcome to the land of the Filipino freaks."
It was oddly cold where they all gathered. The boy shivered, pulling his coat close to his shivering frame. The others around him looked unaffected, other than the other three who, like him, were wrapped up tightly in their own warm raiments.
It was one of the cons of being a mahiwaga monarch. Always cold. Rio grit his teeth wearily. He caught Marikit's eye; Apoy kept her close, the fire spirit providing the princess warmth. They all gathered around a pit. Rio brought his hand to his mouth, blowing through his fist like a horn. The wind brought about a gale line that went straight into the darkness.
Mari, 'Marikit', holding Apoy's hand, waved her other arm and willed a wild flame down into the depths, even that disappearing into the darkness of the pit.
Ku, 'Makusog', picked up a stone, the size of his hand, and crushed it between his strong, dark fingers. The dust fell into the pit in a smooth arc, riding on the wind.
And finally, it was Tina, Muntina, who brought about water by her own hand, leading it down to the depths.
They stepped away from the opening as the last of the elements caused the explosion of light. Siglo covered Rio protectively, the winds still blowing from the pit's mouth.
It was in a shower of wonder that he appeared.
And they began the meeting.
"Here are some rooms for you to sleep in. We've a computer you can contact your bosses from, but don't expect anything as gratuitously expensive as the ones you have back in the States. We run on simplicity." Mana showed them the adjacent hall, leading them to each room. "You, we have a special area for, Mr. Sapien." Mana said kindly, leading him to another hall.
Liz and Red followed, arriving at a room, almost entirely taken by the surface of an Olympic sized pool. What 'ground' there was to walk on was made up of dark glass, revealing the floors below them, at each level of the pool.
"You guys sure like to swim, huh?" Liz said, walking around the water.
"It's a necessary action for some of our house mates." Mana sat at the edge of the pool, leaning over the hazy water. "Maliksi! Li! We have guests. Come out, fish stick!"
They watched carefully, seeing a shape deep under move up smoothly through the water.
When the surface broke, a face inches from Mana's hissed loudly, a feral challenge of a greeting, met with Mana herself hissing back, exposing a carnivore's teeth, her eyes clouding over entirely black.
Hellboy pulled out his gun and shot at the place closest to the creature's head, making a black dent in the metal which held some part of the floor together.
"Putang- What the hell-"
"Red!"
The creature that had come out of the water dove back in. "Li, don't! It's okay!" Mana called. She glared at Hellboy. "What? It was-" "That's Maliksi's greeting. Geez, I thought you'd be smarter than that."
"I didn't hit the damn thing. Cut me some slack."
"You're an ass. That's the best slack I can cut." Came a new voice.
From the water, the creature had emerged again. This time, they had a clearer view of the face, shock slowly emulating in the agents' features. The top of the head, then the entire face came into view.
Large eyes, swirling with dark color, watched them carefully. The creature's skin was a pinkish hue, like a seashell, in varying sheens. Gills opened at its neck, dark lips opened to say something, but closed once more.
The most shocking thing for the agents, though, was the uncanny resemblance of this creature to their own Sapien.
"Why did you shoot at me?" The voice from the creature resonated, a calm mid-tone. "You surprised us." Liz responded quickly. "And we're sorry."
"Yeah, sorry." Hellboy muttered.
"Thank you for apologizing, but I still think you're an ass." Once more, the creature dived. Mana got up. "That's Maliksi for you. Don't mind, or at least try to tolerate the kid, Abe, since you'll be staying here for the night."
"Hm..." Was all Abe replied, still staring intently at the ripples on the water's surface.
"What- what is Maliksi, exactly?" He asked as Mana ushered Red and Liz to the next rooms.
"A fish being. Little brat was only born twenty four summers ago, which in Mahiwaga years, is still grounds for calling the kid, well, a kid."
"I heard that, old hag!"
"I hope so, little bitch!"
Abe jumped when he saw Maliksi half out of the water, arms folded on the edge. "Well, aren't you going to sleep? It's late." The being said mildly, oddly contrasting from the loud 'brat' from only a few moments ago.
"Yes, thank you. I'll just remove my, well..." Abe gestured to his breathing apparatus, at which the younger one nodded, sinking into the water slowly.
Abe stared at the water in wonder. She looked so like him it was frightening, and yet she was so different. It was refreshing, if not odd.
What he didn't notice was another pair of eyes watching through the glass.
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