closed :: here comes a candle to light you to bed

[baedalites]

Who: Hellboy and ???
What: The final stop on a scenic tour of Baedal's sewer system.
Where: Baedal Below
When: Sukkardi Evening
Warnings:Nothing yet? Mild horror and biomedical ick.

Deep under Baedal, far away from the 'civilized' Undercity, past the wild mushroom farms and their curious minders, lies mile after mile of tunnels. Layers of construction from previous iterations of the city, catacombs, abandoned (and probably never used) metro stations, natural and unnatural caves and corridors. Should one go searching through these tunnels, perhaps tracking shoggoths at the behest of Hellsing, one will eventually find a rather large and reinforced door in the tunnel wall. It looks much newer than the actual tunnel, and one may surmise that it's a later installation.

Certainly, it's large enough for a shoggoth to squeeze through and right now, it's open and appears undamaged. Dim artificial light spills out through the opening. There is a buzz of malfunctioning electricity and the dripping of liquid. Something sounds like it's groaning in there.
 
Beyond the door is a huge room. Whoever designed it went to great lengths to minimize the sound pollution, as there is almost no echo in here. At one point it must have been brightly lit but now the chief illumination comes from a lone worklight over a desk and a fusebox that's giving off sparks. It smells strongly of chemicals and blood. The lumpy forms of two dead people lie off to the side. One man, one woman. Both human. They appear to have been electrocuted, though the man was stabbed some time before that. There are at least two other doors in here.

Comments

[baedalites]

The creatures don't come out at once. They wait, cautious; pitch black fur blending with the shadows so well as to make them invisible but for glinting teeth. It's not until the intruder runs that they start to give chase, snarling and hissing. They could be dogs or wolves, but they don't look right. For one, they have no eyes and their jaws are massive. One of them starts to tear into its fellows but the rest set off after Hellboy, pursuing him and his rescued burden through Baedal Below.

Elsewhere, further up the tunnel a different pack is on the move. It's a rapid response team of Militia agents; they are fast and well-armed. Their goal is to get to the lab, and as they have access to maps and technology that the common citizen can only dream of, their journey should be considerably shorter than Hellboy's original descent. About half way there, they run into company. Snarling creatures gamely chasing a citizen.

"Get down, target the quads!" The command is followed instantly, two of the creatures yelp and fall back as the Militia opens fire. It isn't enough to stop the rest of the hunters, though now at least they have additional targets.

[hehaseatenthepancake]

Hellboy keeps running without so much as a glance behind. He has ears, and what they hear tells him that his pursuers are nasty, but he has enough of a lead not to worry yet. Once he hops up the stairs to the next level up from the lab, he gains the further advantage of knowing where he's going, retracing his path back up to the surface.

There's some concern when he sees the armed figures in the distance, but the way they set themselves and shoot around him at the monsters gives him an inkling of who they are. The idea of being grateful that the Militia is here is unexpected, but one takes what one can get in uncertain times.

"Comin' through!" he exclaims as he tucks the woman in close and turns his run into a long-jump, leaping feet first over the three troopers in front who, per their leader's order, had gone down on one knee to steady their aim. Now behind the line, he turns to the leader and asks, "There a medic on-hand? The lady's hurt bad."

[baedalites]

Two more creatures get tagged and fall back, clacking teeth and chittering. One makes it up to the line, still intent on chasing down Hellboy and it is rewarded with sharp zap of crackling energy before it hits the ground smoking.

The Militia's leader is the only one in the group standing. That and how she holds her hands up like a surgeon after prepping are the only things to set her apart as important. No handy insignias or uniform marks here, and this lapse in anonymity probably wouldn't have happened if they were facing an enemy more likely to get tactical.

"Hellsing operative." It's more acknowledgement than anything, and yet it communicates 'a moment, please'. When she's confident the monster situation is in check she turns her face to Hellboy, pulling down her mask revealing blue skin. It's meant to be a diplomatic gesture - something to take the edge of her implied advantage. "There is." She touches her throat, attention between her troops and guest. "Echo. Injured baseline for pick-up, my location. Citizen. Yes. Copy. Forty-five seconds." The last two words are for Hellboy's benefit and she moves her hand again.

"Standing field agent designation Echo. You're Hellboy. Tell me what happened."

[hehaseatenthepancake]

Now that he's... well, only really not being chased insofar as he's stopped running and is behind cover of a sort, Hellboy wishes that he could help with the fight. His blood is up and he's ready for action... but he still has the injured woman in his arms, so that's not an option. He'd like for the lead Militia agent to answer him about a medic... but she's kind of busy directing her troops to his obvious benefit. It's a bit frustrating, but he swallows it down anyway rather than be an asshole about it.

Once the monsters are down and Echo has made it clear through her comm chatter that help is imminent, he relaxes a bit. Hopefully the woman can hold on that much longer. He's not surprised that the Militia knows who he is; even if it wasn't a certainty that they watch Hellsing like hawks and have dossiers on all employees, he's been getting used to people just recognizing him from his distinctive appearance and frequent appearance at trouble spots. (Just like old times, really, that.) For all the uncertainty in relations between their two groups, Echo's being pretty courteous, and she just saved his ass, so he doesn't mind cooperating.

"I've been doing follow-up on a couple of cases. The trails led me to an abandoned lab, all wrecked up with two dead bodies and this woman barely alive near them. When I tried to help her, she started thrashing around and I guess we triggered some sort of broadcast left behind. You can probably get it from the Network; I haven't listened to it yet beyond taking it as my cue to grab the woman and run."

[baedalites]

The injured baseline is still breathing though she has gone limp in Hellboy's grip. She's covered in subterranean filth and human misery but there's no blood on her. Whatever her damage is, it's not immediately obvious.

Meanwhile, the creatures with their glittering teeth and eyeless faces are no longer attempting frontal assault. They haven't gone away; they are just hiding. The Militia is regrouping, staying vigilant, and prepping for the next move. Their teamleader is watching Hellboy. She's attentive, focused. Tense for action. Not hostile, though not necessarily friendly either.

Hellboy is a recognizable figure, and of course there are dossiers. Not much of a police state without dossiers. If the Militia is courteous to Hellsing those are probably the marching orders. Then again, given the context, it's also the most pragmatic approach to the situation. Echo offers little in the way of expression give away her own position. She nods, a curt precise motion. It may not occur to her that someone who's clearly competent would opt to refuse cooperation. Not when everyone is being so reasonable.

"Very well," she says just as the medevac team arrives and she flags them over. Other things that don't overtly occur to her is that Hellsing may want to hold on to a potential witness, assuming the witness lives. "What can you tell me about these cases?"

[hehaseatenthepancake]

Very reasonable. Hellboy's dealt with enough brisk officials in his day that it doesn't ruffle him, as long as they're briskly reasonable. He's sure that he and his bosses would indeed like to hold on to the witness, but that assumes she gets the medical care she needs to stay alive, and he can't really be choosy about how the Militia provides it.

He lets the medevac team take her to do their job; he's got a photo of her on his CiD from earlier, and the boss ladies can oversee the political fight to get access to the witness and/or anything she might have to say. He takes a moment to consider both what he feels comfortable discussing about what are technically still open cases, and how to quickly summarize it.

"One involved a Shoggoth, the other something not quite like same. Two different areas of the city, but around the same time, which seemed suspicious. So I started back-tracking, as time permitted between other cases. That was..." He blinks, startled at himself now that he thinks about it. "Eight months ago, geez."

[baedalites]

Oh she'll live. At the very least, she'll be interrogated. It's not widely advertised but the Militia does have access to all sorts of resources. For now she's getting strapped into what looks as much as a coffin as it does a stretcher.

Team leader Echo shows no interest in the potential witness now that it's been secured, her attention stays on Hellboy. She does her nod again and rolls her shoulders, less tense. Things are moving along. She's quiet for a moment, thinking things over or listening to filtered communications. When next she speaks her tone is fractionally more personable. "We are going to take these stalkers out and secure what's left of the lab. If you want to come with, we can see about clearing that with your people."

[hehaseatenthepancake]

There's a mild pang of sadness as he watches the medics getting her ready to go. He realizes it's unlikely he'll ever see her again, and he never learned her name or really anything else about her.

Echo's offer, as a result, is like a breath of fresh air, with the promise of something else to think about and the chance to finally hit something. He gives her his most hideouscharming smile and says, "I'd like that very much. You may have noticed, I don't like leaving my business unfinished."

What with having spent eight months (not all at once, but still) tracing the paths of monsters that had already been killed and all.