Chapter Text
The parents waiting outside for their children were given heart attacks when the Augmented Sammael instead burst through the front doors, blasting them off of their hinges. The beast roared at them, stomping forward as it continued to carry the boy in its paw.
The poor kid cried out, reaching for his mother–who was already screaming and trying to run over–as the Augmented Sammael’s mechanical wings spread out. Right as the Hound planned on shooting up into the sky, Hellboy ran out of the doors behind it, rushing forward. The creature jumped up–and Hellboy did the same, grabbing onto the Augmented Sammael’s feet as it tried to fly up. It squealed, stumbling around in the air.
“My son! Somebody get my son!” the mother cried out, only able to watch them thrash around in the air; her kid crying out more.
“Lady, give me a break!” Hellboy barked. “I’m tryin’ over here!”
Hellboy then yelled as the Augmented Sammael took off into the air, leaving the chaos of the school beneath them all. Hellboy looked up at the boy still trapped in the beast’s paw as the Augmented Sammael continued to fly.
“Don’t worry, kid! This is my job, I’m a professional!”
The boy was not convinced.
Hellboy held on for dear life as the Augmented Sammael flew throughout Torrance, having to kick his feet off of the side of buildings when the Hound flew too close to them. He held on tight, determined to not let the thing get away with the boy in its paw.
The Augmented Sammael flew down closer to the traffic, swinging its body around so Hellboy was thrashed around slightly as well. The demon yelped as he was hit with the sides of cars and semi-trucks alike. At one point, a side mirror hit him right in the crotch, but even then he didn’t let his grip up at all.
The beast then flew up higher, soaring with a speed that had Hellboy wincing from the wind hitting his face. It flew up and up, before dropping down again; the sound of the wind drowning out the boy’s terrified screams. It twisted in the air, heading for the freight train running through Torrance. It dipped down enough for Hellboy to be slammed onto the roof of the train, finally making him let go.
As he rolled to a stop, Hellboy looked up; the Hound landed on the front car of the train, dropping the boy. The kid yelped and hung onto the roof of the train, unable to move due to fear. The Augmented Sammael stood in near the end of the front car, blocking the kid. It had the audacity to lift its hand and beckon Hellboy over with a finger.
Hellboy growled, standing up–stumbling to balance, his coat billowing from the speed of the train–before running over.
The S.D.N office was chaotic.
Liz had run in, stammering about how a “flying Sammael” had snatched Hellboy and took off into the skies. All of the dispatchers were immediately at work trying to track down any clues. The Z-Team stood at standby, waiting for their orders. Bruttenholm stood off to the side, his white-knuckle grip on his cane revealing his stress.
Robert himself was working frantically at his terminal, trying to find anything that could help. He overheard Manning nearby barking orders to Clay and Lime.
“Fucking hell!” Chase spoke up from his cubicle. “Torrance Elementary School just reported a ‘flying creature and a demon’ crashed through the school!”
“Are they still there?” Mandy asked, walking around the office to try and maintain order.
“Not from what I’m hearing,” Chase grumbled.
Myers glanced around, before looking up at the TV. He gawked as the news came on, hastily pointing at it.
“T-There! On the news! Look!”
Everyone glanced over; a news helicopter was following the freight train, showing Hellboy and the Augmented Sammael dueling on top of it. The beast was giving Red some immense trouble; landing strong hits on him.
“Jesus Christ!” Punch Up called out. “There’s a kid there!”
Invisigal gasped when she noticed the Sammael was augmented, horror filling her gaze–a horror that Abe immediately picked up on, his own gaze narrowing.
Robert got straight into action, looking back at his terminal as he tried to pull up the train’s location. Bruttenholm glanced at him with approval.
“Z-Team! I need you all to head out for that train! Flambae and Sonar, you can fly; go help Red! Coupé, use your flight to lead the others! I’ll try to notify the train to stop!”
“I’ll hitch a ride with you, babes,” Malevola said to Sonar, grinning at him. The bat man nodded, rushing out of the doors with the rest of the Z-Team.
Manning turned to the agents. “Follow them, make sure that thing doesn’t get away!”
“On it; you heard the man, let’s move, let’s move!” Clay barked, running out of the office; he was followed in haste by Myers, Quarry, Moss, and Lime. As they left, Robert continued to type away at his terminal, frowning.
“Do you think they’ll need my help?” Mandy asked, briefly placing a hand over her amulet.
“If there’s a metal-covered version of Sammael attacking Hellboy, there may be one on the way here,” Manning grumbled. “And I’d feel safer with the not-depressed superhuman being stationed here.”
Mandy frowned, but nodded.
Hellboy grunted as he was thrown down for the umpteenth time by the Augmented Sammael. He barely had time to react before he felt the back of his head get grabbed. The Hound lifted his head up, only to slam it back down onto the roof of the train car. Over and over again, his face was smashed against the metal, slowly but surely making a dent in the shape of his face.
With a snarl, he finally managed to elbow the Augmented Sammael, making the beast stumble back. He stood up, dodging a swing from the beast’s enhanced bone club. He then dodged another, and another; the Augmented Sammael hissed, drool hitting the train car. It then retracted the bone club, opting to try and slash at Hellboy.
Hellboy sidestepped its first attempt, landing a hook to its jaw with his stone hand. The jaw snapped in an unnatural position, only for it to snap back into place thanks to the Hound’s healing.
“Damn,” Hellboy muttered, rearing back to punch again–the Augmented Sammael instead grabbed his stone hand, lifting him up to slam him back down against the car twice, before tossing him down the length of the train car. As Hellboy rolled across the metal, the Augmented Sammael turned back to the boy; the kid tried to back away, but had nowhere to go.
The Hound had a thought. A vicious thought.
As Hellboy stood up again, he heard a cry out for help. Looking forward, he saw the Augmented Sammael holding the boy again–this time, over the edge of the train car.
Hellboy growled, struggling to keep his balance. “Put him down, Sam! And I don’t mean throwin’ him over the edge!”
The beast seemingly laughed at him again, shaking the kid over the edge again.
“Y’know, Sam, you’re a real piece of–”
The Augmented Sammael then threw the boy right at Hellboy; the poor kid shrieking as he spun in the air. Hellboy immediately sprung into action, having to catch the boy’s arm with his stone hand–but the action made Hellboy stumble, falling off the edge of the train car. His normal hand caught onto the edge of the roof, hanging on tight. He held onto the kid extra tightly, trying to stabilize them both as the speed of the train made them sway with the wind.
“Hang on, kid!” Hellboy yelled. “I’ve got you! I’m not lettin’ go!”
He glanced up when he heard approaching thuds; the Augmented Sammael now stood over him, squealing–a blob of drool hitting Hellboy right in the face. The beast then lifted its foot and smashed it down onto Hellboy’s normal hand. The demon winced, but held on. Repeatedly, the Hound slammed its foot onto Hellboy’s hand, trying to make him fall. Hellboy felt his grip weakening, but he was not going to let this kid die.
The Augmented Sammael lifted its foot again, but paused as it heard something blazing through the air. Glancing to the side, the Hound barely managed to shoot out one of its mechanical wings in time–blocking a fireball aimed straight for its head. The force still made the creature fly back, having to stab its bone club into the train car to catch itself. It looked up with a snarl, tentacles writhing.
Flambae landed on the car in front of the Augmented Sammael, glaring.
“Well, well, well, Sammy,” he grumbled. “Think you’re hot shit now, bitch?”
The beast simply roared at him.
Hellboy found himself looking relieved at Flambae’s intervention for once. He and the kid heard a sonic shriek, looking up in the air; Sonar, now in the form of a large bat monster, soared down, with a cackling Malevola riding his back.
Malevola jumped off of Sonar, landing next to Flambae with her sword out, her tail whipping. She flashed the Augmented Sammael a grin; it hissed in agitation back at her.
Sonar, meanwhile, latched the talons of his feet onto Hellboy’s shoulders, lifting him and the boy up into the air.
“Damn, Batty! Since when were you able to do this?” Hellboy chuckled.
“I keep telling you, Red,” Sonar managed to make his large bat face smirk. “Never underestimate a Harvard graduate.”
Sonar safely put Hellboy and the kid down on the train car, before landing in front of them by Flambae and Malevola. Hellboy glanced down at the shaking boy, noticing a few bruises and cuts. He frowned.
“Hey, Mal! Kid’s got some bruises! Mind checkin’ up on him?”
“Takin’ me away from the fun, Red?” she called out, backing away while keeping her eye on the Augmented Sammael. “Not fair.”
Hellboy took out the Samaritan as Malevola took the kid from him, moving to take her place by Flambae.
Malevola hummed as she checked up on the boy, using her wound transfer if necessary. “Easy, kiddo, I got ya…”
Flambae prepared fireballs in his hands, glaring at the Augmented Sammael. Hellboy, in turn, aimed the Samaritan right at the beast, and Sonar roared at it while flaring his wings. The Augmented Sammael squealed and stood its ground, looking between them. All of them stumbled–and Malevola tightened her hold on the boy–as they felt the train beginning to emergency stop; Robert had succeeded in contacting the people running it.
Hellboy smirked. “End of the line, Sam.”
The Augmented Sammael snarled in rage, waiting for the train to come to a near halt, before lunging off of it onto the nearby road.
“Go! I got the kid!” Malevola shouted. The three men nodded and took off after the Augmented Sammael–Flambae and Sonar in the air, Hellboy on foot. The beast was running down the street, dodging the occasional fireball from Flambae. It turned down a busier road, forcing Flambae to be far more careful with his fire attacks–something that made the pyrokinetic curse.
People screamed and jumped out of the way as the Augmented Sammael continued to run–Hellboy and the others hot on its trail. Sonar tried to swoop down and grab the beast, but it managed to roll out of the way. Hellboy shot at it with the Samaritan, but its exosuit protected it from the bullets.
“Dammit! How strong are these stupid augments?!” he growled.
Up ahead, an S.D.N van careened from the side of the road, jamming traffic as it came to a dead stop. Clay, Quarry, Moss, Lime, and Myers all jumped out of the van, aiming their handguns at the Augmented Sammael. They fired at it once civilians had gotten out of the way, their bullets barely doing anything to it.
The Hound lunged up, making them all leap to the side as it slammed onto the roof of the van, squealing. Right as it tried to take off with its mechanical wings, Myers–out of desperation–threw his handgun at it. It hit the creature right in the head, making it fall back down. He initially laughed out of disbelief.
Until the Augmented Sammael growled at him.
“Oh shi–” Myers muttered, before running. The beast chased him, pushing itself off of cars and structures alike as it chased the younger agent.
“Don’t look back, Myers!” Moss called out. “Keep running! Keep running!”
He, Quarry, Lime, and Clay tried to apply pressure to the beast by shooting at it, but it wasn’t being deterred. Flambae shot a jet of flame that the Augmented Sammael blocked with its mechanical wings. Sonar tried to, again, swoop down and at least knock the beast away from Myers, but the Augmented Sammael sidestepped him. Hellboy jumped over the van himself, landing on the ground as he tried to get a good shot on the Augmented Sammael.
He fired–hitting it right in the head, making it squeal and fall off to the side, writhing while it healed up.
“Thanks, Red!” Myers yelled, ducking behind cover.
The beast tried to stand up, hissing at Hellboy; not seeing Punch Up running to it until the Smallest Strongman landed a mean hook on its face. It hissed, before it was jabbed again and again by Punch Up.
It was disoriented, trying to swipe at Punch Up–who used his smaller size to dodge each attempt, until finally he was knocked away by the exosuit’s mechanical wings. The Augmented Sammael then used the wings to block knife throws from Coupé, who was flying in with Sonar. Sonar managed to grab the Hound this time, using his hold to throw it into a parked bus. Hissing, the creature tore itself free and began to run again–barely dodging an attempted swing from Golem, who tried to hide behind a truck.
“Ah, shit, I missed,” he said.
The beast continued to run, hissing as Invisigal–now with Myers’ thrown pistol–tried shooting at it from afar; surprisingly managing to hit it a few times. Shooting out its mechanical wings, the Augmented Sammael soared off into the skies.
Flambae, Sonar, and Coupé chased after it in the air. Sonar was the first to lose track of it due to not being able to fly as fast. Flambae and Coupé were hot on its trail until it started to zig-zag around buildings; eventually managing to lose them both.
“Motherfucker!” Flambae yelled, looking around as he came to a stop in the air. “Where did that lil’ shit go?!”
Coupé growled, eyes narrowing. “. . . He got away. Come on. Let’s go back.”
Flambae only reluctantly agreed–swearing he heard the beast let out one last laugh-like roar in the distance.
Down on the ground, the Z-Team, agents, and Hellboy met up by the smashed van–Malevola showed up with the boy in her arms, all patched up. They sat around until the police arrived–and with them, news reporters and the boy’s mother.
“Mom!” he cried out, jumping out of Malevola’s arms to run into his mother’s. She clung to him tightly, shaking slightly as she stared at the others. She stared at the bloodied and bruised Hellboy, pointing at him as she stood by the officers.
“T-There! That…that thing attacked the school with the other one! And took my son–”
“No, mom! He saved me! They all did!”
The woman blinked, glancing at her boy, before looking back at Hellboy. He merely waved her and the bewildered officers off, acting like it was no big deal.
“Just doin’ my job,” he said, leaning back against the van.
As Clay handled talks with the police, Coupé approached Myers–who initially took a step back from her.
“Relax. I’m just here to say good throw earlier,” she grumbled. “Didn’t expect a boy like you to hit a shot like that.”
“I, uh, I guess instinct took over,” he replied, placing his hands in his pockets.
Coupé raised a brow, silent for a moment. “Still think I’m a ‘wacko?’”
“. . . Yes.”
Myers was then startled by Punch Up laughing–not noticing the other man had been standing next to him due to his height.
“Ah, darlin’, I love this boy; he’s a ball-buster!” Punch Up snickered, nudging Myers. Despite her eye roll, a tiny smirk escaped Coupé.
Myers considered it a win.
“So what you’re saying is the thing got away?” Manning asked, tone full of disappointment. He sat with Mandy, Bruttenholm, and Robert in Mandy’s office–Hellboy sat across from them all, his wounds mostly healed up already.
“What I’m sayin’, Tom, is that I saved a kid and now Sammy’s got fancy upgrades,” Hellboy rebutted, huffing.
“But now this fancy Sammael is still out there, still causing–”
“Director Manning, if I may?” Mandy spoke up, offering a polite smile. “Hellboy’s right, he did save the boy. Plus, we haven’t gotten any reports about the upgraded Sammael yet; it’s not mindlessly attacking people. Obviously we should focus on it, but a win is a win, right?”
“I agree,” Robert said, getting everyone’s attention. He made eye contact with Hellboy in particular. “You did good, Red. You and the Z-Team both.”
Hellboy, for once, seemed almost speechless. “Thank you, Robert.”
They shared a nod; Bruttenholm hid his smile. Manning huffed, folding his arms over his chest.
“Alright, fine, you managed to save a kid, but now’s the time to get serious; this ‘Shroud’ guy is now augmenting Sammaels–who knows how many he has.”
“That is something we will keep an eye on then,” Bruttenholm said, adjusting his tie. “For now, I think my son has earned some rest.”
Manning grumbled, but did not argue otherwise. He left Mandy’s office, shortly followed by Robert–who Hellboy noticed gave Mandy a suspiciously soft smile. When Bruttenholm gave him a proud nod, Hellboy smirked and took his leave. Mandy closed the door, sighing as she glanced at Bruttenholm.
“Today’s been pretty hectic, huh?” she asked, trying to lighten the mood. She relaxed when the professor chuckled.
“As our line of work always is, Miss Blazer,” he said. “Now, I assume your superiors wanted to speak with me?”
Mandy winced, walking over to sit at her desk. “Yes. They’re, uhm, not exactly pleased at what you did. Said the only reason I wasn’t fired was the whole other world situation on top of my popularity.”
“I am concerned that ‘popularity’ was even a consideration for them,” Bruttenholm grumbled. He looked down as Mandy called her superiors, placing her phone on the desk; on speaker. When she heard the call get answered, she cleared her throat.
“Professor Broom, on the phone is one of the directors in Administration, he–”
“Can he hear me?” the director barked out. “Who the hell does he think he is?”
“I can hear you, sir,” Bruttenholm confirmed, eyes narrowing. “My name is Trevor Bruttenholm, the founder of the Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense; the department from another world, I’m sure you’ve heard.”
“I’ve also heard how you had our employee go against a direct order and not cut anybody from that program!” the director shot back, agitated. Bruttenholm kept his cool.
“I understand why that may frustrate you, but you must understand. Now is not the time to be cutting people from teams; our enemy can utilize them against us. Not to mention the whole point of the program is to redeem them, is it not?”
“Yeah, but only if they show they give a damn! All they do is lounge around, bicker, sabotage each other–”
“It’s to my understanding that the sabotage only began once threats to cut them were made.”
The director was silent for a moment. “Fine, I’ll give you that one. But what makes you think you even have the right to argue on their behalf?”
“Because I’ve seen them in action. I see the potential in them. It reminds me of my own son.”
“That demon is your son?”
“That demon who fought off an augmented version of the same creature we have been warning you about for weeks now? Yes. That is my son. That demon who saved that boy? Yes. That is my son. Or do you need any more clarification, director?”
Silence returned again. The director then cleared his throat.
“I apologize if it sounded like I was being insulting. But you still have no right deciding who does or doesn’t belong at S.D.N.”
“Even so, I will still fight for them. I do not see you out here trying to help with Sammael or Rasputin, or even Shroud. Your other heroes have not been deployed to help the Z-Team.”
“. . . I…suppose you have a point. But we’ll need more proof this program is actually working aside from your word, professor.”
Bruttenholm hummed, tapping his chin. “Why not allow a superhero or two–one that has always been–mentor them? Become a member of their team?”
He could hear the director murmuring to himself for a moment. “That’s not a bad idea, sir. Do you already have a candidate in mind?”
“I have heard and seen that Phenomaman is no longer a part of the D.T.L.A branch.”
“He’s…not in an emotionally stable state right now. Are you sure he’d be the best option?”
“It will give him purpose and help him. I am sure of it.”
There was another silence as the director thought about it.
“Fine. I’ll let Blazer choose whether or not to approve your options. But so help me if this program continues to falter like it always has been–”
“Then you can come here yourself and mock me in front of everyone,” Bruttenholm coyly replied. “But I have faith that won’t be necessary.”
The director muttered something to himself before hanging up the call.
Bruttenholm sighed, leaning back as he shook his head. He looked up and saw Mandy sitting there, smiling and slightly in awe. She leaned forward a bit, placing her hand over his own in thanks.
“Thank you, sir,” she whispered, relief in her voice. “Thank you so much for having this much faith in my program. I…I don’t know where we’d be without your morale boosts.”
Bruttenholm chuckled, shaking his head again. “I may be giving nice words out for free, Miss Blazer, but it is the actions of you and your team that is making me want to support you all. Do not miscredit yourselves.”
For the first time in a while, Mandy found herself smiling widely again.
Abe considered himself a reasonably skeptical man–or rather, fish man. He had a healthy amount of suspicion, but always let the evidence speak for itself.
The problem right now, however, was the absolute lack of evidence outside of pure speculation.
Ever since his brief brush with Invisigal, the small telepathic clue of her thoughts, he had been trying to find out more. To find out why she had such feelings. It didn’t fit her normal behavior, and that’s what concerned him more than anything.
So, while everyone was busy with office work between shifts, he took the chance to subtly spy on her throughout the day. He noticed the way she longingly gazed at Robert when he wasn’t looking, the way she would shy away from the others when the team wasn’t needed–a stark contrast to her usual loud self–and he noticed the horror in her face when she saw the Augmented Sammael.
He found it convenient that just a few days after she asked him about such a possibility, it actually appeared.
But convenience wasn’t actual evidence. So, Abe continued his current work; investigating the origin of the “portal runes” and where Rasputin and Shroud may be hiding, assisted by Agent Lime.
But he would always be keeping an eye on Invisigal, waiting for something new to arise.
Always.