"Do you have any information about where she came from? Why she was brought through the tunnel?" Asked Hellboy as he, Abe, and professor Broom made their way to the holding cell. "There has to be some kind of explanation, it doesn't make any since, why would an angel be in a hell dimension."
"Maybe she isn't really an angel at all, perhaps is a shape shifter, and is only pretending to be an angel." Said professor Broom.
"Or perhaps that wasn't a hell dimension at all. Maybe the portal opened to heaven, or something similar." Added Abe.
"I don't think that is the case. I saw that portal, I felt the evil there, it may not have been a hell dimension, but whatever it was, it wasn't a place Id wanna be for to long." Said Hellboy.
"Then what about professor Brooms theory, that she isn't an angel at all." Said Abe, "I think we should consider it a real possibility and sedate her for a medical examination just to make certain."
"Haven't you tried that already?" asked Hellboy.
"Well we haven't tried shooting her with a tranquilizer yet." Said Abe.
Hellboy stopped walking and looked seriously at them both. "Absolutely not."
"Why not, it would be very simple, if you hadn't awakened when you did we probably would have done it already." Said Abe.
But Hellboy wasn't flinching from his position. "No way are you going to shoot her with a rifle full of sedatives like some out of control animal." He said with determination. "I think she has been shot at quite enough."
"I agree son," said Professor Broom. "We will first see if you can reach her, get her to cooperate, but if that doesn't work. Hellboy her wounds must be treated, regardless of weather she is a demon or not and should this tactic fail I believe we will have no other option."
Hellboy looked as though he was going to protest but then shrugged his shoulders and reluctantly nodded in agreement. The others may not have sensed it but he was racked with guilt over shooting her, over not seeing what she really was.
In retrospect it had all been so clear, the only time she had attacked him was after he had attacked her first, she had only been defending herself. A strategy not many demons undertook for long. He should have seen what she was from the start. He knew in his heart that the demon pretending theory wasn't true and he would try and get her to understand, get her to speak with him.
But if he couldn't, it would take a hell of a lot more than a few influential words for him to allow them to frighten and shoot at her again.
He had been lost in his thoughts when they reached the first series of guards, both of whom nodded to professor Broom and opened the door using key cards.
They all walked into a long chamber lined with ten men with rifles. At the end of the hallway was a glass door, which professor Broom stood in front of and spoke his name to.
"Professor Broom." He stated.
A thin metal rod dropped slowly down and professor broom opened his eyes wide. Then after scanning them, the object retreated back into the ceiling.
"Welcome, professor Broom." Said a computer voice.
The glass doors slid open and Hellboy stepped through them.
"We will be in the observation deck." Said Abe.
Hellboy nodded and then faced the two titanium doors in front of him.
The glass doors slid shut behind him and he heard the hiss of the locks opening in front.
They slid open revealing a large round metal cell, dark and cold.
Hellboy stepped into the cell and the doors behind him closed.
He couldn't see much in front of him but could see just how tall the room was.
"Hello?" Hellboy moved casually further into the room straining with his eyes to find her.
"We are going to give you some light," said Abe over the loudspeaker.
Off in the upper left hand corner there was a glass observation deck with Abe, Broom, and several other men in white coats.
The room suddenly lit as a dozen or so bulbs mounted into the walls were illuminated.
There she was. Huddled in a corner, her right wing covering her body and the left one drooping pitifully on the ground with the red stains of blood soaking through the feathers.
"Hey." Said Hellboy, crouching on the ground so as to be eye level with her.
Her head turned from being buried in her knees and they stared at one another.
She was still dirty and covered with cuts. She had mud and sand all over. Her face had a big smudge of dirt covering it and lines of evaporated tears streaming down her cheeks. Her hair was mangled and caked with mud and sand and leaves.
Hellboy made no attempt to approach her but kept his eyes fixed on hers. "So what's your name?" he said,
She did not respond.
"My name is Hellboy, sounds kinda funny but it suits me as you can see." She still did not respond. "Some call me HB, or Red, but it makes not difference to me."
Still she was silent and Red decided to just talk and not wait for a response. "You may remember me from the forest. Yeah, sorry about that, I thought you were a demon." He scratched his head and then slumped down, so he could just sit instead of crouch. "But I know now that you're not a demon."
Well, duh, she's not a demon. He thought to himself. This wasn't going very well and while he knew she was scared and he had to build up some trust first negotiation wasn't his strong suit.
"Look, uh, we can get you whatever you need. Clothes, food, your wing looks pretty banged up, maybe we could get someone in her to..."
"Why was I freed?" she asked, lifting her head slightly, her voice was small and barely audible.
A mixture of excitement and confusion filled Hellboy's head and he inched a tiny bit forward. "We don't know." He said.
"You didn't pull me out of hell?" she asked.
Shock was all he could express for a moment as he tried to compute what she was asking. "No, we were there to prevent someone from letting a demon into the world." He said, "They are the ones who pulled you out."
"Then I am on earth?" she asked.
"Yes, you are on earth. You are safe here, we won't harm you." he said. He tried to fight back the question but he had to know. "Why were you in hell?"
"I defied the angels law." She said. Moving her hand to touch her injured wing.
Hellboy could see she was not interested in talking about why she was there.
"What year is it.?"
"It is 2004." Responded Hellboy.
"Then I have been in hell for twenty nine years." She said.
This girl looked like she could be no more than twenty, it was astonishing for him to imagine what it must have been like to be in hell for so long.
"I promise we wont hurt you but we need to give you medical treatment. Would you let us do that? Then you wont have to stay in here, you can go any place you like."
She nodded. And a moment later a team of medical personnel opened the door.
Hellboy stood up and smiled. "I guess I will see you when you're done. I'm sure you will be please to meet the rest of us." He said, walking out the room. Leaving her to the staff.
"Red." She yelled to him.
He turned around. "My name is Angela Birdeata Shloble." She called to him before the door closed.
That night Red thought about what she had said, he couldn't believe she would do anything to deserve hell. He knew what hell was; it was dark, painful, and dangerous. She didn't belong there. She couldn't belong there. He drifted off to sleep, feeling a terrible sense of injustice.
"Good morning Hellboy." Said Abe as Hellboy walked into the library.
"Hi." Any news from the docs?" he said looking around at Broom. "Will she be alright."
"Yes, fine, fine, she will be as good as new. But I do have some interesting information for you this morning." Said Professor Broom.
"I have found the records of a Mrs. Angela Birdeata Shloble," said Broom.
He took a file from his desk and Hellboy took a seat in the lounge chair.
"Her maiden name was Angela Birdeata McPerren, her parents Mark and Katherine McPherren came to America from Scotland, apparently pregnant with Angela. She was born three months after her parent's arrival on December the second 1921 just outside of Colorado. She studied Anthropology and Philosophy at the university of Colorado. (Very unusual for a woman at the time I may add) there she met Andy Shloble, a law major whom she married in the spring of 1940 at the age of 19. Andy was shipped off to Germany in 1943 towards the end of WW2. Three months later he was captured by the Germans and placed in a concentration camp where he was murdered two months later. Angela was pregnant with their first child but went to Germany to retrieve his body. While there she went into labor and later in the hospital, three months after giving birth to their daughter (Katharine) died, of complications due to labor in the beginning of 1944." Broom finished reading and looked up from his papers.
"Its impossible." said Hellboy. "This must be the wrong person. She can't be that old, how could she have died. She's here now." He said, bewildered by the information.
"It's the truth." Said Broom. "Here is a picture of her and her husband, on their wedding day I believe." He said, handing Hellboy the black and white photo.
A man in his mid twenties and woman of a younger age smiling at one another, stood next to Niagara falls, her dress was a lovely white gown with short sleeves and a long veil that trailed a ways down her back. She held the man with one hand and with the other held her veil up over her head to keep the moisture from the falls off her beautifully braided hair as the pair half smiled half laughed with one another.
The woman was unmistakably Angela. She was so beautiful. The smile on her face was that of a young woman who had everything she would ever want right they're with her. Hellboy smiled at the sight of it, touched by the innocence of the image and for a moment he could imagine being the photographer of the picturesque scene.
But then his smile faded remembering that just four years later they both would be dead.
"How is this possible?" Asked Hellboy, realizing that this was her story, this was the life she had lived.....when she was alive.
"Isn't it obvious," said Abe from his huge tank. "Add up what we know, she was born in 1920, died in 1944 and must have become an angel when she died. She was an angel for twenty years and then somehow she ended up in that hell dimension until two days ago when she was pulled out."
"I don't believe in angels Abe." Said Hellboy. "Its just to out there."
"But you believe in demons, nastys, and all the creatures brought forth from hell? That doesn't make much since to me Red." Responded Abe.
"Hay!...I am one of those creatures from hell." He said in a low voice. "Plus I've fought demons, I've killed demons. I've never seen evidence of angels."
"That's not true, you have seen absolute proof that angels exist Hellboy." Said Broom,
"When? Where? In all the years I have been in the supernatural business I cant recall one single time when angels and I have crossed paths." Said Hellboy with exasperation.
"There is an angel in the medical lab right now. You fought an angel two days ago. They may be mysterious and reclusive creatures but so are you to the general public. No my boy, just because you haven't seen it doesn't mean they aren't out there." Said Broom.
At his words Hellboy fell silent. His father was rarely wrong and he knew it was best to trust his word as truth.
"Hey, everybody, what did I miss while I was away, this place is more crowded than grand central."
"Mayers!" yelled Hellboy. "Where the hell have you been?" he asked, happy to get his mind off the present topic.
"I was on vacation. You knew that." he said as he came down the stairs and greeted them.
"Oh, that's right, well you have missed a lot." Said Hellboy.
"I'm sure I will have plenty of time to..."
"Sir, your needed in the medical lab." A man wearing a long white medical coat stood at the top of he stairs looking at Professor Broom.
"Ah, yes, I will be there right away." Said Broom.
Broom, Hellboy, and Myers together walked the short distance to the med lab where agent manning was just outside waiting for them.
"Professor Broom." He said happily and walked up to shake his hand. But looked wearily at Hellboy.
"Professor, this is an astonishing discovery your team has made, I commend you." he said, "I have just spoken with Dr. Elliot and he tells me our new resident.... uh, member will be in perfect health within a month." He said. His tone carried with it something Hellboy did not like, as though he were buttering them up for bad news.
"New member? I had no idea anyone had even presented Mrs. Shloble with the option of staying here with us." Said Broom with surprise and a questioning gaze.
Agent Mannings smile faded as he continued. "Well, no one has officially, but I was hoping you might ask Hellboy to pass along the message to her that she is more than welcome to stay here, and that we insist she does."
"Why don't you ask him yourself Agent Manning, he is right here after all." Said Broom.
Agent manning looked as though he had just been asked to eat worms with the scowl that was on his face as he turned to Hellboy.
"Hellboy." He said with distain. "I need to ask you a favor." He said.
Hellboy was very much enjoying Agent Manning's state of need; he must want something very bad if he was willing to come to Hellboy for help.
"I want you to ask Mrs. shoble to stay here with us." He said.
Hellboy was suspicious of Agent Manning's request. If that was all he wanted he could have done it himself. Hellboy knew that manning must have something up his sleeve.
"What's the catch manning." He asked.
"Theirs no catch."
"Don't try that with me, you would never come crawling to me just to ask some girl to join our little tea party." He said
Manning sighed. "Now, understand I am only the messenger here, I had nothing to do with the decision. If it were up to me..."
"Spill it Manning what is it exactly you want from me."
"She has to stay." He said,
"What do you mean."
"I mean...if she tries to leave we will use force to keep her here, at least for a while. She had to stay here Hellboy, she isn't allowed to leave." He finally blurted out.
"WHAT!!" yelled Hellboy.
"I promise she will have full privileges and get her own room, and well, she can start to go outside in a little while as long as she has an escort." Said Manning, trying to make the situation seem all right.
"So she can do whatever she wants as long as she stays in her cage to do it!!" he yelled.
Hellboy was furious and was flailing his arms wildly as he towered over Agent Manning who was trying his best to stay composed.
"I'm sorry Hellboy but this is the way it is going to be, there is nothing either of us can do about it now."
"And what if she does try to leave. Will you kill her before you let her taste freedom? Is that how its going to be. A lock on every door, sending her back into the cell again."
"Listen it isn't going to be like that!!" yelled Manning.
"WELL TELL ME THEN manning, HOW IS IT GOING TO BE, BECAUSE RIGHT ABOUT NOW ALL YOU HAVE DESCRIBED TO ME IS A FANCY PRISON!!!!" he yelled.
"Nonthes ectiolinde ojg tehelid undomnie!"
Hellboy and Manning stopped and saw her standing there. The words so beautiful they seemed to rush over the two men and put them at peace.
Hellboy and Manning stood there for a moment and looked at her. Her wing was wrapped in a white cloth and her arm was in a sling. She wore a jump suit that seemed at least four times too large for her. And the many cuts that covered her face were covered in salve. All the dirt was gone from her face and she held her hair up on a ponytail. Its long wavy blonde curls draping her shoulders and back.
She walked to stand beside them and when she stopped she folded her wings so neatly against her back that had Hellboy never seen them before he never would have known they were there.
"Its alright Red, Mr. Manning, i'm grateful to have a place to go. I will stay as long as I can." She said.
I dint really know whre to end this chapter so I will just end it her because I am very tired and need to rest.
aikoalima