I own nothing. Just a little idea on my take of Elizabeth Sherman first mission for the Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense. Please review.
"Come out, come out where ever you are!" Hellboy called into the darkness around him, slowly moving through a maze of boxes and crates. There was very little light in the room, but that did not affect Hellboy much. His eyes were much better in the dark than a human's eyes.
His hooves clacked along the tile floor and he heard the slightest shuffling to his right, slightly behind him. "I'm going to find you, why not give up now and come out?" He asked moving the box and seeing empty space, he sighed out a low breath.
There was a giggle, ever so slight and quiet. The hider looked out to where Hellboy was seeking. Only he wasn't there anymore. She shifted slightly holding the "treasure" close to her chest. The exercise was almost over. She could just make out the large clock counting down on the far wall. One minute left.
Suddenly her box hideout fell away and Liz Sherman let out a squeal as she felt herself being lifted up. Instantly she flamed up in defense as Hellboy smirked at his captive. "None of that kid." He warned juggling a struggling Liz in his arms before poking his captive in the tummy with his wiggling tail. Elizabeth burst into laughter as the demon of the apocalypse tickled her.
Her flames vanished as she laughed and Hellboy teased her. "Give up Liz?"
She nodded and Hellboy removed the slightly burned, gold painted "treasure" from her hands and put her back on the floor as the buzzer sounded and the lights turned on.
The door on the side opened and Professor Broom entered followed closely by Abe. Professor Broom's health has been poor recently. A trip to look for the yeti in Tibet last month had left him with a bad cold that turned into pneumonia, but he was on the mend. Still Hellboy or Abe were never too far away from the dear professor.
"Well done Elizabeth, you are improving." Broom praised proudly and the young girl blushed.
"Yes, it took Hellboy almost the entire time allowance to find you and take the treasure." Abe added, knowing well that in her six months with them Liz was really only just starting to come out of her shell with the three of them.
"I'm pretty sure real monsters don't tickle." Liz blushed still looking at the floor. It was such a baby way to be captured.
"Actually the Şüräle of turkey, with his long fingers, was known for leading travelers astray and tickling them to dead." Abe said quoting from his vast knowledge of creatures.
Liz shivered a bit, she didn't mind Hellboy being playful because she trusted him but a tickling monster sounded so creepy.
Professor Broom smiled at his family. "I believe it is lunch now. Hellboy and Liz you both should get something to eat before it gets too late."
"What about you pop?" Hellboy asked doing his best to make sure his voice held no worry.
"I'll eat in the library with Abe, I have some paper work I need to work on in there." Professor Broom turned on his heels and started out of the room before his son could argue.
"Don't worry Red, I'll look after him." Abe assured quietly using the nickname Liz had created for Hellboy. Red for Hellboy and Blue for himself. The names had quickly spread among the staff and were now there call signs during missions.
Liz still didn't care for eating in the main cafeteria. Too many eyes, too many people. And while she had not burned her room to ashes in the past two months she HAD destroyed her room a good five times now. Each day after one of her episodes everything would be cleaned up and replaced in just a few hours. Liz had felt terrible about how much it all cost but no one ever grumbled around her.
Hellboy made sure of that…No one was ever going to make the kid feel like she was a burden.
Walking quietly through the halls Hellboy and Liz came to the small staff room they had basically dubbed there kitchen as it was closest between both their rooms. Hellboy opened the fridge and popped his head inside. Liz held back a giggle from the site of Red almost stuffing himself into the extra-large fridge his tail swishing with excitement.
"What do you feel like Liz? There's ham, corned beef, cheese...ooh who put the fried chicken in here?" Hellboy mused.
"Ham sounds good." Liz answered as Hellboy basically brought the contents of the entire fridge out on the small round table in the center. While Liz made herself a modest little ham sandwich, Hellboy made himself double ham, triple beef sandwich, triple cheese, with a boneless fried chicken breast strip pushing in randomly and covered in mayo.
"How can you eat that?" Liz crinkled her nose at the giant sandwich of random. The sandwich was way bigger than Hellboy's mouth.
Hellboy pushed down on the sandwich with his stone hand, condensing it to mouth size. "Easy, it's delicious."
Hellboy enjoyed these quieter moments with Liz. The kid was just starting to warm up to him and the others. She was start showing a bit of personality and he liked it.
**************************Library***************************************
Professor Broom sat at his desk, surrounded by newspapers and books. His lunch was mostly untouched pushed on the tray to the side of the desk while he worked. His hands were fingering a large, old tome made of leather while he continued to glance between the words in the book and the language of the foreign newspapers.
"Is something wrong professor?" Abe asked from his water tank. The voice transmitter on the side of the tank, making his words sound a bit…watery. He could feel the professors worry. "You haven't touched your lunch." Abe added.
Broom sighed and pushed back his chair. "I have been thinking about the upcoming mission…"
"Mission?" Abe perked up and swam to the glass, placing his hands upon it. "What mission?"
"The small town of Harksburg, in Bulgaria. Population 1,264. Seems that for the past few weeks children have been going missing at night from around the town." Professor Broom frowned. "First it was just once a week, now a child disappears almost every night. It's as if the children vanished into the air. No one ever sees them go. The only clue is from one child who is blind. The night his sister went missing he swore to his parents he heard the most beautiful music." Professor Broom took a sip of tea. "Harksburg use to be called Hamelin back in the middle ages."
"Hamelin? The Pied Piper has returned?" Abe asked.
"That or someone is copying the history of the town. I've called a meeting for 5pm. We need to discuss the plan." Professor Broom coughed suddenly.
Abe frowned. "You are still too sick for such a trip." He said as gently as he could.
Professor Broom frowned but nodded in agreement. "I only wish I wasn't. This will be Elizabeth's first mission."
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