Kat sat in a leather bound chair and scribbled over a piece of paper, furiously drawing with a charcoal pencil. Travis sat patiently near her as Abe removes his breather and goggles, getting ready to get back into his tank. After her vision of her parents, Kat rushed to find Travis. Carefully with not waking Hellboy up.

With a soft sigh, she stops drawing and hands Travis the drawings. He frowns as he scans over the detail. Throughout Kat's life, she took up art classes as her visions became more vivid over the years. Her drawings were exactly how she dreamed of them. Travis' frown grew when he exams the drawings of her parents. Kat nervously taps her black stained fingers as she waits for him to say something.

"So, what do you think?" She asks.

Abe moves towards Travis to see the drawings. Travis hands him one and moves away to think.

"The throne of Agony. Royals who have ruled Hell has sat upon this grotesque seat beyond time itself." Abe says as he remembers from his studies. He scans over another drawing and says a language that Kat wasn't familiar with.

"What does that mean?" She asks.

"Roughly translated as 'Hell's Paradise' or 'Playground'. My Hiberno-Latin is a tad rusty. But this specific place lies at the top of the Infernal Mountain where...um..." Abe hums as he moves towards a bookshelf. He scans through a row and picks out a book. Flipping through pages, he walks over to them and sets the book down as he opens it to one page of a picture that looked like Kat's drawing. "'A sea of the hopeless damned who drown at the feet of royals'." He says as he points at the Latin that was written under the picture of people screaming under the Throne of Agony that was in the book. He pushes her drawing next to the picture so they could see the similarities.

"So, why am I dreaming about this place?" She asks.

Abe sighs, "Well...your father was one of the royals who sat on that throne."

Kat frowns and looks at the picture again, unconsciously touching the drawing of her parents.

"When someone dreams of the dead, it can mean various things." Abe adds.

"Like?" She asks as she looks up at him.

"Well, these dreams may indicate that you are still processing grief related to your parents.  But it also might suggest a hidden desire for guidance." Abe says gently.  "The dream of your father's throne, a place you never seen...maybe you came across a book when you were a child that carried a picture of the throne. The dream could also symbolize unresolved issues or conflicts."

Kat frowns at this information, what was her vision telling her?

Travis sighs and sits next to her, "As long as I can remember, my dear, from what Trevor has taught me and what this world has shown me, it's possible that your father's spirit is reaching out to you. Through here," He points at her head, "...and here." He points at her heart. "Telling you that he is with you...always. And a child...always need her father. The mind is a powerful source as much as our desires. I know you miss them both. Just know that they're always with you, watching over you."

Kat sniffles as tears form in her eyes.

"I may not be your father, nor am I your true uncle...but I love you as if you were my daughter." Travis says, giving her a soft smile.

Kat smiles sadly and moves to hug him tightly. Travis sighs and holds her, wishing for more time but he'll watch over her and Hellboy.

"You'll always be my uncle, no matter what." Kat says and rubs her nose as she lets go of him.

"Now, you should get back to bed, my dear. We'll figure something out. But I want you to have plenty of rest. Tomorrow is going to be a busy day." Travis chuckles softly.

Kat sighs and gets up, "Good night, Uncle." She moves and hugs Abe. "Night, Abe."

Abe hugs her, pressing his web hand over her back, feeling her warmth and love she carried for him. He smiles softly, "Good night, my sister."

Kat smiles and moves away to head back to her room. Not noticing John hiding in the corner. He moves as she was gone and heads inside the library.

When Travis sees John, how distraught and stressed he was, he could already tell what was going through that boy's mind. John stands by Broom's desk as the old man places a new set of books on the reading stands in front of the fish tank.

"I'm in way over my head, I know that much." John scoffs.

"You're doing fine." Travis assures him as he places the last book down on the last stand. Abe silently watches and listens, feeling John's loss of self-esteem.

"No, I'm not. He respects Clay.  Not me. I don't know why you chose me, Sir. But I'm not qualified." John sighs and shakes his head, "I'm sorry." He turns to leave, but Travis' quiet voice stops him.

"I'm dying Agent Myers."

John frowns, shocked by this information and looks over towards him.

"And as an uncle, father or otherwise, I worry about him. And Katherine, too. But, unlike Hellboy, she carries an independent nature. Since her parents died, she learned to take care of herself and hid her true identity from the world. If your world or even hers, knew that she is still alive...many who truly know who Katherine is will do all they can to either study her, kill her, or bring her on their side. But with Hellboy next to her...he is her greatest shield. Her protector. But he's also her greatest weakness. Her love for him as well as his love for her is the one thing that can destroy them both. And they know it. Their enemies." Travis sighs and turns directly towards John as Abe stands next to him. "In medieval stories, Agent Myers, there's often a young knight, inexperienced but pure of heart..."

Scoffing and rolling his eyes, John walks back towards him, "Oh, please. I'm not 'pure of heart'."

"Yes, you are." Abe says as he spreads his hand out towards John.

"Rasputin is back for him. What I ask from you is..." Travis stops and sighs, "Have courage to stand by his side after I'm gone. Help him find himself. Who he must be. He was born a Demon... You will help him become a man."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The next day came faster than Kat expected.  After heading back to bed, she still couldn't sleep.  Even with Hellboy snuggling against her.  She just couldn't stop thinking about her visions.  What could they possibly mean? 

After preparing and loading up the equipment for their search, it wasn't easy sneaking into the subway tunnels.

An explosion of sound and light as a subway train passes through a dank tunnel. Then, light beams sweep the encrusted walls and steel columns. Clay and some B.P.R.D. agents hold flashlights. Two of them, Moss and Quarry, who carried flamethrowers in their hands. Hellboy, Katherine, and Abe lead ahead as Abe stands and waves his webbed hand in the air, feeling for the eggs and Sammael. He freezes as he catches an essence.

"Hmm, over here." He says as he gestures them to follow.

Hellboy lights up a cigar and puffs out a few clouds as they all followed Abe through the tunnels. Katherine stays side by side with Hellboy. Worried what will happened down there.

"You said those eggs need it dark and humid?" An agent asks.

"Well they hit the jackpot." Hellboy says sarcastically as they enter through a long tunnel, their feet squishing against muddy ground and climbs manmade concrete steps.

"The subway lines, uh, they all coverage right around here. Right below us is the old Vandeveer reservoir. It was abandoned in the mid-30's" An Agent Quarry says as he reads a map.

They all stood in a store room piled high with filing cabinets, typewriters and school desks. A turn-of-the-century mural depicts happy boys doing charitable acts. A Latin phrase that encourages them to behave like men nestled above them.

"'Viriliter Aetas'." Katherine reads the mural as she shines her light over the words. "'Virilter Age', to make choir boys be men." She snorts.

"We're in the cellar of the Benjamin Institute. Turn-of-the-century orphanage. Closed since they moved the sewers in '51." Quarry says.

Abe continues to wave his hand around and scans the ground then back towards a path, "There's a pulse. And it's coming  from..." He points at a brick wall and looks back towards Hellboy and Katherine, "There. A cistem on the other side. Most the eggs are there ."

Hellboy moves to exam the wall before him.  It was solid but maybe...

"There's no way in." Clay says and turns towards one of the agents, "We should go back and request permission to..."

Katherine flinches with the agents as a loud BAM explodes from the brick.  His stone hand pounds against the brick and concrete, like a jack hammer.  Digging the way for them. 

Not far from them, a makeshift of living quarters was tucked below a maze of furnace ducts. Scores of old clocks fill the room with ticking.  Wheezing softly, Kroenen sat at a desk, calmly repairing a mechanical hand; his own. His face is partly expose under his leather mask, horrible lidless eyes glitter over a skull-like grin, made of raw gums and taut skin. As Hellboy's pounding reaches his ears, he rises, like a spider whose web has twitched. The mechanical hand rattles blindly on the table. He opens an ancient leather folder and extracts an engraving depicting Sammael. Carefully, places it on the table.  Intended for Hellboy to find. Then he  opens a drawer and, from an envelope, takes two torn pieces of paper. He puts them in a pouch in his belt.

The wall finally collapses under Hellboy's attack.  He shakes off the debris from his sleeve and looks at the others, nodding at them to follow. 

"Are you coming or not?"

Kat sighs and moves first to follow him with Abe.  Clay scoffs as he smiles, uncertainly as Hellboy moves in. Clay turns towards Quarry and Moss, "You two, check this dump, then join us..." His voice fades softly as Hellboy, Kat, and Abe both move inside to see they were in a large oval room of rusting metal, with pipes spilling water through a large grate on the floor.

Abe waves his webbed hand over the grate and nods at Hellboy, alerting him that he could sense the eggs down there.  Kat moves out of the way and, with superhuman effort, Hellboy lifts it. Kat yelps as hundreds of roaches pour out. 

She shudders in disgust, "Ewww!" She moves to avoid them. 

Abe looks down the hole and scoffs at Hellboy, "We lead a charmed life." Obviously, disgusted he has to swim in a sewer.

"Mm." Hellboy agrees as he takes two large chemical flares, snapping them and shaking them to light up a fluorescent amber.  He drops them into the water, lighting a path for Abe.  The flares sink, illuminating floating office furniture and torn paper...while in the lower depths, they pass shadowy industrial ruins. Settling on the bottom they reveal the hulk of a waiting Sammael.

Katherine frowns as she closes her eyes and hears the faint burbling growl in her mind.  She looks up at Hellboy and Abe with worry. 

"He's down there."

Clay, Hellboy, and Abe turn towards her.

"Sammael.  He's down there.   Protecting the eggs.  At least, one of them." She says. 

"Can you sense the other one?" Hellboy asks. 

Kat hesitantly shakes her head, "No.  But, he's close.  Hiding.  Waiting for us." She says as she looks at Hellboy. 

"Stinky must want a rematch." Hellboy snorts and turns towards Abe.

Abe pulls off his breathing apparatus and his suit till he was in nothing but spandex swim shorts. He activates the locator on his utility belt. Hellboy and Kat follows and the devices  synchronize. Hellboy hands him a metal reliquary containing a small bone. "There you go, Doctor. This should cover your tail-fin.  Reliquary. On loan from the Vatican, a bone from Saint Dionysius."

Abe ties the reliquary around his hand and Kat moves to look at it better, "Ugh. Looks like..." She stutters. 

"A pinky." Hellboy frowns. 

With a sigh of exasperation, Abe turns towards them both, "Remind me why I keep doing this."

"Rotten eggs and the safety of mankind?" Hellboy asks if that all sounds familiar. 

Abe scoffs, "Oh, right." He says and moves to get ready but Kat walks up to him. 

"Be careful." She says softly as she places a comforting hand on his shoulder. 

Abe sighs and places his own on hers, accepting her worry and warmth.  Once she removes her hand and walks back toward Hellboy, Abe turns to the hole and dives in.  Underwater, Abe finds an entire control room. 1940's magazines float by, like paper jellyfish. The amber light of the chemical flares gives the room an eerie other-worldly feel.  He follows the path he senses and manages to find stray eggs. He captures a few and places them in a container but freezes when he hears a gurgling sound behind him, as if something just swims near him. He turns but sees nothing. Lifting his hand, he could sense it. Hiding in the dark.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Waiting above, Hellboy chews on a Baby Ruth and pokes around. He finds a pile of children's shoes covering some yellowing albums. In the albums, a myriad of sad faces, the orphans from the past. Some of the faces have been cut out. There's an unfinished letter to Father Christmas, dated 1866. Katherine shines her light around, feeling the distant sensation of Deja vu.  She moves towards another part as Clay stands below a grate, admiring his hair implants with a hand mirror. 

"This doesn't really look like doll's hair.  Be honest, Red." Clay says as he brushes his hand over his implants. He looks towards Hellboy, "What do you think?" He asks as he lifts his brows to show off his new hair. 

"I'm thinkin' about doing it myself." Hellboy says as he shakes his head. 

Katherine presses her lips together to avoid laughing.  She looks over her shoulder, "Clay, it takes time for it to blend.  And no, it doesn't look like doll hair. It's starting to get thicker now.  You can see a difference."

Hellboy snorts and activates a few more flares, tossing them around, "Hey, you guys find anything? Or what?" He asks as he clicks his ear comm.

"No eggs yet, Red."

"What, are you on a lunch break?" Hellboy scoffs and continues to toss around flares as Kat scans the area in front. Seeing a long row of rusted lockers with faded paint.  She frowns when she turns a corner and shines her light over a shower room.  She walks up to a used sink with a shaving kit and it looks like it's been used recently.  She turns and sees the old phonograph.  Her breath catches in her throat, they were in the same room from her vision! 

"Red?  Red!" She turns and rushes back to Hellboy.

"What? What is it?" He asks, not liking the fear in her voice. He turns and sees her rushing around the corner.

"This is the same place from my-!" Suddenly, she's cut off as Kroenen rushes out of the shadows and grabs Kat, pressing his blade against her neck. Kat shouts and grunts in Kroenen's grip. 

Gears whir around Kroenen's body as he holds Kat hostage, silently threatening Hellboy. 

Hellboy drew his weapon quickly, sending him such an evil, cold glare, "Let her go." He growls.

Clay snaps towards him and rushes to hold gun up at Kroenen, standing next to Hellboy.  Kroenen tilts his head and, soon, he drags Kat out of the room in a rush.  Hellboy snarls and runs to chase him.

"Son of a -- !"

"Red, wait!" Clay grabs his radio, static erupts, "Red Queen has been captured. I repeat, Red Queen has been captured! Red King's on the move!! I'll cover him!!" He shouts as he pulls out his gun runs after Hellboy. 

Clay arrives at an intersection of sewer tunnels. The glow of Hellboy's flashlight is visible somewhere ahead, his booming footsteps rapidly receding. A veritable labyrinth. The steam from the sewer blinds Clay and, soon, he loses track of Hellboy. 

"Damn it, Red." Clay grits his teeth and struggles to find him. 

Hellboy follows the ripples of the watery path. At every turn he made, he catches the sight of Kat in that guy's arms. 

"Red!" She shouts out as she struggles, but Kroenen had one hand wrapped around her wrists and the other held the blade. 

Hellboy picks up the pace, needing to save Kat.  Whoever this guy was, he has messed with the wrong power couple. 

Ka grunts and struggles, fight Kroenen as hard as she could to use her powers.  She even lifts her leg to kick him in the groin behind her.  Nothing.  Grunting, she wiggles to get out of his grip, but he was too strong.  Brushing past mirrors, she looks up to see him clearer. It was definitely Kroenen.  In that modern gas mask that hid his true face. 

"Daughter..."

Kat gasps and looks at the mirror as she hears that voice again.  The fading vision of her father's face waivers over the mirror.  She frowns in confusion.  Was she having another vision now?! 

Suddenly, she feels a sudden rush of power inside her as her eyes glow bright.  Panting heavily, Kat yells as a burst of energy explodes from her body. 

Sending Kroenen flying backwards into the shadows.  Kat grunts as she falls to her knees, her breathing slowly returns to normal and her eyes dimmed back to blue. 

Hellboy's muffled booming footsteps splashes as he turns the corner, "Kat!" He shouts and rushes to her, grabbing her by her upper arms and pulling her to stand, "Are you all right?"

"I don't know." Her voice shakes as he holds her tight.

He frowns and pulls away to look down at her, seeing her disturbed face, "Where did he go?" He asks.

Kat turns, "That way." She points towards the path behind them.

He grabs her hand, "Come on.  Stay close." He says as the rush through the tunnels to find Kroenen.  He wants to show him what happens when someone touches his woman. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Following the stray eggs, undulating in the water like amber fireflies. Abe swims slowly, collecting them one by one. Some of them are snugly wedged between two rusty machines. Abe's reliquary gets caught in a lever and snaps loose. It lands on a grate on the floor. Abe swims down and tries to grab it, but it falls through. Abe curses and stands up only to find himself face to face with Sammael! The monster rakes Abe across the chest; dark blue blood begins to flow. Abe shoves himself into a long, concrete fissure. Sammael can't fit through, but the tongue darts out, missing Abe by inches. Sammael scratches at the walls, trying to reach deeper, screaming in rage. Abe screams too, emitting a trail of bubbles. Sammael sends out his stinger, but Abe backs away more; it couldn't reach him. He clicks his locator, alerting everyone that he was in trouble.

Back in the tunnel, Quarry and moss move filing cabinets and rotten bozes full of files. One of them gives out and papers spill all over.

"Jesus..." Moss mutters.

Suddenly, their locators light up blue.

"It's Abe." Quarry says in alert.

Suddenly, muffled shrieking erupts from around the corner, Quarry walks towards the sound and sees two Sammael's near the manhole, waiting for Abe to come out.

"Oh, god." Quarry says in dread, Abe was trapped. He turns and nod at Moss, "Bring your toy over here." He says as Moss carries the flamethrower, strapped to his body.

Moss moves near the broken brick wall and kneels to power up the flamethrower as he sees one Sammael, "Oh, Jesus. There's only one. I'll fry him quick."

Quarry frowns, "Two. There was two."

Moss looks up, his eyes widen as Sammael's tongue uncurls from the shadows and lands on his face, pulling him into the dark. His flashlight bobbles and strobes, lighting up a nightmare. Two Sammaels stand in the tunnel. One of them gleefully squeezes Moss. The man's screams are muffled by the creature's fleshy lips wrapping around his head. Quarry runs as fast as he can, jumping and tumbling through an obstacle course of beams. He rushes to reach the exit of the tunnel, but blocked as a subway rushes by. Quarry turns and shakes in fear as the second Sammael pounces him.

"NO! NO! NO!" He screams as it  lands on him, feasting on his body as his bones break from the creature's weight.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Clay, Hellboy, and Kat, all lost in the tunnels, coming and going from one way to another. Clay stops as he comes to another intersection. He grabs his radio to try and contact Hellboy again.

"Red. Red. Come in, Red. What's your 20? I got no signal." He sighs and grits his teeth, "Kat. Come in, Kat. Red Queen! Where the hell are you?" Nothing but static. "It's like Swiss cheese in here."

Kat and Hellboy turns towards corner, getting back on the trail for Kroenen. Clay's voice erupts from the comms.

"Sit tight, pal. We're on him." Hellboy says as holds up his gun.

Kat and Hellboy slows their steps as they reach a furnace room. The eerily glow of the fire dances in the shadows. The two of them stands in Kroenen's quarters. An array of gas masks dangle from ducts overhead. Glued next to the walls are dozens of old photos of children.

Kat picks up a page from a book that carries the Sammael engraving.

"'Sammael: seed of destruction. Death becomes the fertile ground'." She whispers.

"Huh?" Hellboy frowns as he hears something. He turns and sees Sammael hangs from a beam. "Didn't I kill you already?" 

Sammael lunges, hurling Hellboy through an open service shaft...and it's a long way down.

"Hellboy!!!" Katherine screams, her voice echoing through the tunnels as Hellboy's shouts and Sammael's roars faded down below.

When Sammael leaps, Hellboy throws him over the edge. Sammael, however, grabs Hellboy's tail and pulls him over the side. They crash through pipes, wiring and ducts and slide off down a duct and into another passage. There they bounce off of dripping water pipes and jutting steel I beams, until they finally break through a mesh/insulation ceiling.

Been a busy, busy, busy week for me. Catching up with work and had appointments. Gotta work on the weekend but I'll do my best to update both Hellboy and Hemlock Chronicles. Lots of love. ~Song~