Present Day
I was looking through a folder that had been handed to me earlier in the day. I flipped through it to see tabloid covers and news clippings screaming about sighting of Hellboy all over the world. The TV was on and that seemed to be the running theme for today. Springer excerpts were being aired (fist fights included) featuring the show's theme for the day: I WAS HELLBOY'S BRIDE! I changed the channel and looked back down at the folder to see more blurry, grainy, pictures depicting Hellboy crossing an alley, much like Bigfoot in the woods.
"Look at that. That's a costume. These people amaze me." I looked back up at the screen to see Manning, a balding official looking man in a suit. "With their conveniently blurry footage of their beloved "Hellboy." And they claim that he works for the FBI-?"
"As the head of your division, you - You have seen dozens of pictures like this!" the host said to Manning.
"Exactly." Manning said and I rolled my eyes. If he ever got any pictures of Hellboy he sent them to me. "So, why is it that they're all out of focus? C'mon! God knows, people manage to get good pictures at a wedding!" he showed one of the blurry photos of Hellboy. "That's the alleged best man - ?" the audience applauded his words. I shut off the TV and got out of my seat to go pick up Trever at the Doctor's office.
When I got to his room, Trever was slowly buttoning his shirt with his rosary hanging from his wrist as it always was.
"How did the tests go?" I asked him.
"They haven't told me yet." He told me and I gave him a gentle, sad smile.
"Do you want me to stay?" I asked him.
"Yes." He said and I nodded. The Doctor then walked into the room and we stared at him.
"Who are you?" he asked me.
"She's my oldest friend. You can tell me in front of her." Trever told him and he gave me a curious look before nodding.
"Malignant sarcoma. In the lungs, the spine, liver..." he listed off and I took a deep breath.
"Approximately... how long?" Trever asked him.
"Maybe - six weeks." He offered and Trever impassively took I the information. "I can arrange for hospitalization, pain management. Make the time more bearable –" Trever pensively shuffled his tarot cards as he shook his head.
"I'd rather... stay home, you know. I'll be making arrangements for our son." Trever told the doctor.
"You can always get a second opinion." He reminded him. Trever looked down and took the first card off the deck.
DEATH
"That won't be necessary." Trever told him and we left the hospital. As we walked out of the building leaves stirred on the pavement. All the stores were decorated for Halloween and two kids dressed as skeletons ran in front of us carrying jack-o-lanterns. I linked one of my arms with his and we walked towards a waiting black Mercedes. Agent Lime opened the door for us and before we got in Trever bought a dozen Baby Ruth candy bars from a street vender. In an electronics store close to us a wall of TV's showed a red blurry shape. "Son..."
"He's just like any other person. Just wants to be seen by the world." I said and it went back to the show I'd been watching earlier.
"Mister Manning, what about the "Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense?" The FBI has been known to conceal –" the host asked about.
"That word - conceal –" Manning said, shaking his head.
"from the American public –" he host continued saying.
"Phil - Phil - hold your little green horses." Manning told him. "Let me tell you and the American public one thing - this "Bureau for - what was it?"
"Paranormal Research and –" The Host started.
"- Defense, right, well - I'm here to clear up this once and for all." Manning said before looking at he camera. "There-is-no-such-thing." Trever and I smiled at the interview before heading to the car and going home.
"Rose." Some called on the walkie I was carrying.
"What is it?" I asked.
"He's here." The man called and I walked up to the main entrance. I looked at the cameras to see a dolled-up mod-styled moped at the massive gate. Strapped to the luggage rack were two cheap suitcases. The driver, a very wet young man, touched the old fashioned buzzer under the sign reading "WASTE MANAGEMENT". The guard looked at me and I nodded to him.
"Yes?" he said.
"John Myers, F.B.I. Transfer from Quantico." He called to us. The guard initiated the security protocols and an eyepiece and an LCD screen scanner popped out.
"Look at the birdie, son." Myers looked into the eyepiece and on the screen on our side Myers' cornea was scanned in two violet flashes. His ID and badge numbers appeared and we opened the gates for him.
When he walked in the solitary guard that sat behind the circular desk just stared at him as I stood in the middle of the room, watching Myers.
"Hello, I'm –" he tried introducing himself but I cut him off.
"- Late. Five minutes late." I told him.
"Yes, I –" he tried explaining but I cut him off again.
"It doesn't matter." I told him before turning to the guard. "Section fifty-one. Step back." I told Myers moving to the right place.
"Pardon?" Myers asked me following me with his eyes.
"Stand next to me please." I said and I could see the confusion on his face before he complied. We stood dead center on a giant B.P.R.D. Logo: A hand holding a sword.
"Watch your hands and elbows." The guard told Myers before activating the elevator under our feet. The panel overhead slid shut and a row of safety lights came on.
"Where are we?" he asked me looking around the vast underground area with other elevators moving up and down in the distance.
"Welcome to the B.P.R.D." I said as the elevator stopped in a narrow, dark space. Neon light flickered on, illuminating a circular chamber with a large 51 painted on the floor. In front of us was a magnificent oak door that I opened and just walked right in with Myers behind me. I sat in one of the chairs and watched as Myers looked around, fascinated at all the books. The soft glow of green-shaded reading lamps bathed everything in an intimate, warm light. One entire wall was a thick pane of glass, the wall of a huge tank of water.
"Turn the pages, please." I smiled at the voice that crackled from the intercom next to the tank. Myers turned towards the tank and moved closer to it before jumping back at the blue hand that slammed on the glass. "Over here... if you don't mind?" Abe, a fish-man, asked gliding into and out of view.
"Jesus Christ!" Myers shouted turning to me before looking back at the tank. Myers looked at four book stands facing the glass. Each supported a constant open volume. He leaned closer to the glass, peering intently. Abe swan back into view and I watched as Myers seemed to study his slender, dolphin gray body. On him were dark patterns streaking his skin and bright blue eyes shone with intelligence. Behind his thin wound-like mouth, gills bubbled for air. "These - ? You're reading these - ?" Myers asked Abe who nodded in confirmation.
"Four books at once. Every day - as long as I'm here to turn the pages." Trever said walking up to me smiling. "My name's Broom. Professor Trevor Broom. I see you've met Rose." Myers extended his hand in greeting to Trever.
"Sir, I'm –" Abe pressed his webbed hand against the glass, stopping Myers from talking and closed all three eyelids.
Agent John T. Myers, Kansas City, 76. "T" stands for Thaddeus, mother's older brother. Scar on your chin happened when you were ten, you still wonder if it's ever going to fade away." Abe said.
"How did it –" Myers started asking when I stopped him.
"He." I corrected and he looked at me confused. "He. Not "it.""
"Abraham Sapien. Discovered alive in a secret chamber at St. Trinian's Foundling Hospital, Washington." Trever told him pointing at a small piece of antique paper framed on the wall. They took his name from this little inscription that was stuck on his tank."
"Icthyo Sapiens, April 14, 1865." Myers read.
"The day Abraham Lincoln died. Hence "Abe" Sapien." Trever told him before moving to a tray by the tank. He uncovered it to reveal four greenish eggs making Myers gag and reel back. "Rotten eggs, a delicacy. Abe loves them." Abe smiled and took a subaquatic bow, gracefully nabbing the eggs as they floated through the hatch.
"How does he know so much about me?" Myers asked us.
"Abe possesses a unique frontal lobe." Trever told him as he started flipping the pages in the books. ""Unique." That's a word you'll hear quite a bit around here."
"Where am I - exactly, Sir?" Myers asked Trever.
"I told you." I said getting up and joining the men by the tank.
"As you entered the lobby there was an inscription –" Trever said.
"On the desk, yes. In Latin." Myers told us and I looked at him slightly impressed.
"Impressive. Do you remember what it said?" I asked him.
""In absentia luci, tenebrae vinciunt..."" Myers said.
""In the absence of light, darkness prevails." For there are things that go bump in the night, Agent Myers." Trever told him. "We are the ones who bump back." We all walked out of the room and down a corridor lined with glass cases containing occult artifacts. "1937: Hitler joins "The Thule Society" - a group of German aristocrats obsessed with the occult." Trever told him before pointing to an ancient, broken lance. 1938: he acquires the Spear of Longinus, which pierced the body of Christ. He who holds it becomes invincible. Hitler's power increases tenfold." Trever said as we walked through a series of pneumatic doors. In 1943, President Roosevelt decides to fight back. The Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense is born." We passed some workmen who were replacing some doors for us. The old ones had some dents from an oversized fist that deformed the 2-inch thick metal plates. "1958, the occult war finally ends when Adolf Hitler dies."
"1945, you mean." Myers told us making us both stop walking and turn to him. "Hitler died in '45."
"Did he, now?" Trever asked with a smile on his face.
"I remember it being 1958 when he died." I said making him look at me confused.
"But how could you remember that? You don't look older than 20 years old." He told me and I smiled.
"Unique is a very good term for most of our little team." I said before we started walking again. We reached the final door which was stainless steel, like a bank vault door. Agent Clay, a burly guy in a suit, was standing next to it with a cartful of beef and mashed potatoes at least four feet high.
"Agent Myers, this is Agent Clay. Follow his lead." Trever told him before he handed Myers two of the Baby Ruth bars we'd bought earlier in the day and turned to walk away from us.
"You're not coming?" Myers asked him.
"I hand-picked you from a roster of over seventy academy graduates. Make me proud." Trever said leaving the three of us alone again.
"They're not speaking." I told him and he looked at us confused.
"Professor Broom had him grounded." Clay explained.
"Grounded? Who's grounded?" Myers asked us and I smiled at Clay.
"Okay. You saw the fish man, right?" Clay asked and Myers nodded. "Well, come on in and meet the rest of the family." Clay used the triangular shaped key to unlock the door and we watched as three solenoid locks turned and two steel vertical pistons opened up. Clay pushed the cart into a solid concrete bunker, windowless, austere except for a few Samurai suits of armor and weapons. Dozens of cats wandered around while others were curled up on the furniture. There were Zippo's everywhere, from every era and on a sofa that was made from the bed of a pickup truck was a heap of blankets and comic books. All in all, a mega bachelor pad. "He gets fed six times a day. He's got a thing for cats. You'll be his nanny, his keeper, his best friend. He never goes out unsupervised –"
"Who?!" Myers asked him looking at the two of us confused. I stared at one of the comic books in the room: HELLBOY, THE UNCANNY. Myers picked it up and looked at the cover. It showed Hellboy - in a U.S. Uniform, fighting a monstrous ape. Myers put the comic book down and stared straight ahead of him to see a bright red tail wave in and out of a pool of light about ten feet away from him. I walked and picked up the cat who was playfully pawing at his tail. "You're kidding –"
"Those comics - They never got the eyes right." Hellboy told him. His voice is a deep baritone, chesty and powerful.
"How are you doing?" I asked him and he nodded at me.
"Oh, Jesus! Hellboy - ? Is real –" Myers asked Clay and I rolled my eyes.
"We got a new guy." I told him and he just smirked.
"Yup. Sixty years old by our count. But he doesn't age like we do - think dog years: He's barely out of his teens." Clay told Myers and I rolled my eyes, putting the cat down.
"Yeah, he makes sure we remember it." I said and Myers gasp, seeing Hellboy's monumental figure in the shadows, exercising with a 300 lb. Stainless steel dumbbell. Crimson biceps like cooked hams chomping an unlit cigar stub.
"What's with the hair, Clay? Finally got those implants?" Red asked Clay who blushed and hid his scalp.
"It'll fill in. Where do you want your dinner, Red? By the couch?" Clay asked him. On a nearby pile of junked TV sets, a loop of Fleischer cartoons and home movies cycled endlessly. On some one subject appeared over and over, an attractive young woman with a pale face and long raven-black hair.
"Who's the squirt?" Red asked.
"This is Agent Myers. He's your new liaison." I told him.
"Got tired of me Clay?" Red asked him.
"Nah. I'll be around, Red, just back in the field." Clay told him. Red dropped the dumbbell and Myers jumped at the sound.
"I don't want him." He told me.
"Manning says Clay's too soft on you and you need someone who'll inforce the rules on you." I told him. "Trever chose Myers specifically." He looked at me and sighed slightly.
"Oh. Uh. Hello. I - I have these. For you." Myers said holding the candy out to him.
"Father's back?" Red asked me and I nodded. "Still angry?"
"You did break out again." I reminded him.
"I wanted to see her, mother." He told me. "It's nobody's business." I gave him a look and he looked away from me ashamed of his words.
"You got yourself on TV again. Manning is breathing down our asses to control you better. One more slip up and he'll come here himself and I don't feel like looking at him.
""Myers", huh? You have a first name?" Red as Myers after a moment.
"Give him a chance." I whispered to Red.
"Uh-oh - John." Myers said. Red hadn't fully entered the light so Myers hadn't really seen his face yet, just from his shoulders down. "His what?!" Red finally went into the light and Myers stared for a moment as his chiseled features, patterned red skin and deep-set golden eyes before recoiling. On his head were two stumps where horns would have been had Red not filed them down everyday.
"Whatcha looking at, John?" Red asked him.
"Oh-n-no - I –" An alarm sounded and I smiled as a red light blinked on the wall making Myers look around bewildered.
"Hey, hey, hey. They're playing our song." Red told us before the two of us left the room.
"We're on the move." Clay said before Red clapped his smaller arm on Myers' shoulder.
"C'mon, Champ! Happy Halloween! You're taking me for a walk!"