Hellboy vs. Karl
Sorry I havn't updated for ages, but I've been away on holiday. Anyway, on with the show!
The daemon that called himself 'Hellboy' was waiting for him when he returned from his mission. How had he got in? Karl wondered, his thoughts coming as fast as lightning. How had the creature known where to find him? Why had it come after him and not his father? But he had no more time for thoughts.
"Now you will die, Nazi scum!" Hellboy said, his finger tightening on the trigger of his massive gun.
Karl was already moving, somersaulting backwards as the bullets whizzed past him. He landed crouched, his hands on the hilts of his baton swords. He drew them with a flourish and assumed a fighting stance. He feared that he might not be able to win this fight; after all, his father hadn't when he had fought the daemon, but it was too late; now Hellboy was up, his gun ready.
Hai-Tsan and Joe Rochmann stood stunned. For a few moments the room was still. Then the two combatants were moving, Hellboy snapping off shots, Karl moving like a ghost, somehow managing to slip out of the way of those deadly bullets, whilst losing none of his momentum. His twin blades flickered out, but the daemon dodged, the weapons only nicking him slightly. Then he lashed out with his stone right fist. Karl leapt back and swept his razor sharp weapon down towards the barrel of Hellboy's gun. The unworldly metal clipped off the edge off neatly, but the daemon had jerked it back in time for it to avoid more damage.
Joe started to wonder what he could do. He couldn't just leave Karl there to fight this monster alone. Yes, but he is a Nazi, a part of him said. He's an evil, bigoted murderer. You don't owe him anything. Even as he thought this, though, he knew that this didn't matter much to him. Somehow, Karl had managed to win his loyalty without doing anything. How did that happen? He began to reach out with his powers, hoping to cloud the creature's mind, but Hai's mental voice insinuated itself into his mind.
No, it said. You mustn't do anything.
Why not? He replied, angrily.
Karl must fight this battle for himself. Although the Chinese Empath's expression was as calm as always, Joe thought he saw a hint of something else in his eyes. Curiosity, perhaps? Whatever it was, it didn't seem to be worry.
Karl was beginning to sweat, not from exertion, but from fear. How could he hope to defeat Hellboy? His father had taken months to repair himself after his encounter with the daemon, and he was a much better fighter than Karl himself, as he had proved many times whilst training. Once more, he just managed to dodge out of the way of that giant fist, returning the blow. His sword, able to cut through any earthly material, was next to useless on the Key to the Pit. All he was doing was blunting their edges.
The daemon tried to grab one of the baton swords, but Karl lunged with the other and he was forced to leap back. Hellboy snapped his gun open quickly, and Karl realised that he was going to reload it. He couldn't let that happen. The daemon couldn't miss forever.
Karl attacked swiftly, his weapons both lashing out to slice the gun in two. By now, though, several more bullets were in the chambers, and suddenly he was looking down the muzzle. He swept one blade up, managing somehow to get it in the bullets' path in time, making them ricochet upwards and slam into the ceiling. The second blade reached its target, and cut the metal like butter. Hellboy yelped as the sword also cut into his hand, and his blood splattered onto the floor.
"You'll regret that!" he growled, and brought the chunk of useless metal round like a hammer. No, not quite useless, Karl thought as it clanged off his mask, it worked very well as a club. He leapt back, shaking his head to try to get the ringing noise out of his ears. This was not going well.
Hellboy was coming at him again, trying to grab him so that he could set about pounding him, but Karl leapt down and actually managed to slide under the daemon, grabbing his tail and slicing at it. The tip came off, and blood spurted out, staining the clothes the police had given him and he still hadn't had a chance to change out of yet. The noise Hellboy made could only be described as a bellow of anger, and cold dread trickled into Karl's mind. Oh, yeah, great move, he told himself sarcastically, all you've done is make him even madder!
The daemon spun around and punched down with his stone fist. Karl rolled quickly to one side, and felt chips of obsidian erupt up from the floor. A couple of them bounced off his mask. He jumped to his feet and had to dodge Hellboy's fist yet again. Plans flickered like little sparks of electricity through the Nazi's mind as he tried to think of something, anything that would win him this fight. I suppose…The Other? No. It was beginning to feel like the only thing he ever did these days was let that beast out and then try to rein it in again. He had been warned before he left Europe that to do this too often would be to invite it to take him over permanently. Even now he could feel it in the back of his mind, straining like a Sammael scenting blood. There had to be another way.
Suddenly, Karl realised that he had been far too absorbed in his thoughts, and hadn't been concentrating enough on the battle. Hellboy lunged forwards, and grabbed both of his baton swords which he had been holding crossed in front of him. Oh, SheiBe…he had time to think before that stone fist was pounding his mask again and again. The metal dented with each blow, and he though he heard a slight crunch. Blood trickled down his cheek. He staggered back, leaving his blades in Hellboy's hand. More blood was pouring from the daemon's flesh where the cruel edges had cut it, but he didn't seem to care. They were both bleeding; Karl felt the blood from the wound near his eye seeping under the rim of his battered mask.
Hellboy threw the baton swords to the floor, where they gouged the stone blocks and came to rest. The daemon grinned in triumph. He knew he was winning.
Karl felt dizzy from the pounding he had just received. He wondered if he had a concussion. He was sure though that after his fight with the werewolf he was far too weak to stand up to much more of that. And now he was aware of more blood trickling down his arm and dripping onto the floor. It seemed that the obsidian chips had cut through his shirt and across his arm without him noticing.
Hellboy strode towards him, his features set, ready it seemed to beat Karl to death if it came to it. The Nazi glanced to where his weapons ay just out of reach, and then back up at the daemon. If I don't do something, I am going to die! he thought. With this realisation, new energy seemed to come to him. He leapt and rolled, grabbing the baton swords as he passed, and ending up crouched behind Hellboy, who whirled round, a half growl escaping his lips. After a split second of perfect stillness the two of them leapt at each other. What happened next happened so fast that even Karl afterwards couldn't say just what the daemon did, but it ended up with Karl landing heavily on the floor, Hellboy standing with one baton sword lying at his hoofed feet, and the other one sticking straight through his flesh-and-blood hand. He pulled it out with a sucking noise and the splatter of yet more blood on the floor.
Karl found himself on the great gold symbol in the middle of Area 51's hall. He had never really noticed it before, but now he saw that it was an old ward against daemons, and he almost laughed out loud. This was just perfect! He placed one hand squarely on the sigil in the centre and waited. Hellboy came towards him at a run, and when he was only inches from the edge of the ward, Karl yelled out a word of power. Immediately a nimbus of crackling energy burst into existence around his other hand, and spurted out in a bolt of golden lightning to hit the daemon full in the chest and knock him violently backwards, slamming him against the wall.
After a moment, Karl rose and walked over to where his weapons lay, scooping them up and continuing on to stand by the fallen Hellboy. He bent down and put one of the blades to the daemon's throat…
Haha! Cliffhanger! Please review! And thank you Psyco Llama and CATWIZARD.