DISCLAIMER: I do not own any original BPRD characters. I just own the plot and the OCs. I do not think I own Ruddy either: he has a kind of life on his own.
I also do not own any original HP Lovecraft characters or setting, I just borrow them.

No warnings for this chapter, just some irony. It is another BPRD-centric chapter, in which Daisy Marsh is more properly introduced.

The challenge is still open, anyway.

Enjoy!


The Shermans' ranch was farther away than they anticipated.
"Follow the road and turn at the sign, he said." mumbled Liz, annoyed.
So far they had already driven for twenty miles of arid countryside without trace of any sign reading Sherman's ranch.
"I think they have a different perception of distance here, miss Sherman." Krauss commented. "It may be due to their habit of traveling great spaces."
Dr. Daisy Marsh nodded.
The two academics seemed to get along well, so far.

The truck was big and as comfortable as an operative vehicle could be, but the BPRD agents were quite crammed in the rear compartment.
The road went along, always the same, flanked on both sides by empty wilderness.
"It would be easy to disappear in such a place for a weird coyote. Or for anything else." Hellboy commented, quite bored.
The had took a plane from Washington to Houston, then had continued with the truck to the small town whence the fax had been sent.
His bottom was surely much flattened by now, after so many hours of sitting upon it.
"Yes, it would, but not if it was seriously wounded. - Abe said – That Jeremy Sherman claims he shot the creature, maybe it was enough to force it to find a shelter in the nearby area."
"It may be a possibility. - confirmed Dr. Marsh – I hope it is not dead yet, anyway. Finding it alive would be an extraordinary achievement in the study of cryptozoology."
She looked enthusiastic, eyes shining and smiling.

She was a recent addiction to the team, hired when, after the Bethmoora mission and the threat to leave the BPRD, the agents managed to have some changes made in the organization.
Opening the Monster Hotline, for example, was Abe's idea.
He hoped to find and rescue some stray magic creatures as well as defending the human population from weird things from the abysses.

Daisy Marsh was a cryptozoologist, PhD at Miskatonic University in Massachussets, a place where the weirdest things were studied.
She was regarded as quite an authority in her field and though her main topic of research were some invertebrate creatures hidden in the forests of New England, she had a wide culture about cryptids.
She quickly adapted to working with them.
Hellboy was relieved by finding a human who was not weirded out by them.
But maybe it was because she was weird herself.
He had already heard her speak with enthusiasm about the disgusting reproductive behavior of some oddity of the Thailandese rainforest, or something equally horrible.

The call for this job had reached her while she was attending at a symposium about American Cryptids at Miskatonic.
She accepted promptly and joined them in Houston, glad of having an opportunity to do some field research.
Her department had recently suffered some shortage of funds, which were redirected to the necromancy department for some big experimental project.
Hellboy thought that the guys at Miskatonic'd better not poke at what was sleeping, whatever it was.
They were bound to make some mess of it, and the BPRD would have to clean it.

"Well, – he said, not relieved by this thoughts – if it is not incapacitated or dead , we will probably have to search the whole desert for it."
"Maybe not, Red. – Abe replied – If it has left any trace, I may be able to find him through my powers."
Hellboy just grumbled.
Dr. Marsh instead seemed very interested. "You are a touch-sensitive, I suppose." she said, smiling.
"Yes, I am. It is a nuisance sometimes, but it is useful during an investigation." Abe replied, quite proudly.
The two of them also got along well.
They shared many common interests and were both well-educated. Sometimes they engaged in conversations he couldn't make heads nor tails of.

"Cheer up, boys and girls! – the driver, a young agent named Ash said, joyfully – Here's the sign to the Shermans': we're almost there."
He turned into a unpaved road, lifting a considerable cloud of dust.
The team let out a collective sigh of relief, Abe in particular, as he was resenting the increasing heat.

"So, what's the plan now? - asked Hellboy, sounding annoyed – No,no, let me guess. It includes us waiting here, right?"
Liz smiled: he was really cute when pouting.
She leaned towards him and kissed him lightly. "Let us girls do the talking, Red. It won't take much time, I promise." she said softly.

The truck stopped in front of a big farmhouse, next to a new and expensive pickup.
"OK, goodbye Red, Blue, Professor." Ash said, unfastening his seat belt and unlocking the door.
"You two are not coming either, boys." Liz words stopped the two agents on their tracks.
"Why not?" asked the other agent.
"Two women are less intimidating. The cowboy might talk more freely with us." Daisy Marsh explained, having a great experience in retrieving information from uncooperative witnesses.
The agents tried to protest but the two women left anyway, leaving the rest of the crew in complete boredom.
"Would you mind if I turn the music on?" Ash said, breaking the silence after long moments.
"Absolutely not, as long as you turn the air conditioner on maximum power – replied Abe, in a tired voice – I am stewing."

Talking to Jeremy was an easy job.
The lad was eager to narrate his adventure to anyone willing to listen: apparently he had already told his parents, his brother and most of the workers.

Daisy and Liz asked directions to a Mexican worker who barely spoke any English and were directed to the stables.
Jeremy was there, tending to a beautiful brown steed. He was a strong young man, blond and blue-eyed, his fair skin heavily freckled due to his outdoors lifestyle.
The women noticed that his cowboy outfit missed a hat: maybe he hadn't replaced it yet.
He volunteered a lot of information about the creature.
"I had some time to look at it, before being knocked out. - he confided – The others fled immediately but he remained to challenge me." he was making it seem some macho thing, something personal.

"The others were like him?" Daisy asked, eagerly.
"No, just regular, coward coyotes." Jeremy replied with a hint of despise. "The weird one was different. He was not afraid of the horse or the gun. I think he was their alpha and he challenged me."
"And won." added Liz under her breath, thinking that the lad had some serious issue with his masculinity.

Daisy ignored her colleague's remark, however funny, and continued with the questioning.
She asked him a detailed description of the creature, which he promptly gave her.
Apparently it, or he, as the witness insisted, was bigger than the average coyote and stronger in build, looking more like a dobermann that everything else, wiry but muscled.
It was a lot of information, but what made her day was knowing that the beast had scarlet eyes and a forked tail.
This was important information, indeed, and it corroborated her half-formed theory.

Almost no clues in this chapter, but the challenge is still open.

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