The Rabbit Hole Ch2
Disclaimer: I don't own anything in the Hellboy Universe, but I own Rielle and Lavinia. So there. :P
Chapter Two
Bruttenholm:
Once the girls were settled into a room with an army of experienced medical technicians, I quietly excused myself and made my exit. Once in the hallway I sighed and shut my eyes for a moment. What a mess this is. With no idea how to fix this, I went into the adjoining room, where the opposite side of the one-way mirror was located. This way I could hear and see everything the two girls did, but they couldn't see me.
The raven-haired woman knew, I suspected, but I tried to pass it off as paranoia. She kept looking directly into the mirror and smiling mysteriously, as though she'd been on that side of the mirror before and knew damn well she was being watched. It made me nervous, and curious as to her origins. Her behaviour made her out to be a normal, energetic young woman but there was preciseness in her movements that reminded me of military personnel.
The redhead, on the other hand, was very obviously a civilian under no cover. She just sat there and complained about the doctor's 'rough' stitching technique.
Ellie is cleverer than she looks. And the other? Vinny, was it? She was just a loudmouth, and proud of it. I was reminded of another loudmouth in this facility when I heard the woman bellow "Crap!" and watched her overzealous attempts to escape the needle.
My thoughts were interrupted as a high pitched scream pierced through the glass. I stared in shock as the redhead fell off her bed and practically knocked over a doctor trying to crawl away. Ellie's eyes widened as she witnessed her friend's fear and went after her.
I didn't even have to guess at what caused such a reaction; I just shook my head and cursed my own forgetfulness.
Today was Hellboy's monthly physical.
Hellboy:
I didn't ask for this shit. I groaned and shut the door behind me. First, my breakfast's congealed and tastes like week-old monkey crap, then one of the cat's peed on my favourite comic, and now this.
I cringed when the little redhead screamed again. The darker one kneeled next to her and gave her a little shake, obviously confused. When that didn't work she up and smacked her across the face, making me want to cringe again. Ouch.
"Good morning Red," said Dr. Addams, holding a wad of gauze and keeping his mirth in check.
"Yah, Yah, what the hell's going on?" I waved at the two hysterical girls on the floor.
Before the doctor could give me an answer, the door behind me opened up again and the darker girl on the floor finally saw me, yelling "Holy Fucking Christ!"
"Good Morning, my son." Said my father's indifferent voice beside me. I looked down at him and returned the greeting. He looks worse today.
By then the dark one was on her feet and hovering protectively over her friend. You'd think I would have been used to this sort of reaction to my appearance but it was too goddamned early for me to have any semblance of patience.
"Oh good, you brought me breakfast." I licked my chops for effect and the girls eyes darkened.
"Hellboy!" Father chastised me with a look of pure paternal anger.
"I know, I know. 'Go to your room.'"
"Precisely. We'll do your physical later."
I strode out of the room without another word and slammed the door behind me, making the glass rattle in the frame.
I considered actually obeying my father's orders but the curiosity was a little too much so I went into the other room to watch the fun through the mirror.
I didn't realize the dark woman had a knife while I was still in the room, but I sure as hell did know. She had it gripped tightly in her left hand wile gesturing wildly with her right. "What the fu... who...shit."
I almost laughed, she was so agitated. My father had both his hands in the air, walking slowly over the broken medical stuff on the floor towards the knife-wielding girl.
"Calm down please Miss, Ellie is it?"
The girl shook herself and focussed all her attention of my father, who was now less than four feet away from her.
"Rielle." She said shakily.
"Rielle."
"I hate being called Ellie."
"I apologize." Another foot closer. My instinct told me to bust in there and get my dad away from her but I kept still. He knew what he was doing. Instead I lit a cigar and tried to calm my nerves. "Rielle, can you give me the knife please?"
Rielle looked at the knife still clutched in her hand. "If you'll answer one question for me first." She said dispassionately. I frowned. She was instantly composed and almost icy in her calmness. Still dangerous even with the seven inch blade pointed at the floor, but not an immediate threat. "I'm asking for direct honesty only."
"Agreed. Ask your question."
"Does he mean any harm to me and mine?"
I saw my father shake his head in the negative and replied aloud, "No, he won't hurt you or your friend."
"Alright then." Immediately the iciness was dropped and the knife was given up handle first to my father. The trust implied was mind-blowing. I let out a breath I never realized I had held and choked on the over-stewed cigar smoke.
They both heard my coughing and turned to the mirror. I covered my mouth with my right hand and continued expelling smoke from my lungs. The way their faces looked I wasn't sure who to be more afraid of, my father or the girl.
I left the room before they could physically catch me. At least my curiousity was temporarily sated. Father was in no danger and the girls were alright, and I could hopefully avoid the Physical for the rest of the day if I kept myself scarce.
Besides, I was hungry again.
Rielle:
An hour later, after convincing Lavinia that the 'big red monster' was indeed gone, we were seated in Broom's office sipping tea like nothing happened. The situation was almost laughable, but I kept silent for Lavinia's sake. The poor girl wasn't taking all this very well, and who could blame her? I saw the giant red guy myself and I was still shaking inside, despite the promise that he was harmless. Now I sort of felt bad for whacking her. The angry red mark on her cheek made me feel like shit. I hit my best friend.
"Vinny?" I said to break the silence, and to pop Lavinia out of that twitchy bubble she was stuck in. She jumped a little at my voice.
"What?"
"How are you doing?" I asked carefully.
She grinned weakly from her perch nearest the giant aquarium. "Superb. You?"
"Spectacular."
"Glad to hear it."
We both nodded and sipped our tea, smirking at ourselves.
Broom was off somewhere supposedly hunting down some cream for Lavinia's tea, so I took the opportunity to think about this morning's events.
The poor girl. Her face when she saw him! I had no clue what had scared her so horribly, I assumed it was something the doctor was going to do to her or something, or maybe she was just kidding around. She's done it to that extreme before, so how could I not think that, even for a moment? Then, when she didn't come out of it, and smacking her didn't work, I thought it could have been some psychotic episode. That she isn't known for.
It wasn't until I turned around that I knew what scared her... and WHAM, reflex kicked in. Protect what's yours. All I saw was someone who was double my size and had a tail, and I went into the defensive, getting in front of Lavinia and pulling my boot-knife.
Frankly, I don't know what scared me more, the Big Red Guy, or Vinny's hysterical reaction to him.
Then Broom came in and talked to him like he was just some other guy, and He made that smart ass comment about breakfast. That didn't exactly endear me to him, but it did show he had a sense of humour.
After he got kicked out and I was promised that the big guy wasn't going to hurt Lavinia, no problem. For some, probably dumb reason, I trusted the little old bugger and gave him my knife.
Broom seemed surprised at my gesture but took my knife carefully, studying it a little before placing it on the one table that was still standing. Then I heard someone coughing from the room beyond the mirror (do these guys really think they're being sneaky?) and got a little pissed again. I hate being watched. Broom excused himself again and took off out the door, leaving me and Lavinia feeling sort of dumb and alone with a trashed room and more than slightly ticked off doctors.
After they sewed and casted us and then drafted us to help clean the place up, we were brought here, where Broom waited for us with a pot of hot tea and the promise of an explanation. Poor Lavinia, the girl was still shaky and hugging her self, until I put a cup of Red Rose under her nose. She perked right back up and drank the first cup down irregardless of the steamy hot consequences. I think Broom was perturbed by her display of running around squealing with her tongue sticking out. I know I was. I don't know if that's the reason he took off so quickly to find Lavinia's cream, but the coincidence was hilarious.
I got off my chair, deciding that whatever was going to happen to us today, I wouldn't take it sitting down, but would also try to keep an open mind. There was more to this place than a simple army base, that much was obvious. The purpose, however, was unknown. The office alone could have told me that, never mind the Red Giant and the weird insignia posted all over the place.
Not in one military installation had I seen such a lavishly decorated room, and what a collection of books! I felt like a kid in a candy store as I ran my fingers lightly over some of the older texts, skimming the titles, Dante's Divine Comedy, varied works by Emerson, Scott and Eliot. Then onto some non-fiction textbooks, ranging from Chemistry and Biology to the supernatural and mythology.
Then, my mind pointed out, there's that big ass fish tank.
I passed Lavinia on my way to check out the tank, patting her on the head like she was my good little puppy, and in return she gave me a boot (Wow, they found em!) to the ass and scowled, before joining me in front of the tank.
"Where are the fish?" she asked.
"No clue. Must be a big fuckin' fish though."
Staring in awe at the enormous tank and the blue water within, something began niggling at my brain, something I couldn't put my finger on.
Abe:
Beyond the water there stood another glass wall with a view into my personal quarters. The room was rarely used, sanitary and dreadfully boring, and for that reason I preferred the side of the tank with the view of the Professor's office. It was homey and had plenty of books to occupy me in times of monotony.
Unfortunately the current events had prevented me from finishing my latest narrative, Moby Dick. I found the plot intriguing but some references rather offensive. Instead of giving it up I chose to ignore it, because that's the risk you take when endeavouring to expand your mind and broaden your horizons.
And I couldn't help but cheer for the whale.
Professor Broom stood behind me, waiting patiently for me to clear my mind enough to read the women properly. With random thoughts of Ahab running through, the reading may have gotten contaminated, and that was the last thing I wanted to do.
Earlier I had asked Broom why he needed me to this at all, he could have just as easily asked the women his questions directly, but he neglected to give me a straight answer. I declined to press the issue.
I pressed my hand against the glass and received immediate information from Lavinia the redhead. She was an open book, projecting her fearful thoughts and images of home easily through the thick barriers. Flashes of the prairies and family mingled with darkness and pain.
It was difficult to interpret but simple to establish she didn't have an agenda when they trespassed onto the base. She was just here, and dealing with it as well as she could, considering all she's been through in the past 12 hours.
Rielle, in contrast, was a whole different story. I had to concentrate exceptionally hard just to get her physical image, let alone her mental form. Once past that I quite literally ran into a brick wall. She resisted my probing unlike anyone I've encountered, and the strength behind this barrier surrounding her virtually indomitable.
I ceased my probing for a moment to inform the professor of my findings. He didn't' seem surprised at all about Miss Lavinia, previously assuming the same thing. He did seem intrigued by this new development with the other woman.
He said to leave it for now, at least until he could get me closer. Maybe the water barrier had something to do with my inability to penetrate Miss Rielle's mind. I'd try again later.