It took them a day and a half to get back at the base, which was in the mountains, hidden from the world in a secret place deep in the heart of Colorado. With Hellboy riding in the back of the helicopter, basically taking over three seats because of his 7-foot size, Katherine rode in the front, hanging on for her lift as she keeps her eyes shut. She was terrified of heights.

"You alright up there, Princess?" Hellboy's annoying voice erupts from the headgear, and he laughs at her.

"Go fuck yourself." Katherine snaps and whimpers in terror when the helicopter bounces a little as it starts to land.

"Just breathe. You'll be alright." The pilot soothes.

Katherine tries to calm her breathing, but whimpers again and digs her nails into her palm till she drew blood. Hellboy frowns at her reaction to the ride, he couldn't believe she was that scared. At first, he thought she was only airsick, but seeing the true terror...he was beginning to feel really bad for laughing at her.

As soon as the helicopter touched down, Hellboy gets out first and moves to help Katherine. Katherine frowns at him and eyes him with suspicion but takes his hand. She was surprised that he was helping her...after a month and a half of arguing and teasing, besides their time in Tijuana, he was finally being nice to her.

Together, they walk into the B.P.R.D., brushing past the wall of the fallen agents. Hellboy couldn't help but look at the new name that was now being painted. Esteban Ruiz. The man who was painting his name stopped and looked at Hellboy. Hellboy could almost see the blame in the man's eyes. Saying, 'You did this'.

Hellboy averts his eyes and drifts over the rest of the names and sees the one name that broke his heart the most. 'Elizabeth Sherman'. He sighs heavily and looks aways, heading straight for his room to take a shower and shave his horns as they were beginning to grow again. He was relieved that Katherine never asked about his horns. He hated the sight of them every time he wakes up in the morning.

Standing under the hot shower spray, Hellboy sighs in bliss. After being in Tijuana for so long, drunk as fuck, Katherine wasn't wrong about how he smelled. He usually doesn't care but not even he could stand his own stench. Lifting his head and letting the water hit his face, Hellboy wishes he could wash away the guilt that was eating him alive. He was losing so many friends; he was growing tired. Especially when it's his fault his friends die.

"It's not your fault." Katherine's voice echoes in his head. He couldn't help but scoff at those words. It was his fault, and he knows it. Everyone does. She just doesn't understand. She'll never understand.

With a slap of his hand, he shuts the water off and storms out of the shower. Dripping wet, he stands in front of his mirror with an extra large towel wrapped around his hips as he hears the news report about him and what happened in Tijuana. He grabs his electric saw and begins to trim his horns.

"Details are still emerging with regard to the tragic events in Mexico. There's very little information known about Hellboy or the secretive agency that apparently, he works for..."

Hellboy sighs deeply and places his saw down once he got the rough edges off, but they still looked uneven.

-knock knock-

He looks over his shoulder, frowning in confusion. He had a feeling he knew who was behind the door. The agents would never knock, and neither would his father. It had to be Katherine.

"Who is it?" He calls out.

"It's me. Are you decent?" Katherine calls out.

Hellboy scoffs, he hated being right sometimes. He turns back towards the mirror and begins to file his horns, "Yeah, come on in."

Katherine opens the door, making sure he wasn't kidding. She scoffs when she sees him dressed in a towel. But she was more shocked with how his room looked. Despite how...rude, crude, and disgusting Hellboy is, his room said otherwise, except for a messy table. She gasps when she sees dozens of cats roaming around the room.

Cooing, Katherine kneels down and picks one up, "Oh, my god. You are so cute! Hi." She smiles big and giggles at the kittens mewing softly at her as they follow her around. "Hi, babies." She carefully makes her way towards Hellboy as he was grooming. "Your dad wants to talk to us. He told me to wait for him with you." She says and places the kitten back on the ground with the others. She sighs and crosses her arms, looking over her shoulder as she watches the report. When she looks back at him, she grew worried for him. "You ok?"

"Just rays of sunshine here." He scoffs and grunts as he files.

Trying to ignore the fact that he had nothing on but that towel, she tries to talk about something else, so she drew curious about his horns, "Does that hurt?" She asks.

He shrugs, "No different from filing your nails. Cut too far, it'll hurt."

"It's nice to see you two finally getting along." A voice speaks behind them. They turn and see Professor Broom standing not too far from them with a satisfied smile. "You missed a spot. May I?" He asks Hellboy once he notices that his horns were still uneven.

"Hey, Dad." Hellboy mutters and hands Broom the file, taking a seat so his dad can fix his stubs.

"My father used to say shaving was the most important part of a day. Separated the gentlemen from the Philistines. It takes a real man to hold a blade against his own throat every day and not cut the jugular." Broom chuckles while holding the file against this throat before moving to file down Hellboy's horns.

"Grandpa Bruttenholm, he was all teddy bears and rainbows." Hellboy says sarcastically, remembering little about his father's father.

"He was an unrepentant asshole, but he taught me how to shave." Broom scoffs.

"Like father, like son." Hellboy scoffs and clicks his tongue with a wink.

Broom sighs softly for his son as he files away, "Drowning in tequila for three weeks may temporarily numb the pain. All it ever really does is exacerbate your sorrows and the state of your liver. I know you're upset about Agent Ruiz, but it's part of the job. Everyone here knows that."

Hellboy frowns at his words and stops him from filing more, "Job didn't kill him, I did. And I buried him 16 feet under the earth right by the chapel of the Virgin Guadalupe, just to make it proper.

"He had become unholy, a vampyre, a creature of darkness beyond salvation." Broom tries to make him see reason.

Hellboy scoffs, "A creature of darkness beyond salvation? You mean, we don't all just deserve a little gentle horn shave every now and then?"

"You're different. You always have been."

Rolling his eyes, Hellboy frowns at him, "If my face could talk, it would disagree with you."

"I think it's a beautiful face." Broom smiles and looks over to Katherine, "Don't you agree with me?"

Hellboy glares at her, waiting for her to say something to hurt him. Katherine gets off the wall and walks towards the men. She tilts her head at Hellboy.

"To be honest, Professor?" She looks over towards Broom, "I completely agree. I think Hellboy is very handsome." She says, not one hint of sarcasm. Both men look at her in complete shock. She leans in close towards Hellboy, "It's your attitude that makes you look ugly."

Hellboy scoffs, "And there it is."

"Katherine." Broom scorns.

"What? I'm not wrong." She walks towards Hellboy and takes his chin in her grip, "To me, this is sexy. I always had a thing for tall men." She says boldly as she lightly strokes his beard with her thumb.

Broom looks at her in complete surprise with how blunt she was with her words. It almost seemed like yesterday when he first met her as a polite young lady. He guesses that Hellboy has been rubbing off on her, not sure if it's in the good way. But the way his son was reacting to her touch, it made him curious about the two of them. He knew how much Hellboy loved Elizabeth and Broom always adored that poor child, but he didn't see a future between them. Not that he wanted her to die. He loved her like a daughter. And he loved his son more than anything, even though he doesn't show it. He wants Hellboy to be happy and he believed that Katherine could bring him the happiness he deserves.

The feeling she gave Hellboy made his heart skip. He snatches his face out of her grip and scoffs.

She leans in closer, "And there that is. That is what makes you unattractive. Your attitude." She sighs and moves towards the couch.

Broom sighs, "Ok, she's not wrong. You really need to work on that temper of yours, Hellboy."

Hellboy, suddenly, thinks back to what Ruiz told him before he died.

"The end is coming."

Hellboy speaks softly, repeating the words in Spanish. Broom frowns at him and at his words.

"'The end is coming'. The end of what?" He asks.

Hellboy shrugs, "I don't know. Those were Ruiz's last words."

"And he mention something, too. He said...Anung...Anum..." Katherine stutters.

"Yeah, it was Anung nun...num. I don't know." Hellboy nods and looks at his father, "Does it ring any bells?" He asks.

Broom hid his knowing look when Hellboy spoke of that name, with a shake of his head, he pretends to be clueless, "Nah. Apocalyptic mutterings." He waves it off and gives Hellboy one last file. "Now there... Don't you look handsome!" He exclaims as he backs away to view his best work.

Hellboy snorts and gets up, "I'm gonna take your word for that, Pops." He walks over towards the couch and sits down, not too far and yet not too close to Katherine, "Why'd you bring me back, anyway? Don't tell me it's 'cause you miss me." He grunts as he sits down and notices a table that presented his food, which was a lot of sandwiches. He was a growing boy, and his father knew his metabolism required a lot to be satisfied.

"Do you recall the Osiris Club?" Broom turns and faces the two of them.

Hellboy scoots to get comfy, "Oh, yeah. Strip joint in Jersey." He grins at the memories he had there.

Katherine scoffs, "Ugh."

Broom frowns at Hellboy, "No, the other one. The British occult society formed in 1866 by the ranking members of the Heliopic Brotherhood of Ra." He explains as he moves to lean on a wall.

"Ra? I met Ra once in the underworld. He's a close-talker." Hellboy snorts.

Katherine sighs and lifts her knees to hug them against her chest and listens to Broom as he continues.

"You know, like us, they fight against the forces of darkness and our organizations have a long-standing relationship. They're old friends of mine. And I happened to mention about our newest field agent and your talent. Don't worry, they won't tell a soul about you. They've requested your assistance, Hellboy, along with Katherine with a giant problem."

"Oh, yeah? What's that?" Hellboy asks as he munches on his food.

"Giants."

Katherine and Hellboy both freeze and look at Broom with a blank look then both of them erupt in laughter at the irony of the situation. Hellboy uses his elbow to give Katherine's leg a nudge as they continue their laughter.

Broom sighs and rubs the bridge of his nose, "When I wanted you to get along, I didn't mean to be similar." He mutters and turns to leave. "I've arranged for you two to be on the next flight out in the morning. Get plenty of rest."

Katherine stops laughing when she hears him say 'flight'. She groans in despair and falls face forward on the couch, curling up in a fetal position. "We gotta fly?" She whines.

Hellboy continues to enjoy his food, "Don't get your panties in a twist, Princess. If anything happens, just use me as a cushion." He waves it off and snorts.

Katherine lifts her head to give him a weird look, "If you're trying to make me feel better, you're doing a very bad job at it."

He pushes his hair away and rubs his beard, "And, yet you find me so sexy." He teases.

"Ugh, I regret my words." She drops her head again in embarrassment, covering her face as she hears him laughing.

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

(Dream sequence)

Katherine finds herself in a dark musty room. Chandeliers hanged from the ceiling as wax dripped from holders. Gray, ratted drapes hanged from the windows as the moonlight shinned through. It looked like she was in some sort of castle or a medieval cottage. Possibly Russian. But one thing for sure, she knows she never been here... ever.

"... stole the life I..." Voices were made around her. When she looks up she sees two people... beings of some sort. She could smell the foul scent of them both. One smelled like desperation, body odor, and... pork. The other smelled like mothballs and death. She could hear bones rattling around it. Watching it play with a bone. A child's hand.

"Banished me into..." A man's voice distorts to Katherine's ears. She could catch everything that was being said.

"I too have suffered..." An old woman's raspy voice speaks up as she continues to play with the child's bone. Their voices continue to distort.

"I will guide you to a... Nimue... pieces... waiting. Restore...! ... make you... have your vengeance..." The old woman's voice echos around her.

The man speaks again, but Katherine couldn't understand him. She slowly turns to where the old woman's voice was coming from and gasps in horror at the sight as the old woman leans into the light to glare at her guest. She was severely wrinkled, her hair so thin, Katherine could see her scalp. Her teeth rotted and her nails were withered. Her hands curled and deformed. One eye was missing, but the other carried such coldness that sent an eerily chill down Katherine's spine.

"... no concern of yours, beast! In the end... my way... Hell... will pay... he owes." The old woman rasps angrily as she grins wickedly.

Katherine gasps loudly as she sits up from her seat, panting heavily as the nightmare slowly fades. Sweat coats her face as she steadies her breathing.

Hellboy grunts as he's startled by Katherine's jerk, "Nightmare?" He sighs and moves to get comfortable, ignoring her disturbed face.

Katherine sighs softly and lies back against her seat, she could still smell that old woman and hear her raspy voice in her head. Her nightmares always felt so real. She looks around and realizes where she was. On Broom's private plane towards England. She yelps when the plane is hit with an air pocket.

Hellboy snorts as she continues to be afraid but jumps when he feels her grip on to his stone arm. She squeezes her eyes tight and holds on to him as she struggles to control her breathing.

He sighs and reaches with his human hand to cover hers, "Hey. Breathe. You're gonna be ok. Breathe. In and out...slowly." He inhales and exhales, showing her to go slow with her breathing.

Katherine inhales slowly and lets it out, sighing as her breathing becomes normal.

"Good. You're okay." He says softly.

Katherine looks down at her hand gripping on to his stone hand, "Uh, sorry." She stutters and begins to remove it, but his human hand catches it and places it back on his stone hand.

"If it helps, it's ok." He says.

She looks over towards him, surprised with his gesture, and gives him a small smile, "Thanks."

"Why are you so afraid of flying?" He asks, suddenly.

Katherine sighs heavily, "When I was a little girl, my parents and I were flying to Florida. Disneyland." She chuckles and rolls her eyes. "There was a huge storm that popped up all of the sudden, not even the weatherman predicted it. The whole plane went down. I was the only survivor."

Hellboy frowns, "Jesus." He sighs, feeling sorry for her. How scared she must have been. "How old were you?"

"I just celebrated my fifth birthday." She says.

Hellboy shakes his head in sympathy, really feeling like a jackass for making fun of her fear of flying, "I'm sorry. Look, Kitten, next time we have to fly, just hold my hand. You'll be ok."

Katherine looks over to him, giving him a smile for his kindness.

By the time they reached the Osiris Club, which was a huge castle, miles from civilization, the sun has already gone down. Katherine and Hellboy both rode in the back of a Bentley Luxury. It was a small for Hellboy, but Katherine didn't mind the little room she was given. She was getting use to Hellboy's presence. He made her feel safe.

Once the car pulls up to a stop, the driver gets out to walk around to help them both out of the car, but Hellboy was a step ahead. He wasn't used to people doing things for him. He gets out and watches the driver jump in surprise but moves anyway to hold the door. He was about to help Katherine, but Hellboy beat him to it.

Katherine takes Hellboy's human hand and gets out of the car, "Thanks." She says and hops out. She looks up at the huge castle and sighs. "Wow." she whispers.

"Eh, I've seen bigger." Hellboy scoffs and walks with her towards the door. A servant begins to lead them both towards a study.

Hellboy couldn't help himself with patting some of the decor as they brush past flags and suit of armors. Katherine noticed that there were only men here. Several of them wore black tie suits as if it was a fancy party.

"Your guests, m'lord." The servant bows as he lets them both go inside to greet the one who called for them.

"Hellboy, Miss Hemlock, welcome. Lord Adam Glaren." A man walks up to them. Dressed in a fancy suit as well as he places his hands behind his back, He was a tall man with dark blond hair, but the lights from the lamps made his hair lighter than it was. He gestures at the two men next to him, "And may I introduce my associates, Dr. Edwin Carp and August Swain."

One man bowed, but the other stared at Hellboy's stone arm as he waves at them.

"Hello." Katherine nods at them all.

"Hi. You guys ever been to the Osiris Club in Jersey? It's like this, but just with strippers." Hellboy says as he looks around.

Katherine rolls her eyes and rubs her face, "Oh, for God's sake." She whispers.

"May I?" The man who stared at his arm speaks up with curiosity. Hellboy holds his arm out for him to feel, "Does it do anything special?" The man asks.

"Yeah, it smashes things real good." Hellboy says sarcastically.

The man chuckles uneasily.

"We are so very glad you both accepted our invitation." Lord Glaren says.

Hellboy gives him a bitter smile, "Wasn't really my choice." He says as he walks away to look around. He checks out the bookshelves that carried many books, but he was curious about the figures it carried.

"Ah. Yes. The Professor." Glaren says, catching Hellboy's attention. "Your father and I go back a long way."

"Yeah, I heard." Hellboy scoffs and continues to study the figures.

"The Osiris Club has been long dedicated to preserving the secret history of Great Britain. It affords us certain insights into individuals such as yourself." Glaren explains.

August Swain speaks up, "We've also given vital counsel to your B.P.R.D. on occasion."

Hellboy was becoming impatient, he just wanted to start the mission and get on home instead of being looked at like some freakshow.

"Look, maybe we could just get on with it. Unless you flew me halfway around the world just so that we could, uh, have a little history lesson." Hellboy scoffs.

Katherine waves him off, "Professor Broom explained that you and your...associates are having a very 'giant' problem. Could you please explain that to us?" She asks.

"Perhaps we should just show you." Glaren says as he and his friends move towards one bookshelf and with a pull of a rope, the shelf opens into a door.

Hellboy was impressed as he watches the men walk in and follows them while walking with Katherine, "Oh." He chuckles. "Secret door." He grins.

Glaren follows behind them both as Swain tells them about the giants.

"Giants once dominated the British Isles. Vile, loathsome creatures."

"As likely to eat you as look at you."

"They've always been a problem. Bodies buried all over England. It's a curious feature of giants that they occasionally rise from their graves and wreak havoc. And when they do, we organize a hunt." Glaren says as they all walk down the stairs and down a basement path.

The men allow Hellboy and Katherine to walk in first with Glaren, showing them both a secret room that carried dozens of severed heads of giants hanging on top of the walls to be displayed as trophies. Some where skulls and some were fully intact heads.

"The Wild Hunt." Glaren adds as he proudly presents them their display.

Hellboy scoffs, "Oh, catchy."

"So, you boys are basically copying the ghost riders, instead of stealing souls, you steal giant heads." Katherine says sarcastically.

"We don't see it as stealing, my dear. We're simply persevering the faith of mankind by displaying a warning to those who dare to bring harm." Glaren explains.

Hellboy snorts, "And I thought I had a big head." He mutters, making Katherine press her lips together to stop laughing. "Clearly, you guys are old pros at this. Why do you need us to help you kill a giant?"

"Three giants, actually. One, we can handle, perhaps even two. But three, that's a different matter altogether." Glaren says.

Swain walks around with his cane as he tells them about the troubled giants, "This particular trio is terrorizing the New Forest. Sucking on the bones of anyone unlucky enough to fall foul of them."

"The marrow, you see. They can't get enough."

Katherine grimaces, "Super." She mutters.

"Hmm." Hellboy grunts.

"So, if any were to reach a population center..."

"It's Miller time." Hellboy jokes and chuckles but clears his throat when no one was laughing.

"This is not a task to be taken lightly, Hellboy. These are Gigantum Mortis. Very unpleasant. Just ask your father." Glaren says, making Hellboy snaps his head towards him in surprise. Glaren walks towards a photograph and looks, "Trevor was a guest of the hunt, when we took one down in '43."

Hellboy frowns and looks at the photo, which was a group photo of medieval hunters in knight clothing, standing around a giant's decapitated head. There was Professor Broom standing in the front.

"Uh-huh. I always knew Dad aged well, but you guys..." Hellboy looks at the picture in surprise and feels Katherine lean in next to him.

"Wow. Picture looks like it was taken yesterday." She gasps.

"There's a reason for that." A woman's voice speaks up.

Katherine and Hellboy look up and see a woman dressed in a white dress, fur coat. Her hair was white and so were her eyes, as if she was blind.

"The phenomenon you so rightly observed was the byproduct of a seance the four of us, along with your Professor Broom, were involved in just before the war." The woman explains and walks through the room with ease.

"Allow me to introduce our resident seer, Lady Elizabeth Hatton." Glaren says and moves away as Hellboy and Katherine watches the woman walk around the table that held a glass ball in the center.

"The spirit I made contact with that night was exceptionally powerful. It warned us that something was coming. Something that would end mankind. And that we'd been chosen to seek it out and destroy it. Ever since, we've aged at a snail's pace in order to fulfill that mission no matter how long it took." Lady Hatton says.

"Okay. And this thing you're worried about, did it show up?" Hellboy asks.

Hatton looks over towards Hellboy with an arched brown, "Oh, yes. You did."

Hellboy frowns at her words, he was the bringer of end of mankind?

Hatton continues to walk around the table, waving her hand over the glass ball, hearing the soft whispering of voices in the air. Suddenly, she gasps as a cold breeze rush through the room, making the flames of the candles dance rapidly on their holders.

"The spirit also warned us a coming of a salvation. A choice." Hatton says as she looks over towards Katherine, eyeing her with fear. "A choice that only be made by a pure heart."

Katherine frowns at her but continues to watch her.

"I was there the night that you came into the world." Hatton says towards Hellboy. "World War II was coming to an end. Germany was all but defeated. But the Nazis still had one last trick up their sleeve. They turned to the infamous necromancer Grigori Rasputin. On an island off the coast of Scotland, they gathered to invoke an ancient occult ritual...intended to turn the tide of war back in Germany's favor. But something went wrong. The ritual didn't turn out quite as they planned. Fortunately, legendary Nazi hunter the Lobster arrived...leading the allies on a daring raid. Professor Broom and myself were working with the allies at the time. With his knowledge of the occult and my gift of foresight, we led a secret mission to the island to kill whatever abomination was summoned from the depths of hell that night. Instead, we found you." She says.

Hellboy could almost see everything she told him.

"Your father never told you, did he? Why he was really there that night?" Hatton asks.

Hellboy gives her a bitter look, "Must've slipped his mind." He scoffs.

"Rasputin brought you in the world as a weapon. With patience and understanding, Broom turned that weapon into a force for good." Hatton explains.

"'Patience and understanding'." Hellboy snorts, "You sure we're talking about the same guy?"

"He saw something in you that the rest of us could not. And he raised you as his own son." Hatton says and looks back towards Katherine. She lifts her hand and gently takes her chin in a soft, gentle grip. "'The True King shall choose to take his place with the True Queen and bring salvation for the world. Choose the path of the False Queen...and the end will come'." She says softly.

Katherine didn't understand what she was saying. Why say that to her?

Hatton leans in close, "He carries the flaming crown, even though he does not have his horns, the crown is always there. Prince of hell." She whispers to Katherine and moves away to have Glaren lead her away.

Katherine shudders at those words, looking over to Hellboy. Something was telling her that Lady Hatton was talking about Hellboy. He doesn't have his horns, but a flaming crown still resides on him. Even if she can't see it...it's there. But what was Lady Hatton telling her?

"You should get some rest, Hellboy. And you as well, Miss Hemlock. The hunt will assemble at dawn." Glaren says as he leads Lady Hatton and his friends out of the room.

Hellboy sighs and looks back at the picture, "I'm devil spawn and a Nazi. Great. Thanks, Dad." He mutters bitterly. Suddenly, his phone begins to ring and he sees it was his father calling. After hearing what they told him about his father, he didn't want to talk. He tries to gently reject the call with his human finger, but he accidently presses too hard and shatters the screen.

"Oh, come on!" He mutters angrily and huffs out a scoff. He was about to storm away but he catches Katherine's disturbed look. "What is it?"

Katherine still frowns, thinking about what Hatton says, "Something she said bothers me. Did you catch what she said...about a true king and queen?"

Hellboy shakes his head, "Not all of it. Do you think it means something?" He asks with a shrug,

Rubbing her bottom lip, Katherine thinks, "I'm not sure." She finds herself looking at the top of his head.

Hellboy frowns at her, "What are you looking at?" He demanded, annoyed with her stare.

"It's something what Lady Hatton mentioned... about you. Something about a crown. A flaming crown. Can't be seen...but it's there." She says.

He sighs deeply, obviously bothered with all the information that has been loaded on him today. He was exhausted.

"Maybe we should just get some sleep. It's been a long day." Katherine sighs as she sees how tired he was, emotionally exhausted.