Disclaimer: Mike Mignola owns all but mousy. Yes, that does mean Mike Mignola owns the world. Flee; flee for your lives!
Kroenen slammed his shoulder into the heavy door, the thick metal yielding obediently and swinging wide open to slam into the adjacent wall. Kroenen's steely gaze observed the room coldly, seeking out his prey. His eyes fell on the crawling kindle of kittens huddled in one corner of Hellboy's extensive den. Kroenen preferred the underground sewers to the mess of Hellboy's room.
Melissa had vanished. Was she hiding among the kittens? Was she crouched in the opposite corner as a small, insignificant insect desperately praying that he would overlook that half of the den? Kroenen's dry cackle broke through the silence. He would find her.
The shape-shifter in question was sprinting through the streets as fast as humanly possible, chest heaving and throat red-raw, 'He was right behind me, right behind me! Where do I go? Who do I have to turn to?' tears dribbled down her human face, 'I have no one. No one. Even if I could find Hellboy and the others, who's to say he won't kill them too? Or Abe?' she screwed her eyes shut, 'Abe!'
Melissa jumped and spun around a corner as the clutter of metal garbage lids sounded behind her. Melissa ducked into a dark relief in the alleyway, 'I can't think. I can't think. What animal? What to be?'
Twin blades crashed down either side of Melissa's head, burying themselves in the concrete wall behind her. Melissa's heart almost died in her chest. She twisted away as a raven just as Kroenen had freed one of the baton blades and brought it crashing down where she had been only seconds earlier. The shape-shifter sailed to the wrought-iron fire escape bolted to the side of the building, landing as a panther, hoping the dark night would help camouflage her obsidian fur. Sweeping upwards through the stairs she heard a whistling sound as one of Kroenen's throwing knives barely missed her right ear.
Kroenen was ascending the fire escape only seconds behind her. Melissa was straining every muscle just to keep ahead of the mechanic assassin, darting up floor after winding floor.
She reached the top of the building, desperately blocking out her fear of heights. She pulled herself over the lip of the building with human arms and sped across the top. The boots chafed against her feet, she exchanged them for the lioness' powerful back legs. That gave her an idea.
Melissa sped up, muscles burning in protest. Kroenen and his screaming blades on her heels, she dove over the side of the building. Her feet remained feline, but her arms changed and enlarged into feathered wings of an eagle proportionate to her body. Bigger wings meant flying further, and faster. Bones hollowed and lightened as she glided over rooftops. Her tail flapped uselessly in the air behind her.
'Tail?' the tan-coloured fur crept slowly up her thighs, the change progressing without her control. Melissa inwardly cursed, 'I have to land…' the shape-shifter spied a vacant rooftop and circled around to land before the lioness form completely overtook her. Front paws extended to land; then she saw the sinister glint of metal. Kroenen's blade cut through her muscle as if it were made of liquid. Blood spurted from a severed artery, Melissa's inhuman vocal chords screamed.
Abe woke with a start and almost choked on the water in his tank. He could feel the death in the air… the death of the professor… the lingering impression of evil throughout the bureau. The ichthyoid thrashed about violently, pounding at the glass with whatever he had. Web-like cracks appeared where he had struck the thick sheet of glass. Abe swam upwards, ripping tubes from his body and spilling over the top of the tank. He landed like a wet sack of potatoes on the lino floor, writhing and gasping in pain and determination.
The wounds on his chest began to bleed anew, Abe cried pitifully out into the cold, empty air, 'Where are they? Red, Liz, Myers… Melissa?' 'The professor is dead. The professor is dead. The professor is dead. Where is everyone? Why is nobody helping the professor!'
The loss of blood steadily drove Abe's mind into further and further darkness. With one final, mourning moan and he fell unconscious.
Melissa felt a similar dizziness in her own dark mind. She tumbled loosely over the side of the building, bouncing off her bruised back and continuing to sprint clumsily away. 'He knows I'm injured. He's trying to corner me…' she mused weakly.
The feline sprinted down the street on all fours, scaring anyone that came in her path. She saw an open window and took a chance, leaping in the slim gap as a jack rabbit, bounding across the stranger's kitchen floor. She heard a crash as someone broke down the front door, not even bothering to guess whom.
Rabbit blood ran down her arm in rivets, leaving dark red paw prints on this person's clean kitchen floor. With the last of her strength, she hopped up onto the kitchen counter and threw her weight into the sink.
Kroenen skidded over to the sink, but arrived too late. Melissa had vanished down the drain. Kroenen growled in frustration. His grip on the counter tightened, leaving dent marks.
"Mommy?"
Kroenen spun, knives unsheathed. The child didn't even have time to scream.
Melissa drifted aimlessly with the water current, her little gills struggling to suck some oxygen out of the water, 'There's something to tell the scientists when I get back… fish do feel pain…'
She remembered the world going completely black, then coming back into focus with a sharp burst of pain in what was once her arm, and then everything went dark once more. She lost count of how many times she fainted in the drain current. Then she awakened, human, choking on sewerage.
Her sensitive nose reeled at the stench. She stretched her good arm and legs out to stop herself from tumbling any further.
Melissa found herself stuck in a sewerage pipe just big enough for one to sit hunched inside with her head bowed, gallons of filthy water rushing by like a diseased water slide. Coughing fits racked her already sore throat.
"Nn," Melissa winced, cradling her injured arm to her chest. The wound was already healing quite nicely; the bleeding had definitely stopped, but the pain remained. Melissa shuddered from the cold and began to slowly crawl through the sewerage pipe, "Where to go… where to go…" she sang to herself softly; "Maybe I should move to Antarctica and hide under the ice caps. I'm sure there's at least one species in me that can survive in the artic."
Melissa came to a junction point, the sewerage pipe spilling out into a main chamber, 'Now, where's a manhole I can get out of?' Melissa trudged through the sludge despondently; 'I wonder where I am… I wonder how Abe is doing…' the thought flittered through her mind, "No, that's the past. He's gone, I've passed him," she hissed to herself.
The shape-shifter looked upwards, but something caught her ear. She turned her head; it was too dark to see anything. All she felt was a rush of wind and a crushing weight throwing her backwards, pinning her shoulders to the slippery floor, her head forced underwater. The assassin's grip shifted from her arms to her throat, throttling the last of the air out of the shape-shifter's lungs.
Strategically placed gills opened behind the girl's ears. Sensing his strategy wasn't working; Kroenen raised one arm out of the water. Melissa couldn't see what the arm was preparing to do though the murky depths, or what it was about to strike with. She rolled, shrinking in size, trying to get away. The little fish swam forwards, invisible beneath the filthy waters.
'Forwards! Forwards, through the grate…'
Kroenen's black leather-clad fingers raked through the water, trying in vain to scoop the shape-shifter up before she swam away. A little green frog hopped silently out of the water and silently back into it again a few feet ahead of the assassin. Kroenen was quick to follow.
Melissa sighed in relief as she passed the iron grate; 'Now I need to find a manhole. That grate will only buy so much time. He will just find another way, keep coming after me…'
A scream of metal on metal bit through the air. The grate fell with an ominous splash and clatter.
'That's just not fair…'
Kroenen stepped out into the neighbouring chamber, winding himself up roughly. The frustration of the chase was turning into a burning anger. He had lost track of the shape-shifter, again. Once the most acclaimed assassin in Germany; now reduced to chasing wild animals through sewerage systems. He had run out of time to catch his prey; Rasputin was expecting him back. He sheathed his baton blades, piercing eyes still sweeping over the dark surroundings, hoping to spot a creature that did not belong.
Kroenen saw nothing. Reluctantly, he turned around and headed in the direction of his lair above the subway station. The assassin silently hoped that the injury would prevent his prey from getting too far ahead of their game while he was away, but he knew it would make no difference; not in the long run.
Melissa lay silent in the grimy water, just in case the assassin doubled back to pounce on her, 'Am I alive?' she felt her arm twinge painfully in protest, 'Yes, I am alive.'
After ten minutes of silence, Melissa let herself relax into her human form. She broke the surface breathing slowly, 'And this time, he will not hear me,' Melissa decided bitterly.
The shape-shifter was surprised at how much she longed for the protection and companionship of her friends, Hellboy and Abe. She didn't even get time to meet their friend, Liz. Melissa drew her legs up to her chest, weeping unabashedly. 'I've destroyed their family. I can't go back; they'll hate me. They'll turn me over to that—that monster…'
'Where do I go now? Where do I hide?'
She couldn't find the answer.
"They didn't find any traces of the sedative in Pops," Hellboy stated, finally breaking the silence between Abe and himself.
"No, they probably used it on Melissa," Abe replied mournfully.
"Mousy… God, what do you think they're going to do to her?"
"I don't know," Abe murmured, "But I hope… Red, there's something you should know…"
Hellboy looked up at the ichthyoid, his yellow eyes darkening; "What?"
Abe fidgeted with his Rubik's cube, "There was an agent going through Dr Kroenen's file before… before the incident."
"And?"
"He found a photo, you see. It was an old black and white one dated some time around September 1907. It was from the school Dr Karl Kroenen attended as a child."
"Abe—" Hellboy growled impatiently.
"It was a school photo…"
"Cut to the point."
"Red…" Abe looked pained, "Melissa was in that photo. Beside him."
"Father… what…" the young lady was speechless, looking down at the man of science that was her father. He was extracting blood from a little fieldmouse on the table; around him other vials of blood samples, all with different labels of which animal they had been collected from.
"What… is this," the girl looked ill, horrified, disturbed.
"I told you never to come down here," the scientist sighed, capping the vile of the mouse blood as the poor creature lay dying, "Pity, you know, but you'd make a great host for this new experiment I'm trying, little Chrissie. My greatest work, really…"
The girl was speechless, staring at her father in horror. Where was the paternal figure she had always respected and loved? Who was this disgusting vampire? "Father, what's going on? This—This isn't right…" she looked around the room. Caged animals… dead animals, their remaining blood rusting the wire that kept them tied down.
Her father sighed, brown eyes downcast, "So much like your mother, so moralistic… And I tried so hard to get that side out of you, little Chrissie. As I said, it is a pity."
Melissa watched on helplessly as her own father fired a tranquilliser dart at her, the dart piercing her in the neck. Melissa gasped, inky blackness ebbing into her vision. She dropped to her knees on the blood-slicked floor.
That was why her father refused to speak of his work down in the lower levels of his laboratory. How could such a twisted man appear so trustworthy? 'Father, was it something I did?' was the last thought her mind conceived as she was dropped into unconsciousness.
Melissa inhaled sharply, her eyes snapping open. It took a while to calm her pulse enough to breathe evenly. She couldn't shake the images of her father's laboratory from her mind; the gore, the dead, the half-operated on bodies… The look of torture on those poor creatures' faces… faces that she could understand. They had become her faces now. She looked out through the eyes of dead creatures; it made her feel dirty just to be alive.
Melissa clawed gently at her furry face, 'Abe… where are you? I can't face all these memories alone…'
She dropped down onto all fours, her little feet scampered softly across the wooden floor as she went, searching for forgotten breadcrumbs in the darkness. She avoided nibbling on the actual loaf of bread that had been stored in the cupboard. If the baker saw the teeth marks he would certainly become suspicious.
"I never thought I would be missing Red's chilli," Melissa muttered in an undertone, 'Red…'
"Who's there?" someone called from outside the cupboard.
'The baker!' Melissa shot back into a darkened corner, pressing her furry body against the hardwood wall. The cupboard doors flew open, unsettling dust and crumbs alike. A middle-aged man stuck his shaven head in the already cramped cupboard, squinting about in the darkness. He spied the little field mouse in the corner, his eyes glinted dangerously, "Aha! Now I've got you, ya little rodent!" the man pulled back, reaching for something up on top of the counter.
'A butcher's knife?' the shape-shifter thought in clichéd panic.
"Ha-ha!" the baker grinned, shoving the grubby mouse trap into the cupboard, complete with the small cube of cheese as the bait. Melissa's beady black eyes looked up at the baker uncertainly. The baker grinned widely, revealing his yellowing teeth, "Go on, try it! That's some really nice cheese there, you know."
Melissa looked down at the cheese. Indeed, her mouse senses were screaming at her to explore the trap and follow the wonderful smell, but Melissa knew better than that, however strong the instincts were.
"Weird mouse you are. What, can't ya smell it?" the baker scowled.
'I can smell, but you, dear sir, smell infinitely more potent.' Melissa reflected moodily.
"Alright, that's it. You get the cage," the baker reached up for the wire mesh cage resting atop the kitchen counter. Melissa made no attempt to run away. She needed the rest. The shape-shifter good-naturedly allowed the baker to scoop her roughly into the wire cage and lock her inside.
Foreign memories immersed her soul like a raging tsunami.
Before her eyes Melissa saw a different cage, the same design but stained dark red with spilled blood and torn flesh. The mouse fought for its life, it squealed as loud as its little lungs would permit, but the primal knowledge of inevitable death haunted its mind. There was a blinding pain radiating from her chest; Melissa looked down to see a metal javelin wedged into her chest cavity, the needle draining her of her blood. She knew she would not last much longer; blissful death would soon silence the pain.
And so the mouse died.
Melissa screamed, thrashing about the cage with her rapidly changing limbs. Her half-human arms struggled wildly to open the cage, tearing on the sharp ends of broken wire. The blood only panicked her more. Melissa tumbled out of the cage and landed sprawled on the floor, arms wrapped around her chest as she gulped down air.
The baker was almost experiencing a panic attack himself. He ran out of the kitchen in a flash, heading for the nearest telephone.
'Not possible… not possible…' Melissa's mind tried to assure herself, 'I was not born a mouse. Those are not my memories…' she screwed her face up and screamed again as memories from several different animals flooded her mind with images of their own gory deaths.
"Christine Fielding. Born 1898 in London, England. Moved to Germany when she was eight years old… disappeared in 1916. Her father was working for the Nazis with bio engineering technology. Fusing the blood of animals and humans together; completely different from Dr Karl Kroenen, who specialised in working with the fusing of metal and flesh…"
"She looks good for her age. Just past her centennial… should've thrown a party," Hellboy mused, pacing in front of Abe's medical tank.
"I suspect her father used her as a prototype… he might have put her in stasis, which would explain why the doctors at the hospital said she was dead when they found her. Cryogenic sleeping."
"Creepy…"
"Indefinitely."
Hellboy chewed the end of his cigar nervously; "Do you think Mousy knows?"
"Not unless Kroenen or the others have told her. Then again, memories could be unearthed… I'm just worried that she will remember what her father did to her before we can get her back, it could be very traumatic if not handled properly," Abe lamented, moving around the medical tank and trying not to get tangled in the mass of wires.
"What kind of sick bast—person would do that to their own kid?"
"Evil Nazi scientist?"
"Point taken."
"Please try to find her. Bring her back," Abe pleaded.
"I will, for Mousey's sake at least."
"Thank you…"
"Please don't involve the police," Melissa barely managed a whisper, "He's always watching the police… just in case they find me."
"Who is?" the baker asked nervously, handing her a stronger cup of tea.
"Thanks. It's…" Melissa made a strange whining sound at the back of her throat, "Hard to explain. Every person," 'Every human person,' "I have involved has ended up brutally murdered."
"Damn," the baker muttered, his face considerably paler.
"I need to get out of New Jersey before he can follow me. I have to leave…" she fidgeted nervously, taking a few short sips from the hot tea.
"Where are you going to go?"
Melissa shrugged, "I don't know. I need to hide some place where he will never think of going… but then again, he will probably search the places that he will think that I will think that he would never think of searching."
"That's complex…"
Melissa took a large gulp of tea; "I know where I have to go… Where it won't matter if he follows me." She tilted her head back and downed the rest of the scalding tea. She placed the cup gently on its saucer; "I have to go home."
The baker chuckled, "Kansas, Dorothy?"
Melissa smiled, "No… Germany."
"I'm sorry I wasn't around long enough to get to know her. She sounds really sweet," Liz smiled, touching her hand to the opposite side of the glass from Abe's own.
"She would have liked you very much," Abe nodded.
"Hey, don't worry, I'm sure she's fine. Maybe she got away. She could be hiding in town…" Liz suggested hopefully.
Abe looked down sadly, "She would have come back by now, Liz. They found a needle in the autopsy room. They used sedative on her, a lot of it."
"Why? Do they want her as bait or something?" Liz asked, looking disgusted.
"I fear for worse."
"If they do use her as bait, HB will save her," the pyrokinetic reassured her friend kindly.
"Thank you; both of you. I'm sorry I can't join you," Abe motioned to his mending torso impatiently.
"It's okay. It's not your fault, what happened down there. And anyway," Liz smirked, "You can always spend your time sorting through that paperwork Manning gave us."
"Dr Manning's work will have to wait. I am planning to spend more time looking into Melissa's past. With luck, we might be able to find the location of the old laboratory that her father worked in."
"I thought you found out what happened to her," Liz's brow twitched.
"There are still many unanswered questions that need solving, and there is not much time," Abe replied automatically.
"C'mon Blue, I know there's something you're not saying," Liz sighed, "Tell me. Please, it will help."
Abe looked up with an oddly pained expression on his scaled face, "I—I suppose I am a little bit worried about… when she finds out who she really is, do you think she will want to come back? She practically grew up with Karl Kroenen, before he became involved with Rasputin and Ragna Rok. Liz… do you think she will forget us?" the ichthyoid asked solemnly.
"No," Liz smiled, "She wouldn't be the type to leave without saying goodbye to us."
"She didn't get that chance. She was taken away by force…"
"She would come back, if that's what happened to her. But I really doubt it; she's probably just in hiding somewhere in town until the storm passes…" Liz tilted her head, trying to catch Abe's adverted gaze. She placed her pale hand tight against the glass, "Blue, she will come back. HB said that when you came back wounded she wouldn't stop asking how you were."
Abe looked searchingly into his friend's dark eyes, finding the memory. He heard Hellboy's words for himself. 'Abe, trust me, she'll come back.'
Author's Note: A little more blood and gore than I'd usually write, but I'm writing about Kroenen, after all, hehe. The plot thickens! I'll write whenever I can find time. I have really big plans for this story… you shall see… you shall all see :) Be nice, leave me a review! Or an email!
epalladino: Aw, I know! Hellboy looked so sad… and you can actually hear Broom's vertebrae popping when Kroenen kills him, which is a little bit disturbing. :D They don't call him 'pops' for nothing, you know! (I can't believe I just made that joke)
blade assassin: :) Her name is Melissa, but I'll take that as a compliment! Maggie rules!
theshadowcat: Hello! The reason for my long absence was I was one of the unfortunate fan-girls in FlyingFish15's "What to do with fan-girls" story that got brutally murdered by Kroenen (but one of the best short fics I've ever read). ;) All right, I'm hurrying.
Thrior: Thank you:D So flattering! I feel loved!
Afriel: I'm really not that good at re-writing parts of the story that aren't influenced by the new character… So I just skipped that but with Hellboy finding his father dead. Poor guy, he needs some time alone to mourn.
nightbug08: :D Thanks for the review! Enjoy your party! Lol, "anywhoozle", love that word!
Forensic Photographer711: Thank you:) Glad it kept your attention! Lol, some nights I spend ages tracking down fanfics I want to read… and by then I'm too tired to read them. But not Hellboy-based fanfics! No, when there's time, there's time for Hellboy fanfiction!
Gestalt: Yeah, I keep getting that pointed out to me. Age difference… it can be such an annoying problem in Kroenen/OC stories… almost as bad as the fact that movie Kroenen has no lips! Do you have any idea how constricting that is? ;)