Disclaimer: Hellboy doesn't belong to us and neither does Full Metal Alchemist and Edward Scissorshands *^_^*
Rating: M just to be safe because eventually we'll have some scene of violence and because eventually we'll be dealing with mature subject matter.
Oh! And before I forget, this is "talking", this is 'thinking' and this is talking in foreign language. Have a pleasant read.
Hellboy – A place to belong
Chapter 10
Hello dear readers, it is "I" the narrator, (you know, the guy with the ominous voice from chapter 4?) who is back from a long hiatus due to the Commentator, Narrator and Story Teller Syndicate generalised strike that lasted for the last few years.
So I am back in business and my absence was totally not caused by the authors forgetting about me or bringing me back because it's convenient for the action scenes of the Arc climax. Nope. I am back of my own volition even if I'm paid peanuts for this job and the rent is due soon, ha ha ha.
Hehem, now to resume the story so far... Wow I haven't done that in some time... give me a minute... huuun, let met check my notes... Where was I? Oh, right, ''It was a dark and stormy night...'', tatatata, then that happen, then ... ... ... What? Five chapters!? Why wasn't I mentioned this? I am not prepared! How do you want me to work in these conditions?
Wait what? Ad lib? You want me to ad lib it!? NO WAY SIR! I did not just pass the last few years on strike so that our talent get properly recognised just to be told to wing it! I have pride mister!
Ok, you go ahead I'll catch up later; I am going to speed-read the whole thing.
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After any major building collapse or, say, an avalanche, what's most striking is the silence. Big threats are always the noisiest but in the aftermath; it's the silence that is the most upsetting. It seems impossible that such destruction could have happen while the world holds its breath like this.
The silence.
"Ha...Haha...HahahahahWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!"
Until a jerk break the magical moment with his hysterical laughter.
Dust hung in the air like a dead man on a rope. Being confined inside the manor, with no wind to dissipate the gray cloud that covered everything. From the view...
"HAHAHA *Cough*Cough*Kof*Ack*Cough*"
...to the trachea.
"*Cough*COUGH*. Yes! *Cough* I win! *cough,cough* Take that you, euh, red horned, euh, tall... freak!"
Not all victory speeches are inspired, poetic or even have a certain level of well timed badassry. History mostly retains the gems, really.
The elfin creature, dressed as if Peter Pan had the Mad Hatter as a tailor, wasn't quite finished: "Finally, I am rid of that monstrous puppet and with quite the bonus too. You thought you could stop my master plan did you? Well think AGAIN imbecile! I brought down the infamous Hellboy the humans used to hound us. With you out of the picture nothing will stop my revolution. But don't worry, those who were holding your leash will soon join you."
After a though he continued his monologue in his high pitched voice. "I think I will finish with the one who can't walk anymore. I will pick the others one by one and shall make him watch as they scream. We can't leave any onlookers who would spoil the surprise for the rest, you know." The idea made Caliban laugh, like dementia was taking root.
"I would love to stay and piss on your tomb but alas, I must go. Farewell!...Not!" Caliban left the premise, letting the pile of rumble be.
'Some guys are just asshole.' Thought Hellboy.
On the other side of the room hidden by the pile of debris accumulated in its center, were our little group, huddled against the wall with Hellboy holding quite a massive wood beam keeping it from crushing them.
With a grunt he pushed the beam out of harm way, making sure nothing more would fall in their direction.
"I thought he would never shut up. Who does he think he is? Cobra Commander inbred cousin?" With a sigh, he asked the others if they were ok, looking for a way out. He was thankful the kids were still semi–out of it from when they were entranced, or else their crying would have alerted their presences to the jerk and they would have been discovered in this precarious position.
"We're ok." Ed the BPRD agent confirmed after a quick assessment. Both he and the other Edward used their body to cover the young from the rubbles. This one, looked relieved that the little ones were not hurt, and while he didn't seems to sport any wound, the look in his eyes looked painful. Betrayal cut deep.
One of the winged fairy complained "A brick fell on my head." The dark look the BPRD agents gave at that, quickly made her... him... it, add: "but I'm ok. Yes I'm fine, no problem. Please forget I'm here."
Hellboy took charge: "We need to get out of here and we have to get to the others before he does."
Going out the same way they came in was out of the question because of the rumbles, but those same rumbles could easily be climbed to get to the floor above.
Of course, the priority was to get the children out of the house as quickly as possible, who knew what kind of damage the structure has been submitted to. The collapse of the entire thing was foreseeable.
The next few moments were a rush. Quickly organising the next steps in his mind, they finished rousing the kids awakes and calming them. Then, both Eds secured an escape path out of the new hole in the roof/floor and Hellboy passed them the kids one by one, him being the last out of the hole. The fairies were left to fend for themselves and lick their wounds.
With the help of the older kids to watch over the others, they finally got out of the house and now were sitting in the beautiful garden, safe and sound. The night was still cool not yet cold, with the wind of a new storm brewing. It wasn't there yet, but being outside was better for now.
Time was running out. Hellboy looked at his colleague, silently asking the question. The short blond BPRD agent only said: "Go, I got this." Elric clap his hands in front of him, the sound gathered the attention of the children, "Alright kids here's what we're gonna do..."
They both understood the situation perfectly. The radios were still down, it was the middle of the night, they were surrounded with children they were responsible for and now there was a maniac who liked to use building as a murder weapon going after the other group who were transporting someone who's gravely wounded. They already had lost a lot of time getting the kids out of the house, so now they needed to act quickly.
Someone had to go down the hill to warn the others of the coming threat and get a whole rescue squad up at the manor to extract everyone out of here before anything else get undertaken.
Hellboy, having the most endurance, was the logical conclusion and he stood a better chance against what was coming.
Nodding Hellboy glanced at the group one last time before sprinting out of the garden with surprising speed for someone of his corpulence. Normally, Hellboy would have stayed, the children safety being his first priority but his colleagues were in danger from something they didn't know the nature of.
That's why he preferred doing mission alone. He only had to worry about his own crispy beacon (not an ounce of fat on those pectorals, he saw to it in his self-exile in Britain.) But the conversation he had with Krauss and the other one with Manning before this mission were chewing at his guts. They had lost far more agents than before since he was gone.
It shouldn't affect him. Everybody who works for the agency was a professional; they were trained for this and knew the risks when they signed for the job. And yet, part of the reason he had quit was because he had problem trusting others.
He preferred to do everything by himself, that would never change, but living out of the safety cocoon of the BPRD, he had learned that you can't do everything on your own and it was ok to rely on other. It taught him that at least.
That and to not let Abe watch a whole marathon of Doctor Who. He gets a little 'funny' for a while afterward.
So, as he was zigzagging downhill among the trees at breakneck speed, jumping over obstacles and branches were whipping at his face. He didn't know if the reason he left the group with firecracker of a temper blond was because he trusted him as a coworkers or if he was worried that something would happen to the others because of him.
But in the end it didn't matter.
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Back in town at the BPRD mobile headquarter, an air of panic was lingering in the van like a potent fart that just won't quit and nobody wanted to admit it was their fault.
Hughes was at the back door of the vehicle discussing something with the police and firemen representatives, trying to coordinate their efforts to pass the whole neighborhood through a fine comb. His usual laid back demeanor was replaced with a serious seriousness that did not fit the daughter crazy 'papa'. They seemed to have found all the family so far who had their children replaced by changelings but the search had slowed down since the radius of the search was getting farther and farther while the effectives for the search were getting spread thinner. And now, a lot of the local police had to divert their attention to a crazy car chase that would have its place in a Blues Brothers movie.
Abe and Armstrong team said they were coming back toward them with apparently new information, but Armstrong affirmed traffic was murder.
The rest of the team was gone up the hill to the mysterious manor that suddenly popped up right out of the landscape proverbial butt. Plus, they had lost contact with everyone who went over there. By protocol, if they didn't make contact in fifteen minute, he would contact headquarter.
Winry and Ross, who were supposed to be on standby, were getting ready to mount a rescue operation on their own. The policeman was nervous with the lieutenant Maria Ross loading her shotgun on her back with a mean look of determination on her face. Winry was polishing a wicked looking wrench in a nervous tick, muttering to herself about two idiots' blonds who were better be coming back.
And finally, Schiezka was on the radio equipment in the van trying to contact the missing group. Her mousy nature in stressful situation was beginning to come back. "Hello? This is Base One, to Forward Team, please respond... Team Red what's your status?... Colonel?... Miss Hawkeye?... Anyone?... Please, answer me?" She was becoming really worried for the others and tears were menacing to spill out. She wished she stayed in the archive department and was never talked into going in the field.
Suddenly: *Radio static* "Bas...*** this is agent...*** opy?", "Base One, this is agent Hawkeye, do you copy?"
Almost jumping out of her skin at finally having contact, Schiezka fumbled with the response button while the whole group rushed to the van door to listen in.
"Ththththththt... Thi...Thi... THIS IS BASE ONE! We hear you! I glad... I so glad your ok (The dam broke and the tear spilled but for a better reason). We couldn't contact anyone! What your situation?... Over!'' she finished, almost forgetting radio protocol.
"We couldn't contact anyone either, something on this rock bloc transmission from the radio, cellular or GPS", Hawkeye responded. "Schiezka, call an ambulance, we need an immediate evac. Over."
The groups' stomachs dropped around their ankles as one and a cold feeling gripped everyone who was listening.
"Who's hurt?! What happened?!"
"Agent Havock took a big fall, inform the hospital that he may have spine injuries." Confirmed the female officer with a grim tone.
Not waiting, Hughes took the other radio equipment and began contacting the hospital, signaling Schiezka to continue speaking.
"Tell us your position, who's with you and what is the situation. Over."
"We are descending the hill and we are almost out of the wood at the construction site. Agent Mustang, Bradley, Clark and Heiderich are with me transporting Havock. Elric stayed up there with Hellboy. We had multiple sighting along the way, proving this place is some sort of hiding spot for the changelings and other types of fay. No sign of the missing children yet...Over"
Hughes signaled to Schiezka who relayed the message to the group. "An ambulance is on its way, ETA 10min. A police patrol is also coming for escort. Over"
"Good, we'll meet then at the exit of the construction site. Once he his secure we'll go back up at the mansion to resume the search. This is definitely *VRRROOOOOOOOOAAAMM**CRASH**Click*"
Hawkeye speech was drowned hopelessly by the sound of a huge motor accompanied by various crashes and tortured metals noises. Behind the shambles, you could almost hear the shouts of panic of the rest of the team, accompanied by gunshot before the radio went dead silent.
... Still silence on this side of the radio. The air way giving a little static to the group as an indication the material didn't just die on them.
"Guys? Guys please respond, whats happening? GUYS!"
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We were finally out of the wood and were now in the middle of the construction site. The sound of gravel under the booths of my colleagues rather than the soft sound of crushing leaves on humus was comforting on my ears. In contrast of the dark wood, the artificial light of the lamppost was a relief beyond compare to the compact shadow of the trail behind us.
But what was even more important to me was the more even the ground became the less I suffered. Sweet flat walkable plane provided by dear civilisation. Seriously, the pain every jolt and bump in the road my co-workers experienced, my back felt it tenfold. Pain was a good sign they said. If I could still feel something below my neck, it meant there was a chance I would not end up paralysed. Great. Super. IF ONLY IT DINT HURT SO FREAKING MUCH!
I stifle my moans and grunts of pain to not worry my comrades too much, because if we were to take a pause for every time I was seeing spots, we would never make any progress toward those sweet painkillers that were waiting for me beyond the horizon.
So less bump and jolt in the road was something my back was grateful for.
I heard Hawkeye in the front finally making contact with the base. We were probably out of whatever was blocking the radio and soon this whole ordeal would be over. My head was in the opposite direction of where we were going so I had to look up to see her talking to Schiezka and giving her a rendezvous' point.
I heard her say "Good, we will meet them at the exit of the construction site. Once Lt. Havoc is secure we'll go back up there, this is definitely the origin of all th..." The end of the sentence was drowned by the roar of an engine. An engine of a really big tractor coming toward us from my right. Euh... wait, I gave you the wrong 'right' I meant their 'right' and *WAITWAITWAITWAIT! STOP! PAUSE!*
/the world effectively freeze in place/
'Euh, what wrong?' Ask Havoc.
*What wrong? I am the narrator here! I just got back, here I am thinking that I landed in the middle of some internal monologue, so I was politely waiting my cue to get back into the flow of it when I catch you breaking the fourth wall and speaking to the audience? What do you think you were doing exactly buddy? Huh?*
'I was giving a retelling of what happened.'
*Huhhun. What makes you think you could just do that pray tell?*
'Someone had to do it. We had nobody for how many chapters already? It's not like you really matter anymore. It's not that hard to do anyway'
I am going to murder that shit stain... *I got a diplomat for this! And I'll have you know this is not that easy either! There a methodology to follow, techniques to apply! So unless you show me some membership card you will get the saltiest fine of your life, capiche?*
'Not even back for more than two pages and you already flexing muscles.'
*Two pages? I've been here since the beginning of the chapter and you...* Wait a minute…Chapter? Pages? *...You are so in pain that you are hallucinating that you are in a story and you see no problems arguing with a metaphorical being, aren't you?*
'Grroann. Sound about right... Got any ibuprofen?'
*Snort. Literally?*
'Oh, right, figment of my imagination, which is an asshole. Wait so that means I can continue narrating what is happening since it's of no consequence.'
*What? Oh no you don't. I am taking back control here. So you mister 'stuck in a wheelchair for the rest of his life' will let me do my job.*
'Wait, what did you say?'
*NOTIMEGOTTOCONTINUE. START!*
/the world move once again/
... The end of the sentence was drowned by the roar of an engine that came from the really big mustard yellow and black tractor coming toward the BPRD groups. The machine who belonged to the construction site suddenly started and charged them from where it was parked with the others various heavy equipments.
The group was caught off guard, having just managed to come back to civilisation made them relax their attention with a false sense of security.
Frozen like a deer crossing the interstate, the fate of the BPRD agents seemed sealed and the only reason they didn't end up crushed by tons of rolling metal was because whoever piloted the tractor apparently didn't knew how to drive stick and missed the shift with the clutch, killing the engine and stopping the raging machine with a wet farting sound a dozen feet from their position.
The following brief silence was cut by a string of what couldn't be anything else than insults reverberating in the very air seemingly coming from nowhere, in a language none of the group could understand.
It didn't take more to jolt Lieutenant Hawkeye to shout her own expletive and ordering everyone to move to the construction site exit as she began to shoot the cabin of the tractor with her side arm, still keeping up with the group despite moving backward herself.
'Maybe it was because of the sudden rush of adrenalin, but I was able to forget my pain and was able to see from my advantageous position from my gurney: the cabin was empty. And from her look of astonishment Hawkeye realised it too. Or maybe it was a look of annoyance, having wasted an ammo clip. Not sure.'
*Bu..Wha... You can't do that! I am the one who...*
'The tractor *HEY!* engine seemed flooded, since *STOP!* we could hear the failed attempt to start the engine again. But *HEY HO!* apparently whoever was piloting it abandoned the now useless machine for a dump truck near *HOW DO YOU KEEP DOING THIS?* the exit we were trying to reach, without anyone of us having seen anything moving from one vehicle to another. *Oh that does it, you asked for this...* It too, came to life, proceeded to drive in front of the entrance to gain speed before veering toward us.' And Mustang tripped of something jolting the makeshift stretcher Havoc was strapped too causing him abominable pain. 'Aaaaaaaarrrrrgggg'
*As a narrator, I got some influence on the plot. Enough to shut-up annoying pest who think they can do my job*
Assessing the situation in a fraction of second, Hawkeye ordered "Right!" to direct the group they could escape the path of the vehicle as well to reach the more clustered part of the site. The plan was probably to put one of the portable buildings between them and the truck. Also the bigger vehicles wouldn't be able to move as easily over there.
Hawkeye for her part was putting a new clip in her side piece as she spun left as the gurney passed her by, with the grace and precision of a star ballet dancer, took agent Bradley side arm with her other hand and in the same fluid movement, finished her spin, dual wilding both pistol, began shooting. Not at the cabin, but at the front grill, aiming to put more lead in the engine than it usually processed.
She continued to shoot until the last moment, crippling the radiator to kingdom come, before she dived left to dodge the seemingly driverless dump truck. She rolled with her momentum getting back to her knee, only to see the metal behemoth sharply turn left toward her fleeing companions who were almost at the first corner of the construction crew building.
'Something had to be done or we were goners.' *Oh, brothers...*
'All four of my porters had to use their hands to keep my gurney of fortune stable. Even I felt every step they took and cursed my inability to move. We were a big grouped target because of me and the machine was coming to finish us off.' *What a drama queen.* 'Lt. Hawkeye kept pelting the machine from her position, trying to pop the tires to slow it down.'
'Time slowed to a crawl.' *Now he is plulling a 'Matrix' on us* 'Me, on my back, immobilised, looking up as much as I could toward the possessed piece of steel.' *He is not even doing it right. I assisted seminar for this you know?* 'I could see it was resolutely coming toward us, following the same path we were taking. The corner of the building we were about to turn, would be in the way and the truck was bound to hit it in its course for us.'
'I could see on both side of my head, Mustang and Bradley holding on my stretcher and despite the situation they were still holding on decided to not abandon me to my fate. God, I was proud of having teammates... nay, Bros, like that.'
'And I could see the belts of my comrades, which I had in plain view from my lying position. The standards utility belt issued to all BPRD field agent, containing the standard equipment...'
'And that's how I etched a plan in that same fraction of second.' *Your trying to usurp the role of the hero, aren't you? Bold move for a Red Shirt.* 'Shut up.'
'Quickly, I reach within my own belt pouch, my hand being the only thing not strapped down, for the obligatory ordinance grenade in use at the BPRD. It has a WAY bigger yield than most handheld explosive an ordinary solider would use, since on ordinary target it would be a total overkill, but we hunt monsters for a living.'
'I removed the pin whit my thumb, holding the handles so it wouldn't go off yet and look up to the faces of my fellow agents to make sure they saw me doing that. They did. And without words they understood my plan, nodding, to give me their 'ok'.
'We turned the corner. I drop the grenade from the side of my stretcher and Mustang almost kick it forward to where we were heading, cursing at his clumsiness. That would have ended us for sure.'
'We reached the other corner of the building turning that one too, as the dump truck crashed in the first one, obliterating it in a shower of splinters and shaking the entire structure. It got stalled like I predicted, right over the grenade. Hey! Hawkeyes had managed to burst two of the tires apparently.'
'Our group continued to run *with one cripple in tow*... asshole, covered by the building we were moving away from, toward the chain-link fence of the periphery of the site when Bradley shouted a warning to those in front when'
Kaboom!
'The truck lifted an inch from the ground from the overpowered grenade and the gas tank ignited, creating a secondary explosion almost instantaneously, engulfing the surrounding in hot ball of flame.'
'Cool guys don't look at explosion.'
*Nope, they're too busy running for their lives, crying like little girl on the inside.*
'Hey! That's not...' the shockwave finally knocked out the wounded agent like the sissy he was, 'whagkkk...? ' *Nighty night loser.*
The group of fleeing agents stopped at the edge of the site behind the two construction crew building they used as an office and lunch room, which one of them was catching on fire.
The chain-link fence blocking the way out off the site from the sides, the burning truck obstructing the direct way toward the front exit, unless you wanted to catch on fire yourself. Their options were to loop back toward the wood or to try one more time to go to the front door. There was probably more, but with whatever that was hurling heavy machinery at them, those were the quickest options available.
Never assume that you have killed what wanted you dead unless you have a body in this job, was the first rule that was drilled into the head of every new BPRD agent.
And they couldn't blow a hole in the fence either, since the houses on the other side were too close for comfort and chain fence are hard to blow than most people think, being mostly air it would be hard for them to blow a hole big enough for them to pass through.
So they were moving along the fence still behind the buildings, tool sheds and gravel pit to provide obstacles for any other runaway machines when they saw Lieutenant Hawkeyes hurriedly coming around the corner between the two buildings. She looked relieved when she spotted her team but it quickly turned to puzzlement when she saw their horrified faces.
As she was going toward them, they saw what else took the corner right behind her, fast like the wind but as silent as a falling tissue. Somehow, for no reason apparent or any indication it could happen, what looked like a Siberian tiger that belonged in the prehistoric age rather than a closed down construction site in the suburb, jumped at the lieutenant all tooth and claw.
'Oh god, the sucker was bigger than a small horse,' *OH FOR FUCK—SAKE, ARE YOU SERIOUS? WHAT DOES IT TAKE TO SHUT YOU UP?!* 'It's maw was bigger than her head, which the lieutenant got an exemplary view of as she turned around just as it was upon her. Managing to turn around only to stare at your toothy doom, is said to be the third most frequent reason of death in the BPRD. And us, helpless to do anything had barely the first syllable of our warning shout passing our lips.' *Special attack: NARRATOR RUNNING JUMP ELBOW DROP*
/ - We are sorry. This story is experiencing technical difficulties out of our control. Our technicians are trying to resolve the situation. The story will back momentarily. We thank you for your patience.-/
... only for the unnaturally white teeth to close right before Hawkeye face in a resounding ''clac''. So close, the lieutenant had an Eskimo kiss with the feline.
In fact, the whole beast had stopped mid-air. And you don't stop a quarter ton of kitty just like that either. The inertia brought all the fur, skins, fats, and meat and probably organs to the upmost forward it could go on the tiger's frame, giving it a comical look of an overstuffed face mixed with an expression of absolute surprise before it was pulled back as if the pussy was attached to a giant elastic.
Hellboy, who from the team perspective had magically appeared out of thin air, caught the improbable tiger by the tail with both hands as it was jumping at Hawkeyes.
Using the momentum of his pull, Hellboy began to spin around with the black and white feline like an Olympian hammer throw.
After a spin, when he attained the apex of speed he could manage, rather than going for the Guinness record of the longest cat throw, he aimed at the wall of the second building, slamming the beast on it. Or more precisely, through it.
Hellboy who was visibly winded like he had done one heck of a marathon, which happened to pass through whole lot of shrubs from the odd small branches caught in his cloth and the leaves in his hair. He apparently took the most direct path down the hill, through whatever was in his way. Hand on his knee; in between two breaths he gave a simple command to the rescue team: "Go! I got this."
Not waiting for more, the group transporting Havoc began to move once again, shaking Hawkeye from her stupor as we passed. The encounter had visibly stunned her.
With one more big intake of the night air, Hellboy was ready. He peered into the newly made hole in the building, trying to find where the over grown cat had landed. But as the group was going to pass behind him, in-between the building to get to the exit, a shape pierced through the dust cloud out of the hole. A brown mountain ram, knocked horns with Hellboy who certainly didn't expect that. The shock had a strangely empty resonating sound to it.
It threw both the mountain of a man and the mountain animal in the path of the group who once again had their way blocked. Both horned fellow looked completely 'konked out' and were staggering about. Apparently the goat did not count on Hellboy having such a hard head.
Mustang shouted an exasperate: "WHAT THE FUCK is going on?!" Expressing the general consensus.
Clark, the commander of this whole expedition, at the front of the stretcher with Alfons, finally managed to be the one to give orders around, the others having been faster than him at it so far: "Shut up and run." Directing the five of them in taking the long way around the second building.
'We lost sight of gakk' *"Click"* (this is dear reader, the sound of the narrator cocking back the hammer of this revolver of an horrendously big calibers with the barrel jammed into Havock metaphorical mouth. Also Narrator has a really dangerous look in his eyes at this point, so Havock chose to play it safe and shut-up)... They lost sight of their red guy, but kept earring noise of a fight accompanied with a melody of cracking wood and a lot of shouting, both from Hellboy and the voice they had heard before when the tractor stalled.
They saw a... four foot tall filing cabinet soar above their head, crashing on the other side of the fence, scattering papers about. Just more intensives for them to get out of Dodge.
They turned right again, this around a small shed and a gravel pile before trying to aim for the exit for the umpteenth time. BUT the fight had moved about in the middle of the terrain, where Hellboy and what appeared to be a thin and smaller than the average adult humanoid figure, were exchanging punches. The smaller one had his feet planted on Hellboy chest with one hand gripping his shirt for support while the other was trying to push back Hellboy nose to the back of his skull.
His opponent was trying to dislodge the pest by going for core raking body blow, which the elfin creature was frighteningly taking like a champ. Not many could boast to have gotten in the ring with the devil and withstood the powerful onslaught like that.
The small figure must have spotted the group, because it suddenly jumped from its perch, and becoming a blurred streak, speeding to the left of the site... where the rest of the heavy machinery were waiting.
This time, it's a yellow excavator who sprung to action. Don't mind the fact that all those machines where supposed to be out of commission from the sabotaging that was reported to the BPRD earlier this evening. Apparently, magic stomped both mechanic and physics. Figures.
Alfons got his turn to say what was on everyone mind: "Aw, not again!"
Despite not being too fast, since it relayed on tracks to move around, it could extend its excavating arm and spin on its axis, all 360° of them, making it a monstrous flaying weapon of doom. And it was spinning really fast, making it a wide diameter of certain squishy death for the human team.
It was already coming toward them, making them back slowly toward the woods.
Once again, Hellboy leapt into action. As in, he jumped into a collision course with the dangerous spinning machine metal arm with a resulting fleshy 'whack'.
And holy molly, he managed to hold on to this crazy carnival ride, whenever it was by mistake or by plan. He then proceeded to climb along the metallic limb, who realised it now had a stowaway, began to flap its arm up and down vigorously, in hope of ejecting Hellboy.
The machine was still coming toward the group, who had no choice to go back into the wood they came from. That is until they heard Alfons exclaim something once again, making the group look back.
Gone was the path they used before. The forest had gone alive like a pit of snake with a mongoose thrown in it. It extended toward them multiple branches, like countless limbs to catch the humans. The vegetation had transformed into a wiggly wall, cutting off the possibility of them using the now inexistent gaps that were between the fence encircling the construction site and the vegetation which would have allowed them to go around the whole thing.
'Torn to shred by a mother nature who definitely remembered their previous passages or smashed to pieces by mankind ingenuity. What a choice. I am even more surprised that I thought of the metaphor despite the conditions. I would have wrote it down if I wasn't strapped to a piece of wood, unable to move and about to die'
*Ok Havock, I'll give you that one. It was somewhat passable. Good enough to go onto your headstone at least. Which I will make sure to write on it if you continue.* Havock could only swallow nervously.
To the front, the metal arm of the machine smashed to the ground while it continued spinning, the shock making Hellboy fall off, leaving him hanging on with his stone hand, cursing loudly.
The machine tried to smash the arm on the ground again to finish the job, but Hellboy used being near the ground to give himself a push upward, combined with the counter shock of the arm with the ground as it was going up again, to flip onto the arm, this time with his feet firmly planted on it. At the top height, when he was almost at the vertical from the main body of the machine, he jumped almost pummelling, toward the top of the excavator.
There, Hellboy was still clinging to the metal the best way he could, thinking 'I am gonna be sick...' as he took out his trusty hand cannon he called a gun and pointed it at the engine, having the same idea as Hawkeyes before. He was going to shoot the engine when something small, hairy and angry, jumped from somewhere of the still advancing and spinning excavator, right onto Hellboy head, making him drop his weapon to defend himself
The audience also discovered that the snarling rabid animal double as a lawnmower from the bloody murder screams Hellboy was emitting. It was a wolverine, if what agent Bradley said was correct.
But whatever that was attacking Big Red, was apparently the thing that controlled the excavator, because while it was still spinning and advancing out of control, it veered to the right.
Profiting that it seemed distracted and didn't correct its course like before when they were moving, the team ran toward the left side of the terrain, giving wide berth to the machine and the woods.
The spinning construction tool now turned war-machine, continued its course undeterred by the proximity of the second portable building. Which should be re-qualified as a 'disposable' building now, because the arm kept smashing and smashing again into the roof and walls, showering the area with debris. Hellboy and the furry claws storm didn't even realise it.
Next, it reached the small tool shed they passed before, ever hungry for more, proceeded to obliterate the last undamaged building.
Yep, it was a tool shed since it was now raining various dangerous construction utensils along with small gasoline canisters, propane tanks and... yes, yes those are chainsaws. And you know, drama could not have it any other way that most of that stuff landed on the now blazing inferno that was the first building.
Yes. You know what is coming but before that let's precise that despite all the impacts, Hellboy managed to stay on his feet, on top of the excavator, he grabbed the cabin with both hands and began head banging it with all his might, with of course the wolverine caught between a cabin and a hard place.
A big WHAM! followed by a "Oooofff!" exclaimed by the wolverine, its breath expulsed from its lung, its spinal cord now having the integral structure of a noodle but still clinging to Hellboy face. And when it doesn't work the first time, try it again, and again, and again. WHAM! "Arrg!" shouted the... baboon? WHAM! "GAkkk!" cried the iguana. THOCK! "HA HA!" rejoiced the land turtle, having found a parade. WHHAAAM! Crack! Made the shell and "Aiiiiiiiiiie!'' sobbed the turtle, not so protected after all.
Hellboy was rearing his head for a fifth time when the excavator reached the series of gravel and sand mounds stocked there. It was low enough for the metal arm now stuck at a certain height to pass above it, but steep enough to make the machine lean dangerously when it began to climb it.
The angle made the mechanical limb struck the ground one last time, stopping it for good, with a noise of tortured metal and mechanical bits, being flung around. The machine topped on its side, ejecting the combatants. They let go of each other during the fall, both landing on another gravel mound as the machine sputtered its last breath.
Hellboy got up, dizzy from all the spins he was subjected to and the turtle had disappeared, replaced by the small elfin form of Caliban, who was taking a swing at his face with a shovel having already recovered. Hellboy raised his stone hands to defend himself, spark flying from his forearm.
Unrelenting, the mad fay pressed on with his offensive using the shovel as a club or a spear, making his towering opponent move back, up the gravel mound with the ferocity of his attacks. And when they got to the top, all the dangerous inflammable and under pressure substance decided to explode at this moment, making the night turn into day for a second.
It served as a distraction for Hellboy who found another shovel and a wheelbarrow on the other side of the mound. Grabbing the shovel with one hand, he swung his improvised weapon at Caliban, who parried at the last second without even flinching. He was stronger than he looked, being all wiry muscle, but the scarlet demon was stronger, swinging the wheelbarrow with his other hand like it was a no heavier than a flower bouquet, making Caliban eat tire.
Dropping the wheelbarrow, it was Hellboy turn on the attack, beginning a bout of shovel fencing over the gravel pit, with a backdrop of a wrecked construction site on fire with explosion from gas canisters or the occasional propane tank soaring into the night sky.
Hellboy had strength and size on his side combined with a lot of experience with fighting with what he had of hands. Caliban had speed, a lot of rage and more shape versatility than a contortionist, which he demonstrated by transforming himself in the mother of all octopus. Jumping onto the surprised BPRD agent, twisting around his body, using his new form to strangle the red giants while using one of his tentacles to whack his opponent left ear with the shovel it was still holding.
A series of gong like sound punctuated by exclamation of pain, pierced the night like this: Bong! OW! Bong! OW! Bong! OW! Bong! OW! Bong! OW!
Having quite enough, Hellboy tried to pry off the offending cephalopod, but no matter how much he pushed the body away, the tentacles stretched not letting go of their grip on him. They were stuck in a stalemate, until Hellboy decided to take a bite out of one of the appendage eliciting a screech of pain out of the sea creature, making it retract the limb to nurse it, which was enough for Hellboy to finish pulling off the octopus in a concerto of popping suctions cups.
The beast in hands, he threw it up in the air, grabbed his own shovel and showed Caliban why he had the biggest record of homerun of the military base he grew on.
Caliban landed in a tangled wiggly heap, grunting from the hit, having no bone at the moment surely helped soften the blow. Still being drowsy on the ground, the new position gave him a view of the exit and his pray going toward it. It simply wouldn't do, he needed to stop them and he just spotted 'how'.
Quickly changing into a boa, he undulated his body away, dodging Hellboy trying to spear him with his shovel. Slithering forward onto the previous path of the now defunct excavator, he quickly found what he was searching for and morphed back into his original form for the practical use of hand with opposable thumbs. He stood with the Samaritan, Hellboy personal side arm that he made him drop earlier, pointing it at the fleeing group.
KABAAM!
A sidearm? It felt more like an anti bunker artillery to Caliban. The recoil projected him on his ass, making him miss his target, the bullets landing on the front grill of another dumb truck parked there, just ahead of Colonel Clark. Stopped once again they backed up behind the machine cursing like a bunch of sailors. They were almost there but the rest of the way was an open field with no cover.
Caliban, not stopping, shot two more time in their general direction, pinning them there before Hellboy batted his own gun out of his enemy hands and with the reverse swing, smashed the shovel spade in the boyish face breaking the tool in two.
The shovel I meant.
Caliban was now on his stomach and Hellboy straddled the bastard to immobilise him and beat him to submission with what was left of the wood shaft in his hand. Or that was the plan, until his enemy form blurred once again, turning gray and expanding vastly.
So when Hawkeye peered from around the truck to shoot back, she saw Hellboy riding backward and holding for dear life on a charging gray rhinoceros.
Blinking away her stupor, she cried to her team "Move!" and as the team were going to sprint toward the exit, she stopped them. They would not be able to outrun a charging rhinocerotidae build like a tank in the streets. "No, around the truck!" she said, hoping it could not take sharp turns while running. She could not shoot at it since Hellboy was on it and a grenade was even more out of question.
Back with Hellboy, he could not see where he and his mount were going but he knew he had to stop the animal somehow. Maybe with something he had in his belt? Not useful at the moment. His gun? All the way over there and moving away. Turning around and wrestle with the horn to make it fall like a bull at a rodeo? Too acrobatic. He would probably fall down and bet trampled.
So he had stump of the shovel handle he was still holding and the huge behind of the animal before his eyes... Heh. An evil grin on his face, he raised the piece of wood high and...
The neighbourhood residents, who were hiding in their house since they began earring guns shots and explosions, would have nightmare for years to come from the sound of the howling of inhuman pain that resounded into the night. The noise did not seem possible to come from any sorts of throat.
Hellboy got dropped to the ground when the animal under him exploded into a hive of bees. The stick also landed on the ground, but Hellboy did not want to pick it up again.
The angry buzzing hive reformed into the normal form of Caliban on top of the cabin of the dump truck right above Hellboy. It seemed he managed to stop him in time after all and he saw the boots of the others making their way on the other side of the big vehicle. He needed to keep Caliban attention or else he would go after them again.
Oh... seem like it won't be hard at all. He had his complete and total attention.
Did I mention 'angry'? You could also use 'livid with rage', 'batshit mad beyond reason', 'seeing red' and 'impending visceral massacre' to describe Caliban.
He managed to mutter through his anger, "That was uncalled for." with so much ice in his voice it could stop global warming. He had completely forgotten about the others and what he came to do here, focussing solely on Hellboy who was getting up
Hellboy did not let Caliban out of his sight. He had his opponent mad of his hinges, so whatever he was going to do, it will be harsh and risked of overextending his attack making him vulnerable, so it was his chance to caught Caliban off guard.
Or Caliban could cheat.
A rumbling growl escaped his throat, the son of a bitch pulled off all stops and transformed into a wyvern bigger than the truck it was perched on. The cabin crushed under the weight and the chucks barely stopped the bumper from touching the ground.
Backing away slowly along the dump truck side, planning to duck behind it and hopping in his turn that the critter couldn't take corners, Hellboy dumfoundly enough could not think of anything else to think off than: Where does all that mass come from?
Stalking its prey, the lengthy giant winged lizard crawled down the vehicle, its maw seeping poisonous saliva. It instinctively knew Hellboy plan, Caliban never losing his intelligence when he transformed. He wasn't going let this drag any longer. The wyvern bunched together like a coil ready to spring, focusing only on its victim. Caliban let out a mighty roar that Spielberg would have used for the T-Rex in Jurassic Park and jumped.
Only to be crushed in a fraction of second between the dumping truck and 3 tons of flying Hummer, in a sickening opera of breaking bone, folding metal and squishing ichors.
The dump truck and the hummer where finishing settling, the later letting steam out of its radiator. From the shattered windshield of the impromptu vehicle you could spot two struggling air bag trying their best to choke the people behind.
The one on the passenger side apparently lost and was deflating to reveal a wobbly Abe Sapian, who spotted Hellboy to his right who, himself, hadn't moved an inch since the general situation did a sudden 180°.
"You know," said Abe to Hellboy, "I preferred things in England, when all I had to worry about was getting insane from boredom."
Hellboy said noting. He couldn't.
His rictus of disgust was due to being sprayed with the poisonous venom contained in the wyvern saliva which paralysed its victims. He was covered in it along with all the blood, gores and various brain fluids when the lizard head exploded, caught between the hummer bumper and the dump truck bin. One of the reptile ocular globe was dangling from of Hellboy ear.
Police sirens could be heard, finally catching up with Armstrong extreme driving and Hawkeye and rest peeked around to see what the fuck was going on.
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Havock: 'I am not done yet!'
Narrator: *Too bad the chapter over.*
Havock: 'Then... See you next time, at the same Bat-Time and same Bat-channel!'
Narrator: (facepalming himself) *Shut up, you're going to get us sued.*
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:: Bookeater ::
Happy Ending!
No not really. The epilogue is in the next chapter.
This time I tried to experiment with the narrating style, with having two being arguing who should do it. I hope it wasn't too confusing. I am also a complete newbee when it comes to action scene. I also have a hard time doing serious stuff. In the end I found it too drab and I sprinkled humor all over it. I hope at least it was funny.
It took us really long to finish this one, but not so much if you consider I had to move for a new job, getting used to the new town along with the new job, then there was Christmas, which his hell to find time to do any writing... I am just happy to have it done.
See ya!
:: Shiroyuki ::
Wow! 17 pages on Word … I think this might be our longest chapter yet *^_^*
I do hope you all enjoyed the read *^_^*