Hellboy unslings Excalibur from his back and sets it to one side of his chair before sitting down -- the uh, well, yes look he gives Integra is probably not the first she has gotten from him regarding the sword -- and lights a cigarette with a wooden match he strikes on his Right Hand.

"Huh. Given the vibe I got from the welcome pamphlet, I expected a lot more scrutiny than that for such a new group, but what the hell, I'll take it."

It had taken him a little while to sort out his own reaction to Finding Baedal, but he ultimately realized that the tone of it -- very enthusiastic, but with an undercurrent of shape up and play ball, or your life will be made miserable -- felt a bit like the kind of Everything's Fine Here oppression that was especially prevalent in towns all over the US back in the 1950s. Not for nothing did Prof. Bruttenholm send him on a lot of trips outside the States at the time.

"So we've got a free hand, but what's the field of things we'll be dealing with? I know Alucard's, uh, staked a claim on making sure vampires behave. Is it just policing vamps, 'xenians' in general, or are there things other than citizens to worry about?"