7Author's Note: Hey there! This fanfic is based in the Comic-verse and set before Hellboy resigns from the Bureau. That means that some characters (such as Johann Krauss and Ben Daimio) will not be appearing in this 'fic. The majority of characters are owned by Mike Mignola (honestly, that man is a genius). Plot concept, some of the creatures, and all OCs (especially Dawn seeing as she's one of my favorite original characters) belong to me. Bits and pieces of it are based on a role-play with my friends but none of their characters are used. I just had to use the creature I created for it in this fanfic. I loved it too much. Enjoy. :)
Chapter One
The glaring lamps above shed a yellowish light on the stainless steel table below. A woman in about her late twenties or early thirties was leaned over the table, looking down at the body on it, laid open so the autopsy could begin. Her dark brown, curly hair was tied back in a ponytail to keep it out of her way and a white lab coat hid her black uniform from view. A white mask hid her face and the look of disgust on it at the rank odor emanating from the dead thing on the table before her. Man, this thing sure did stink!
The monster was covered in dark grey fur with patches of black scales around its eyes and a long line along its spine. The muzzle was long, much like that of a wolf with large, triangular ears that seemed to dwarf the skull in comparison. The back legs were longer than the front ones, obviously used for jumping and the tail, the person who found it had said, was definitely prehensile. The beast was roughly the size of your average cougar, but decidedly not feline. In fact, Dawn Henson of the Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense could not identify this animal at all.
"Any idea what we've got here?"
Dawn's glasses flashed in the bright lighting as she lifted her head to see Hellboy standing in the doorway. The red-skinned demon had his arms crossed over his broad chest, looking at the creature on the table with a mixture of fascination and disgust. Some old man from a small town in Arizona had shot it and taken it to animal control officers in the area. From there, it had been shipped to the B.P.R.D Headquarters in Connecticut to try and identify the creature. Apparently, the thing had been terrorizing the little town for the past few months. Dawn shook her head in response to the question, looking down at the monster with a puzzled expression.
"I'm utterly baffled," she responded, pulling the mask off her face. "I've never seen anything like this in my life. The teeth say that it's definitely carnivorous, whatever it is. When the guys first brought it in, I thought it was some strange species of Werewolf, but I really don't think it is. The paws are plantigrade like a bear's, but they also have retractable claws like a cat. I can't figure out the scales for the life of me, but look what else I found." She rolled the thing slightly on its side so the line of scales along the spine was exposed. She squeezed the scaled skin between her thumb and index finger until a thick spike protruded from the spot. "There's a line of those all along the back. They're filled with some kind of poison so I sent a sample off to the toxicology lab to be tested." She let the animal thud back onto the table. "Got any other information for me?"
Hellboy shook his head, saying, "Kate couldn't find anything on these guys. She's searched everywhere and can't find a single scrap of information. No stories. No legends. There hasn't even been any sightings of these things aside from the ones we got from Arizona. No one knows anything about them."
"Curious," Dawn said. "Well, it's hard to tell if there's anything strange about anything on the inside. A lot of the internal organs have been shot to hell, but as far as I can tell, it's got all the normal stuff. A heart, a liver, a... Wait. What the hell is that?"
Hellboy leaned over the table to get a better look as Dawn palpated the stomach, feeling something that obviously should not have been there. The woman picked up a scalpel and cut through the thick walls of the stomach. There was something lodged in the pyloric sphincter, between the stomach and the small intestine. Dawn had to wiggle the object and tug on it a bit before it finally came free in her hand. Hellboy made a face at the smell.
"What is that thing?"
"I don't know," Dawn replied.
He followed her over to the sink where she washed the chyme off the strange object. As the partially-digested food fell away, the thing was revealed to be some kind of odd stone. It was twice as thick as her thumb and nearly twice as long with a sharp point on one end. The thing was a deep orange hue and it seemed to almost glow. Hellboy took it from her and held it up to the light, turning it so that its many facets sending faint beams of light in all directions. Dawn watched him as she pulled off her latex gloves so she could wash her hands.
"I'm amazed it managed to swallow that thing. It's a wonder it didn't puncture something important."
"I dunno, but no wonder he was so cranky. He must have had some major indigestion," Hellboy commented.
"I think we ought to take it to Manning and see what he has to say," Dawn said, staring at the stone. "There's something strange about that thing and I don't like it."
She and Hellboy both stared at the object that he held and Dawn looked worried. She wasn't a psychic, but it didn't take superhuman powers to tell that the thing was powerful. The energy about it was so strong, it was almost tangible. The way she saw it, the sooner they found out what it was, the sooner they could figure out where it came from and get rid of the damn thing. The unidentifiable animal made her nervous as well. She hadn't been with the Bureau for long, but she knew that it was very rare when Kate couldn't find something on a case. Everything about this made Dawn apprehensive.