You're going to have to read Weird Texas for any of this to really make sense. I've been told it's worth investing your time and effort in though. This is AU for Taker and his crew, and floats somewhere between comic verse and movie verse Hellboy. I'm a fan of both, so all discrepancies are made with the mind relaxed and attentive. Just sit back and enjoy the ride.

Disclaimer: I own neither Hellboy or the Undertaker. No profit being made here.

Chapter 2

When he awoke, he found that a blanket had been put over him, and a pillow was beside his head, keeping him from getting a kink in his neck. The wolf had dragged her large stuffed bed next to the chair and was dozing near his feet. There was an alligator tooth beside her head. The room was quiet and light from the few windows , as well as the grandfather clock, declared it to be mid-morning.

"Hey." Hellboy said quietly to the wolf, who opened her eyes and raised her head.

"Hey." She said.

"Found it, I see." He said, nodding towards the tooth. The wolf yawned. "Thank you."

"You should thank me. I had to trade an eyelash in order to get it back from Mideon." She said.

"Mideon's here? I thought he was with La Llorona." Hellboy said.

"She is not always tangible and sometimes is still overcome with her grief. That's when Mideon shows up here. She always comes around to collect him before long though." Perdita explained.

"What can he do with your eyelash?" Hellboy asked.

"Not him necessarily, but he can trade or gift it to someone with more limited senses and more limited sense. It lets them see the world as I do." She said.

"Like, a psychic connection?"

"No, with my instinct. It will let you see who is good, and who is not so good. It's very handy for someone who is naturally naive." She said. "And Mideon, while incredibly gentle most of the time, is still a demon and is far from naive."

Hellboy reached down and picked up the tooth. "So this is going to help us free the gator army." He said. The wolf tilted her head at him, apparently her conversation was all used up for the time being.

Hellboy stood up and stretched, and so did the wolf. He then put the tooth in his pocket and set out in the direction of the kitchen.

When he arrived he found the place buzzing with activity. Jacqueline and Marie seemed to be directing traffic in Creole. Hellboy hung back until Marie noticed him and waved him over. She handed him a heaping plate of beignets. "Get something to eat. Mark and Jacqueline figure you haven't eaten anything in days." She said and smiled at him. Hellboy grinned back at her. Yeah, he was going to stay on here for awhile.

"They are astute madam, and I thank you." He said. As soon as he'd finished saying it, Marie was serving up a plate for the wolf in a less populated corner of the kitchen, near a window.

Hellboy knew the AC was cranked and it was still sweltering in the kitchen so he chose to settle next to the window beside the wolf where the lack of other bodies made for vaguely cooler temperatures. An enormous cup of coffee appeared before him, and he drank it. Out side the window a tent-like structure was being put up by knowing hands for a voodoo ritual. Off in the distance by the pond, Mideon could be seen tossing whole chicken carcasses to gators one by one a la Steve Irwin. Hellboy was happy to see that it was only the chickens they seemed to be interested in.

Mark filtered in and a small woman handed him coffee and he thanked her warmly. Hellboy had to grin. Mark's charm was evident then. It was small wonder why people rallied around him like this.

"Hey Red." Mark said when he got close. He'd also acquired an orange and now had toast perched on top of his coffee cup.

"Seems like this is going to be quite the operation." Hellboy remaked.

"Looks that way. It's mostly them. They're convinced pure voodoo can do this, I'm just helping out where I can. It's not my area of expertise, but I'm learning a lot." Mark said.

"You don't sound so convinced that it's purely voodoo." Hellboy said.

"I got an inkling, but nothing more. We'll cross that bridge when we come to it." Mark said.

"Penny for your thoughts... What's the inkling?" Hellboy asked, ever the investigator... heh, gator.

"I just... Voodoo is usually more about controlling the actions of others and asking favours of the loa... Transfiguration just... It doesn't really fit. But like I said, I'm learning." Mark explained.

"We'll see how it goes. We'll figure it out... You know, that is going to keep you sane, you know."

"What is?" Mark asked.

"You continuing to learn. It's a weird world, and the weird ones that tend to turn nasty think they know everything already." Hellboy said.

"Hm." Mark said, and was obviously thinking that one over. "I think you're goddamn right." He agreed after a moment and smiled.

Mark then told Hellboy the basics of what was to go on, and that they were going to try to return the victims to their human forms before releasing them from Hellboy's control. "I know it sounds horrible, Red, but things can go wrong and I don't want anybody hurt in case it does. There's a lot of guess work going into this, so we have to be sure. And that was my condition and no one else. I don't want anybody to suffer unnecessarily."

"I... Yeah, you're right." Hellboy said. His clashes with the Bureau over the years about Liz and Abe and others and how they were treated stuck out in his mind. He'd humanized both of them in dramatic fashion to the Bureau's researchers. He'd hated to see them treated like prisoners and it went against his every instinct to keep control over the hag's victims. But Mark was reasonable. They didn't know what would happen and he didn't want a bigger mess on his hands.

Hellboy was present for the entire ceremony, standing next to Mark and keeping careful hold of the tooth. They weren't exactly passive observers, but they didn't have much to do. The seeming chaos went on around them as loa were called and participants possessed. Mark, it seemed, didn't have to play host to anybody today, and appeared to be fine with that.

Mark's followers, Bradshaw, Farooq, Mideon and the rest were on the periphery, keeping a close eye on the gators who were basking on the lawn. It seemed odd to Hellboy to be doing this in broad daylight. But like Mark, he still had a lot to learn.

The conversation with and appeasement of the loa went on into the early afternoon, and even Hellboy had to admit that it was getting a tad warmish. But he remained standing calmly beside Mark, sharing a flask that Mark had produced from somewhere. It wasn't enough to get drunk, but it did take off any edge of being over tired he might have had.

So it was a fairly relaxed Hellboy who observed what looked like a wave of heat come up from the participants in the ritual and watched it flow towards the gators. Mark's followers backed off for this but were still ever watchful.

The change in them was immediate. What was most noticeable were the limbs of the gators stretching and growing to human proportions. "Good." Mark murmured. The gators grew scale-covered but recognizably human legs, arms, feet, and hands, and the structure of their spines and pelvis' became human as well. Though it was hard to tell if it was physically painful because of the lack of expression their faces had. Hellboy assumed it was though.

But Mark's expression changed suddenly after a few moments. His eyes focused hard on what were now anthropomorphic alligators. His gaze was cold and calculating. "Shit." He said. "It's... not enough."

"What's not enough?" Hellboy asked.

"They've stopped changing back. I thought there was more to this than only voodoo." Mark said and took a healthy swig from the flask. He handed it to Hellboy and headed for Jacqueline and Marie, his head shaking back and forth. Hellboy followed.

The gator men, in the meantime, were starting to get to their feet, looking rather confused.

"Might need you to step in and tell them to keep calm." Mark said to Hellboy with his mind. It was jarring until Hellboy remembered Mark's abilities.

"What do I tell them?" Hellboy asked.

"A minor setback that we will solve directly."

"Yeah, like that's gonna work."

"It will if you say it the right way." Mark said.

"Okay, if you say so." Hellboy made sure he was in a place where all the gator men could see him. The drumming had stopped and everyone was quiet now, in a bit of a stupor from what they were saying. One of the gator men stepped forward on unsteady pins. He looked back and forth between the ground and Hellboy, clearly unused to this perspective.

"What have you done to us?" He asked. His voice was rusty and slurred because of the shape of his skull.

"It's a step on the way to all of you being freed." Mark said. He'd wanted to be honest and use the words 'complete cock up' but knew that Jacqueline and Marie would give him endless loads of shit about it. So he chose subtle misdirection in the name of diplomacy instead. "We thought it best for all of you to at least be able to communicate your needs. I will be looking for a permanent solution directly."

"Why do you speak for the master?" The gator man asked Mark, and then looked decidedly at Hellboy.

"Perhaps our en-slaver cannot speak for himself." Said another of the gator men from further back in the crowd.

"Whoa whoa whoa" Hellboy said, stepping in. "Like my friend here said, we're working on that. I have no interest in ordering any of you around until doomsday. We just want to make sure that nobody is gonna get violent. As soon as we have the means to free you, we will. I promise." Hellboy said. Mark gave him an approving nod. The lead gator man also nodded, agreeing with this. The one further back though still had reservations.

"And how do we know we're not being lied to? How do we know we're not monsters forever?" He asked.

"Look at me." Hellboy said and pointed to his face. "I wouldn't wish the limitations this face comes with on anybody else... We'll make this as right as we can. I promise."

This calmed the dissenter somewhat and Mark stepped up again. "I'm going to need help to do it though." Mark said. "Which one of you knows the area where the witch lived the best?" The leader in the front made another step forward.

"I was the first, and the only one for a long time." He said.

"Will you help us find the place?" Mark asked.

"Yes, I will."

"Thank you. We'll leave as soon as I gather a few things. Red, you coming with?"

"Of course I am." Hellboy said.

"Then get your gear. We're taking you back into the bayou." Mark said and walked purposefully off in the direction of the house.

To be continued...