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Post by Skyfire on Mar 21, 2010 14:35:25 GMT -5
((All-rightie! Cherry, KJ, your characters possibly/probably will come into the thread later, but for now, it's just Steel and I, 'kay?))
Lightyear Log: 01/17/3011
It was the very next day after our ordeal with the holocubes that Erin jumped on all the history databases she could find to dig up data on Hellboy. She brought her laptop with her to my house so that we could search together, and I made sure the coffee pot was filled. Then we settled down to it.
The neat thing about my sister is that, when she gets going, she’s as intense and obsessive as I am. We made quite the pair, constantly copying the littlest piece of information and excitedly sharing it with each other.
We’d started the search around ten hundred that morning, and it was somewhere between thirteen and fourteen hundred that Erin made a suggestion. Throughout our search on our perpetrator, a couple of names occurred regularly: Abe and Liz. Erin, still very much a kid and female through and through, became highly interested in this recurring female figure in Hellboy’s life…
Erin settled back in her chair and rubbed at a cold ache in her right arm. “You know,” she said slowly, “I kinda think that Miss Pyrokinetic here is actually Hellboy’s girlfriend or something. I mean, the different stuff we’ve been pulling up seems to point to it.”
“You think?” Taking a sip of his coffee, Buzz considered that. “I suppose it’s possible. It does point in that direction, doesn’t it?”
“Uh-huh.” Leaning forward again, Erin checked over all the data she’d compiled on Liz, pulling up one photo of Liz and Hellboy standing together. She let out a bit of a laugh. “Actually, they kinda look cute together.”
Buzz leaned over to look at her screen and shook his head as he sat again. “You’re weird.”
“And you’re wacko,” she returned casually, not taking her eyes off the screen. “They were close… You know, I bet she could help.”
Buzz raised an eyebrow. “If she lived in the same time, sure.”
Erin typed something out as she replied, “I time-traveled. Your future self time-traveled. Hellboy time-traveled. Cora time-traveled. Four people right there in less than two years – two out of the past, two out of the future. Who’s to say that Liz can’t be a fifth?”
His eyebrows skyrocketed. “Are you serious??” She didn’t look up from her computer screen. “You are serious!”
“I repeat: Who’s to say?”
“How about this: how could she come into the future?” Buzz countered. “You were sent here. Hellboy came because of something Zurg-related. Cora and my future self got here via watches that were made in the future, when technology is better.”
“Uh-huh. So? Look at that – different methods.”
“Erin –”
“Buzz, look. Technology in my day could not have handled time-travel. Technology in this day is so far advanced. Time is the fourth dimension, so logic says it can be traveled, and not just in one direction by one method. We have four people who are living proof of that. The trick is to find the way that will work for us for this specific purpose.”
Buzz rubbed the bridge of his nose. “And just how do you propose we do that?”
Erin leaned back once more and folded her arms. “By gathering a team to figure it out.”
We ran the idea past Commander Nebula, who thought it was insane and told us that in no uncertain terms. Nevertheless, he eventually allowed us to try. Erin first turned to her partner Ricki, who is not only a Space Ranger but a gifted astrophysicist as well – even studying to attain her Ph.D. while performing her Ranger duties. Ricki, in turn, made a few calls and managed to pull some people into a group, including some of our LGMs. For the next two weeks, they worked day and night on what was soon dubbed Operation Firestarter.
Having the LGMs on the team turned out to be an incredible blessing. Those little green guys think and work twice as much twice as fast. They actually discovered an existing wormhole that stretched from Star Command, present day, to Capital Planet, early 21st century.
That was when I was reminded of just how painfully similar Erin can be to me, sometimes. She just folded her arms and gave me a smug look that said, Well, I guess it was meant to happen. …Sisters.
So now it was up to the team to figure out how to use that wormhole. They started modifying the old Matter Transport Ray to be the “remote control,” as it were.
In any age, harnessing the power of a wormhole is a tricky thing. In the end, there’s always the possibility that something will go very wrong.
But after just three weeks, we had a breakthrough. We were able to successfully send a probe-bot in and bring it back. Erin had insisted that the ‘bot be outfitted with pain receptors, knowing from literally painful experience that travel though a wormhole could be agonizing.
No pain registered. Whatever our team was doing with this wormhole, it was different from what the old SCWRD team had done with their wormhole-generator.
Erin felt no small amount of relief.
Because Liz Sherman was a paranormal investigator with the old Bureau of Paranormal Research and Defense (an establishment that had been decommissioned about six centuries ago), there was a sample of her DNA in stasis in the archives down in the Cheyenne Mountain Military Base planet-side. We sent the probe-bot back through with that DNA sample to identify Miss Sherman.
It wasn’t long before we received a positive lock-on.
The moment wasn’t important to simply Team Lightyear – it was a moment of triumph for our astrophysics team. They had accomplished something no one in known history had done yet: they had purposefully sent an object back in time and brought it back home, and now, they were about to pull a person out of the past and into the present day.
I think that all of us were hyped, despite the fact that it was oh-seven hundred hours and we had been up all night.
Actually, Warp, Mira, Cora, Booster, and XR had long since gone home and to bed, and Erin and I were the only Rangers other than Ricki who’d stuck around. It was totally worth it.
Erin and I had discussed the point of “welcoming” Liz Sherman and explaining everything to her. It was decided that it would be just the two of us – two humans, none of the rest of the team. It was also decided that we would be wearing the rare Star Command dress uniform – rare as in: hardly anybody ever uses it. Seriously, not at Team Lightyear’s awards ceremony did anyone wear the dress uniform. It’s navy blue and actually classic 20-21st century style – which Erin said was perfect, because the style wasn’t too modern. She also conned me into removing my hood, which she said looked too weird with the uniform. Finally, Erin would be the first to actually make contact with Liz – one obviously young, unassuming woman would be less likely to put someone on their guard, or so she said.
Have I ever mentioned what a pain my sister can be? Honestly now. Anyway…
Commander Nebula gave the go-ahead for the team to time-pull Liz. The MTR made a positive DNA lock on her, and activated.
Erin waited just outside the room where Liz would “land” if all went well – an operating theater, as it were. The control room sat high above, a window looking down on the room, and the MTR standing at the side…
Erin moved to stand in the doorway of the room, folding her arms and waiting. Ricki commed her and told her that the acquired target was coming through the wormhole. Erin closed her eyes, heart beating faster. Lord, please let this work…
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Post by Blacksteel on Mar 22, 2010 5:10:44 GMT -5
((Hokay! Tell me if there’s anything wrong with my post and I can fix it right up. Didn’t know if the MTR was actually in the room, so I cheated a bit. xD))
With a surging rush, Liz Sherman felt the air dissipate from her lungs as she slammed into the floor face-first. The sudden movement caused her teeth to bite down on her tongue, and a distinct metallic taste filled her mouth.
Dammit, she thought, spitting out saliva and blood as she wiped her mouth with the back of her hand. She hated it whenever that happened. It made guzzling down coffee a downright pain for the next few days. What on earth just—oh dammit.
She gripped her head and groaned, managing to struggle up to her hands and feet, at least. She felt oddly numb, disoriented. But she was all right, more or less. That much she could tell. She wasn’t in any physical pain other than her swollen tongue and the way her pulse was pounding in her skull. Oh, and the way she felt like she was going to be violently sick.
Which she promptly just did, coughing and wheezing as she emptied the contents of her stomach on the floor she was still sprawled upon.
“Ugh...”
Yeah, she’d had better days.
Blinking several times in an effort to clear her vision, she slowly got to her feet, feeling the headache ebbing away with relief, and took in her surroundings for the first time.
And that was when she started to panic.
She was in a large room, with white-washed walls supported by metallic plating. Bulky machinery occupied most of the spaces, and she wouldn’t have been able to put a name to them even if she tried. But she knew enough of hospitals to know that this room looked like an operating room.
But it was definitely not like any hospital operating room she had ever seen before, besides in government facilities, which would be riddled with foreign machines of questionable make. She’d seen enough of those to last a lifetime and then some. She knew their purpose all too well.
Panic soon developed into fear. What was she doing here—wherever here was? She didn’t remember anything that could have led up to this. The last thing she remembered was being with Abe and Manning, preparing for that meeting with those stuck-up politicians in Washington, DC, only one week after they’d found her in the Stanovoy Range of all places with that snake Memnan Saa—
Perhaps it’d be better not to go down that road of thinking just now.
But there weren’t many alternatives to think of. Either she’d just blacked out—which was the unlikeliest possibility—gotten lost or taken a wrong turn—even more unlikely since she’d been with them the whole time—or they’d been attacked without any forewarning—but why didn’t she feel like she’d suffered a blow to the head or something or...?
Had she been drugged? That would explain how her senses had felt muddied when she’d first come round to. It might also explain the prickling sensation still running along her skin and causing her hair to stand on end, but the likelier possibility for that was her rising fear... and the creeping sensation that she was being watched...
Whoever had brought her here was still around.
She moistened her lips as she took a step forwards, letting the familiar warmth spread out from her fingertips and curl around her skin. The orange flames flickered, soothing her frazzled nerves somewhat as they provided her with a steady source of strength.
“All right,” she said aloud, looking round the room at large, her other hand on her hip. “Whoever you are, come out now, before I change my mind and come after you myself.”
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Post by Skyfire on Mar 22, 2010 6:38:02 GMT -5
Erin hissed her own mild curses as she rifled through a nearby closet. “I told you we should have tested it,” she hissed quietly into her comlink. Ricki started to reply, but Erin cut her off. “Never mind, don’t answer that – I’ve got go.”
Then she heard Liz call out challengingly. Oh brother. She half-walked, half-ran out into the huge room, bearing a towel.
Erin’s long brown hair was loose and fell just past her waist. Her dress uniform looked very much like a 21st century American uniform – the telltale exception being the wings-and-rings insignia blazoned over her heart.
And she bore towels. “Just figures – people make messes, I’m the one who has to clean them up,” she muttered, bending down and starting to wipe the floor. Then she leaned back on her haunches and looked up, brushing stray curls out of her eyes. “Sorry,” she said, her voice lightening – inwardly a bit apprehensive of the fire but not showing it. “Hi. I’m Ranger Erin Frame, at your service.”
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Post by Blacksteel on Mar 22, 2010 7:03:41 GMT -5
Liz blinked as a younger woman darted into the room and began to clean up the pool of sick the pyrokinetic had made. The action actually managed to make Liz feel a little embarrassed about not doing anything to clean it up, but it wasn’t as if she’d had a mop on hand.
“Uh... sorry about that.”
She closed her fist and the fire dissipated. The other woman, Erin, didn’t feel like much of a threat, but that didn’t mean that Liz would drop her guard. Years of experience had taught her to keep her wits about her in unfamiliar places, and that things weren’t always what they seemed.
“Liz Sherman,” she replied. There was a pause, before she asked, “Ranger?”
That didn’t sound military-issue. She’d never heard of a branch of the government ever having “rangers” before.
Something was dreadfully wrong here.
“All right, what is this place?” she demanded, crossing her arms over her chest. “How did I get here? Did you bring me here?”
She wanted answers and she wanted them now.
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Post by Skyfire on Mar 22, 2010 10:40:40 GMT -5
“Oh, pfft, don’t apologize, hon,” Erin said, waving a dismissive hand while carefully keeping her gaze off the mess. Otherwise, she’d throw up, herself. “Not your fault.”
“Uh-huh,” Erin nodded, still scrubbing. Not looking back up from her work, she gave the older woman the one minute sign. “Pleasure to meet you.”
Erin sighed and gently slapped the last towel on the floor. “Sort of,” she admitted. “In the sense that it was my idea. The mechanics of it, on the other hand, go waaay over my head, though I can give you the theory.”
She stood, pulling herself up to her full, petite height of 5’3”. “You’re on a space station right now – Star Command Central. But the more important question is when are you?” She took a deep breath, sure that Liz was going to be just as shocked as Erin herself had been, almost two years ago. Might as well say it all now and just give her all the shocks at once. “You’re not in the twenty-first century anymore – you’re in the thirty-first. January seventeenth, thirty-eleven, to be exact. And you’re here because we need your help.” Her brown eyes turned sympathetic. “It’s about Hellboy.”
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Post by Blacksteel on Mar 23, 2010 5:51:54 GMT -5
Space station? Thirty-first century? Hellboy!?
“Wait a minute,” she said, raising a hand as she tried to gather her thoughts. “You’re telling me you brought me to the future”—it sounded even more unbelievable just saying it—“because of Hellboy?”
Her mind reeled from the implications of that statement. It was all kinds of crazy and sounded far too far-fetched to be true. Bu if she really was in the future—and truth be told that wasn’t the most unbelievable thing she’d heard of—then did that mean that Hellboy had... had failed? Failed to stop the inevitable?
It would explain a lot of things. Memnan Saa’s involvement and interest in her, the visions he showed her of a ravaged world, the plague of frogs, the attack of the subterranean people who had destroyed Agartha...
Why else would she be brought to a space station and not on Earth? It all made a strange sort of sense... but she didn’t want to think about the implications. There were too many possibilities, too many what if’s. She didn’t want to think about what that would mean for humanity... for her... for Hellboy...
“But how...? What... what happened?” she found herself asking, clenching and unclenching her hands.
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Post by Skyfire on Mar 23, 2010 6:09:36 GMT -5
“Uh-huh,” Erin nodded, raking a hand through her hair. She looked around her and said, “I was hoping to do this conversation somewhere else, but I guess here is as good a place as any. You’d better sit down.”
Erin started twisting her hair for lack of something to do with her hands. “We’re not sure just yet how exactly Hellboy found his way into the future, but he did. The thing is, he’s on the wrong side of the law now, and he’s got himself quite a rap sheet already.”
She quit messing with her hair and gestured to the insignia on her chest. “Star Command is the top law-enforcement agency in the galaxy. All other police forces answer to us. It’s also the closest thing our galactic government – the Galactic Alliance – has to an army, so we’re paramilitary.
“And almost right at the start, two of our top Rangers had a run-in with Hellboy and his new boss, the Evil Emperor Zurg. No, don’t laugh – that’s a serious title. Zurg is Public Enemy Number One. Anyway, in the ensuing pandemonium, Hellboy saved one of the Rangers – Captain Buzz Lightyear – from hypothermia. Unfortunately, that ‘good streak’ didn’t continue.”
Erin paused and frowned. “Am I going too fast for you? I mean, it’s a long story, and there are a lot of details.”
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Post by Blacksteel on Mar 23, 2010 6:26:42 GMT -5
Liz blinked and held up a finger. “Uh—wait just a second. You’re telling me that Hellboy’s here. In the future. Alive and well. And that he’s on the wrong side of the law?” She snorted incredulously, running her hands through her reddish-brown hair. Okay, she’ll admit that she’d actually believed this Erin for a few moments, but all this sounded like a load of hogwash. Especially the part about Hellboy being anything other than a protector of the people, like always.
“Okay, look here. Hellboy’s not a lawbreaker. He might lose his patience at times and cause damage to public property, but I’ve known him for over thirty years and he’d never break the law unless innocent lives were at stake.
“I don’t know what game you’re playing at, but it’s not going to work on me,” she continued, her brown eyes narrowing dangerously. “I’ve had enough of people trying to trick me and you’re not even doing a good job at it!”
The nerve of some people! Trying to use her like she was some sort of secret weapon just because of her pyrokinetic abilities. Well, she certaintly wasn't going to be fooled this time around, especially with them resorting to trying to blackmail her about Hellboy, of all people, and about events that were completely out of character for him!
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Post by Skyfire on Mar 23, 2010 6:48:03 GMT -5
Erin looked very much like she was about to say something caustic that they’d regret forever. At the last moment, she took a deep, shaky breath and looked away, taking a few steps away and raking both hands through her hair. Then she whipped around to face Liz again. “Okay, so I’m not doing a good job explaining, but – mother of Venus! – if somebody was trying to trick you, they wouldn’t send a sleep-deprived rookie!” She growled in frustration, throwing her hands into the air briefly.
“Look, I did my research on you and Hellboy. I would have loved to know him back in our time – he sounds like a great guy. Oh yeah, might as well get that out of the way, too,” she said, slightly acerbic, “I’m from the same century – I just landed here a different way. Never mind – that’s not important right now.
“I have proof, but unfortunately, it’s the kind of proof that can be forged and tampered with, so you could still charge me with lying. The only way I can think of to really prove this is by you seeing Hellboy for yourself – but that would not be a smart idea.”
She folded her arms, calming down after letting out her steam. “I’m sorry, Liz, but you kind of do have to trust us. I don’t think he’s the same Hellboy you knew and loved.” She hated saying that, but she couldn’t pull punches – this was too important.
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Post by Blacksteel on Mar 23, 2010 11:42:11 GMT -5
“Fair enough,” Liz conceded, eyeing the black circles under Erin’s eyes. She didn’t sound like she was lying... but it would be sheer folly if Liz let her guard down now.
Nevertheless, she listened to the rest the younger woman had to say, as she told her that they had proof that they could show her but could be easily tampered with—at least she was being honest about that—and that actually seeing Hellboy would be well-nigh impossible at this point.
And that he was different from the Hellboy she knew.
Liz ran her tongue over her teeth, mulling Erin’s words over as she stared resolutely at the floor. If she wanted to be honest, a part of her wanted to believe Erin. She hadn’t seen Hellboy in years, not even managing to bid him a proper farewell. She had only heard about his resignation when she had returned from Agartha, close to two years after he’d already departed. During the years that followed, Kate had kept calling it an “absence of leave”, confident that Hellboy would be back once he had sorted things out. Kate had clung to that belief as surely as everyone else at the BPRD, repeating it with conviction every time his name cropped up.
But Liz knew that Kate had only been fooling herself. They had all been fooling themselves, in a way. Ten years had passed since then, and the only sign of life he’d given had been an obscure letter a couple of years ago. Its words had been jumbled, disoriented—disconnected words that betrayed his frailty. It had been painfully obvious by that Hellboy had been fighting a losing battle. The letter had brought little comfort to her, in contrast with the joy it had brought Abe and Kate, though they had all felt a chill when Abe told them that the man Hellboy claimed to be staying with had been an old friend of Professor Bruttenholm’s who had already been dead for years...
So maybe... maybe he had changed. He had certainly sounded unlike himself in that letter. Maybe something happened to him to push him over the edge. Had this emperor encouraged the already fragile mental state Hellboy had been in? Had he somehow swayed him with false promises? She couldn’t possibly imagine how Hellboy would feel if he suddenly found himself whisked to the future. Probably desperate to find a way back. Could they even go back, now that they had been brought here? Somehow she doubted it, if the woman standing before her was any indication of the fact, being from her time; a living testament to the ordeal that would follow.
Liz felt that same desperation begin to creep up on her, but it was in the back of her mind right now. The possibility of Hellboy being here was more important. She needed to know more about what was going on before she made another move. It would be unwise to walk into this blindly.
“All right,” Liz finally managed to say, rubbing her left forearm. “If... if you are telling the truth, and you’re from my time, and we’re in the future... I—can I see what you’ve got on Hellboy? Before I make any final decisions?”
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Post by Skyfire on Mar 24, 2010 5:20:02 GMT -5
Erin’s tired eyes brightened with hope. It was a step in the right direction, and she could worry about other problems later, taking things one step at a time. “Yes, ma’am,” she smiled slightly, giving Liz a casual, two-fingered salute. “The videos and papers are in Team Lightyear’s lounge. If you’ll just follow me…”
And she led the way into Star Command’s complex of halls, at a pace that was not quite leisurely but not rushed, either. It was quiet, still before 0730 hours – so most of the Rangers weren’t here yet. Occasionally, they crossed paths with Star Command’s alien personnel…
“They’re LGMs,” Erin explained. “Short for ‘Little Green Men.’ They have something like a collective consciousness, and every single one of them are top-notch astrophysicists, mechanics, technicians…” She shook her head. “If it involves math and science, they can do it and be doggone good at it.”
At last, they reached the lounge, and Erin opened the door. Sitting at the room’s one table was a man wearing the same sort of uniform as Erin’s, albeit with three pale blue stars over the wings-and-rings. He was 5’10”, stocky and athletic, Caucasian, somewhere around Liz’s age – and he had wavy navy-blue hair. As the two women entered the room, he looked up, revealing a handsome, still-boyish face and a pair of the brightest crystal-blue eyes that ever graced a human being.
His face brightened slightly, and he stood, moving around the table and extending his hand to Liz. “Hello – you must be Liz Sherman. I’m Captain Buzz Lightyear – pleasure to meet you.” I just wish it could have been under less stressful circumstances, he added mentally.
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Post by Blacksteel on Mar 24, 2010 7:25:31 GMT -5
Liz looked around as she followed Erin outside, the prospect of them being in the future becoming all the more palpable when they encountered short, stubby green personages dressed in blue with three eyes and antennae waddling along like penguins. Liz couldn’t help but keep staring at them every time they passed by them in the corridors. If she still had any doubts about being in the future, their presence did a d--n good job of eradicating them.
They entered a lounge to greet a man, far older than Erin, wearing a uniform similar to hers only with three stars—a Lieutenant?—who extended his hand to her for a shake as he introduced himself as Captain Buzz Lightyear.
“Nice to meet you too, sir,” Liz replied, shaking his hand firmly. There was something familiar about the name, and when it clicked, she turned to Erin. “Wasn’t he the one Hellboy saved?”
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Post by Skyfire on Mar 24, 2010 13:51:39 GMT -5
“Uh-huh,” Erin nodded, stepping around the two older adults to reach the table.
Smiling a bit sheepishly, Buzz released Liz’s hand and rubbed the back of his neck. “Rather embarrassing, getting bested by hypothermia like that. The doctor told me that I’d come very close to freezing to death – would have, but Hellboy apparently knew just what to do.” He glanced at the table, then gestured at a chair. “Please – have a seat.”
Erin picked a few stapled sheets of paper up off the table, scanning them. “Doing a last-minute fact check?” There was a slightly blurry snapshot of Hellboy in armor, a case file on the wedding crash – which included charges of arsony, attempted murder, and attack on law-enforcement officers – Buzz’s and Mira’s reports of their first encounter with Hellboy, and a compiled testimony from the several Rangers who had been at the wedding.
“Yup,” Buzz nodded, leaning against the edge of the table. “Thought it would be a good idea.” He opened up a nearby laptop and booted it up.
Erin flipped through the papers one last time, then handed them over to Liz. “Before we get started, Liz,” she said gently, “let me just say this: there’s not that much here, but if you ever feel like you don’t want to look at or hear any more, just let us know. We’ll take a break, and we can pick back up in a few minutes or even a few hours. It’s not currently a life-threatening situation, so we can take it easy, okay?”
“Right,” Buzz nodded, blue eyes sympathetic as he looked up at Liz. “I know from personal experience that it’s not easy to deal with someone close to you… well, committing crime. So… yeah, if you need a breather, just tell us. It won’t be a problem, honest.”
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Post by Blacksteel on Mar 24, 2010 14:22:32 GMT -5
Liz felt her lips curl involuntarily upwards—that sounded more like the Hellboy she remembered.
She took the seat across from him and crossed her arms over her chest, leaning back. She resisted the urge to light a cigarette. Not only would it be out of place in a military unit, it would be impolite.
“Okay,” she said slowly, looking from one to the other with a raised brow. She felt like she was being put on the spot—like she was in an interrogation room in a police department being questioned about something she wasn’t even sure if she could answer.
She looked down at the sheets of paper, drawing the one with the photograph pinned to the top closer to her. It was a photograph, slightly blurry, of Hellboy in the middle of a fight. She felt her breath lodge in her throat. The stone right hand was unmistakable, as was his face, screwed up in an expression of concentration. It was definitely him, no doubt about it. He was wearing a strange sort of black suit, and punching a blue-skinned man in the gut. She involuntarily winced. She knew the extent of Hellboy’s strength and it looked like he was doing some heavy damage there.
Her eyes drifted to the writing beneath it—testimonies of several other “space rangers” on the event of the photo. Apparently, Hellboy had crashed some sort of wedding ceremony and was accused of attacking law-enforcement officers, arson, and attempted murder. The writing below the testimonies explained the event more thoroughly. A name popped up from the text that made her look up in surprise.
“This was your wedding?” she asked Erin in surprise. She looked down at the report again. She could see now why Erin would be upset about this. But crashig a wedding, of all things, just didn’t sound like Hellboy at all. “Why would he do that?”
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Post by Skyfire on Mar 24, 2010 14:40:21 GMT -5
“Yeah.” Erin raked a hand through her hair again, trying hard to detach herself from the situation. She didn’t hate Hellboy, but that didn’t mean that the memory wasn’t still hard on her.
Erin shook her head and shrugged helplessly.
Buzz leaned forward slightly. “Liz, the man I met that first night was a man that I’d like to get to know better. The very next night, though, it was like facing a different person – close, but not quite. We have close to twenty-four hours in which we can’t account for Hellboy, accept that he ate out a popular restaurant with another being who we assume to be Zurg in disguise.”
Even if you didn’t know Buzz, you could tell that he was warming up to his subject. “You have to understand, Liz, that Zurg’s a master at manipulation. He’s diabolically clever, and he can be very compelling and even charismatic when he wants to be. And Hellboy wanted a way home.”
“Except that at the wedding, he said that he couldn’t go back home,” Erin interjected. “It sounded like he felt trapped.”
“And that he might as well throw in his lot with Zurg,” Buzz nodded.
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