Corresponding Marks

“Gentleman, I regret that the team meeting originally scheduled for this morning concerning the writing and submissions of reports and amendments to promotional standards will have to be rescheduled for another time.” Manning ignored the groans of sarcastic disappointment from the agents still filing into the conference room and taking a seat at the large table. “We’ve been monitoring some recent activity that continues to intensify on Tarmagant Island, which has yet to meet full fledged threat levels, but bears some immediate observation and discussion.” He turned his back on the group, pressing a button on a projector, a map of Scotland suddenly illuminating the large white wall, Tarmagant Island appearing larger and larger off the coast as Manning zoomed in. “I’m sure you all know the significance of Tarmagant Island,” he turned towards the seated agents, his eyes ready to focus on one in particular, then he frowned. “Wait a minute, where is Hellboy?”

Myers met Manning’s stare with apprehension in his features and quickly shook his head, shifting his weight to stand and go find his big, red charge when the large table the group was seated at began to shake, and then heavy footsteps came thundering rapidly down the corridor. Everyone in the conference room immediately looked towards the door, which was yanked open, one of the metal hinges popping out of the glass of the door and metal of the frame with a loud crack and crash.

“Blue!” Red was shirtless, a light sweat clung to his red skin, his eyes fettered to Abe and only on Abe as though no one else was present in the room. He was out of breath, his left hand shook a bit when he raised it to point at him.

“Red?” Abe’s hand bent towards his own chest in a comprehending but confused gesture, his head cocked to the side as he tried to reach deeper into what was going on with Red, but he could only tell what everyone in the room was able to gather, something was amiss. “What—”

“I’m begging you, don’t make me say it,” Red cut him off, his amber eyes ablaze with something that only made everyone else stare more. “I need you, buddy! More than I ever needed you before!”

“Red,” Myers had to clear his throat for a moment, he was instinctively nervous about this, he’d known Red long enough now that he could tell this wasn’t good in some way that was yet to be learned and could never be guessed. Plus, he was actually eager to help if he could; he’d been trying for a long time now to mend fences with Red. “Do you need me, too?”

Red’s head jerked towards him, his glower mixed with general annoyance that Myers had bothered to insert himself into this particular moment. “No, definitely not you, Myers!”

Abe shook his head, when would this one sided feud Red put up between he and Myers end? He focused on Red, but the demon’s thoughts were racing far too much and he was trembling so on the inside that Abe couldn’t read very much in him. But something was certainly wrong, that was clear, and the situation must have been dire if Red was in such a state. “Let’s go then!” Abe stood and immediately raced out the door and down the corridor with Red, leaving the meeting and fellow agents to look at one another for answers, a few echoes of their stunned laughter lingering as the broken glass door slammed shut on their meeting.

Manning sighed, there was little he could do at this point to stop either Abe or Hellboy, and he knew it, he was hardly a physical match for either of them. “Well,” he said addressing the remaining agents. “I never realized they were like that!” He smiled somewhat smugly when more laughter came, but then focused on Myers again. “You, go see what’s going on, and don’t let it get out of hand.”

Myers walked towards the door, pulling it open again. “Too often that’s easier said than done.” He muttered, and ran after Abe and Red, his gut telling him that the developing situation on Tarmagant was somehow tied to whatever Red’s latest crisis was. What had the big, red monkey gotten into now?

* * * * * *

If Abe could have blinked, he’d have stood there doing so incessantly. Never had he figured this sort of emergency awaited him within Red’s room. That one of the cats was injured or sick was always possible, or that one of the pixies, small yet annoying and highly strung, had hidden inside a pocket and followed Red back from their last mission and was now reeking a havoc Red wanted to keep quiet was another feasible issue, but this? Abe was so startled at the sight of a pregnant woman, breathing heavily and agitatedly seated on the edge of Red’s bed, obviously held so tightly within the clench of labor pains that she seemed to take no notice of how different Abe looked from her or any other humans. When he’d entered, she’d looked at him with no shock, no horror or even curiosity in her face. She just wanted help, was desperate for it, as desperate as Red was, both of them looking at him imploringly as the young redhead panted and moaned with another contraction. Had Abe ever entertained he’d be called to such an emergency within Red’s quarters he would have expected that Liz would be the big bellied, belabored woman sitting on Red’s bed, not this stranger. Where had she come from, and who was she? How had she gotten here, in this condition?

Red dropped to one knee beside the woman, trying to take her in his arms, but she was far too fitful, almost pushing him away as she rocked back and forth with the pain she was in. HB leaned closer, took her by the shoulders, trying to give her some kind of comfort as he whispered again and again that “it’ll be okay.” The contraction slowly let up, the girl lifted her head and stared at Red, a gentle smile emerging as she ran her fingertips over his cheek, wanting to believe him. Her eyes held Red’s and his hers, nothing was said, they just leaned forward until their foreheads touched. The emotions settled enough in that moment for Abe to delve deeper, the fear and the anxiety still brimming in both Red and the girl, but something else was now far more prominent in both of them. Love.

The picture unfolded for Abe; the bond between Red and this girl was still new, but no less strong. The baby had been quite a shock to both of them, but in an exceptional way that Abe still struggled to comprehend. But, they were happy, Red and this girl, each of them something the other had been long since searched for. Abe may have always pictured Liz to be the one playing the part of the expectant mother in this scenario, but there was no denying how much more complete the bond between Red and this girl felt than any bond between Red and Liz ever was. Why hadn’t Red told him about this? Furthermore, why couldn’t he read it in Red?

The sudden shock of knowing this made Abe jolt physically, and he wondered what exactly Red wished him to do. Deliver this well venerated stranger’s baby here in his room and then keep this whole episode a secret? Surely Red didn’t think this could be hidden, did he? Was he planning on raising a child here in his room? A child…Red was going to be a father. That thought alone suddenly overwhelmed Abe, leaving him at a loss for thought and words, but this situation called for him to do more than stand there gaping the way he was. Something should be said at least.

“How did this happen?”

Red turned to Abe with a look of genuine exasperation on his face as he did his best to cuddle the mother-to-be. “If you can’t figure that out then maybe you can’t help us!”

If his blue skin could blush, it would have. What a stupid question. “I’m sorry,” he stepped closer to the couple, still stunned and even more eager to know the whole story; how had they met? When had they met? What was she like? She was looking into Red’s eyes, her arms around his thick neck, calmed by the contact with his big, red body, her mind completely open . It was prying, Abe knew that, he’d always held himself to higher standards, but given the situation, he couldn’t help it. “Larena Balfour, you were going to be a nun!”

Her head jerked towards him sharply, her breathing still ragged, her bangs sticking to her sweaty forehead, but in that instant she forgot about being in labor. “How did you know that?”

“Well, I…” Now Abe was embarrassed, he never should have read her without asking her permission first, but before he could even explain, or apologize, something protective and angry barged it’s way through from the girl, blocking him from looking any deeper than he already had, something that almost felt like…

“Hey!” Red’s voice was demanding as he pulled Larena closer to him. “Save the Miss Cleo thing for later! We’re having a kid over here, you know how to do this or not?”

Abe cocked his head in thought, “I’ve never been called upon for such a task before, Red.” He was pensive, but nonetheless he did want to help, it was overpowering how badly both Red and Larena hoped he could and would do something. “We need to get her to the lab, there’s more I can do there than here, and it’s also…” Abe couldn’t avoid looking around at the piles of dirty clothes, candy bar wrappers and cigar butts that were scattered everywhere. “…sterile there.”

Red nodded, getting to his feet and taking both of Larena’s hands as she looked questioningly up at him. “Lab?” She asked, for a moment the strangeness of it all seeping in, and she looked over at Abe again as if or the first time noticing his blue skin and fins and wide, black, perpetually open eyes. She wasn’t afraid, the very tone of his voice was soothing and she could tell at once that whatever he was, he was a gentle and well meaning individual, but still she wondered, what exactly was he? And how did he know her name, and that she’d nearly become a nun?

Again Red nodded as he slipped his right arm gently around her lower back, helping her to stand. “Yeah, but don’t be scared, okay?” He looked over at Abe for a moment, then back at her, this time with a smile. He knew not where things would go from here, or what the next few hours would even hold for the fate of the world, but there was no stopping this now. All he could do was be there for Larena, and their child, in whatever way he could be. “Remember when I told you I asked a friend about why the ghosts disappeared whenever I came around?” Larena nodded and Red looked at Abe again, who was now beginning to add that clue into what he’d recently come to learn, his head nodding again as things began to make even more sense. “That’s the guy who had all the answers. There’s no one I trust more with this than him, okay, babe? It’ll be alright.” He hoped.

* * * * * *

“Professor Broom!” The old man heard agent Myers yelling frantically even before the large golden doors of the study opened to reveal his ashen face. True, the developments on Tarmagant Island were disconcerting; they were rather reminiscent of events that took place prior to the appearance of an infant red demon Bruttenholm now loved as a son. But, no one was quite certain as to what the goings on off the coast of Scotland meant yet, and so he doubted Tarmagant was the catalyst behind the type of panic evident on John Myer’s face and in his quivering voice. It must have been something else. Bruttenholm only hoped that his son hadn’t done something to yet again mark what had the foundation of being a permanent grudge against Myers. He’d spoken to Hellboy about curbing that temper of his on many occasions, and the conversation was getting quite tedious. However, it wasn’t his place to assume anything. The Professor calmly closed the ancient text he’d been poring over and looked up at the young FBI man, regretting that the silence of the morning had been shattered by something other than the light hearted vocals of Marion Hutton.

“Professor Broom!” Myers said again as he came to stand in front of the Professor’s desk, trying to catch his breath, but still trembling with the revelation that coursed through him. “Hellboy…” he gasped again, “Abe…in the lab,” he felt almost light headed saying it out loud. “Having a baby!”

The old man’s brow furrowed and he drew back from Myers in great bewilderment and consternation. That made no sense whatsoever and wasn’t even possible to begin with. “Agent Myers?”

“No, that’s not what I meant,” Myers fought to settle himself down, feeling foolish for what he’d blurted out. “But,” he swallowed beginning to feel uncertain as to whether or not he should even tell Bruttenholm about this. This was more Red’s place to do so. At least from the looks of things, it was Red’s place to do so; it had been HB with that girl in his arms, carrying her to the Lab, and his big red hand softly patting her pregnant belly as Abe began to lay out varying pieces of medical equipment. “They don’t know I know, I followed them from Red’s room to the lab, and…” now it was as if the words wouldn’t even come out. Probably for the best, Red was still beyond angry with him over that other situation, even though it had been more than a year now. If he ever hoped to have Red’s trust again, perhaps he’d better refrain from spilling all the beans. “Professor Broom,” Myers said again, this time in a much more collected fashion, placing his hands on the old man’s large desk. “Please, go down to the lab. Your son needs you, whether he knows it or not.”