A/N: I got no reviews on the prologue. Ten hits and zero reviews… there was one alert though and I'd like to thank that person for showing some sort of liking towards my story. Just to pre-warn anyone who is actually planning on reading the rest of the story; there probably won't be much action until the third chapter or so.

Also, it's been a while since I've seen the movie (I'm currently working on finding a way to get to the video store so I can rent it or paying off my outstanding debt at the library so I can borrow it from them) so if the characters seem OOC, let me know and I'll try to fix it. Pointers on putting them back in character would be very helpful.

Enjoy! And R&R, please!

Disclaimer: I still don't own Hellboy or any of the Hellboy characters/ideas. I'd be a lot richer if I did.

As the World Falls Down

Chapter One

"If you don't mind me askin' miss," the cab driver said as Serena handed him the fare plus a hefty tip. "But what's a girl like you doin' at a waste management place?"

Serena gave him a fake gracious smile. "Giving a cabbie who asks too many questions a large tip in order to avoid said questions."

The man gave her a strange look with his beady eyes before he accepted the money and drove away. She waited until he had rounded the corner before she turned back to the building. It was a simple looking building and had the appearance of, as the sign read, a waste management facility.

Walking up to the wrought iron gates, Serena gazed ahead at the building and sighed. It was absolutely ridiculous but it was, sadly, her only hope.

She pressed the button on the intercom and a bored voice crackled back at her. "Yes?"

"Uh… my name is Serena Williams," she said into the intercom, wondering exactly what she could say to explain her situation. She decided to go with something simple. "I have a… problem and I was told to come here for help…" She trailed off and waited for the crackling voice to respond but it didn't.

With a loud, squeaky groan, the iron gates swung open. Hesitantly she stepped forward and began to walk down the long drive to the front door of the building. She gave a slight jump as the gates closed behind her with a loud clang. Well, she thought. Guess I have no choice now… not that I had much of a choice to begin with.

Upon entering the large front doors of the building, Serena was met by two men in uniform. With a quick glance to the nightsticks and guns that hung from their belts, she assumed they were guards. This made her a little more confident that she was, in fact, at the right place. Why would a waste management facility need armed guards?

"This way ma'am," said the taller of the two guards, taking her elbow and leading her deeper into the building while the other one followed close behind.

They entered a cavernous hall with a marble floor. In the center of the floor was a circular emblem of a hand holding a sword. At the far end of the hall sat another guard at a desk. He looked up from his magazine with barely an ounce of interest.

"What kind of help do you need," asked the man at the desk, eyeing Serena.

For a moment she didn't know what to say. Should she tell him the whole story? Should she even tell him the truth? Taking a deep breath she met his gaze and said, "The supernatural kind."

She had half expected him to at least bat a lash at her but he didn't. He turned his gaze back to the magazine. This was further evidence that she was in the right place. "Ask for Myers," the guard at the desk said simply as the two men flanking Serena parted and left her standing there.

"And watch your elbows." She barely had time to wonder at this because he had hit a button and the emblem on which she stood began to lower. Serena was momentarily caught off guard, but regained her composure before anyone could notice.

After what seemed like an eternally slow ride, the lift had come to a stop in front of a large metal door. Serena stepped forward, figuring that's where she had to go as there weren't any other obvious options.

As she approached the large metal door, it slid open and Serena cautiously poked her head inside. Her eyebrows raised slightly at the enormous library she now stood in. The shelves reached from the floor all the way up to the ceiling and there was even a second floor, made accessible by a spiraling metal staircase. There were large couches, tables, reading lamps, a fireplace, and large overstuffed chairs. Serena momentarily wondered if she were in heaven. Then her eyes fell upon a young man, her age, standing in front of a very large fish tank which took up an entire wall but appeared empty.

He turned to look at her, momentarily confused. "Can I help you?" he asked, clearly wondering how she had gotten there.

"Yes," Serena replied after a moment. She stepped forward. "The man at the desk told me to look for someone by the name of Myers? He wasn't the most helpful person I've met." she gave a small smile to attempt to lighten the situation.

The young man gave a small laugh. "Yeah, I know," he muttered. Then he came forward and shook Serena's hand. "I'm special agent John Myers.

As Serena was about to reply she felt an all too familiar tickle in her mind. Please leave, she thought clearly. Her thought was promptly followed by another tickle, a sign that whomever had invaded her mind was now gone.

"Is something wrong," John Myers was asking her, looking genuinely concerned.

"Ah, no," replied Serena with a smile, realizing that she hadn't yet introduced herself. "My name is Serena Williams."

"Pleasure to meet you," John said almost shyly. Then he began to lead Serena further into the library. "What brings you to the B.P.R.D.?"

She couldn't stop her brows from furrowing. "B.P.R.D.?" she repeated questioningly.

For a moment Myers floundered. "This is the Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense," he explained at last.

"Oh…" Serena was just as lost as he was. "I suppose I should explain exactly why I'm here."

"That would be a good start," Myers said as he guided her to one of the overstuffed chairs she had been admiring. It was right by the glowing embers in the fireplace and Myers took the seat facing her own.

Taking a deep breath, Serena closed her eyes and sorted out her thoughts, trying to decide where to begin. As she opened her eyes and looked to the patiently awaiting Meyers, two things happened almost at the same time.

One was that a tall, lean man approached. Only, Serena realized, he wasn't really a man. He was more of a fish-man. His skin-- or are they scales?-- was a strange combination of green and blue with darker markings that could definitely pass for stripes. He had large black eyes that looked at Serena with what she assumed was curiosity, considering his head was titled slightly to the side. Serena also noted that the fish-man had gills on the sides of his neck.

"Um…" She looked at him, completely dumbfounded. "Hi?" Serena knew there were strange things the world; she was quite strange herself, and it was her own strangeness that had left her open-minded. But never in her life did she expect to be in the presence of a fish-man.

"Hello," replied the fish-man. He seemed to be expecting some sort of reaction from her but she remained calm.

Before they could exchange introductions, a hulking mass of red joined the group. "Myers, where'd my stash go?"

Once again Serena could only look on and blink. Before her stood the very creature on which the popular comics were based. Hellboy stood there, looking down at John Myers from a most impressive height, a cigar clamped between his teeth. His black hair was pulled back and his red skin seemed to clash defiantly with the fish-man's own blue-green skin. As Serena observed him, she noticed that on his forehead were two horns, or there would be, but they had been filed down to stubs.

Myers opened his mouth to respond but Hellboy cut him off when he turned to see Serena looking up at him. "What," he growled at her, making her blink again. He turned back to Myers and nodded in Serena's direction. "You finally gonna get laid?"

Stifling her laughter, Serena turned to look at John Myers who was floundering helplessly. It was a sad attempt, on his part, to find words and Serena jumped in to save him.

"I'm Serena Williams," she said, standing. For a moment she thought about extending her hand for a shake but eyed Hellboy's stone right hand and thought better of it. "You, of course, are Hellboy." She turned to the fish-man who had now tilted his head to the other side. "I'm afraid I don't know your name."

"Abe Sapien," replied the fish-man. "Welcome to the B.P.R.D." As he spoke Serena felt the tickle in her mind again.

With a smile she said, "A pleasure to meet you. Find my mind interesting?" There was a second tickle as he withdrew.

"My apologies." Abe gave a slight nod for emphasis.

With a knowing and kind smile, Serena silently accepted his apology and turned back to Hellboy and Myers who were looking at her expectantly. "I suppose you would all like that explanation now."

"No. We were hoping to guess," replied Hellboy cynically.

"Be nice, Red." As Abe spoke he took one of the two remaining seats by the fireplace. Hellboy followed his lead and plopped his large, muscular frame into the last chair.

Serena smiled at Abe gratefully before she began to explain. "I am a psychic," she stated matter-of-factly. "Telekinetic to be more specific. My parents had always tried to squash it out of me, not understanding that it simply wasn't possible going to work that way. When I was thirteen my abilities began to get out of control, more so than before. A few months after the problems started, a woman came to our home. Her name was Sophie."

"What does this have to do with how you know Abe can read minds," asked the impatient Hellboy.

"I was getting there," sighed Serena. "Sophie convinced my parents to let her take me away-- something that didn't take much effort on her part. She brought me to a haven for physics where she taught me how to control my telekinesis and while I was there I learned how to tell when a telepath was entering my mind." At this point Serena glanced at Abe.

"Why haven't we heard of this place?" Again Hellboy interrupted but this time he was thinking of his pyrokinetic girlfriend.

"It's a very well kept secret," Serena replied with a slight shrug and a wry smile. "Anyway. While I was there, I made a few friends. They were all psychics like myself, and they each had their own unique ability. We grew up in the haven together, returning to the civilized world when all of our skills had been perfected. That was three years ago and we've kept in very close contact."

Myers, who had yet to speak during her explanation, finally asked a question. "So, what brings you here?"

Serena looked down at her hands. "Two weeks ago, my friends started to mysteriously vanish. At first it was Sibyl, she tended to go on vacations without informing us, so we didn't think anything of it. That is, until Morissa disappeared. We were all really worried because it wasn't like her to do something like that. We called the police but they're useless." She shook her head and paused for a moment.

"Two more of my friends had also disappeared without a trace, Joy and Martina. They all went missing within a few days of each other and during the ordeal we had met and tried think of why this was happening. We had no idea and even less of a clue as to what we should do. The police weren't helping and we knew no matter where we went, we'd eventually be found. After Joy and Martina, it was down to just Dulcie, a defenseless channeler and myself." Her eyes began to tear up as she remembered the previous night.

"Take your time," Abe said, reaching over and patting her hand and discreetly getting an instant reading.

Sniffling slightly, Serena took a deep, shuddering breath and plunged on. "At two o'clock this morning my phone rang. It was Dulcie and she was hysterical. She told me that 'they' were there and she was doing all she could to hold them off. I can just picture her huddling on the floor of her closet…" her voice broke for a moment. "I tried to get to her but before I could even leave my apartment… she was gone. 'They' had gotten her. I left my apartment immediately. I didn't even bother to pack any clothes. I took a train into New Jersey from New York and then a cab here."

"How did you know to come here," Abe asked quietly.

"Sophie," Serena replied. "Before we left her, she had told us that in case we ever found ourselves in a situation that our abilities couldn't get us out of, to come here. All she did was give each of us a slip of paper with the address. Nothing else. None of us even remembered it until I came across it in my address book this morning."

There was silence for a long moment, an opportunity which Serena used to get a hold of herself. She brushed the tears off her cheeks and sat up a little straighter.

"Well," said Myers, standing up. "You're more than welcome to stay here until we can get everything fixed for you. We'll start looking for your friends right away, though we might need your help."

"Thank you," whispered Serena. "Thank you so much. You have no idea how much this means to me."

"There's no need to thank us," Abe said, standing up. "We're more than happy to help."

With a grateful and slightly teary smile, Serena followed Myers out of the library and down a hall. For the first time in the last two weeks, the burden that had placed itself on her shoulders had lifted slightly. She had a glimmer of hope for both herself and her friends.