Location: Scotland; EuroContenental Transit (ECT), en route to rendezvous point 12:57 October 31 2016

Devon sat face pressed against the window watching as the trees passed by, his eyes focused on the blurry world that them by in shades of greens and blues.

"My dear boy how are you feeling?" asked Krauss breaking the silence, he had been sitting in the small compartment with with twins, Roe leaning heavily against him, sleeping. "You have not spoken a vord since ve left ze village," Krauss added, had he had a face, he would have frowned. Devon was never the most talkative child, but this was different. He was upset, even Krauss emotionally dense as he was could tell.

Devon didn't respond. scrunching up his face some before snatching up his candy bar, he had set on the small table that separated them.

"Devon kan you hear me?" again Devon didn't respond, opening up his candy bar without so much as turning a hair in Krauss' direction.

"Herr Devon! Kan you hear me?" again silence was the only reply.

"Devon!" he tried again, this time getting a snappy "What do you want!" in reply. Devon was a little more than angry, little cheeks puffed, lips upturned.

"Ah zere ve are! Now how are you feeling my dear boy?"

"Uncle Johann why are we leaving the village?"

"Bekause it'z not safe zere anymore,"

"Why because Roe lied?"

"You zink she vas lying?" asked Krauss sounding as concerned as body would allow him to. Devon nodded his head peeking over to the talking deep sea diver suit, his big golden eyes trying their best to be angry.

"Wuh-well...yeah...I mean she's always talking to her stupid imaginary friends!" Devon forced himself to frown as he thought about his sister and her imaginary friends. She had never really liked them, she was almost always screaming at them to shut up or leave her alone, often clinging to him for support. Devon made a face nostrils flared as he let out a thing stream of smoke nose. Krauss cleared his nonexistent throat.

"Now Now, Zimmer down!" he said, snickering to himself. Devon made a face taking a rather large and loud bite of his half eaten candy bar.

"I don't get it..." Devon said rolling his eyes getting a very robotic, 'humpf," in reply.

"I only meant you should calm yourzelv. Ve vouldn't vant you catching a temper like your fazher, Herr Hellboy."

Devon made a face, ignoring him, and it became clear he didn't want to speak anymore, instead he focused his attention on his chocolate bar, nearly finished, melted chocolate on his fingers.

"So umm...uncle Krauss where are we going?" Roe asked pushing herself away from her mechanical uncle. Devon turned to face his twin before quickly turning away from her, still trying to be angry.

"Ve are going back to ze Bureau of Paranormal Research und Defense."

"That's where mom and dad used to work,right?" Devon managed to say. "Why are we going there? Dad says it sucks there and the people are jerks."

"Ze people at ze Bureau need our help un ve need zeirs."

"Why do we need their help? We were doing just fine."

"It's because of me isn't it?" Roe asked her small voice wavering slightly. Devon made a face, pretending to ignore her.

"Nien! not at all, my dear, your parent's, Herr Sapien, und myzelf only vant to keep you two safe!" Krauss said urgency hanging in his voice.

"But we were just fine at the village." Devon said again, as though trying to remind them it was all Roe's fault.

"In ze past, ja." Krauss interjected. "But now...not so much. Novone vants to be safe for only a time Devon, safety should be long term,"his words brought the twins to pouting silence. "Do you two vant to hear a secret children?" asked Krauss curiously turning to either children, their golden eyes filled with excitement, they loved secrets, maybe more so than any other child. "Gut, gut. Vell before you vere both brought into zis vorld, your fazher lived on in ze beuaru...he might not have liked it but...it vas zere zhat he met your Mozher, Frou Sherman!" Krauss said with his usual German flare. The twins frowned, it wasn't the secret they were at all hoping for, but Krauss wasn't quite finished. "Und your mozher found Herr Hellboy...Ze beauru haz a vay of getting people togezer...remember children it iz not alvays ze destination, but ze journey as vell," Krauss seemed very proud of his small speech, but he could tell it was ill met, the twins staring blankly at their uncle, the gas in his fishbowl of a head swirling round in twisted grey circles.

"I still don't want to go." Devon said defiantly, he wasn't one for change, he didn't like the idea of it. But the more he thought about it the more he didn't seem to mind leaving the village, the older he got the smaller the place seemed to get; the village was only a small cluster of wooden cottages hidden inside the forest, most of the cottages long abandoned by their fairy owners, other houses filled with old creatures that demanded never be disturbed. He and Roe spent a lot of time peeking inside of the windows of those cottages, never going in out of fear of what was inside. He was going explore one of those cottages one day, he had made the mental promise to himself several times in the past, Roe never believed him though, but he knew he would. And then Roe left the barrier.

He looked over to his sister, she'd been sitting in front of him now, knees pulled uncomfortably close to her chest. She had clambered over their uncle's lap to get to the window seat, Krauss barely moving an inch to accommodate her, not that she minded much, Roe was used to being uncomfortable by now, what with her large stoney hands it was almost second nature.

"Uncle Johann your metal butt is squishing Roe," Devon said speaking up for his sister, Roe was never any good at speaking up for herself, at least not when it came to the adults, she was always afraid that she would be bothering them or would have gotten them angry. He smiled a bit, he must have really gotten her upset to make her leave the barrier he thought making a face. He was very good at making his sister upset.

"Roe?" he managed to squeak. His sister turned to face him, slowly.

"Devon?"

For a moment Devon thought about apologizing but the more he thought about it the more he realized he didn't do anything wrong, not a single thing. It was after all her fault they were leaving, but still, he didn't like the sad faces she was making.

"People in Scotland talk kinda funny don't they?" he asked smirking some, Roe blinked, clearly not expecting the response, but her laughter followed her confusion with lightening speed.

"They do!" she chimed, she didn't have much else to add to her brother's joke but she did have laughter, and that was enough to get Devon laughing.

"Wunderbar!"Krauss shouted with a dramatic wave of his hands. "Look at you two getting a long again, zis iz gut!"Krauss finished, falling into silence, the twins staring blankly at the old gas bag; they didn't like arguing among themselves, but they didn't like Krauss' dramatics even more and within an instant they had gone back to staring silent out of the window until the train ride put them back to sleep, an easy feat to pull.


Big Red sat silent watching as the countryside sped by through the carriage window, his mind was racing, a thousand horrid thoughts all at once, at his side Liz snored softly, it was that cute nose he always liked but he couldn't seem to enjoy it, his mind overtaking his senses. All he could think about was the man at the barrier, the man that'd made Roe run into the forest looking for them, he couldn't help but wonder who they were, and what they wanted. They hadn't found any sign of anyone before and that didn't sit right with him, it was Bromwich all over again he thought furrowing his brow. Chasing ghosts and hiding, that's what his life had become. He felt useless, and it sickened him.

From the corner of his eye he could make out Abe peeking out at him from behind a day old newspaper, his amphibian friend had probably read the thing a least a hundred times since he had picked it up at the station.

"How are you feeling?" Abe was the first to break the silence, and it took Red a moment to process his friend's words.

"Huh-oh fine," he said quickly. Abe managed a frown.

"Fine?" he repeated, his voice holding zero hints of suspicion.

"Yeah...fine."

"Funny, but you don't sound fine," Abe pointed out, putting his paper down to sit in his lap. Hellboy pretended not to hear, knowing his friend was right. "You're worried aren't you?" asked Abe tilting his head, his big glossy eyes demanding an answer.

Red barely noticed he was frowning. "You reading me?" he grunted, half teasing, half not.

"I don't have to read you to see you're worried, these have been a very eventful last few days," Abe reminded him his voice a calm whisper. Hellboy nodded his head, it had been an eventful past few days. "We never found out who was after them before...and now this."

"Hellboy, we knew who it was."

"Yeah...well it can't be him he's dead...I watched him die."

"You of all people should know that what's dead may never die."

Hellboy made a face. "Poetic, you read that somewhere?"

"An old fantasy book," Abe said through a fairly earnest smile.

"So what...you think its really him?" Hellboy asked with mock curiosity and Abe gave a stilted nod of his head. "What do you think he wants this time?"

"Who knows. Maybe he just wants to chat," the joke didn't sit well with Red.

"He could be trying to finish what he started," Hellboy frowned glaring out the window, the sky was a beautiful shade of blue, crystal clear and not a cloud in site; it was perfection, he wished he could have enjoyed it.

"Or revenge," Abe gulped after the words, gulping down hard on the air, before giving a very nervous blink of his eyes.

"Yeah well what ever the hell he wants, I'll stop him in his tracks. He won't lay a finger on my kids," Hellboy said with his usual confidence. Abe nodded his head blinking several times, his silent speaking volumes.

"Oh...the trains stopped," Abe said sounding somewhat shocked, he hated to admit but he was so caught up in his own thoughts he hadn't been paying attention to the train, he frowned some, finding himself apologizing for his lack of attention on the matter. Hellboy nodded his head.

"Yeah...this our stop?"

"Looks like it," Abe muttered rolling up the newspaper he'd sat in his lap just moments ago. Hellboy nodded his head, giving Liz a nudge. "Come on Sparky," he began. "We're here," he added watching as Liz grunted back to life, her body unfurling against his mass.

"Where here?" she croaked, wincing at the sound of her voice.

"Yeah...we just got here, train won't stay here long so we better get moving," Liz nodded her head.

"Right, where're the kids?" she asked quickly her mind snapping alert. Hellboy gripped one of her shoulders tightly, not with his useless unfeeling stone hand but the one that allowed him to feel his lover's flesh beneath his fingers. It only took his touch to soothe Liz, but all the same Hellboy spoke up to calm her down.

"Don't worry, babe, they're with the Gasbag," he said softly making sure to get a joke in. Liz smiled weakly, rolling her eyes, holding in a weak chuckle.


The station wasn't crowded, but the people who were inside stared. "Wow, full on family of cosplayers, cool makeup." Hellboy heard someone say as the twins rushed up to him and Liz, more than eager to get away from Krauss and his constant speeches. Hellboy chuckled to himself, ruffling Devon's hair, a large part of him had wanted to turn to the blonde teen in lazy zombie makeup, and tell him and say "what makeup?" but he resisted the urge instead allowing Roe to drag him outside, her large stone fingers grasping desperately for his own. He made a face looking down at Roe, she hadn't been around many humans and he could see the questions burning in her eyes, it broke his heart. Just a day later no one would have thought they were cool, just a day later they would have been freaks, monsters, terrifying creatures and he couldn't bare thinking about having to explain that to the twins. He didn't want to think about the day the twins got loose and learned how horrible people were.

A small but firm hand gripped his back softly. "You okay Red?" Liz asked trying to meet his gaze.

"Yeah...Liz I'm fine," he lied ignoring the look Abe was giving him.


Location: Scotland; Edinburgh, Brothwick castle-rendezvous point 12:57 October 31 2016

The castle was busy, a haunted castle in Halloween, Hellboy expected nothing less, he sighed looking over to Liz who was staring at all the costumes, there was some sort of convention going on, she noticed looking around frowning deeply.

"Hey, Devon," said Liz bending down some so she was at eye level with the twins. Devon looked attentively at their mother.

"Yes?" he said in a voice that was so innocent Hellboy would have thought he was up to no good under different circumstances.

"why don't you take your sister and play for a bit while the grown ups-Roe cut her off.

"Are you and daddy going to steal more train tickets?" she asked curiously causing Red to burst out laughing.

"Red don't laugh...that wasn't funny."

"Like hell it wasn't," the big demon snickered trying his best to ignore the look Liz was giving him as he ruffled his daughter's hair.

"Red!"

"Right...Roe your mom and I have to meet someone here...okay?" Red explained, now he was kneeling infront of the twins, Liz glaring at him arms folded, he tried to ignore her, instead noting how much he towered over both children.

Roe made a face, fidgeting in place. "Alone?" she muttered before Hellboy could even ask if she was alright.

"You still scared of the man behind the barrier?" Hellboy asked watching as Roe gave a very nervous nod of head. "Yeah me too," Hellboy whispered beneath his breath. "That's why uncle Abe is staying with you two, make sure you don't get into any trouble," Red said standing to his feet before giving Abe a hard slap on the back. Devon chuckled. Abe was always flustered around the twins, as much as he loved them he would be lying if he said they were anything but a handful, but he didn't argue.

"We won't be long," Liz said more to Abe than to anyone else. "You two, be good," she said giving the twins a stern look, before leaving with Hellboy and Krauss into the castle.

Roe made a face. "I don't see why we can't go in with them," Devon grunted folding his arms over his chest.

Abe gave a nervous frown, blinking several times before suggesting they play a game. The twins frowned looking around some.

"Tag?" Devon asked looking over to Roe who smiling nodded her head.

"Not it!" she shouted running off.

"Roe don't go too far!" Abe managed to say looking over to Devon who had already began running after his sister screaming 'not it,'behind him. Abe groaned, he was good at many things, babysitting wasn't one of them.


Inside the castle was crowded, there was some sort of mystery tour going on, men and women in their middle ages dressed as characters from some show Hellboy had never heard of. "Who are you supposed to be?" someone asked making a grab for Hellboy's jacket, quickly he jerked away.

"Don't touch the threads kid," he snapped, glaring at the red haired, teen dressed in super sleuth movie bum make up. He hated places like this, sure, he could blend right in, but he didn't want to blend in he wanted to live freely without the fear of people judging or poking or prodding at him.

Liz put a hand on his back, gripping him tightly. "Calm down Red," she said softly a scouring the large main hall for their contact.

"I just want to get in and out, can't stand leaving the twins alone after-

"They're not alone they're with Abe...you're always telling me to calm down Red, I think it's time to take your own advice."

"Frou Sherman is right!" began Krauss walking taking large strides oblivious to the people he was bumping into. "All of zis danger business haz left you on edge, Herr Hellboy vhat you need iz to kalm down!"

"Yeah...sure," Hellboy said peeking behind him to observe Krauss' handy work, chuckling to himself. Liz made a face.

"He's right you know Red...not just about you...me too. We need to calm down, stressing ourselves out isn't going to help the twins."

"Hey you were the one who started all this, calling Manning getting our old jobs back," Hellboy began with a sneer. "Your idea, not mine, I wanted to stay in the village remember?"

Liz rolled her eyes. "Red I'm serious," she groaned, giving the demon a good punch in the arm. He smirked laughing it off. "We're leaving this place...we're going to be safe...so we should stop acting like someone going to kill us every two-

"Liz Sherman?" an unfamiliar voice snapped Liz into a fit, eyes burning like embers. She whirled around her first engulfed in flame.

The frightened man wasn't very old, clinging desperately to his B.P.R.D standard jacket, he swallowed hard eyes focused on Liz's flaming fist aimed at his face. Hellboy frowned gripping Liz's shoulder, forcing her to extinguish the flames and calm down.

"Easy there Sparky, where's the fire," Hellboy teased.

"Frou Sherman it appears it iz just a little frouline."

"Yeah well it looks like this little Frouline is our contact."

"He's...um right...about the contact part the frouline bit...I'm um-not a girl," said their contact through chattering teeth, Hellboy smirked unable to hold back his laughter.

Liz frowned gripping her smoldering fist,afraid anyone would see. "Damn it...I-I'm sorry, I thought you were someone else."

"So did the gasbag apparently."

"How vould I know?"

"Hey don't worry about it...my hair is pretty long," their contact said in a voice that wasn't as calm and forgiving as Liz had hoped. "Ummm...it doesn't look like anyone seemed to notice lucky for us," he continued, trying to easy Liz's mind some, his eyes darting around as though to make sure he hadn't spoken too soon, and he didn't, he was right no one had noticed, every one had been too busy listening to the curator prattle on about a scavenger hunt.

"So...uh who exactly are you...I was kind of-

"Expecting a familiar face?" He grinned. "Don't worry about it, I was mostly a pencil pusher in Colmar, the French division. Mostly research stuff...but a few weeks ago I got transferred and well here I am. Ezra Keets at your service," Ezra's tone was a roller coaster, moving from nervous to excited in a matter of seconds.

"They just keep getting younger and younger huh?" hellboy teased. "Hellboy," he said offering his hand to shake, Ezra stared at the demon's hand clearly nervous, "I don't bite kid."

"No...what...no. No I know that its just...wow, the Hellboy, you know I read your files," Ezra began talking quickly and Hellboy grimaced, he hated fan-boys.

"Yeeeah..." Hellboy managed turning to Liz, "Boy can Manning pick em," he teased. Liz snorted shaking her head some.

"Sorry, you have to excuse the big guy, he's not really a people person."

"No..I'm sorry. I'm just a big fan is all, I read your files too you know," he said looking to Krauss and Liz.

"Have you now?" asked Krauss curiously, and Ezra nodded his head.

"Yeah, I've read your's and-that's weird I thought there were supposed to be more of you."

"There are, they're waiting outside."

Ezra froze. "Whoa...so it's true?" Ezra said breathlessly trying to catch up to Hellboy and the others who were already walking ahead of him.

"What are you talking about?" Liz asked with slight curiosity.

Ezra took a nervous breath. "That umm...you and er agent Hellboy got together and...you know," Hellboy was glaring at him now.

"Yeah she got with a demon...You got a problem with that?" Hellboy was fuming yellow eyes filled with fire and brimstone, Liz was glaring too, her gaze was cold and he would have been lying if he said that Liz didn't scare him more.

"No of course not...I think its pretty damn awesome. Excuse my french," Ezra said quickly, taking Hellboy and Liz by surprise, neither of them had quite been expecting that.

"Yeah well...let's just get going."


Outside the sun had already begun to set, the horizon a strange array of bloody purples, reds, and fiery oranges. Abe had been frantically trying to dissuade Devon from setting fire to the grass, Roe sitting silent by herself playing with some...thing.

"Devon stop that," Hellboy shouted catching his son's attention his voice alone enough to snap him into behaving. "Hey you okay Abe?" Red asked curiously. Abe gave a nervous nod of his head.

"Whoa Abe Sapien...it's an honor sir! From one pencil pusher to another," Ezra began with breathless fanboy fanaticism.

"Umm...pencil pusher?" Abe was nothing short of confused as he followed Ezra and the others round the back of the castle.

"Ignore him Abe...Roe what's that you got there?" Liz asked peeking over at Roe, who'd been trudging behind, engaging in silent conversation with an old and beat up head of a masked Nazi.

"Oh...it's my new friend I found him in the bushes by the castle...his name is Kroenen," Roe said proudly. Liz's heart fell into her stomach. "Roe put that down!" liz shouted loudly. "Abe where did Roe get that?" she was shouting now, and that caught Hellboy's attention, his eyes falling on Kroenen's beat up skull.

Quickly Abe snatched the the head away from Roe who quickly began shouting to have her new 'friend' returned to her. That didn't quite set right with Hellboy.

"Throw that thing away Abe!" Hellboy shouted at Abe who'd been hard at work reading the old head with an outstretched palm, head cocked to the side, eyes blinking rapidly.

"Hmm...doesn't seem like anyone's home...Perhaps, we should take it back to the bureau..." Abe said eager to read the old head. Hellboy was however not so eager.

"How about we not," was Hellboy's instant reply.

"But daddy Kroenen's my friend!" Roe demanded stamping her feet on the ground, pitching a tiny protest, refusing to move until the head was returned to her, Hellboy gritted his teeth, Roe could be a handful when she wanted to be, she wasn't as smart mouthed as her brother but she was...troublesome, now was no different. Hellboy heaved out a heavy sigh before scooping his protesting daughter under his arm as he and the others followed Ezra onto the plane.

Roe frowned arms folded, face contorted into the perfect pre-tantrum pout as she watched as Abe shoved something into the bag on his back. She eyed him closely smirking a little as Abe motioned for her to keep quite with a single finger over his lips. Roe smiled a little wider nodding her head.