On October 9th, 1944, off the coasts of Scotland, several American soldiers, an expert in the occult Englishman known as Professor Trevor Broom, and a mysterious woman only called Zara walk through the heavy rain under the cover of darkness. The group's purpose for stepping foot on one of Scotland's isles is they hope to stop a Nazi plot in a desperate attempt to turn the tide of war in their favor. According to the reports, the Nazis are combining science and black magic to achieve their goals.
Professor Broom, Zara, and the American soldiers quickly move through the short tunnel carved into a mountain on the isle. Sergeant Whitman stood on the tunnel's other side, leader of the allied team, signaling his men to fan out as they came out.
"All right, men, let's go. Move!" Whitman yelled with a cigar in his mouth. "Come on! Come on! Come on! Let's fan it out."
The Allied team was heading toward the ruins of Trondham Abbey. The holy building had been built atop of ley lines centuries ago. Zara could feel the powerful energy coursing through the ground. But she also felt dark energy nearby. There was no doubt in Zara's mind that it was the Nazis.
Zara gazed at the giant crucifix that stood amongst the ruins. She stared into the eyes of the statue of Christ. Zara's mind became filled with ancient memories of a different life. A different her. Broom noticed his friend and placed a hand on Zara's shoulder, ending her thoughts of the past.
"Sergeant Whitman," Zara called, gaining the man's attention. "Professor Broom and I would like a word with you."
The Sergeant marched toward Broom and Zara before impatiently asking, "What is it?"
"Your men..." Broom pulled a box from his coat before opening it. He removed one of the rosaries and showed it to Sergeant Whitman, "they'll need these."
The Sergeant laughs at the sight of the religious object. He grabs a handful of rosaries before dropping them back into the box.
"Are you two Catholics?" Whitman questioned Broom and Zara.
"Yes. Among other things," Broom responded for himself and Zara. "But that's hardly the point."
Whitman pulls a loaded colt from his holster before holding it in Broom's face, "Well, you're gonna need one of these."
"I abhor the use of violence," Broom said, dismissing the weapon.
The Sergeant then holds it before Zara, but she guides it away by using her index finger. Whitman returns the gun to his holster.
"While I am grateful for the offer, Sergeant. I have my own weapons for the occasion," Zara told Whitman.
"I wouldn't want you to think me mad, Sergeant Whitman-" Broom began.
"No, three days too late for that, Professor Broom," He interrupted before walking away. The Sergeant then barked orders at his men, "All right, you guys, let's move, move, move, move! Come on, men, let's get the lead out!"
Broom and Zara looked up at the wooden Christ before walking away, joining the others and catching up to Sergeant Whitman. The further they walked, Broom and Zara could tell Whitman was not pleased with them.
"You're wasting our time. There's nothing here but sheep and rocks," Whitman told Broom and Zara.
"These are ruins, not rocks, Sergeant," Zara corrected him.
"The remains of Trondham Abbey built on an intersection of ley lines... the boundaries between our world and the others..." Broom began explaining but stopped when Whitman grabbed him by his coat before pulling him to the ground to duck behind ruins. The other men and Zara also ducked.
"What a load of crap!" Whitman exclaimed. "Hell, a week ago, I never even heard the word "parabnormal."
"Paranormal," Broom corrected him.
"Move it!" Whitman ordered.
Everyone stood up and continued walking toward the Abbey, passing more ruins. Zara could feel the dark energy growing stronger the closer she got.
"Come on!" Whitman told Broom and Zara, gesturing to them to pick up the pace.
"There are strange things in this world, Sergeant, that you have yet to see. And I should know. I've seen them," Zara told Whitman as they and the others reached a slope and more ruins.
The Allied team quickly kneeled behind the slope and ruins. They had reached the destination of their classified mission.
"Sweet Jesus," Whitman gasped.
The Allied team looked at the Romanesque ruins of Trondham Abbey. Dozens of Nazi soldiers swarm among the stone walls and archways of the holy building. A vertical flag of Project Ragna Rok hanging on the ruins. The flag consisted of the Nazi symbol over a serpent dragon with a crown atop its head.
"They must be here for the sheep," Broom quipped at Whitman.
The Allied team watches as dozens of soldiers swiftly assemble a large steel machine. The work is monitored by a spindly Nazi in black leather, his face covered by an odd gas mask. Zara instantly knew the Nazi's identity. She could sense the blood on his hands.
Whitman holds up his binoculars and looks through them. The Sergeant passes the binoculars to Broom as he says, "The freak in the gas mask..."
"Karl Ruprecht Kroenen," Zara spoke the identity of the gas mask man without looking through the binoculars, earning herself a look from a perplexed Whiteman. "Hitler's top assassin and head of the Thule Occult Society. If he's here, this is worse than we thought."
The Allied team watches from their spot. Everyone watches through their binoculars except Zara. The only woman on the team did not require binoculars to observe the Nazis.
Zara saw a blonde woman and a bald man with a dark beard walking toward the machine in the altar area of the ruins. The machine's colossal steel and copper clockworks gleamed in the floodlights. The woman wore a black leather Nazi uniform, while the man only wore pants, shoes, and a red robe with gold embroidery and a black fur-lined collar. Zara recognized them as Ilsa Haupstein and Grigori Rasputin. Their souls were as dark as Kroenen's. The three are some of the darkest souls Zara has ever seen. Ilsa held an umbrella over Grigori to shield him from the pouring rain. Walking beside them is Von Krupt, a Nazi General. The three soon stood atop the altar. Zara saw they were talking and quickly listened in on their conversation.
"Five years of research and construction, Grigori. Five years! The Führer doesn't look kindly on failure," Von Krupt told Rasputin.
"There will be no failure, general. I promised Herr Hitler a miracle. I'll deliver one," Rasputin said, moving the umbrella away. The heavy rain is now pouring on him.
Kroenen opens a polished oak box containing a massive gold and copper mecha-glove. Grigori extends his hand so that Kroenen may fit him with the contraption attached to cables and hoses.
"Air and sea backup. What's closest?" Whitman asked his Radioman.
The Radioman cranks a transmitter to life. A few moments pass before the Radioman responds, "Londonderry, sir. Forty minutes away."
"We don't have forty minutes," Broom said.
"We need to move closer," Zara urgently told Whitman.
The Sergeant nodded before ordering his soldiers, "Alright, men. Fan out. Move in and stay hidden. And wait for my signal."
The Allied team left their hiding spot and closed in on the Abbey's ruins. As the group approaches the ruins, they hear Rasputin make a speech.
"What I will do tonight can never be undone! I will open a portal... and awaken the Ogdru Jahad: The Seven Gods of Chaos! Our enemies will be destroyed! And from the ashes... a new Eden will arise," Rasputin announced. He looked at the machine and said in a whisper only Zara could hear, "Ragnarok. Anung un Rama."
Rasputin flexes his fingers, and in response, the two metal rings swing around the machine's central axis. An invisible ring blast of energy emits from Grigori's body. When the energy ring passed through Zara, she could feel a shift in the earth. Time was running out. And it did run out as a portal formed inside the machine.
When the Allied team is closer to the ruins, they see the portal created by the machine. A picture-worthy moment. And that is what one army photographer named Matlin did. He takes out his camera and snaps a picture of the scene.
"Get down!" Whitman told Matlin in a quiet voice before pulling him down.
The two and the rest of the team hid behind a wall of the ruins. Hoping they weren't spotted. But unfortunately, they were not as lucky. A Nazi scientist heard rusling noise. His curiosity was peaked. The scientist slowly approached the wall to investigate.
"I was taking a picture," Matlin said, defending himself.
"You do that again, and I'll carve you a new one!" Whitman scolded him.
"Listen, the portal is open. Do you understand? We have to stop them!" Broom told Whitman in a fierce whisper.
Thinking quickly, Whitman took out two grenades before pulling the pins and throwing them over the wall. The two explosives land beside the curious Nazi scientist.
The scientist tried to warn his comrades, but he was too late. The two grenades explode. The force sends the scientist flying toward the portal. The Nazi scientist disintegrates when he comes into contact with the portal. The blast also knocks down a pillar that crushes another Nazi scientist.
Seconds later, the Allied team storms the ruins. Bullets were fired from both sides. Broom and Zara jumped over the wall to join the American soldiers when Broom got shot in the leg. The Professor falls to the ground, clutching his leg in pain. Zara stops and turns around to find her friend injured. The woman rushes to aid her friend.
"Don't worry about me," Broom told Zara. "Go stop them before it's too late!"
Zara looks up and around at the choas around her. She knew that Broom was right. They were running out of time. Zara glances at Broom and says, "Try not to die."
Zara leaves her friend's side and joins the American soldiers in the fight. Several Nazis saw the woman and fired their weapons at her, but they were wasting their bullets. The bullets did make contact with Zara but had no effect.
The woman steps toward the Nazi soldiers in her path. She grabbed a Nazi by the collar and lifted him with ease. The Nazi tries to remove Zara's hand, but he is no match for her strength.
"Your soul is stained by the blood of the innocent. Look into my eyes. Feel their pain," Zara said as her eyes began to shine like fire. She stared into the man's eyes before he screamed in pain.
Slowly, the Nazi's screams died as he went limp. Zara's eyes return to normal before she drops the Nazi to the ground. The other Nazis gasped in horror when they saw their comrade's terrified face and charred eyes. The Nazis attempted to flee in terror but were quickly taken out by the American soldiers.
Zara left the dimwitted Nazis to the soldiers because she had bigger fish to fry. The woman turned around in time to see Kroenen, standing a few feet from her, extend two gleaming blades from twin steel bands on his wrists. He spins swords like deadly rotors, trying to intimidate Zara. But his attempt was futile. She was not afraid of Kroenen.
Zara had faced many opponents in her life. Ranging from evil forces that wished to destroy the world to mere mortals who thought they could defeat her by stabbing her with a pocket knife. And Kroenen was no different than anything other human Zara has fought. The two march toward each other, ready to fight. One uses deadly blades that have killed many, while the other only uses fists.
When the two meet, Kroenen swings his blade at Zara, but she blocks the attack with her arm. If anyone else had attempted it, they would have had their arm sliced off. The woman then kicks Kroenen in the chest with little strength, not wanting to kill him just yet. The assassin is sent flying back by the kick but manages to stop by digging his blades into the ground.
Broom looks up at the portal and decides it must be stopped now, or it will be too late. The Professor drags himself to one of the fallen American soldiers with a grenade belt. Broom quickly grabs a grenade and pulls the pin before throwing it at the machine. It wedges itself between two moving tie rods.
Kroenen notices and quickly abandons his fight with Zara before retracting his blades and marching to the machine. The gyrating rails slice through his leather jacket. As his fingers reach the grenade, it explodes. Kroenen flies through the air, hitting a stone wall before a rail goes through his abdomen. The piece of metal pins him to the stone wall.
Zara watches as Grigori's face becomes distorted, pulled like ectoplasmic taffy. His body is pulled into the portal, contorting and breaking before being sucked in. The cosmic portal suddenly implodes. Nothing is left but a few burnt rails and the metal smoking.
The fighting slowly dies as the Nazis surrender, knowing they had lost. Zara looks around and notices Ilsa is gone. And so is Kroenen. Only the rail that impaled him remained in the wall.
Zara rushes over to Broom. Whitman helps Broom stand up, allowing the young man to lean on him to take the pressure off his injured leg.
"It's almost over," Whitman said.
"No, it's not. The portal's been open for too long. Something may have come through. Have your men search the area thoroughly," Broom told the Sergeant.
Whitman motions for Matlin to come over. The Photographer approaches and lets Broom lean on him.
"Spread out and search the area, men!" Whitman ordered his men before joining them.
The soldiers spread out, using flashlights to scour through the rubble. Every one of them has a rosary hanging from the bayonet. Zara gets on the other side of Broom, allowing him to lean on her as well. She and Matlin guide Broom toward the chapel. The three stopped at the stone wall where Kroenen was impaled, but the assassin was gone.
"He's gone," Matlin said in disbelief.
"For now," Broom told him.
"When you said something came through... From where?" Matlin questioned.
"Where do you think?" She asked the Photographer as she glanced at a stone wall with carvings depicting heaven and hell.
Once inside the chapel, Zara and Matlin gently set Broom down, allowing him to sit against the wall. Zara helps Broom bandage his bleeding leg with a cloth. The man grunts in pain as Zara tightens the blood-stained cloth. Matlin stands to the side and looks over the chapel ruins with his flashlight.
"Do you really really believe in hell?" Matlin asked Broom and Zara.
Zara did not answer the Photographer's question. Instead, memories were brought to the surface of her mind. Painful memories of her being chained and tortured every waking moment.
"There is a place. A dark place where ancient evil slumbers and awaits to return," Broom answered. "Grigory gave us a glance tonight."
"Grigori? That's-that's Russian, right?" The Phtotographer questioned. Broom nods in response.
"Grigori Yefimovich Rasputin," Zara said, giving Rasputin's full name.
"Rasputin?" Marlin questioned in disbelief. "C'mon..."
"He was the occult advisor to the Romanovs," Zara said. "In 1916, at a dinner in his honor, he was poisoned, shot, stabbed, clubbed, castrated, and finally drowned. And, yet, we saw him, a man that is supposed to be dead, here tonight alive."
Zara suddenly tensed up as she felt a presence that was not of this earth. A dark presence. A rustling sound reaches their ears. Something moves, accompanied by a loud scrape.
"Professor Broom. Miss Zara," Matlin called before he took out his pistol and nervously approached a Sarcophagus with a stone cat sitting at the feet of the sculpture lying on the coffin. Zara helps Broom up before following Matlin together.
"Be careful," Zara warned Matlin.
Matlin looked behind it and saw a small broken gargoyle statue. He lets out a breath he didn't know he was holding before turning to Broom and Zara. A red creature pokes its head up over the statue's legs and lets out a sound, startling everyone. Instinctively, Matlin shoots at it. The red creature leaps from arch to arch, followed by a trail of bullets hitting the stone wall. The creature stops at an arch and screeches as it hids between a gargoyle and a stone saint.
"What the hell was that? An ape?" Matlin asked Broom and Zara.
"No. It was red. Bright red," Broom said. "Lower your light, you're scaring it.
Whitman and other soldiers rushed into the chapel after hearing the shots.
"What are you three shooting at?" Whitman questioned.
"A red ape!" Matlin responded, gesturing toward the creature.
"It's not an ape," Broom corrected, standing between Matlin and the creature.
"It's got a big stone in its hand," Matlin said.
"It is his hand," Zara bluntly stated.
The creature's right arm is a solid red stone with tiny runes engraved around the thick, cylindrical wrist, and four articulated stone fingers.
"Jesus! Would'ya look at the size of that whammer!" Whitman exclaimed.
The creature hisses as it cowers between the statues. Whitman and the other soldiers aim their guns at the red creature above. Broom steps in between and stops them from firing.
"No, wait! Wait" Broom cried.
Whitman and his men put their guns away. Broom slowly fishes a Baby Ruth candy bar from his pocket. Peeling back the wrapper, he slowly waves the candy. The red creature pokes his head out of the shadows with curiosity.
Broom bites into the candy and chews, noisily smacking his lips. He offers the candy to the creature. The red creature extended his left arm trying to reach for the candy, but his arm was too small to reach.
The creature continues to try to reach for the candy but slowly grows frustrated before finally grabbing the candy with his stone right hand. The creature quickly devours the candy, enjoying the chocolate. Broom smiles before reaching into his pocket and pulling out another Baby Ruth candy bar.
Broom peels open the rapper before turning to the soldiers and saying, "A blanket. Get me a blanket."
One of the men quickly handed Broom the blanket he requested. Broom covers his arms with the blanket. Zara knew what Broom was planning to do. He was going to coax the creature down from the arch.
"Come on. Come on. It's safe. Jump down. Come on. Jump down," Broom calmly told the red creature.
The creature slowly turns around and burps after finishing the Baby Ruth candy bar. The creature slowly turns around and burps after finishing the Baby Ruth candy bar. It looks down at Broom for a second before, jumping into his arms.
Broom tenderly covers it with a blanket. The creature's fingers snatch the candy. Broom smiles as he announces, "It's a boy."
"It's just a baby boy," Marlin said with a smile.
The soldiers gathered around Broom to look at the baby. The men happily smiled at the baby boy while Broom smiled like a father proudly showing his newborn son. But one amongst them did not smile.
Zara stared at the small, red creature in Broom's arms. The woman felt conflicted while looking at the baby. She had a purpose to fulfill. The fate of the world was in her hands. But how could she end a defenseless child? Other than the darkness within the demonic child, Zara could sense something else. Something that she would describe as human. Does she kill the half-demon baby boy and save the world, or spare him and gamble the fate of the world?
Zara's question was soon answered when the boy looked at her. The woman peered into the baby's eyes and saw no evilness as she would with sinners and other demons.
Zara was prepared to end whatever came through the portal. The woman began thinking that her time among the humans made her human. She was sparing a creature meant to bring the destruction of the world because of its youth and potential innocence.
After the rain had stopped and the sun had risen, the soldiers, Broom, Zara, and the boy stood before Matlin as he set up his camera for a group photo.
Zara and Broome stood by each other with the red creature at their feet. The creature was given the name by the soldiers. Hellboy.
The soldiers clustered around the three. Matlin directed the soldiers in the direction he wanted them to be so that they would appear in the photograph.
Broom looked lovingly down at the creature, playing with the rosary attached to the gun of one of the soldiers.
"Hellboy," Broom said with a smile.
The red creature smiles as he looks up at his new adoptive father. Then Hellboy glances at Zara with the same smile. The woman slightly smiles at him and wonders if she made the right decision.
"Look at the birdie," Matlin told everyone before snapping a picture.
