Hellboy #3

[Spider-Man Beyond]

Hellboy #3
The Forgotten Tomb Part 3

Written by Mike Bowen
Edited by Daniel Dyer

The darkness engulfed Hellboy almost at once. Making things worse was his eyes had adjusted to the torchlight and were now useless, at least for a few minutes.

He heard a growl coming from off to what he thought was his left, but before he managed to turn in the direction, a large clawed hand knocked him against the far wall.

Dammit this guy’s strong. I need to find something to level the playing field.

He tried to move a silently as possible around to what he thought was the doorway to the small chamber he was in. He kept one hand on the wall, feeling his way around. Finally the wall ended, meaning he was in the doorway, or so he hoped.

Hellboy quickly flung himself backward, firing one shot from the Samartin. The muzzle flash lit up the chamber, but nearly blinded Hellboy again. He saw enough of the large wooden door to slam it shut on the antechamber and push the heavy bolt into place.

“That’s right!” Hellboy yelled while pounding his fist on the door. “You’re lucky this door’s here or I would come in there and...”

His voice trailed off when he realized he was still down in the tomb, in the dark and whoever or whatever attacked him in the room could be out here with him again.

“Please don’t be behind me. Please don’t be behind me. Please don’t be behind me,” he whispered as he quickly turned around. When nothing took advantage of his defenses being down, he slowly felt his way around the area he was in until he found the staircase leading out.

Hellboy moved up the stairs slowly at first, trying to get a gauge of their height in the darkness. After about 10 minutes of flailing around he got the cadence down and began to move more quickly. He felt the stairs begin to bend towards the right as he went on. His mind was on keeping his rythmn on the steps when he ran face first into what felt like a brick wall, knocking him down and sending him rolling down a few steps.

Hellboy quickly regained his balance and pulled his gun, looking up into the blackness. He listened but couldn’t hear anything until a wet snap split the silence.

That sounded like a...

A yellow-green glow began to imminate from near where he hit the obstruction. The light began to illuminate the stairwell and Hellboy could make out a pair of massive legs. The light grew and so did the man, until finally the B.P.R.D. symbol began to shine on the man’s chest.

“Roger? Is that you? Man, I am glad to see you,” Hellboy said as he leapt up the two steps between them and slapped the chem light-holding man on the shoulder.

Roger was not a normal man. He was in fact a Homunculus, meaning he is an artificial man, created by alchemy. He was discovered in a secret lab underneath Czege Castle in Romania by a trio of B.P.R.D. agents, including Liz Sherman.

When he was found he was lifeless, but awoke when touched by Sherman, her pyrokinetic powers activating him. He awoke in a violent rage and killed one of the agents (Bud Waller) before fleeing the castle.

After being tracked down, Liz’s power was taken back from Roger and the Homunculs went back into his comatose state and was taken to B.P.R.D. headquarters.

There, Bureau scientists were stoppped from dissecting his body by fellow agent, Abe Sapien. Abe quickly pulled several wires out of the medical equipment in the room and used a massive dose of electricity to shock the Homunculus back to life. Roger was finally fitted with a remote generator and made an agent. But he was also implanted with a small bomb that could be detonated by remote as a precaution against any uncontrolled outbursts. He’s been trusted by most of the Bureau since he was made an agent, but Director Stevenson has always been leery of him.

The homunculus didn’t speak as he reached to his ear and removed an earpiece and thrust it at Hellboy.

“But we just met,” Hellboy said dryly as he took the piece and slipped it into his ear. “Can you hear me now?” he said.

After bursts of static Bruttenholm’s voice came through loud and clear. “Hellboy! Is that you? Thank God Roger found you. Are you all right? What’s going on?”

“Slow down, Father,” Hellboy said softly as Roger looked on. “Everything is O.K.”

*

[Spider-Man Beyond]

Professor Trevor Bruttenholm spun in his chair at the Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense’s main headquarters. “August!” he shouted into the other room. “Roger’s done it! He’s found Hellboy.”

B.P.R.D. Director August Stevenson stood in the doorway drinking a cup of coffee. This operation was supposed to be a quick in-and-out. Instead he and Bruttenholm have been at the consoles for nearly two days. “Great, now recall that monster before anything bad happens.”

“I will do nothing of the sort. Hellboy will need assistance on this. I am sure of it.

*

[Spider-Man Beyond]

Back in the stairwell, Hellboy just kept looking at Roger, opening and closing his hand like a mouth. “Pop, come on, I need some instructions here,” Hellboy finally said.

“I am sorry, Hellboy,” Bruttenholm said. “When we lost contact with you we sent in Roger. Is the tomb still sealed?”

“What do you mean by sealed?” Hellboy responded.

“Hellboy, please don’t tell me you allowed the tomb to be opened,” Bruttenholm shot back with a worried tone in his voice.

“I didn’t really have a choice, Dad. That crazy German guy shot me in the face,” he said as he rubbed his chipped horn.

“Then you two have much work to do if it is open. Have you investigated it?”

Hellboy mockingly looked around the staircase. “That’s an affirmative. We’re standing on its staircase right now. I’m fine by the way.”

“And its occupant?” Bruttenholm questioned.

“Empty as far as I can tell, unless you count Hommen or whatever his name is splayed open on the floor down there.”

There was silence before the comm clicked again. “Hommen’s dead?” Bruttenholm replied. “How?”

“Some sort of animal clawed him up pretty bad. Maybe it was a bear or that wolf that was trying to drag me into the woods earlier.”

“Stop! What did you say about a wolf?” Bruttenholm shot back.

“It’s nothing. Some big ol’ mangy pooch had a hold of my leg when I woke up earlier, after being shot in the face. You remember me telling you I was shot in the face right? I’m O.K., by the way. I shook him loose and he ran off into the woods.”

Roger remained stone-faced, not making a sound as he stood by Hellboy on the stairs.

“You’re creeping me out, kid, d’ya know that?” he whispered to the agent.

“Dear lord, Hellboy, you don’t realize what’s going on. do you?”

“Maybe if you or our esteemed director explained things before sending me on these missions, I’d have a better idea.”

“Athalon is one of the world’s first and most fearsome werewolves,” Bruttenholm replied. “I suspect he was the one who killed Hommen, though that’s easier said than done apparently, and he was probably the wolf trying to drag you away.”

“You can’t be serious,” Hellboy replied. “You mean I could have ended this whole thing hours ago with one shot to that stupid wolf’s skull? And another thing, if he was a werewolf, why lock him up in this tomb instead of just killing him. I’m sure the people that built this knew they could kill a werewolf with the right tools.”

“As I said, Hellboy, he was one of the first, long before we learned of silver and other weapons that can end a werewolf’s life. But that being said, others have tried since then, but apparently he is impervious to all previously-known counter-measures.”

“So what are we supposed to do then?” Hellboy asked.

“I did some research and found something that should work. Roger has it.”

Hellboy looked at the homunculus. He was holding a medium-sized vial or a dark liquid between his thumb and forefinger, shaking it in front of Hellboy’s face.

“Thanks, ya’ big mute. Why didn’t you give this to me before I asked?”

Roger just shrugged his shoulders.

Hellboy mockingly shrugged his shoulders at him. “So what am I supposed to do with this stuff?” he asked, holding the vial up to his eye. “Tip an arrow with it or what? Because I have t’say my longbow skills just aren’t what they used to be.”

“Not exactly,” Bruttenholm replied. “You need to have him ingest it.”

I knew he was going to say that, I knew it. “I guess how I do it is up to me, right?” Hellboy responded. “Anyways, thanks for the tips, Dad, but right now I need to go find our friend and hopefully end it.”

“There’s one other thing,” Bruttenholm interrupted. “There is something that can keep Athalon at bay at least. A stone, about the size of your hand and red. Hommen should have had it on him to open the tomb, but I suspect something happened to it along the way or Athalon would not have attacked him. “You must hurry, Hellboy, there are villages on the far side of the island and they are in terrible danger if he is on the prowl. In addition to that, you must not let him off that island, no matter what the cost.”

Hellboy tapped Roger on the shoulder and motioned back down the staircase. The pair started to move back towards the bottom, the chem light giving them ample light to navigate by. “Speaking of that stone, I think I found it,” Hellboy said. He reached down to the pocket of his trench coat but felt nothing but leather. He stopped suddenly as Roger almost bowled him over on the stairs. His hands flew to the other pocket, but again nothing. “Scratch that,” he said. “I did have it.”

“No matter,” Bruttenholm replied. “Find Athalon and end this.”

“Aye, aye,” Hellboy said as he continued the march down the stairs. Once they reached the bottom, Hellboy had Roger open the door to the antechamber, slowly at first and drop several chem lights inside.

Hellboy watched the Homunculus from behind. His grayish-green skin shining in green glow of the chem light. He wore a black tactical vest, a large power generator on the front of it. He also never wore pants for some reason, only a crud half-loincloth covering his nether regions.

“Roger, we really need to get you some pants, buddy,” Hellboy quipped, drawing no response from his fellow agent. He moved up quickly to his side and looked into the room. It was empty, except for the blood stains on the floor where Hommen’s body had previously lain.

“I’ll be,” Hellboy muttered. “Come on, big foot, let’s get back topside and figure out what’s going on.”

The two agents started to walk up the stairs when the entire tomb began to rumble slowly.

Hellboy cast a glance at Roger, hoping he wasn’t right. “Come on, Roger, we’ve gotta move,” he said as he began mounting the stairs two or three at a time. The rumbling began to grow as they neared the top of the staircase.

Just as they rounded the bend to the mouth of the tomb, the pair saw the rocks beginning to slide back into place.

“Pick it up, Roger, or we’re going to be here for a long time,” Hellboy shouted.

No sooner did the sounds escape his lips, did Roger grab Hellboy by the neck of his coat and hurl the demon out the ever-closing gap.

Hellboy hit the ground rolling, finally coming to a stop as the rock’s finished locking into place. He quickly got up and sprinted to the tomb, and began pounding his huge right hand on the stone slab.

“Roger!” he screamed between pounds. He continued for several minutes until he collapsed in exhaustion without so much as scratching the stone. “Don’t worry, pal,” he said between ragged breaths. “I’ll find a way to get you out of there eventually. Just hang in there.”

When he finally regained his composure he got back up with a terrible look on his face. His eyes glowed red with anger. He flipped his gun’s chamber open and closed again, checking his ammunition supply before holstering it. Father said there was a village on the other side of the island. That’s got to be where he’s headed. “You want the demon, Athalon, you got the demon,” he said, his voice growing in volume and he sprinted off into the woods.

To be continued...