Disclaimer: I don't own anything in the Hellboy Universe, but I own Rielle and Lavinia. So there. :P

Note: I'd love some feedback, I don't know whether I should keep posting chapters or not. If I'm doing something wrong, please let me know, just be nice about it. LOL.

Chapter Three

Rielle:

That creepy niggling feeling in the back of my head eventually subsided, but it left me feeling tense. Something about the water maybe. I left Lavinia to fondle the fish tank and wandered the office again, shaking the feeling off as well as I could. Again I found myself by the bookshelf resisting the urge to grab up a think volume and read, instead of thinking about reality.

"Ellie?"

I sighed glancing at the books in envy. "Yah Vinny?" I replied, turning away and seating myself back in my chair.

"I'm starting to think I'm stoned, or... or delusional."

I had to interrupt. "You think?"

"Shut up."

I giggled into my lukewarm tea.

"C'mon, There's something so.... Unreal about this whole thing

"What clued you in, falling down a hole that just happened to be on a secret military base, or the giant red guy with a tail?"

"You're such a bitch."

We're friends, really.

I conceded. "Just fuckin' with you. Ever read Alice in Wonderland?"

"No, but I saw the movie. Oooohh! The 'hole thing'. Scary coincidence. Oh god."

"What?"

Lavinia turned even redder. "Cant' you just see Broom as the Mad Hatter?"

I choked. The image of the professor singing the Unbirthday Song popped into my head. Lavinia started laughing hysterically, leaning against the tank for balance.

"Oh shit, I think he stuck something in the tea." She gasped.

"I assure you I did no such thing."

Vinny screamed and I must have jumped a foot off my chair when Broom spoke. He shook his head at us.

"Though I'm rather doubtful now of the caffeine content."

We both studied the hardwood with great interest, unsuccessfully covering our embarrassment. Broom handed Lavinia a little ceramic creamer and refilled all three of our cups before seating himself behind his enormous desk. We followed suit, Lavinia in her previous chair near the tank and me on the arm of mine.

Broom kept silent for a moment, hands crisscrossed on his desk, deep in thought. I suddenly had the feeling he was about to order our execution.

"What a mess." He began mildly, sounding a little regretful, which sort of confirmed my thoughts. We're dead. "Things should have been handled differently. I never should have brought you two inside the facility. That was a mistake on my part."

"Shit happens, I guess." Lavinia blurted.

"Vinny!" I admonished. I still felt uncomfortable cursing in front of my elders. Just the way I was raised!

"Sorry." She said meekly.

Broom sipped his tea, eyes dancing at our exchange. He continued, "Unfortunately, I cannot turn back tome or erase memories, despite all the military technology at my disposal. What I can do is offer you two a choice."

I glanced over at Lavinia, who was now curled up into a little ball on her chair, clutching her teacup to her chest. She looked back and gave me a weak smile.

Whatever happens, I'll be fine as long as Vinny's safe.

"Alright." I said quietly.

The professor laughed suddenly. "We're not going to kill you if that's what you're thinking. If we were going to just shoot you for trespassing and seeing what you've seen, I wouldn't have bothered with bandages and tea."

Lavinia visibly relaxed, and yes, it was good to hear, but in my mind there were punishments worse than dead. I'm not a pessimist, but I like to think of all possibilities. And hell, this WAS an American military facility.

"What exactly did we see if I may ask?" What I saw was a huge red man with disproportionate hands and yellow eyes, not to mention the tail. I impulsively went into Kill-mode after that, but honestly, I couldn't remember details. Lavinia had likely seen more as she spent a good 30-40 seconds looking at him. I don't think asking about it was a great idea, but I had to know what we saw.

Broom frowned and muttered, "Someone who should have listened to the alert this morning." He looked me directly in the eye. "That was... an issue to be addressed later. Now, back to our predicament, I had a few ideas I'd like to discuss."

"I'm sure you do, professor and I apologize if I'm pushing my luck or anything, but before any plans are made there are a few things I'd like to discuss." I paused, trying to calm myself before I dug both our graves. I took a deep breath and glanced again at Lavinia for assurance. I got the 'Shut Up!' look but spotted the curious gleam in her eyes as well. She's seen that look in my eyes more than once and gone on to do something either monumentally stupid or introduced me to something fabulous. I decided that getting her out of here to go on doing both was my first priority.

"It's just that all this, the base, this office, other shit, has sort of made this entire thing seem unreal. Before we make any decisions I think it would be wise to have as much information as is needed."

The Professor nodded, taking in my outburst. He appeared to come to a decision himself. "What you have asked is fair, and honest, and it's only equitable if I do the same. My predicament is whether to let you two obviously innocent young ladies free with the information, however small, you have and risk the security of this place and its employees. Or explain this place and what you've seen, and offer you two jobs."

I was pretty much broad-sided with that. Jobs? HA!

"I've skimmed through some files, and it appears you both just moved to Connecticut from Western Canada and are in need of employment."

"Files? You already have files?" Vinny got off her chair and started pacing. Like she has reason! All she had was a criminal record for indecent exposure and disturbing the peace when we were 22 and piss-drunk. I had... other things.

"Only surface information, I assure you."

Phew!

"Now, the question here is, do you girls think you can keep quiet about what you've seen here today? And I don't mean for a few weeks, I mean the rest of your lives? Because if we let you go to live on as normal we must have assurances that nothing will leak out to the general populace."

"No worries, I won't say shit. You?" Vinny promised and looked at me to do the same.

My curiosity got the better of me. "What kind of jobs were you offering?"

Lavinia:

I pulled Rielle to the side away from Broom. What the fuck is she trying to pull?

"Are you fucking crazy?" I whispered harshly. "What are you trying to do, get us stuck here?"

Rielle shook her head emphatically NO. "Just info gathering. If it's a choice between one, working here, two, being followed, tapped and watched for the rest of our lives, or three, getting shot in the head and left in a field, I'd like to know my options!"

"A little extreme don't you think?" I doubted they'd go so far as to blow us away to keep us silent, and anyway, Broom said they wouldn't. May be dumb, but I believed him.

"That shit happens all the time here. Look, I want to get out of here just as much as you do but making rash, uninformed decisions could either get us jail time or get us dead. I'm just watching both our asses"

My shoulders slumped, defeated. Damned bitch is right.

She continued, "Anyways, what would be so bad about working here? He practically offered us jobs so that'll save a hell of a lot of time, and the military pays civvies pretty good for certain jobs."

"What about our apartment? We just spent a crapload cleaning and repainting. What if they make us live on-base?"

Rielle shrugged, "I don't know, we'd have to ask. But you see where I'm comin' from?"

"Yah."

"So come on, let's get this shit done."

"Alright, as long as we ain't scrubbin' toilets with our toothbrushes. I hate that shit."

We pinkie swore on it and sat back down with the professor. I made the decision here to trust Rielle's instinct; she knew what she was doing. Probably from all those damned military movies she forced me to watch all the time.

Broom smiled at us again, radiating trust and comfort. He reminded my of my moshum, except Broom was smaller... and didn't make dirty jokes at the expense of my kokum.

Rielle spoke first, leaning forward in her chair and looking Broom in the eye. "Sorry about that, we just need a moment to consult. Now, we were curious about our options."

"It's really quite simple. You're free to go, no matter your decision. I'm not a man that willingly destroys freedom, given the choice." He said the last bitterly. This guy has stories to tell. "Unfortunately, working with the government limits my choices. I would like to let you go and leave you alone, but with the trespassing and security breaches, I must restrict your freedom, if it's just for a little while. Just to be sure you're not secret agents." He finished with a laugh.

Rielle and the professor discussed the restrictions and a bunch of other technical crap that I didn't have the energy to interpret, for a solid ten minutes. When they talked about just letting us free, I did catch the phone tapping and surprise watchdog checks, and I especially heard the consequences of breaking our silence, deportation and possible jail time. Broom told us all this in distaste, obviously hating these rules as much as I did.

"What did you say earlier about jobs?" I asked, interrupting their talks. On to a little less disturbing things, please. Much rather work here than be followed by creepy-ass soldiers for the rest of eternity.

"Like I said earlier, from surface record scans we learned a little about you girls. Age, education, criminal records," I coughed a little and Broom's lips wriggled as if he was trying not to grin, "previous employment, things like that. From that we can narrow down talents and see if there's anything here for you to apply those talents to."

Shit. The only talent I had was dancing and maybe typing. Oooohhh.

"Miss Asaiken, did I say that right?"

I nodded.

"I see here you won a chilli making contest in 2002 and you took some cooking courses in 2001. How would you like to try cooking?"

I forgot all about that! Hell, I was drunk during that contest, and I didn't really count the cooking class. I didn't make it all the way through, but Rielle sure as hell appreciated what I learned. My Butter Chicken was to die for.

"Miss Cyr, I see you've got your journeyman's in automotive repair, was arrested for illegal street racing in 2002 and you also have a degree in English with a minor in music."

Rielle blushed. She hated hearing about her accomplishments more than her failures. She also felt ashamed about the arrest, not guilt over the racing but dishonour for getting caught.

"I hear you mention earlier the engine in one of our trucks 'needing work'. We have four large trucks and about thirty other miscellaneous vehicles that could use regular maintenance and repair by someone who actually knows what they're doing."

"Are tools provided?"

Rielle thinks of everything.

"Most, but our mobile equipment funding has been cut so you'd be working with a lot of outdated tools."

There was a pause before the Professor continued, "So, now that you've heard both options, is there any additional questions?"

I spoke up again, "Would we have to live on-base?"

"Until our people can do some further questioning and record digging, yes. It should only be a couple of days, but until then, you'll have to stay here."

"Shit."

"If it's any comfort, the rooms you'll be occupying have all the amenities, and you'll have full access to the cafeteria and the gym."

I grinned. Mmmm, free food... I looked at Rielle and wiggled my eyebrows. She snorted.

"And after the checks?" I asked, just to be thorough. The proof went on to explain procedure again. If we passed the checks and the exams, and accepted the jobs, then we could just go home and report for duties the next day. Work Visa's and temporary immigrant status would be taken care of, and we'd get paid on a weekly basis.

"What if we don't pass?" Rielle asked with a hint of worry only I could pick up.

"I'm sure that won't be a problem." Broom answered, obviously avoiding an answer that could only be bad. Rielle surprisingly enough left it alone, normally itching to push until she got answers.

"Alright then. I'll show you girls the cafeteria, east something and make whatever decisions you need to make. We'll meet back here in an hour or so. I'll have someone escort you back."

We both nodded our agreement and as if on cue, my belly made a horribly loud grumble. "Soon, precious, soon." I said to my belly and stood up.

Broom led us out of his beautiful office, checking both ways before starting off down the hallway. We zigged and zagged, getting introduced to guys in combat gear as 'the two troublemakers'. The soldiers just sniggered at us and politely shook hands.

The entire walk to the cafeteria Rielle was silent, almost brooding. I was tempted to ask her what she was thinking so hard about but I wanted to do it away from prying ears.

Once at the cafeteria, we gobbled down seconds, thirds, desserts and about a pot and a half of coffee. Considering we hadn't eaten since the pub snacks last night, I think we ate lightly. A few of the men present only gawked at us. It pissed me off a little but I understood why. How often do they get two scuffed up little Cree girls in here eating as much as them? Try spending a night in a hole and we'll see how you look.

We didn't even make small talk for at least ten minutes; we were too busy stuffing our faces. I spent most of that time downing some nasty chicken and pea concoction that looked like vomit and thinking about the future. The decision wasn't hard to make. I needed employment, I kept secrets when asked, and I wanted my freedom. These guys would give it to me.

I felt sort of bad for Rielle though. It was my fault we were in this shit, and now she has to live with the consequences of having my back, again.

Maybe that's the reason for her silence. Maybe she's thoroughly pissed at me. Who knows?

Rielle:

As soon as we're alone, I am going to beat her with the nearest hard object. I stared under my eyebrows at my friend. The chicken? Is she nuts? Who knows what weird shit they put in there? Not good hangover food.

My thoughts as I gobbled my sixth piece of pepperoni pizza were purposefully avoiding the subject of picking my fate. My choice wasn't made yet. And I didn't have much time or nearly enough facts to make it clearly. What if those scans pick up things that shouldn't be? That scared me the most. There were things in my past that even Lavinia didn't know and I didn't want her to find out about. And this being a US government facility? Oy. They wouldn't find my teeth after the military was done with me.

Maybe I'll let Vinny take care of this one; either way there's going to be consequences I can learn to live with, even if it included jail time.