"Kate? What happened? We saw the blood near your room..." Liz asked, Hellboy following her into the infirmary. They then saw Locke, hooked up to IVs and other equipment, his heart rate and breathing slowly weakening, Liz's hands were over her gaping mouth in shock, Hellboy stiffening and taking a step back as he realized how bad the kid looked. Kate looked up at them, tears on her face, shaking her head once sadly before looking back to Locke.
"Shit, where's Blue? Why isn't he here for this?" Hellboy asked, concern welling up in him again. He had hurt the kid, and he'd only gotten worse since that incident, and Hellboy still felt responsible.
"Red, is that you?" Locke asked weakly, eyes fluttering open slowly. All eyes widened, Kate seeming startled that he had woken at all.
"Yeah, it's me. What's going on?" Hellboy replied, moving closer to Locke.
"Long story, no time..." Locke paused, breathing in sharply. "Abe... In trouble." Hellboy took a moment to understand, nodding.
"Where, I'll go help him."
"No. My... My Responsibility. I sent him... For-Forgot." Locke wheezed again, raising a hand to grasp Hellboy's left. Hellboy blinked, frowning a bit at the blood on Locke's hand, further surprised by the boy's strength as he tugged Hellboy closer.
"Forgot what? Is there something he needs? I can take it." Locke shook his head, struggling to sit up, Hellboy tried to help, seeing the two massive gashes on Locke's back, bleeding visibly. His eyes went wide when he saw, at the base of Locke's shoulder blades and sticking out from the open wounds, sawed-off bone spurs with tendons and veins attached to them. He looked away, trying to ignore it.
"Guardian... Evil, left by the Ogdru-Jahad... It will... Kill Abe." Locke's speech cleared slowly as he summoned what little strength he still contained. The bracelet on his arm shook and cut further into his flesh, drawing blood that trickled down his arm and onto the bed. Locke looked up at Hellboy, smiling lightly.
"Alright kid, I'm trusting you on this." Hellboy helped Kate remove the monitoring equipment hookups and IVs before he gently began to pick Locke up, freezing when the boy hissed, arching his back when the stone of Hellboy's right hand touched his back. Hellboy frowned, quickly walked to the other side of the bed, curling instead his left arm to support Locke's back, wrapping the bloodstained white sheet around the boy and hooking his right arm under Locke's legs.
Locke leaned against Hellboy, shivering lightly, from pain or cold, Hellboy wasn't certain, but he could feel Locke growing colder by the second. Hellboy attributed this as his body having lost far more blood than what should have been possible to keep his heart beating, further awed by the strength in the child.
"Where to?" Hellboy asked once he was certain Locke was as comfortable as possible in his arms.
"Storage area, holding chamber thirteen... Abe is already there." Locke replied, shivering again, being careful not to touch Hellboy with his bracelet. Hellboy nodded, heading out and flat out running, holding Locke carefully. Liz and Kate followed as best they could, Liz having to be careful because of her growing twins, and Kate slightly out of shape.
As they ran, Abe had already opened the large blast-doors of chamber thirteen, only one item, the massive stone block, shoved back against the rear wall. The two lights immediately on either side of the door were the only ones that illuminated the room, the rest somehow plunged into an inky black darkness that resisted the lights from outside, the light fixtures lining the ceiling enveloped in black.
The block, Marble at first glance, seemed to have crushed or enveloped the moving platform beneath it and melded with the concrete floor below. He approached it, looking to the crystalline Runestone in his hand.
"There, in the centre of the runic circle, put the tablet there." Aureiahnna instructed. Abe looked over the block before him, not seeing what she meant for a moment, taking another hesitant step forward. He didn't notice that the stone tablet in his left hand flared once, the symbol on one side seeming to fade.
Suddenly, with the sound of cracking stone and rumbling earth, the runic circle appeared, much akin to one of the floating circular seals Locke had used to keep his bedroom and belongings protected. It stood out in high relief from the surface of the stone, and another heavy feeling of dread gnawed at him.
He raised his left hand, looking over the tablet, frowning that the appearance of it had changed without his notice, then to the small indentation that matched the shape of the tablet, and sported the reverse of the side with the depiction of the patron and the Runestone. As he slowly moved to put the tablet into place, he became aware of the floor shaking lightly, as Hellboy thundered down the hall and skidded into the room.
Abe began to turn, and time seemed to slow down. He saw Hellboy, holding a small figure with blond hair, and glowing blue-green eyes. The Tablet seemed to purposely slip from his fingers on its own, as Abe realized who it was that had come to help him.
"Locke? Red?" He asked curiously.
"Abe no! Don't put the tablet there yet!" Locke cried, nearly falling from Hellboy's arms when he tried to move forward with his warning as Kate and Liz ran to join Hellboy and Locke at the doorway.
They were too late. Abe quickly turned back to see the Tablet float in midair for a moment of its own accord, as though hovering before him in thanks, before jerking away suddenly to lock into the seal on the stone block. It flashed briefly before it turned in place with a loud crack, the block splitting across the face of the seal. Abe backed up once, losing his hold on the Runestone.
Abe jumped slightly, transfixed, as the block seemed to be struck by an immense force from inside, and Locke insisted Hellboy put him down and withdraw the Samaritan. Hellboy agreed, gently putting Locke down, who stood of his own accord near the wall, still wrapped in the sheet, without much trouble, still visibly fighting to remain so as Hellboy withdrew the Samaritan from his belt carefully.
As the Runestone touched the ground, having slipped from Abe's fingers much like the tablet had, instead of shattering, it changed. Its form stretched and grew, feathers forming on its surface. Then beautiful feathered wings and a long strong tail formed. Aureiahnna let out a beautiful cry as she flexed her wings, strong beak and head crest adding to her owl-like features.
"A Pheonix?" Abe asked, blinking. She simply nodded, quickly fluttering over to Locke to land before him. Another thundering boom came from within the block, pieces of the stone and runic circle falling away, black shadow seeping from the cracks in the stone and attempting to stretch beyond its confines, reaching outward.
"What the hell is going on?" Liz asked before Hellboy could, looking accusingly at Locke.
"What I've been looking for, something that was torn from me, is in that block. But it is protected by the ones that stole what I need to live. I had forgotten about the guardian." Locke explained, seeming to have regained some of his strength, despite still bleeding from the deep rivets in the flesh of his back, and from the gash in his arm from his bracelet. Another boom came, more of the block falling away, larger chunks were being broken and crumbling now, and the tablet had fallen away, buried beneath the debris.
"What is it? A big nasty like Sammael? I can take him." Hellboy grinned, looking at Locke with a smirk, readying the Samaritan.
"No, it's worse. I think it is an aspect of Setesh, an enemy of my Patron... If you can distract it long enough, I can get into the prison and retrieve them." Locke looked up at him, smiling again. "Be mindful though, it knows Abe to be the one who opened the lock, and will go after him first." Another boom shook the floor slightly, more chunks falling away, allowing one to peer inside the black depths of the block.
Within the confines, a pair of sickly green eyes glowed with gemfire akin to Locke's. A low growl came, then a roar.
"Come get me." Locke hissed with a grin, his voice sounding at once older, and more powerful. His Pheonix took to the air as another roar issued forth from the beast within, Abe and Hellboy both readying themselves as Kate and Liz scrambled for something to use as a weapon or shield.