1964-09-28 - The Lady or the Demon
Summary: Hellboy and Magik follow up on Baba Yaga's attack
Related: Pancake Social
Theme Song: None
illyana hellboy 


SHIELD agents, under the guise of 'ConEd' have closed off the Lake O'Butter Pancake House because of a 'gas leak' that was actually a demon attack. Cleanup crews are working within in containment suits. Out back, behind the house, the large red form of Hellboy is near the dumpsters. He already has his pistol out, the large weapon held in his left hand, while his right arm is folded into a ready position.

"Alright, Baba Yaga, you old hag, where's your hole?" he's grosing to himself as he makes his way along the alley, the demon's mouth chewing on a cigar that is currently alight as he blows a puff of smoke out of his nose.


Demon attacks are things Illyana tends to investigate. Usually her investigations are confined to the presence of her subjects — but Baba Yaga… there's a history there. Not a personal history, perhaps, but a history all the same. Baba Yaga is Russian, and has haunted Russian children's dreams for centuries. The old witch isn't always a demon, but she eats kids, and Illyana's not big on demons hurting children.

She's kind of dealt with too much of that.

So she makes her way to Mutant Town rapidly — a couple of disks taking her from the X-mansion to the city. She has not armored up yet, and her sword isn't in her hand — or even present in this dimension, currently. But that can change quickly. And it might, shortly. Because when the young blonde spies a gigantic red demon in an alley outside a pancake shop, that's definitely a concern. Not something to make her afraid, but definitely something to put her hackles up. She's behind Hellboy when she enters the alley, doesn't instantly grab for her sword, but the option is there. "Who the Hell are you?"


He wasn't expecting company. He had told the SHIELD agents to stay back just in case he ran into trouble with the local demons. What he didn't expect was to have one of them to come investigate herself. Even if she's human. Somewhat. Like he is. Somewhat. Turning to the voice, his left yellow eye rises in a glance as he takes in the Russian beauty. "Damn, looking younger, Baba. Or are you one of her kids?" he asks with a snort at the accent.

His pistol is held at the ready but not exactly aimed in Illyana's general direction as the various religious charms move on his waist. "Just call me Red." he says to the young woman as he considers her. She's so not getting his real name. "I've already had a bad morning. Wanted some pancakes, and one of the damn apple peddlers made a mess out of my favorite pancake house, and made a couple of redheads puke up their meals. So if you're here for trouble from me, you're gonna find it in spades."


"I'm here because I'm Russian," says the girl, glaring at the demon. "And because one of my childhood monsters made a mess of this place. You'll forgive me, 'Red', if finding a demon in her wake doesn't make me happy." She pauses for a moment, though, and then raises both her hands — not surrender, but perhaps an attempt to placate. "But if you're looking for Yaga, we are probably on the same side for now. Point the gun somewhere else, alright? I'm not a demon. I was just raised by them."


"Yeah, well, unlucky you. You can call me Hellboy, that's what SHIELD refers to me as." the demon offers. "I'm a demon raised by humans. I think I got the better end of the stick." he offers with a grunt as he moves to holster his own pistol. "I have my own grief with the Russian bitch. Besides ruining my breakfast." Once the pistol's back in place, he folds his arms a little. "So you got a name, or do I just call you Princess or something like that?"


"Yeah, you got the better deal," Illyana agrees. "Queen, in fact," she adds, relaxing, letting her hands drop to her sides. She's dressed normally for her — jeans and a plaid top in blue and black. "Illyana Rasputin. Magik. X-person, Queen of Limbo, the Rhoynar and the First Men. Something like that." She moves closer and extends one hand that is so much incredibly smaller than either of his. "Nice to meet you, Hellboy."


"Shit. Legend in hell, from what I'm told." Hellboy's hand reaches out - the left one, the right hand of doom is not for shaking - and takes the young woman's hand. And for him - his normal dress is an old duster jacket with an SSR patch that's open and exposing a bare chest and a pair of old black pants. After shaking the hand, he takes out the cigar to drop it on the ground and grind it under his boot heel.

"Since we're here for the same reason, I was just looking for the hole that the demon du jour came out of in order to seal up that particular portal to Hell. I can do it, but since you're a Queen and all, you probably have a better way, Your Majesty." At least he's polite.


The girl smirks slightly at this. "Just Illyana is fine. I only require that kind of title from Limbo demons. And you're clearly not one of them." She had no idea she was even known in 'Hell', though which Hell he's referring to, she's got no idea. There are a lot of them, in her experience. "As for sealing a portal to Hell, we find it, we seal it. Doesn't really matter which of us does the job, but my way's pretty efficient." She shrugs slightly, sword appearing in her hand — gleaming white. "This tends to break any spell on hand."


"Well ain't that just a fancy pigsticker." Hellboy gives a little grunt of begrudging approval, and as a demon himself, he does move slight away from the light. Just a little irritating. "I got my own version of a spellbreaker." His hand pats the large pistol in it's holster. "Sensed something behind the dumpsters. What you think, I knock it to the side, you hit whatever's behind it?"


Illyana nods, turning toward the dumpsters, closing on them. "Sounds like a plan, Red." Frankly, 'Red' is a somewhat easier name for day-to-day conversation than 'Hellboy.' Getting herself into position she gives the big demon a nod. "When you're ready."


"Ready." Hellboy says and smirks. "Here we go, Yana." Because he's not going to keep using Illyana if he can help it. Stepping up to the side of the dumpster, he lifts one large cloven foot and pushes it against the side of the dumpster. "Ollie ollie oxen free!" he calls out and shoves it hard, sending the large metal container skittering from the wall and down the alleyway.

Behind it? A couple of small wretched beasts. No more than a couple of feet in height, they look mostly skeletal on skin with dissented stomaches and currently fighting over the remains of a rat and other food trash. They hiss as they're exposed to the light, and the portal behind them flashes as one of them turns towards Illyana.

"»Intruders!«" yells the sentinel beast in old Russian, "»Warn the Mother Beast!«" With that, the yelling creature lunges towards Illyana with sharp little claws extended, dripping ichor, while the other prepares to run.

"Oh hell no you don't!" Hellboy seems to understand as he's reaching for his pistol to aim at the retreating creature, and then in a fit of pique attempts to smash the creature with his oversized right hand of stone.


Illyana's sword lashes out at the remaining creature, the intent to skewer it. But even a papercut from this weapon would hurt the beast terribly. The sword is made from a shard of Illyana's own soul, and while it is tainted and darkened now, when she gave up the part of it that became the sword it was nearly pure. It is practically poison to demons, and damage from it is more lethal than normal weapons.

And if she strikes true, the blade ought to carry on through the portal beyond.


SPLUT

That would be the noise that the smaller demon that was running for the portal makes when the Right Hand of Doom smashes down upon it, crushing the creature beneath it. Hellboy was about to say something smug when he happens to notice Illyana's blade cleaving the leaping creature in twain, splattering it's blood across the blade where it boils off and the big red demon doesn't get a chance to move his arm before Illyana's blade cleaves into it and to the portal beyond.

For the briefest of moments, the scream of the old anctient dragon Ogdru Jahad is heard in the alleyway before Hellboy rips his arm back - the stone immediately sealing, as does the portal as it's sliced into and winks out of existance under the woman's blade.

"Dammit, be careful with that butter spreader!"


Illyana winces. "Sorry about that," she says. "I didn't expect you to smash the little bastard like that." But the portal is closed, and the demons deceased — the one that was cleaved by her sword has gone so far as to dissolve into ash and slime. She releases the blade and it vanishes, back to Limbo, until the next time she should need it.


"Need to work on that teamwork thing. But I get the feeling that you aren't one for doing much in the way of teamwork." Hellboy responds, giving the arm a brief rub. "Don't worry, not summoning the apocalypse today." He may be half-kidding about that. "We'll check the rest of the alley, then you want to grab a nightcap after this? Got any demon friendly bars around here?"


Unless otherwise stated, the content of this page is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 License