Italic = thoughts
Chapter 9 - Last of its kind
They reached the exit, where Abe was busy arguing with Dr. Krauss.
"We cannot take this responsibility! said Krauss.
"What is this noise all about?", asked Red, as they entered the room.
"Red, Adela! This is princess Nuala. She is the twin of prince Nuada and I was just explaining to Dr. Krauss that she needs to come with us." Said Abe, in a very annoyed voice.
Sister…She looks just like him. Abe said something about her being a princess, but why is she here?
Adela took a closer look at Nuala, as she offered her hand, to greet her. That was one human custom she could not get over.
The princess hesitated for a moment, but then took the offer.
"I'm Adela. Nice to meet you, princess" She was looking at the her face, amazed by her resemblance with Nuada. She is as beautiful as he is.
Nuala's face took on a confused expression, as she was still holding her hand. She looked her straight in the eyes and gave her an enigmatic smile. Adela noticed, though, that the princess seemed to be in pain.
"Is everything ok? Did anyone hurt you?" she asked, thinking of ways to torture Dr. Krauss, if we was the one responsible.
"Nobody hurt me, but someone must have hurt my brother."
She looked very confused, so the princess explained further:
"My brother and I share a special bond. Since we were children, whatever injury he sustains, I also get. Whatever knowledge one has, the other also shares. Unfortunately, he can shield his thoughts better than I can. Right now, for example, I know he was hurt, but i don't know what happened."
Ooooh shit!
Adela started fidgeting. This was a wrong start, but she had to tell her.
"I'm afraid I am responsible for your brother's injury. I'm sorry you had to feel the pain."
The princess nodded and gave her a cryptic smile.
As the princess got acquainted with Red, Adela was still wondering what that smile was all about. Turning her attention to Dr. Krauss, she finally registered his argument with Abe.
"Why is she with us and why do you say she can't come along?"
Damn, that sounded rude even to me. Adela winced a bit at the harshness of her own words.
Nuala turned to Adela.
"I am here to offer my help. This is the final piece my brother needs to complete the crown. And this is the map with the location of the Army chamber", she said, showing her a beautiful piece of gold and a cylindrical case.
"Princess, you could give the piece to us, to make sure it is safe", said Krauss.
"No. Where it goes, I go. My father died to protect the truce with the humans and our honor", she said, in a determined voice.
"The lady is in danger, she has to come with us", said Abe.
"I take it that you are willing to vouch for her, agent Sapien?"
"Yes, I am".
They all gave him some confused looks. This was not usually how Abe acted, but his voice left no room for discussion.
"Even so, we cannot take this responsibility upon ourselves", Krauss continued.
"The lady lost her father, what more do you want?", snapped Red.
"Sorry to break this to you, agent Krauss, but you are outnumbered. She's coming", said Adela, wanting to leave the place as soon as possible. She had a bad feeling and knew that the shock won't keep the prince down for long.
Unfortunately, her fears came true. Before they had a chance to leave the hall, the prince appeared from the tunnel, and he didn't look too happy.
"You! Demon. You will pay for what you did to my friend down there. As for you, creature", he said, looking straight at Adela. "You saved his life, so I will spare yours. For now".
There goes the secret…
"Look, buddy, are we going to talk all night, cause I'm really sleepy", said Hellboy, giving the prince a bored look.
Nuada gave him a bitter smile, than took out what looked like a golden egg. The egg started to open in his outstretched hand, revealing a green…bean?
"No, brother!" came Nuala's panicked voice.
Sheesh…It's a bean. What is he going to do, throw it at his head? Adela almost snorted in disbelief.
The prince whispered something to the bean, and threw it towards them. It started to jump around, heading for water. Abe tried to stop it, but it was all in vain. Adela looked towards the prince, but he wasn't there anymore.
That was it?
Seconds later, the earth started to shake, the asphalt cracked and a huge plant-like creature started to grow…and grow…and grow!
The plant finally took a humanoid form and began to smash everything in its way. The team reacted, and they ran towards the people in the area, trying to take them out of the way.
As Red was rescuing a baby from a car, a limb of the creature flew towards him. She jumped in time and slashed it. The green ooze coming out of the creature's wound spilled on the ground, covering everything in moss. Oh my God! What is this?
The creature didn't do anything to harm her, but followed Red. Trying to escape the thing, she saw him climbing up a HOTEL sign on the side of a building, holding the baby in his tail.
Is he insane? She ran towards him, jumped on the same sign and screamed.
"Red, what the hell are you doing? Give me the child!"
"Sorry kid, but this is a bad moment."
"Just let go of the baby, I'll catch him", she said.
"Not a good idea!"
She climbed on the other side of the letters up to where Red was, took the baby from his tail, and jumped on the roof, just as the creature smashed the lower part of the Hotel sign.
Red remained there, with his gun ready. She got to the other side of the roof and jumped on the next building, that had a fire escape. She would not risk jumping all the way down with the child. She could hear Dr. Krauss screaming from the street "shoot it in the head".
Looking back at Red, she saw he had company. The prince was on the roof of the building, just where she stood moments ago. She could not hear everything he was saying, but she got the words "what are you waiting for" and "last of its kind".
Screw his noble cause! If he cared at all about his people he would not sacrifice this one just to test Red.
As Red shot the creature in the head, she turned her back on the scene, with a heavy heart, and descended the stairs. Why does this make me so sad? I'm disappointed with him, but mostly with myself. For a moment, I actually understood his actions and I felt sorry for him. I'm a moron!
She got back on the ground at the same time with Red, absently gave him the baby and stepped towards the dying creature. The earth was transformed by its "blood" and the place looked like a wonderful garden. The creature's head opened into a big flower, which sent pollen flying into the air. The particles came down to earth, looking like snow. The beauty of the place was heartbreaking; especially knowing it was caused by the death of the creature.
Last of its kind…The words were coming to her mind again and again, like a mantra. Her eyes stung. She lifted her hand to her face, to see it was wet. What on earth…I'm crying? I haven't cried in centuries!
She felt herself being watched, so she looked again towards the top of the hotel building. The prince was still on the roof, giving her an intense stare. This time, though, the hatred was in her eyes.
Their little staring contest was broken by noises coming from the ground. She saw Red surrounded by cops and other people. They didn't seem very friendly. The cops had their guns pointed at him, while people screamed insults. One called him 'freak' and dared to throw a rock at him, which got him just below his eye. The anger she felt towards Nuada was redirected. She had to take deep breaths to prevent killing the idiots. That would not be a good idea. She started to count to ten, breathing deeply, as her eyes went through various stages of red. She calmed down a bit after Liz burst into flames, making the crowd go dead silent.
Remembering the prince, she looked towards the roof again, but the place was empty. Deciding that she saw enough for one night, she stepped into the truck, wanting nothing than get as far away as possible from everyone.
A.N. Only one chapter this time. The next one will be a Nuada chapter. Please review!