Traps

Sorry for the looooooooooooong delay. I'm not dead. Finally I've got this up...

Karl woke up, his mind still foggy from what had happened earlier. He blinked, suddenly aware that he was lying in a bed that was not his own, and that he did not recognise the room. Then everything came back to him and he groaned.

"Are you hurt?" he heard Laura ask from beside him. He turned to look at her. She was sitting in a wooden chair looking understandably anxious.

"I'm myself again, if that's what you mean," he replied with a wan smile. "I suppose I've ruined any chance I have of convincing these people that I mean well."

A new voice spoke from near him. "On the contrary, young one. I was in your mind for pretty much all that time, and I know that the thing that we saw was the dark side of you, the side that has been suppressed, and I also know that had you not acted as you did we would all likely be dead."

Karl turned to see the Grand master looking at him kindly. "But it killed someone… I remember…screams…and black bones…"

"The Other killed her yes, but she was a traitor. It was she who unleashed it, looking for secrets you might have known about your father's work. I suspect that in its own warped way that side of you was trying to protect you. It was created from magick but without your body to anchor it to this world it would vanish back into the ether and inexistence."

"And the other mages…"

"I have explained to them. They trust me. They might not like it but they have to accept the truth of it."

"So the Grand Master says they will help us," Laura said, happily.

Karl relaxed. Up until then he hadn't realised quite how wound up he had been, but just knowing they wouldn't have to face his father again was a great relief. "What about Franz?" he asked. "How long have I been asleep for?"

"Not all that long," Laura replied. "An hour at most. Franz has been trying to get in touch through your radio, and I told him that you were giving Kroenen's psychic protections a boost, and were far too busy to talk to him. He thinks that the interview with the council severely taxed them but didn't quite manage to break through them."

"That's good." Karl nodded. "He'll believe that. What's the plan now?"

"We are going to go along with your original plan," the Grand Master said serenely. "Franz and the manticore will believe that they are drawing Jarratt into a trap, but in reality the trap will be for them. I believe you have something to cope with the manticore?" He raised an eyebrow inquisitively.

"Oh, yes." Karl fished the small tube out of his deep trench coat pocket. The Sammael egg still floated in the greenish liquid.

"Do you know for certain that you will be able to control it?" the Grand Master asked.

"Father let me read the books Rasputin left with him. I still remember the charm which locks one of the beasts of Nurgle under a mage's control permanently. I only need to perform it once. I thought I would let it out before Franz arrived and do it quickly, so that it would be ready for him."

"A wise choice," the Grand Master told him. "I have read about the Sammael, and I know that they have a particular hatred of Manticores."

"Is it true that Manticores are sometimes called the lions of Scorpio?" Laura asked suddenly.

"It is yes. Why do you ask?"

Laura gave Karl a meaningful look. "We met a man on the way here. He seemed crazy at the time, but I wonder now."

"Hmmm. Perhaps we might have missed a prophet in the bustle of this city, but somehow I think it unlikely. Maybe he was working for one of the government agencies."

"What government agencies?"

"The BPRD is one," Karl told her, "but I don't know of any other."

"There is also Area 51. I suspect you have heard of it."

"A conspiracy theory. And we all know those are just planted to draw attention away from the real secret agencies."

"In this case, that is not true. There really is an Area 51, commanded by an old friend of mine; Felix King. They deal with different areas to the BPRD. They are more concerned with actively paranormal phenomena like ghosts and daemons, whilst Area 51 deal with the sorts of powers that appear in the Human Race, like mind powers and prophecy. And we are concerned with magick, and have no ties with the State."

"When all this is over, where do you suggest we go?" Karl asked. "I don't think it would be a very good idea for me to go to the BPRD. My family has a… history with that of Hellboy."

"And I fear that your presence would cause tension here." The Grand Master sighed. "Area 51 would be best, for they have no preconceptions about you. But I know you might not want to work for the government."

"I'd rather not. But it seems I might not have any other choice. I don't think we would survive on our own."

"What about me?" Laura said.

"I really don't know. It depends whether you want to stay with Karl. But where you and he would be beast situated are, I fear, not the same. You could go to Area 51 if you wanted, I suppose, but I don't think you would be all that comfortable there."

"I suppose you're right." Laura sighed. "I suppose we had to part ways at some point. And it wasn't all that long ago that I hated you Karl."

"That's true." Karl sighed too. "But now we had better plan this ambush. I would rather Franz wasn't hurt. I mean, he has always been my friend. If it is at all possible, I'd like him to still be alive at the end of this. I don't want more death on my hands."

"I'm sure we can find some way," the Grand Master replied. "But we must have plans for anything that might happen. We all know that this is not something that we can allow to go wrong."

Franz paced up and down impatiently. What was taking them so long? The things Kroenen had told him before he left flashed through his mind.

I am suspicious now about Karl. The accident may have changed him more than I had planned. We may have to kill him, he had said.

And you want me to do this? Franz had asked.

You are the only one I can trust with this. The only one who has the will to go so much against what his emotions might tell him. Karl would have been capable of it before, but you've seen how he has changed. Kroenen had sighed. It will be tiresome if you do have to kill him. I don't want to wait another twenty years for another half-clone of mine to grow to his age, but I may have no other choice.

Franz wondered whether to be slightly appalled at Kroenen's callous lack of feeling towards Karl, who was practically his son, but after all this time knowing him it didn't really surprise him. Sometimes he thought it would be nice to find out what regular people thought like, but it was a stupid dream really. Like it or not he was one of Kroenen's household, and none of them would ever be normal.

Two figures appeared at the entrance to the alley. Franz stiffened and dropped into a combat stance, but relaxed again when he saw that it was Karl and Laura. "What took you so long?" he demanded.

"Relax!" Karl replied, rolling his eyes. "I had to re-power Father's enchantments, and convincing that lot was… couldn't have been easy for Laura."

"Hmmm." Franz narrowed his eyes. He had noticed the correction Karl had made in what he had said, and it raised his suspicions. "So everything is going as planned?"

"Perfectly," Karl assured him. "We are ready for the trap."

"Good. Very good." Franz smiled. Doubts or no doubts, killing this white magician was going to be a lot of fun.

Reviews anyone?