Hello guys!

New chapter is up and ready for your reading pleasures! I'll try to post a new chapter every Wednesday (or every other Wednesday, I'm in college at the moment) for you to enjoy.

I'd like to give a shout out to:

Devilgirl123 – Glad you liked it, and I definitely will!

Flint and Feather – Much appreciated Flint!

Thomas – Oh thanks man! Will do!

The reviews were very much appreciated, made my heart go all flittery bump! :P Remember to review if you liked it guys. I would love to hear what you guys think about the fic as we progress.

Oh, now we can't forget the lovely Miss Penny Talisman for being an awesome beta and having the patience of a monk. Thanks for all your hard work girl!

Finally and I will only be doing this once because the name of the site if pretty self-explanatory…

Disclaimer: I do not own the Hellboy franchise at all. That my dear readers goes to Mr. Mike Mignola and Dark Horse. I do own my OC's though.

Without further interruptions, please enjoy!

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Chapter 1: A cold introduction

It was a cool, quiet night in the town of Rennes, Brittany. Well after dark, in these sceptical towns it's not often you'd find anyone outside. Even then, the odd wanderer or two seemed to steer clear of any outsiders, especially ones that smelled of government.

Exactly the way the Bureau of Paranormal Research and Defense liked it. The less witnesses to deal with, the faster the job gets done.

~*Flashback*~

"The job's quite simple. It seems a string of store owners have been reporting to the local authorities, about a frightening creature loitering around the shops, scaring off customers." said Manning. He turned a page in the case file gulping down a mouthful of coffee. He looked up, scowl ever present on his face and turned to Hellboy. "You and Agent Clark will be checking out the situation. Find the creature and if you're at all capable, bring it in ALIVE. Do I make myself clear?"

Grinning from ear to ear, a smug look overtook Hellboy's face "Crystal."

Manning continued to glare. He sighed wearily and shook his head. He was too tired to deal with Hellboy right now. After the previous events, he wasn't prepared to deal with the big red ape at all today. Hence sending him off on furthest away mission possible. If only to give himself a few days peace and quiet.

Manning handed the case file over to Clark, and he made to get up, until the agent interjected "If I may, sir, isn't Red a little too much manpower for this mission?" he asked, throwing Hellboy a knowing look.

In all honesty, ever since the pixie incident a month ago, Hellboy had been assigned to all manner of missions. None of which, were actually suited for an agent of his 'caliber'. Manning was probably just still pissed about all the damage done to his office. He, naturally, blamed Hellboy for all of it. Something he made thoroughly clear to everyone on base.

"Oh no, no! Trust me. This, is perfect for an Agent like Hellboy." Manning plastered a crooked smile on his face and made a B-line for the door. Waving Clark off, he mumbled quietly to himself "I'm sure everyone could use as much of a break from that thing, as I could right about now." He left the room, the door slamming shut behind him, with a loud crack echoing all throughout the room.

~*End of flashback*~

Even in the dim glow of the street lamps, the dark silhouettes of agents could barely be made out as they moved through the area, setting up their equipment. Everywhere you looked, cameras were being placed on aged Victorian walls, shop doors and the market stalls. A perimeter had been set up, just in case anything they might find got any ideas of high tailing it out of town.

At the center of it all, Clark was getting the monitors up and running, in a mess of wires and screens all hooked up to one another with a considerably long cable that lead to a generator. The generator was roughly the size of a trash can, with two handles at the top and eight around the middle. It was silent for the most part, except for a hushed droning sound emanating from the lower parts of the unit.

Propped up against a few boxes, Hellboy observed the whole ordeal with disinterest. He was never one for tinkering with delicate equipment. His style was more one-on-one, with some big ugly troll or an overzealous frog monster, in a toe-to-toe match. All this technical stuff drove him insane with boredom, but as soon as it was all set up the real fun could start.

Though this wasn't a very challenging mission per say, there wasn't really much he could do about the situation other than making the most of it.

It seemed like the entirety of beasts, monsters, ghouls and any other creepy crawlies you can think of in the world, decided on taking a rather extensive vacation to all parts unknown. All the missions have been pissy as of late. Hell, the most exciting ones consisted of a goblin breaking and entering in Norway, pixie trouble in Washington and one particularly feisty fragglewump on the BPRD's very doorstep. Now Hellboy's never one to shy away from some down time, but he liked his job, and this overpowering crap was getting on his last nerves.

Digging around in his pockets, he snatched out a cigar and popped it in between his teeth, lighting it up. A bright glow emanated from the tip as he took a deep breath. It soon dulled down again, Hellboy exhaling smoky tendrils into the cold night air. An even duller look overcame his features, as he leaned back and propped his elbows up on the on the box behind him. One leg was stretched out before him and the other one bent at the knee. Continuing his observation of the two agents in front of him, and the chaos of cables running all over the place, he let out an exaggerated sigh and inhaled again.

"You know if you're that bored, you could always give us a hand. Just a thought." Clark quipped, handing a cable over to the outstretched hand that protruded from the rubbery mess.

Maurice, shifted over to make a bit more room, as he grabbed the cord and pulled it down below the table. Somehow he always managed to get the dirty work. Down below a table or in a sewer -after a job well done- for clean-up detail. Hellboy grinned mischievously around the cigar. He lifted his hands in the air and proceeded to clap a few times, then settled back down again. His flesh hand came up as he took hold of the cigar, and breathed in a big gulp of air before removing it from between his teeth.

"How's that?" he replied grinning, popping the cylinder back in his mouth.

A throaty chuckle resonated from beneath the table, clearly Maurice found it funny "You asked for that one." he laughed. It was followed by a swift kicking sound, a painful yelp. Maurice chortled on.

Clark threw Hellboy a crooked smile, tired from all the recent night shifts he shook his head, huffing out an exasperated sigh "Nice." But quickly enough turned his attention back to his work and continued on.

"What can I say? I'm a nice guy."

Maurice popped out from below the dark depths of machinery, and dusted himself off. Still grinning, he tossed a remote over to Clark, who caught it with ease. "Well, Mister Nice Guy, we're all finished up here. It's all yours now." he said turning to Hellboy.

Maurice eyed the wiring around their feet, a scowl appearing on his face. It took them a good hour and a half to set everything up right. He gave Red a withering look, "Just try not to step on anything on your way out" he asked "Better yet, try avoid bringing the party over to us this time, hmm?" He plopped down in front of the monitors and switched on the night vision. Adjusting his seat, he placed the headset over his ears blocking out all other sounds, except from the cameras.

"Already? Damn. And just when I was starting to have some fun." came Hellboy's sarcastic spurt. He rose with a grunt and rolled his shoulders, trying to get the feeling back into them. Truth be told, they fell asleep about an hour ago. Waiting around for something to happen was never really Hellboy's forte. Patience was not his virtue.

He carefully traipsed through the mass of machinery cables, towards a few large trunks containing the bare essentials for any mission. A few books, talismans, artifacts and of course weapons. Many, many weapons. He came to a halt in front of the largest one and pried it open with his stone hand. From inside Hellboy pulled out his gun's case.

The Good Samaritan. There was no confusing this gun with another's or losing sight of it. Custom made for Hellboy, it could easily put any big ugly out of his misery, or Hellboy's for that matter. The gun's metal was forged from a combination of Irish church bells, cold iron from crucifixes, blessed silver, and other mystic metals. The grip has the BPRD insignia on either side and the wood is believed to be that of the cross, of which Jesus Christ was crucified on. All speculation aside, the gun is capable of breaking off any normal man's arm due to the immense recoil. It holds four shots, with pre-made silver and iron tipped, explosive rounds. Blessed of course. As well as custom bullets Hellboy makes himself, as a sort of hobby.

After loading the gun up and grabbing some special rounds for good measure, Hellboy closed the gun case and grabbed his walkie. It was a chunky piece of equipment, closely resembling a large cellphone. An antenna on top for signal, with the bottom of the device protruding out from the rest of the body. In short it was big, clunky, and ugly, but it got the job done. He switched on the device and moved out.

His first destination was the Marché des Lices, the main source of the problem. The Marché des Lices is an area where string of stalls is set up every Saturday morning for market producers, food producers and florists. Fortunately it was Thursday, so the area would be cleared out of people for the time being.

Hellboy sauntered around the area, cigar smoke wafting through the air.

With over 300 stalls here every Saturday, it would explain why the creature was attracted to it. So much food going around it was bound to happen eventually, except this free loader seemed to have taken up residence in the nearby building. Looked like giant warehouse, but being unfamiliar with the area, he could only guess.

Walking up to the building, Hellboy removed the walkie from his belt and held it up to his ear. A hushed drone sounded from the speakers. After the static gurgles subsided he started to talk, "Hey Clark, I'm at this warehouse style building. Have there been any reports of something nasty roaming around the area?"

There was short silence before the walkie hissed alive, Clarks reply being heard loud and clear all throughout the quiet area, "La Halle Martenot, it's kind of like this giant farmers market area. As for any complaints, let me check." After a still pause Clark's voice rang out again. "Here we go. Yeah, it seems like a lot of people were reporting to local authorities about the halls. Mostly about some strange noises and shadowy figures moving around the area after dark. Even some of their wares were being stolen or eaten."

"Well, that's not very nice, now is it?" Hellboy asked no one in particular. He pulled out the Samaritan from its holster and made his way towards the door. Placing his hand on the doorknob, he gently started turning it to the side. "I'm going in." was all he said before opening the door, a string of light filling the room instantly with an eerie glow.

He made to move in forward again, but the walkie blaring to life, sounding Clark's voice stopped him cold in his tracks. "Wait, hold on Red."

"Yeah?"

"There's another report here filed under a Mr. Jones, stating that he was attacked by something. Unfortunately it was past hours, so it was too dark for him to tell exactly what attacked him, but he mentioned scratches on his arms and legs, and even a few bite marks on his shoulder. Judging from the size, I'd say we're dealing with something small. Possibly more than one." The walkie died down again and the room was filled with a deafening silence.

With a raised eyebrow, the red giant let out a sigh of frustration. "Great." came his sarcastic reply before he replaced the walkie back on his belt and continued forward into the unlit building.

The Halle Martenot was a set of two halls located next to the Strings. Its walls were made of a darker reddish and creamy toned bricks, arranged in a diamond pattern similar to that of a diamondback rattlesnake. On top of the walls were wrought iron fencing with very large, sharp points. The halls had base roofs leading up to a centered connecting window wall area, with a smaller roof.

Walking further in Hellboy got a better look at the inside, well, what he could see in the dull light. It was pretty bare, save for a small building, assumedly the storage shed in question. The floor was a plain layer of cement with, a slight sheen to it. Being only used on Saturdays, it's probably kept clean and ready for the most part. It would explain the floor's gleam.

He paced over to the shed, then carefully tapped the door with the gun's barrel. The door creaked open heavily, exposing to view a queer darkness. Upon closer examination, Hellboy discovered the room had no switches, and no visible light source, aside from the open door. He tried to make out what little he could, squinting his eyes in the process. All he could discern though, was a few box shaped blobs at the back, to the side shelves lined with tools, cleaning supplies, table cloths, buckets, ect... As much as you would expect from a storage shed.

Hellboy drew a deep breath of air, the last of his cigar glowing brightly in the dim area, before the light subsided again. Taking his stone hand, he pressed his index finger on to the tip of the cigar, putting out the light and completely engulfing the inside of the shed in a pitch-black blanket. Hellboy was about to toss the cylindrical nub to the side, but got an eye full of some cleaning supplies neatly tucked into the shelves and decided against is. Tugging the charcoaled cylinder back, he stuffed it into one of his many coat pockets. The red giant swung back around, making his way towards the exit. Passing the door he latched his tail onto the knob, pulling it close behind him.

He didn't make it too far before a low static gurgle sound found his ears and Clarks voice rang clear from the other side "Hellboy, hold up. Motion sensors are detecting movement in your area. It's close, very close." At that the radio died down and silence hung in the air once more. Taking the clunky device in his hand, he brought it up to his face. He made to reply when a load noise erupted from the shed, like metal on stone. One of the buckets must have fallen from the shelves.

"What was that?" Clarks asked, his voice etched with a calmness only many years of experience could provide.

Hellboy glanced back over his shoulder. The noise had died down, but buckets don't just fall by themselves. Raising the Samaritan, he steadily moved his way back towards the door. Gun in one hand, walkie in the other, his tail hovered up to the handle. The tip of the appendage curled around the knob, guardedly turning is to the side. With an almost inaudible click the door gradually opened, revealing the now empty bucket of cleansers. Bottles laid strewn on the ground all around it.

Gun leveled and ready, he peered further into the darkness. At the far back he could make out a faint movement, before it stopped and turned to him. Bright green eyes stared back at amber ones. Brow raised he uttered a single reply "Company." Before replacing the walkie back on his belt. He took a few small steps forward, keeping a close eye of the creature, who seemed to be paying very close attention to Hellboy himself.

The eyes followed his every movement. The creature uttered hushed whimpers every so often, appearing as if it was afraid of Hellboy coming any closer. An observation made only more plausible, when it backed away further from the red giant in question.

Hellboy ceased his movements and lowered the gun. This creature, whatever it was, wasn't a threat to him. Not yet anyway. His time working for the bureau had taught him that much. Stepping back a few paces, the dim light cascading down from the hall ceiling, eliminated his face as he continued peering into the darkness.

"I'm not gonna hurt ya unless ya make me. Just step out here where I can see ya." this seemed to set the creature off more so. It skittered back further, its illuminating eyes growing dimmer and dimmer the more it moved back into the shadows of the shed.

There was a quiet pause before the creature spoke up "You won't like what you see." It was a faint, strangled reply, but enough to cause a clear sign of surprise to overcome Hellboy's face for a split second, before it grew back to its stony exterior.