Animal Instincts
Psycho Llama
Disclaimer: Mike Mignola owns all but mousy. Yes, that does mean Mike Mignola owns the world. Flee; flee for your lives!
The bus was only half-full, most of the town's populace parading around the carnival grounds. And even then, most of the bus-goers were in costume. After the first ten minutes Melissa began to relax, watching the Halloween scenery out of the bus window and feeling strangely… normal.
As the bus moved away from the carnival grounds there became less and less stops, Melissa kept a close eye on the street names, just to be sure. The shape-shifter grew quickly bored, looking dimly around the bus for something to interest her. She noticed one of her shoelaces coming lose and bent down where she sat to retie it.
The bus came to a halt; Melissa banged her head on the seat in front of her and dropped her shoelace. Grumbling, she went about re-tying the lace again. She heard the bus driver laugh as some more passengers got on the bus, "Nice costume! Sure are gonna frighten a lot of kids with that one!"
Melissa was still fumbling with her shoelace when the newcomers tried to find seats to sit in. The bus had become steadily full as people returning home from the carnival had hopped on. One of them, clearly irked that she had to sit beside another person on the bus, disdainfully took the last seat on the bus beside Melissa.
The shape-shifter sat up calmly, smiling good-naturedly at the blonde sitting beside her. She was looking out the window again when it clicked in her mind. The blonde sitting beside her… she'd seen her before. 'Oh no…'
Ilsa, of course, hadn't recognised her. The last time she had seen Melissa the girl was a pink flamingo. Melissa tried to keep absolutely calm, using all her will power not to jump or run or scream or do anything. She pretended to be shaking from the cold rather than her fear.
Ilsa's scowl deepened, she could feel Melissa shaking through the seat, "Oh it's not that cold," the Aryan growled under her breath.
"Sorry," Melissa mumbled. The girl looked out the window, 'Damn it!' she thought, 'Now I've lost count of the stops!' she pulled the hastily scribbled map out of her jacket pocket and tried to find the street name she was on. Only a few more stops left… perhaps she would make it after all.
'Just as long as he doesn't see me,' the shape-shifter mused, staring at the back of Kroenen's head, two rows in front of her.
Ilsa huffed impatiently, 'Why in the name of Ogdru Jahad are we taking the bus? What is Grigory thinking? Public transport… he could at least have chosen one with less people on it…'
Melissa turned the map Broom had drawn over. He had drawn the sketch on the back of a print-out on the 'Saint Dionysius the Aeropagite' statue. 'Probably printed out for one of the agents,' Melissa began to read through the article. She felt the blonde sitting beside her stiffen.
"What is that?"
Melissa blinked, "Er… scrap paper, from my… uh, office," well it was close to the truth.
Ilsa narrowed her eyes suspiciously, "Wait… I have heard your voice before."
"Really?" Melissa squeaked, forcing a laugh, "That's interesting…" Ilsa remained sceptical about the girl, keeping a sharp eye on her. Melissa's face lightened when she saw her stop approaching. She hit the little button on the wall beside her and the 'bus stopping' sign flickered to life.
"Well… this is my stop…"
"Who are you?" Ilsa asked stonily; aggravated beyond the norm. The bus came to a halt by the bus stop; the blonde stood up to let Melissa out of the seat.
"Nobody! Absolutely nobody," Melissa squeaked timidly, hurrying off the bus before the blonde could recognise her.
" 'Ave a good night!" the bus driver called.
"I will, thank you!" Melissa called absent-mindedly. She felt her insides freeze… she turned back to the windows of the departing bus, looking straight into the soulless eyes of Kroenen's mask. He had heard her. 'NO!'
Melissa broke into a run, following the route scribbled on the back of the print-out. She heard screaming in the distance and the sound of the bus coming to a halt. She was dead for sure now… the shape-shifter felt ill, 'So close… I was this close to having nice, happy life… no running… no fearing for my life…' she felt tears begin to well in her eyes, 'I should never have left the museum. Abe, help…' the girl prayed.
She took a deep breath, held it, and puffed it out again, "Oh crap, here we go…" there wasn't enough time to go three blocks along and two left, she had to go direct. She came to the foot of the first building and jumped, catching herself in the air with strong, frantically beating wings. She flew as a hawk to the squared roof of the building and dropped out of the sky. The shape-shifter landed as a panther, dashing off into the shadows.
Escaping death would have been a lot easier if there wasn't that problem with heights.
She couldn't hear or see Kroenen following her, which was a horribly bad sign in Melissa's eyes. It reminded her of a time in France where she had run right into a trap thinking she had finally gotten away.
Melissa crouched in the shadows, trying not to breathe too loudly, waiting for what was about to happen next. The ticking sound came, Melissa morphed into an owl; ready to fly but not sure which direction would be safe. Kroenen's swords dug into the edge of the rooftop and he flipped himself over the lip of the roof.
For a second Melissa's fear worse than death turned to a bitter anger for the assassin that had wrecked what little life she had known. She hesitated too long. Kroenen lunged; Melissa tried to fly away in time. The assassin expertly hooked the owl's foot between his fingers, dragging Melissa back down to Earth. Melissa screamed.
The agent in the lone BPRD car was quite startled to see the rest of the BPRD squad, garbage truck and all, race down the streets at speeds hardly legal and pull up beside him. Broom got shakily out of one of the cars, relying heavily on his walking stick. The agent got out of the car, "Yes, professor?"
"Has Melissa arrived here yet?" Broom asked reverently.
"I'm afraid not… why?" the agent looked concerned.
"She's not on the bus either," another agent announced, listening intently to his earpiece.
"Just as I feared…" Broom whispered gravely, clutching the rosary on his wrist.
'Professor, she's near by… Kroenen is after her.'
'Oh no…'
A wraith-like scream pierced the night air, like the vocals of a multitude of animals screaming through one, distorted voice. The agents all froze where they stood, looking around for where the screaming came from.
Inside the garbage truck, Hellboy jumped in surprise, "What the—"
"It's Melissa… Kroenen caught her…" Abe murmured distantly, one of his hands drifting in the air trying to read the surroundings clearer.
Melissa twisted in the killer's grip, shifting her form from one animal to the next; trying desperately with wing, claw and bite to escape Kroenen's vice-like hold on her arm. She slipped free and tried to escape again, but Kroenen used the flat side of his sword to stop her. Melissa inwardly cried in desperation.
'Melissa, don't panic, we're here—'
"Abe!" Melissa cried, turning her head in the direction she needed to be, where she was meant to be, safe inside one of the BPRD cars… being driven back to the bureau… with friends…
In one last attempt at freedom, the shape-shifter took her human form and swung herself off the edge of the building. Kroenen still had hold of her wrist. Melissa was swung into the side of the building, yelling in pain upon contact with the concrete wall.
'OW! …Is that a broken rib?' Melissa thought distantly at the pain in her side. Kroenen was still gripping her by the wrist, but Melissa was positive she'd much rather take her chances with gravity. She looked up in fear, the sight of that death mask so close chilling her to the bone.
The little boy with the blue eyes looked down at her. His tone severe, yet he looked so worried as he held his best friend's wrist in both hands to prevent her from falling to her death. Melissa could hear rushing water below them and felt her own fear of falling. The boy struggled to pull her up, "Chrissie I told you how dangerous this place was, what were you thinking? You could have fallen…"
The memory hit Melissa like a flying wall of concrete. Kroenen still had her by the wrist, which was slowly becoming dislocated. Melissa morphed herself into a butterfly, flitting away before the mad assassin could grab her again and scuttled up.
Then she saw her chance. She ran over to the white drainpipe running the length of the building and, shifting into the form of the mouse, she dove down it. Gravity pulled the mouse down the drain as fast as purpose propelled her pursuer up the fire escape ladder.
Kroenen made it to the roof in time to see Melissa dashing down the road in the form of a cheetah. Kroenen growled to himself. Rasputin wouldn't be too pleased at the wasted opportunity. Now the shape-shifter was with Anung-un-Rama, he couldn't interfere.
He moved from rooftop to rooftop, keeping within the shadows. His lidless eyes swivelled behind his mask, following the cheetah's erratic path.
Melissa darted towards the cluster of BPRD cars, startling a few of the agents with her presence, especially the ones that didn't know her. She came to a bowling halt before the cars, running to the first person she recognised and embracing them tightly.
Clay smiled paternally at the clinging figure latched to his side, shaking uncontrollably in fear and adrenalin. Clay escorted the girl to the garbage truck, speaking reassuring words and appraisals to the frightened shape-shifter.
Kroenen's brows twitched at the sappy scene. He couldn't have that now, could he?
"You'll have to catch me," Hellboy heard Abe murmur as the agents opened the garbage truck door. Hellboy looked at the psychic in confusion, but moved behind him just in case. He wasn't about to faint, was he?
In a flash of clothes and limbs, Melissa came hurtling into the truck; bowling Abe and, consequently, Hellboy over in a massive, clingy hug.
"…Hey!" Hellboy scowled, sitting at the bottom of the pile.
"Melissa, that's really sweet, but you're cutting off my water supply," Abe's amused voice followed.
Hiccupping, Melissa apologised and let go. Hellboy immediately pulled her into an one-armed bear hug, "You alright, mouse?"
"I think so… can we leave?" the girl asked weakly. She felt the lurch of the garbage truck taking off and relaxed a bit, though her hands still trembled. Abe sat down on the floor beside them with his legs crossed, laying a hand on Melissa's shoulder to try to calm her.
"He won't follow us," Abe reassured, "It's against his orders…" 'You're safe with us, you always will be.'
"Yeah, he'd never take on either of us anyway, we're just too good. Don't worry, you're safe with us, Mousy," Hellboy added.
Melissa laughed quietly at their timing. She saw the blood on Hellboy's arm, "Hey, your arm is… that looks painful."
"And your ribs are bruised," Abe frowned, gently removing her from Hellboy's embrace to assess how badly hurt she was. As well as the massive bruise on her side, the skin around her wrist also varied from bright red to mottled black and blue. Melissa cradled the limb tenderly.
"We'll buy you a cookie on the way home, alright," Abe smiled, holding out a hand to check her wrist. The shape-shifter reluctantly let the ichthyoid take it.
'Better be a chocolate-chip cookie…'
'With macadamia nuts, I promise.'
Abe went and fetched her an icepack from the back of the truck for her wrist, 'Hellboy, could you please catch Melissa before—'
'Wait… you aren't gonna…'
'Red, she's about to faint!'
"Woah," Hellboy caught Melissa just before her head could hit the floor.
"Oh dear…" Abe murmured as he wrapped the girl's wrist in the icepack.
"Talk about bad luck. She was like this far away from getting… Oh man."
"My fault. I suggested that she be taken back to the bureau."
"Yeah, but you had no idea that knife-boy was going to be out on the streets."
"Her confidence is completely shattered, Red. She did, however, manage unearth another memory."
"Really? Just like that?"
"Something triggered it… and all the work we have been doing to restore her memory has weakened the block preventing her from remembering," Abe explained.
"I am going to pound that creep for treating our little mouse like that…" Hellboy sneered, noticing the bruises developing on Melissa's pale skin.
"Hmm…" Abe pulled Melissa from where she sat propped up against Hellboy's side into his arms, "So, how was Liz?"
Hellboy sighed and got up, able to move again, "She's fine." Hellboy sat down on one of the benches, "Still doesn't want to come back."
"Oh."
"So what did Mousy remember, then?"
"I couldn't be sure… I'll wait until she wakes up again."
A/N: BOO:) hehehe...
Umbra the Dark: Why thank you:) I'm trying to write as fast as I can... but I'm having problems with Rasputin and I have caught Marysueitis.
theshadowcat: I can't win but you sure have with your characters :) Maggie rules.
FlyingFish15: I'm writing this for you! Your fanfic rocks the world:D jyouzuna!