Chapter 1
2011
“They say he appeared as if by magic, though the descriptions of the event seem to differ depending on who was questioned at the time. The only consistency was what he appeared to be and what he acted like before sweeping out of town.” Coulson spoke while reviewing his notes, wanting to find a particular note on the person of interest to relay. “Some say he came as the sun was setting, others claim it was when the moon was already high in the sky. This was the most descriptive of the witness statements but all offered a similar physical description.”
Clearing his throat he read over the words once before speaking them aloud. “... was like you were staring up at some demon, perhaps he was the devil himself, bigger than any Luchador I’d laid eyes on. In place of horns were uneven stubs as if they had been sawed off of his head, his eyes were a brilliant shade of yellow. He wore shorts and an open trench coat that displayed the power of his chest. At his hip, he brandished a gun, and from his holster hung a rosary that should repel him, but he did not toss it away. This creature fumbled into his jacket and found a cigarette to light before finding the local bar and drinking himself dizzy before disappearing into the night.”
“That was in Mexico, Ciudad Cuauhtemoc región,” Natasha cut in. She offered a nod in greeting to Coulson as she entered the room. “Since that first sighting, it appears word of his travels over the last few months have spread wide.”
“This demonic big guy got a name.” Fury still wasn’t sure how serious to treat this… demonic presence. However, he had seen things that weren’t so easily explained and it would be reckless to treat the reports of this thing as myth. Especially when he was being brought to speed by two of his more trusted agents.
“By all reports, he does go by something,” Coulson began. “Hellboy.”
S.H.I.E.L.D FACILITY, Location Redacted, 2011
Smoke billowed from the cigarette between his lips. There were three separate televisions in his room all tuned to different channels, two on news channels while the final was on something more entertaining. Children's cartoons. Not that he was too focused on watching the screens at the moment for he was far more interested in the game of poker solitaire he was playing on his bed. S.H.I.E.L.D offered a decent place to stay where he wasn’t concerned about throwing parts of the public into some kind of panic though they had to work on keeping their guests entertained.
Hearing a knock at the door didn’t spark him into motion as his attention remained on the game before him. Second knock . A gentle sigh left the behemoth and his head turned towards the sound though his eyes hadn’t strayed from the game.
“Get on in here,” he called out. When the door opened he regarded the other with a brief glance before going right back to his poker, hardly enough of a look to fully register who the other was. Could guess though. Wasn’t more than a handful of agents that intruded on his solitude. “Interested in a game?”
“Nothing to play for,” Coulson commented. Coming about thirteen feet from the bed with hands resting in his pockets. For a moment he took in the game on the bed. “Plus I wouldn’t want to clean you out.”
“Heh, right .”
“You left the facility last week, bother telling me why?”
“Right ta business with you bunch, huh? Not even an offerin’ for the big guy.”
“Got donuts from that place in New Mexico you liked.”
So he did bring something to bribe answers out of him. Setting his cards down finally to give Coulson actual attention he shrugged his shoulders. “Can’t keep me stuck in your special hotel forever. Ya got one heck of a world here with its own stuff that goes bump in the night. Dealing with that kind of thing is sorta my job, so is goin’ out searchin’ for it since you won’t give me any of that fancy intel.”
“Was your job, in this world your job is waiting until we can figure you out a way home.”
“I ain’t gonna just sit here and be useless while whatever scientists try to figure that out.” Was magic that had gotten him where he was, anyways. Any faith that he had in S.H.I.E.L.D being able to figure out how to send him home lowered with every week he was stuck there with no positive update. “What can I say, I’m a social creature at heart.”
“You’re a grump at heart, Hellboy,” the agent corrected before going back to Hellboy's door, opening it to reveal a group of suitcases. “You’ll get your donuts when you’re packed, we’re moving you. To a place where you’ll have a job if you want something to do.”
“Bout time, where to?”
“You’re going to become part of the Joint Dark Energy Mission.”
MOJAVE DESERT, NEVADA, 2012
The Tesseract had pulsed to life which meant that the entire building he had been guarding had become quite lively in the hours following. Between things getting packed away and loaded onto trucks and helicopters, personel racing around to get evacuated, red was making his way to where he should have been this entire time. Back to guarding the room holding the Tesseract instead of assisting with some of the heavy lifting required by certain important pieces of equipment.
“Headed your way, Barton,” he muttered into his earpiece. Before entering the lab spaces he took the cigarette from his mouth and dabbed its heated tip against his stone hand until it was put out. Slipping the remainder into his jacket pocket. “How goes the light show?”
“Same as when you last checked in, though the Tesseract’s power only grows by the minute, some of the doctors are starting to get squirrely.”
“They ain’t made for tough situations, scientists. Perhaps that’s only my world but they are best when all that studying and experimenting is done in controlled tame environments.” Suddenly this building didn’t feel tame or controlled any longer. Empty hallways were still filled with a sense of fear and tension from the personnel that had been making a hasty exit for the past hours. Not to mention this was only the beginning.
Decades' worth of experience told him that once the ball got rolling it took a decent amount of effort to stop. Bad news didn’t come all by itself. Random events had a habit of steamrolling into something greater. Things were starting to feel more like home.
Somehow that thought both excited and annoyed him.
Home kept him from getting bored but damn if he didn’t get banged up on a regular basis. Suppose he would get to see more of what this new universe he’d gotten thrust into had to offer in terms of dangers. Bound to be one hell of a night.
By the time he got to the lab Fury had already arrived. Checking on the status of the cube, had even gotten Clint down from his perch.
“There goes my other guard for this thing, you weren’t supposed to be away from your post. Got an opinion on this event?” That was Fury, making your mistakes known even while getting down to business. Suppose he appreciated that on one level or another.
“Not sure it’s my speed. If blinky is on the fritz then I’d say somethin’ is calling to it. Wouldn’t be much of a doorway if nobody could knock from the other side.” Bet Barton had said something similar. Was the bird eye agent that had given him any understanding of what the Tesseract was.
In Hellboy’s mind, it might even be a hope for him to get home. Depending on if S.H.I.E.L.D could control the thing, so far things didn’t look good for that. As they stood around contemplating what could be going on Hellboy noticed that the energy output had begun to grow. The cube was getting brighter and giving off a pulse. When that energy was discharged and focused on a point for a moment it became a portal, and once that opened someone came from the other side.
A guy with an odd taste for fashion. Every agent in the room pulled their weapons, Hellboy himself drew the hardy revolver he had brought along with him from his own world. The stranger wielded some sort of spear. The paranormal investigator in him recognized that it was more than some simple spear, its tip held within it a glowing blue energy that reminded him of the glow that cube gave off. Anyone holding a weapon like that one meant to use it.
“Sir, please put down the spear,” Fury ordered, his tone commanding and the guns backing him up giving him the comfort to issue an order. Instead of following it the stranger rose the weapon and Barton tackled Fury out of the way before it fired off a strange projectile. Almost the same moment he fired the weapon he assaulted the humans in the room, taking down agents with a display of skill, speed, and strength.
Hellboy managed to get off two shots, and while the bullets from the other agents had merely ricocheted off of him, the second round from the revolver caught in his shoulder. Yet he couldn’t immediately tell if it caused a wound. Head of the spear knocked the gun from the cambion's grasp before being whipped towards his head. Raising his right hand of doom to block the blade he took the stranger’s boot to the chest. A kick strong enough to knock him back a few staggering steps.
Recovering fast the red behemoth showed his own speed, sidestepping the jabbed tip of the weapon and charging to close the distance between himself and his adversary. Left fist connected with the stranger’s jaw before bringing in the right hook with the aim to take advantage of the spot where his bullet had caught him. Knocking him off his feet but before being able to get at him again the stranger shot off the spear, hitting Hellboy square in the chest and sending him harshly into a nearby wall. When he collapsed to the floor he tried to get himself up.
“What manner of beast are you?” Questioned the stranger before he was forced to intercept Barton who had gotten to his feet and moved for his weapon. “Now you , you might just be man but you have heart .” Pressing his weapon to the agent’s chest seemed to cause a sort of reaction, his body tensed and then relaxed, and just like that Clint was his. “Please don’t do that.”
During the fighting Fury had snuck the cube into a specialized carrying case with hopes of slipping away, apparently, he hadn’t been as unnoticed as he’d hoped. “I still need that.”
“This doesn’t have to get any messier.”
“Yes it does, I’ve come too far for anything else. I am Loki, of Asgard, and I am burdened with glorious purpose.”
“Loki, brother of Thor?” Rising from where he kneeled over a body he had been checking for any signs of vitals Selvig, the scientist in charge of this project, spoke yet was hardly given more than a glance. In that single glance there was much that could be seen. Such as Loki’s annoyance at the mention of the thunder god’s very name in his presence.
“We have no quarrel with your people…” Fury began, as if he had any hope of diffusing this situation. The spymaster knew better than that.
“A boot has no quarrel with an ant.”
“Are you planning to step on us?”
That question brought a smile to Loki’s face and after checking that the red brute in the room hadn’t recovered he took a few steps closer to the one-eyed director. “I come with glad tidings, of a world made free.”
“Freed from what?”
“Freedom. Freedom is the world’s great lie. Once you accept that, in your heart–” without warning he pressed the tip of his spear against Selvig’s chest, placing his mind under the same control as Barton, “you will know peace.”
“Yeah you say peace, I think you really mean the other thing.”
Recognizing this conversation for what it was, Clint stepped between the two. “Boss, Fury is stalling. This place is about to blow, he means to bury us under stone.”
“Like the pharaohs of old.”
“He’s right,” Selvig confirmed, “the portal is collapsing in on itself. There may be two minutes before this goes critical.”
“Well then.” Those two words constituted an order that Clint instantly understood, shooting Fury in the chest and leading Loki from the room. Followed by Selvig and a small group of other agents that had been touched by Loki’s weapon, those who weren’t killed by his initial attack. They passed by Maria Hill, the director’s second hand, where Clint requested the use of a vehicle.
Loki settled in the vehicle's cargo bed while the others began to file into the seats. Maria questioned his identity to which Clint merely responded that he was not told. Suspicious yet needing to get to Fury she slowly began to walk away until her walkie came to life.
“ Hill, Hill do you read me? ”
Sitting up Fury pulled the slug from his bulletproof lining. Watching as Hellboy shook his head and struggled to his feet. So that blast to the chest hadn’t taken the behemoth out of the game. Good.
“ Hill, Barton is turned! ”
Taking cover the moment she heard that news her instincts saved her as the turned agent laid down suppressing fire as he entered the vehicle, behind the will. Tires screeched as he pulled off. Maria fired at the escaping group without hitting a target and before letting them get too much distance found her way into a car to pursue.
Before Fury could stop him Hellboy raced off to join the pursuit, not allowing the ground rumbling underfoot to slow him. As the portal became more unstable, closer to collapsing in on itself, the tremors grew worse. “Crap.” When he got to the remaining cars it was something small that he had to practically stuff himself into. He gunned the engine but he didn't even manage to catch up to the chase before the ceiling collapsed on top of him.
HELLICARRIER
Back at the B.P.R.D. all he had managed to get on briefings were stale donuts, or whatever stale treat they had at the time, and lukewarm coffee. Not even a decent coffee at that. Luckily this organization had far deeper pockets than the covert occult investigations one he had spent his life working with. Hot coffee that was worth drinking and holographic imaging instead of those old school manilla folder files to thumb through.
“Can guess why this Initiative thing never got off the ground,” he grumbled as he watched footage of the green creature they dubbed The Hulk. To think something so large and powerful came out of such a small man. Wouldn’t be the first scientist that he’d seen be changed by his own work. “Rage monster, billionaire with fancy suits of armor and attitude problems, super soldier fished outta the ice… yeah, don’t see your council approving any of that.”
In their eyes they were all uncontrollable variables. Hell, still couldn’t see how Fury had convinced them that a demonic humanoid from another universe was worth keeping around instead of locking up somewhere dark and damp or otherwise disposing of him if they thought it possible. Clearly the one-eyed spy was more convincing than he looked.
“And a demon-born paranormal investigator from another universe,” Maria corrected. “Director Fury was expecting you to be a part of that team if he was ever able to give the Initiative a second life. Whatever you’ve experienced where you’re from, the heroic things you did, we can use that kind of guy here.”
“Want me to be one of your Avengers? A team that doesn’t even exist.”
“It will, we aren’t ready for this kind of threat. A god wielding the potentially destructive force of the Tesseract Fury will get them to see that we need a response team.” She used that term, God , and he had to admit it paled in comparison to what he would consider a diety. Hell, he spent the better part of a long night getting smacked around by one, and while Loki had managed to get the drop on him he was nowhere near the same power as the Hecate of his world. Admittedly he was stronger and faster than a standard human and had some funky magic too. “I’d expect you to find a shirt, or at least your coat.”
Finishing off what was left in his mug before it got too cooled off his shoulders shrug in response to that gentle joke. “My jacket got messed up gettin’ myself out of that rubble.”
Scoffing at that comment Hill shrugged her shoulders. “Suppose it’s good that I got a couple of replacements that should fit those large shoulders of yours. Struck me as the kind of person that burns through clothes.” Yesterday was the first time that she had been proven correct, she doubted it would be the last. “Feel free to tell me if the measurements are off, I was guessing when I had it made.”
Nodding towards a small closet in the room where the jacket could be found she watched as he went to find what was inside. When he grabbed the trenchcoat inside he noticed that the fabric felt different than what he was accustomed to. Being as deceptively old as he was he’d felt all manner of threads and for this to somehow feel foreign to him Hellboy could only figure it was specially made. Whatever she had used he bet it was resilient stuff. Perhaps that meant he’d hang on to this one a while longer.
Pulling it on over his naked upper body and rolling his shoulders he had to admit it fit well. Not loose enough that it would slip off when things began to get physical, not tight enough to restrict his movement or grow uncomfortable. “Check the pocket,” Maria suggested. When he did he found a pack of cigarettes, his brand too, along with a lighter. Goes to show that a trained spy kept an eye on all the details.
Useless ones, but it did allow her to offer a pleasant surprise now and again. Stripping the fresh pack of cigarettes of the outer packaging plastic and getting it open to get out one of the smokes.
“No smoking,” warned the deputy director.
Which earned her a “Kiss my ass.” Lighting the smoke he took a fairly long drag, blowing the subsequent smoke out in the opposite direction of her. “Bout that whole Avengers thing – still ain’t sure I fit that idea. Look at me, I’d scare the children I would be trying to save.”
This was the first time she had heard him say anything about his appearance, though she supposed living among humans his entire life might cause him to have a disparaging opinion of himself. Could explain the horns. Kept diligently filed down. One way that he could control what the world saw when it looked at him. “This is no popularity contest or a fashion show, it’s about protecting the planet. From here or not, you’re stuck here for who knows how long so if we go you go with us.”
Point taken. Mulling those words around in his head for a time he took another long drag of his cigarette and groaned as the smoke billowed from between his lips. The whole superhero gig wasn’t his thing. Though he had been The Lobster once for Halloween, the hero thing had a good ring to it back when he was no taller than a fourth-grader. In a world like this – they would probably consider an investigator who does good deeds a hero.
In the end, he decided not to decide. “How goes gettin’ your other recruits here, your Captain, the green one, the rich guy.”
A moment’s worth of disappointment flashed her expression but she was quick to rein it in. Seeing as he hadn’t necessarily refused the offer. “You’ll be seeing the first two here soon, they’re on their way. I would say meeting them outside is the best introduction you’ll get, at least Rogers will be briefed on you, can’t say the same for Dr. Banner. Oh, and play nice.”
“I’m always nice.”