15435/JLD Stakeout

JLD Stakeout
Date of Scene:	29 July 2023
Location:	Rural New York
Synopsis:	Gabby reaches out for help investigating a small town urban legend in the happening. Hellboy and Daniel Ketch end up meeting a cadre of Black Eyed Children looking for an object recently missing from a church.
Cast of Characters:	Gabby Kinney, Hellboy, Daniel Ketch

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Gabby Kinney has posed:
In one of the more suburban areas of New York, outside of New York City itself, was a little town that while not small and quiet, was certainly no hub of violence or oddities. At least not until recently.

Rumors began circulating around odd instances happening in a older childrens' park late at night. Not ones that the police could pin on any drug dealers, or even pranksters, but that was beginning to stir up rumors even among the supernatural community.

Gabby had put a call out requesting some help in investigating stating it was 'cause unknown' and may be nothing, but still was worth checking out.

She'd gone ahead and was currently seated on one of the benches surrounding the park with a thermos of coffee by her side. It wouldn't really help keep her awake but she could TRY.

Hellboy has posed:
Hellboy rode the bus. It was not comfortable. He got stared at. A kid cried. He couldn't have a cigar. Not helpful.

Then he had to walk to the meeting spot, a pretty decent walk at that. Exercise. Gross. Not that he got tired, he didn't really, but it was the principle of the thing.

"Hey there, little bit," he says to Gabby, plopping down on the bench next to her. He'd finished his cigar before he got there, so as not to torment her hypersensitive nose.

"So. What we got so far?"

Daniel Ketch has posed:
Sleepless nights are something one gets used to after a few years. Between those or nightmares, Danny takes option A. Besides, he doesn't work on Sundays.

The rumble of the motorcycle is clearly heard before he appears. No lights, just in case someone unable to see in the dark is watching. Helps with nosy neighbours, too. He doesn't bring coffee, since if he does fall sleep, it means there was no danger at all. Otherwise, the Rider will keep him awake, regardless of what he wants.

"Hey," he greets laconically, nodding to Gabby and killing the engine. "Anything happened so far? Who is the big guy?"

Gabby Kinney has posed:
"Hey Red," Gabby greets in turn as he arrives with a quick smile flashed up to him. At least she wouldn't be stuck here alone. That was always good. She could already hear the approach of a familiar motorcycle engine as well not far off. "Nothing yet unless you count a dust devil or whatever they call those little mini windstorms that pick up leaves. Oh, and a dog that got loose from it's owner about half an hour ago. Past that?" A shrug is given. The thermos is raised to offer out, "Coffee? Doesn't do anything for me but it's something to drink at least."

When Daniel arrives she nods toward him as well, repeating, "Hey Danny. You missed a dog. Not much else so far." The more important part though comes as she introduces the pair. "This is Hellboy, just started with us awhile back from another division of spook busters. Hellboy, Daniel Ketch and Noble, the Ghostrider. One of them anyway. Coffee?"

Leaning back on the bench some she shifts to pull her legs up sitting cross legged rather than letting her feet dangle. At least she was still short enough she could do that without hogging a lot of space. "Get comfy and I'll fill you guys in on what we've heard so far."

Hellboy has posed:
Hellboy takes the coffee. "Me either, but it doesn't have to. Sometimes bitter is its own reward," he says. He takes a long drink from the thermos before he passes it back.

"Ghost Rider, huh? I heard o' you. Well, them. More'n one, ain't there?" he says. "How you doin', kid? You can call me Red, it's easier and we're supposed to be buddy pal teammates now, you and me."

He sits back in his seat and gives a stretch, putting an arm on the back of the bench behind Gabby, "Knowledge us, babe."

Daniel Ketch has posed:
Daniel nods to Hellboy. "The monster hunter, right?" Calling him 'Red' is probably better than calling him 'boy'. Now, Gabby addressing him as if he was also Noble gets a frown. Because it is weird. No one treats the Ghost Rider as if he was a real person, not even Danny.

"Yeah, there is a bunch of them, it seems," he replies to Hellboy. "But..." he was about to comment how the others feel 'wrong'. But it is not a good subject of conversation, really. Instead he stays on the motorcycle and listens to Gabby.

Gabby Kinney has posed:
Gabby Kinney glances aside to Daniel at that only to give a faint grin at him in apparent understanding. "Yeah, I know. The others are a bit more demonic I think. I know Robbie's is. That guy is a creep. His rider, I mean, not him," she clarifies a bit before changing the subject.

"Okay. So there's been rumors for awhile of things happening in this park at night. People gathering, shadows being seen. Nothing really tossing up any warning flags for the most part except for one thing."

Fishing into her pocket she pulls out her phone giving a few quick swipes over it to open up what she was referring to. "There was a local news report on it where they interviewed a guy that had 'seen something' here. Listen."

From the phone starts to play the news report, and even if it can't be seen it can be heard. In the typical cheery local newsman voice a woman starts to speak.

"Oddities in the park of a quiet neighborhood. Here reporting is Gloria Nimoff. It's a beautiful Summer day yet this park remains empty of any children. The rumors surrounding late night disturbances have frightened them away, and parents are keeping their children inside. Here to tell us of what he's seen is Christopher Patrick. Sir, can you explain to us what's been going on here?"

A man speaks up then, sounding in his thirties. He's got a strong, level voice. "It's the craziest thing I was out walking my dog past here like I usually do, and Spot just started whining and trying to run away. I couldn't figure out what had him so scared until I saw some people in the park in the shadows."

"And what did these people look like? What were they doing?" The newswoman asks.

"They were... They were...."

The audio just goes stone silent. It stretches on for about thirty seconds. Then as if nothing were wrong at all the newswoman speaks up again.

"Thank you. Back to you for the weather, Bert."

This is where Gabby lowers her phone again. "Yeah so the audio didn't cut out. The guy just stood there staring into space that entire time... and no one seems to have noticed it. It's become one of those 'weird videos' online."

Hellboy has posed:
Hellboy watches the video, leaning over to look at the little phone. Screens are only getting smaller and Hellboy can't help but think that his fingers remain huge. He's going to need some sort of stylus to use, but even those usually look kind of silly in his big hands. Sigh. Another reminder the world is not made for him.

He arches a craggy eyebrow up near his horns at the payoff of the video. "Huh. Weird shit, that's for sure. Sounds like we should probably check out the park, huh? Me lurking around a park after dark couldn't possibly go wrong. How much do pitchforks go for in this neck of the woods anyway?"

He's mostly teasing. Mostly.

Daniel Ketch has posed:
"That is not much," a dog getting nervous, a guy zoning out. The park devoid of children is more telling; in summer it should be packed. But there are odd towns out there. "Does the city have any kind of story with strange events? You know what I mean."

Taking a look around the park, however, seems the most direct approach available. It is not as if they can do much research at this time of the night, or... "maybe we can find this Christopher Patrick guy and ask him for more details."

Gabby Kinney has posed:
"It's not much of a farming town. I think you'll be safe on pitchforks. Maybe tiki torches," Gabby jokes back to Hellboy though she does reach out to lightly pat his arm in an attempt to be reassuring. "We got your back if anyone tries shit."

Daniel's remarks of it not being much are responded to with a simple sighing nod. He had a point. A very good one. Yet... "I know. I'm trying to be a bit more proactive with looking into things before there might be more to it though. Last time we waited for a sure-fire sign, half a town got wiped out by some Skinwalkers." Not a friendly bunch, those. She adds a little quieter, "That's how Nettie lost Corvax. He bought me some time to get out of 'becoming food' range."

"As for old weird history, not a lot. Best I can find is that not long ago they ended up decommissioning a church here because they built a new, better one. Nothing like 'moving the graveyard' from Poltergeist though, or building over the old land. Though there have been signs of vandalism at the old one. I figured that might be a good starting point to check out besides the park," Gabby explains while gesturing off Northward in the direction of the church--Across the park. "Seems it's over that way."

Hellboy has posed:
Hellboy nods, "Nothin' wrong with checkin' things out. Better a boring investigation where you find nothing than shit hitting the fan while you're looking the other way," he says.

He pushes up from his seat, "Well, c'mon, then, we ain't got all day," he says. He's going to lead the way, taking point in part because he's the most obvious target and because most things that might get thrown their way won't hurt him. Probably.

"Look for markings and signs. Cultists are all friggin' vandals, they can't help taggin' shit like a teenager with a can of spraypaint. Keep your senses open, Gab, see if you smell any old blood or anything. Danny, uh...you...I dunno what you do but if it'll help, do it."

Daniel Ketch has posed:
Daniel slides off his bike and glances at the abandoned church, "hmm, yeah. Nutcases think they are very special if they use desecrated churches for their idiotic games," but dumb cultists wouldn't be able to pass as 'weird shadows' that are barely glimpsed, right? Well, who knows? They are all some shade of crazy.

"I have a shotgun," he offers Hellboy. "With a bit of luck, that will be enough. If it is not, stay out of my 'partner' way. Particularly if you don't have a clear conscience. He can be a prick."

Gabby Kinney has posed:
"Sounds like a plan then." Gabby recaps the thermos of coffee and tucks it beneath the bench to retrieve later before hopping to her feet. A quick stretch of her arms behind her head comes even as she starts to follow after Hellboy, falling in line near Daniel.

"Heck *I* wouldn't want to tangle with Noble, either. Or any of the riders. Though I think I'd trust him more than the other two," she admits with a little wry grin. The grin fades as they start toward the church which leads through a much thicker part of woodland right before opening up to it. The park apparently was one of those 'green parks' that tried to keep as much trees as possible for people to enjoy outside of the playground areas.

"Right, nose open and active."

It's only once they get beneath the shadows of the trees that there seems to be a difference in anything. A feeling of oppression starts to weigh them down as if they were trudging through air thick as water.

And inside it some shadows seem to move in circling and surrounding suddenly. Oddest though is they become aware of sounds of scraping, scratching, digging somewhere not far in front of them.

Hellboy has posed:
Hellboy snorts, "My conscience is plenty clean. I sleep easy and long. All the shit I killed ain't nothing but evil. Kinda one of the good things about this business - superheroes, vigilantes, they gotta fight humans and wonder if a person is just misguided or mind-controlled or somehow corrupted. Me? I just stop apocalypses mostly. No need to wring my hands over it."

The shadow movement does catch his attention, however and he reaches into his coat, drawing out the oversized pistol he calls the Samaritan and starting to load it with blessed ammunition, the kind of bullets that'll even make a ghost hurt. "Think we ain't alone here, boy and girl."

Daniel Ketch has posed:
"Lucky you, Red," mutters Daniel at Hellboy's statement. Maybe the 'Big Red' is so experienced he doesn't have nightmares after tackling some eldritch monster or undead horde. Danny can't imagine he will get that level of 'professionalism' if he spends the next twenty years dealing with insane stuff.

He is the last to hear the weird noises, due to his regular human ears, but he has a flashlight and points it in the direction of the noises, while reaching for his shotgun with the other hand. "There is something unnatural there," he adds, keeping his voice low.

Gabby Kinney has posed:
"There's..." Gabby starts to say but it's obvious the other two notice. Even so she spins in place letting her eyes sweep around piercing the darkness much as they can. Until she ends up facing them again looking a bit pale. Odd, really. "I hear them," she finally states. "But I don't smell anything."

"And I mean ANYTHING. There's... Nothing. An absence. It's like. Ozone, maybe? Frankly being able to hear something and see movement without any scent at all was a bit freaky to her and she wasn't doing a great job keeping it out of her voice at the moment.

Daniel's flashlight beam sweeps forward catching a figure crouched on the ground digging in the dirt. There were many little holes scraped out around him already. Wide eyed, crazed, he looks up toward the others. For those that had seen the newscast it was the individual that had been interviewed. Dirty and digging in the ground with his bare hands to the point they were bloodied.

Hellboy has posed:
Hellboy mutters lowly, "Oh yeah, that's me, Mr. Lucky, ask anybody. I'm just a god damn leprechaun."

When the man in the dirt is exposed, Hellboy calmly approaches, "Hey there, buddy. Not lookin' so good there. Whatcha diggin' for? Why don't you be real good and just put your hands in the air for me now, huh? Pretty please. Lotsa sugar."

He lifts the Samaritan, the barrel of the massive revolver like a cannon as he aims it at the guy.

Daniel Ketch has posed:
Daniel frowns, keeping the light on the man. "Damnit, that is the guy from the Lextube video, Patrick something," he notes, studying the man for a few seconds. "There is something else. Maybe he is possessed, or just spellbound."

"Gabby, do you hear anyone else here?" He asks the girl, but keeping his eyes on the deranged man. Since he was the one that witnessed something, it can't be just him.

Gabby Kinney has posed:
There's no response to Gabby, but only because something else responds. Myriad voices begin to speak, not all at once and not the same words, but it carries.

"I'm lost." "Let me in." "Can you bring me home?" "Let me in." "Can I come with you?" "Let me in." "What's your name?" "Let me in."

From the shadows around them the strange movements seem to finally solidify into figures. Short figures. Some different heights, but all short, none any taller than Gabby herself. Pale faced children with black hair. Some look injured, some look fine. Just so many children.

With black, souless eyes.

Hellboy has posed:
Hellboy shakes his head, "Great. Ghost children. I hate ghost children," he says.

He steps forward then to grab a hold of the guy, seizing him by the hair with the massive Hand of Doom. "Speak to me, boy. Who are these kids? What's this all about? We got an old graveyard here? Murdered kids? This a cry for help?"

He watches carefully at the kids. They haven't attacked yet and being spooky isn't a sin. Most ghosts just wanted someone to hear them. He was listening.

Daniel Ketch has posed:
"Oh, shit," Daniel pales when he sees the 'children'. Ghosts or not, they are creepy as hell. He breathes deeply a couple times, and then he looks at the closest one. "Yes... we will try to help. I am Daniel."

What was dealing with ghost 101? Listen to them, or something. And don't run. At least they can't possess him, as that metaphysical space is already filled by a vengeful flaming skeleton. "What is going on?"

Gabby Kinney has posed:
The man looks up at Hellboy. His head tips back so far to peer up that he just lets it loll backwards completely. It was still attached but no one holds their head that way. "Must... find it... Must find... the mirror... They need the mirror..." He just begins to repeat himself and starts clawing at the ground again, but his head remains fallen back the entire time as he digs unseeing. A heavy trickle of blood starts to run down from his nose over his face the entire time.

The 'Ghost children' that begin to press in with their numerous questions and demands don't seem all that ghostly the more that they approach. The grass and twigs crunch beneath their feet. The rustle of their clothes can be heard. They were quite solid, apparently, and getting closer. The clothes they wear are a mix of what was in fashion decades ago, as well as modern. There was no rhyme or reason to it.

Gabby starts to speak, "They're soli--*GGK*" Her hand lifts to her face as she chokes, and spits, ending up with a bloodied hand as her own nose was pouring blood enough for her to have choked on it in the back of her throat. Something that makes her look completely shocked. "What the fuck..."

Both Hellboy and Daniel may start to feel as if something were scraping at their minds, trying to seek entrance.

Hellboy has posed:
Hellboy hates psychic shit. He hates people in his mind. He hasn't had a lot of privacy in his life, locked up in a government facility, but they never had a camera in his head. So when somebody starts pushing into it, trying to scrabble at the walls. He just gets mad.

"Solid, huh? Let's see how much they got, then."

At which point he shoves the man down into the dirt and takes a few steps before just punting one of the kids as hard as he can to see how far the little shit goes. "I guess there's a mirror or something. See if you can find it," he says to the others. "As for you little monsters, come get some."

Daniel Ketch has posed:
"Calm down, we can help..." Daniel is trying to be reasonable, but apparently this is not a good moment for that kind of thing. "Gabby... damnit," he missed whatever hit her, and doesn't she regenerate like crazy?

And as he reaches to grab the girl, he feels something in his head. "Oh no, that is not a good idea, stop it!" Because the Ghost Rider is there, and touching the mind of the Spirit of Vengeance means a free dose of the Penance Stare. Noble likes nosy psychics about as much as the average angry supernatural entity.

So, chances are some ghost is getting zapped. Daniel is busy trying to get Gabby out of the circle of ghosts. Shoving them out of the way if possible.

Gabby Kinney has posed:
The 'child' that Hellboy kicks is sent flying back where he crashes into a tree hard enough the leaves shake off a bit. His head rises again to open his mouth wide letting loose an animalistic howl. The chanting among the children stops.

The one that was trying to get inside Daniel's head recoils as well joining in with that animalistic howl of fury. Whatever the Ghostrider had kicked back against, it didn't seem as if it had ever been human.

Gabby tries to wave Daniel off, still clutching a hand over her nose while her eyes slip in and out of focus. It's visible how her eyes are dialating and then relaxing again. It was likely a dizzying thing. "No, it's not... these aren't human..." She manages to get out. "FIGHT them!"

Gabby Kinney has posed:
Gabby Kinney reaches up to pull a chord from around her neck off which she holds out clenched in her fist. It's just a simple stone wrapped in wire. "Use this! It'll glow if it's near anything magical, so find whatever it is!"

Hellboy has posed:
Hellboy lays into a few of the children with his massive Hand of Doom, sending a few more flailing and flying away here and there. He raises the Samaritan at the one he kicked and, when it screams at him, he pulls the trigger. The holy bullet within goes right into the ghost child's gaping black maw and explodes the back of its head. Whether that's enough, he can't say.

At Gabby's offer, he snatches up the stone, "Keep 'em off my ass," he says to her and Daniel as he begins to maneuver the stone around where the old guy was digging, trying to see if anything pings on the magic meter buried down below.

Daniel Ketch has posed:
"I... fine," Daniel nods and falls to one knee, grimacing in pain as his body burst on flames. A couple seconds later, the Ghost Rider stands, easily six inches taller than Danny, he turns to the creepy children and roars, "BEGONE!" Followed by breathing hellfire around Hellboy, to keep the creatures at bay.

That is oddly tame as the Rider goes; he is not tearing them apart with his chains. Not that hellfire is not nasty enough, but it rarely leaves lasting damage.

Gabby Kinney has posed:
The Samaritan puts a good dent in the child that was howling so loudly. Enough so that it just explodes into a pile of ash. The other children near it don't look to see what happened. They do pause though as if they were starting to think of regrouping. Near where the man was still digging the necklace does begin to glow... but it's a good three feet away. He never would have found it the way he was going. Down there was a patch of dirt that looked as if it had been turned over recently and trampled down again as no grass grew there. It's sizeable, about a foot by a half foot, as if something ahd been buried.

When the Ghost Rider blazes into appearance the children back away from the light his flames cast, their own features turning feral to hiss, and chatter, and finally they yell, "Our parents are coming for us!" in unision.

They do steer clear from the Rider though, and a few even seem to give Hellboy a wide berth.

Gabby pops her claws out to slice at one that threatens to get too near but her face is still coated in blood, and she staggers from being dizzy. "I'm... gonna sit..." She mutters sinking to her knees on the ground, trying to keep upright.

Hellboy has posed:
Hellboy looks over at Gabby, "Hold it together, kiddo, Big Red's gotcha. Keep fuckin' 'em up, Rider, keep 'em away from Gabby, I think they're fucking her up. I hear their scrabbling little voices in my head as it is," he says. But his mind is a demon's mind, resilient beyond that of mortal men. Or perhaps his years of exprience just give him an edge.

He finds that spot and uses his massive hand to scoop, tearing up soil and tossing it aside as he seeks deeper and deeper, trying to find the magic totem for which they hunger.

Daniel Ketch has posed:
The rider does punch one of the 'children' coming too close to Gabby. He also seems to find that at least one of them deserves to be stabbed by a spiked chain. Poking into his mind, as usual, leads to him poking back. Which tends to be worse for the other side. He is an eternal spirit full of righteous anger and lacking much of the nuance and complexity that make humans vulnerable to telepathic tricks.

Also, he always know when someone has have been wicked, and uses it as a boot to kick metaphysical butt.

Gabby Kinney has posed:
As Hellboy scoops up the dirt, tearing the soil out in one large clump, there's an object within that's easy to see: A small silvered mirror. It's old, not one of those over manufacturered pieces, and uses actual silver as was used in older times before the advent of new methods to create a reflective surface. Oddly enough on the back is a yellowed and dirtied label maker tab that reads 'Property of St. Eustace Church'. And should Hellboy look at the reflective side what it shows is not only his reflection, but one of hellfire, and brimstone, and souls seeking to escape just behind him. A peek into somewhere that shouldn't be glimpsed.

The Ghost Rider strikes true sending more than a few of the 'children' flying back. Those who take the worst damage turn to ashes fluttering in the faint wind. Whatever they were, solid though they may be, they had not enough connection to this world to leave a body behind.

"Another has been there before. In her mind. It's only a matter of time." One child intones staring unmoving at where Gabby is on the ground, still defiantly slashing any that come too near while clutching her head, and letting out a feral littel growl.

Speaking of those who have had their minds taken by these 'children'... The man that had been digging stops suddenly, and rises to his feet to lumber toward Hellboy. "The mirror..."

The children suddenly focus aware of their goal at hand and in the wrong hands. A single whisper of 'Stop them' rushes through the night air. No longer are the children standing idly by: They rush both the Ghostrider and Hellboy en masse. No 'one at a time' attacks here. For whatever weak abilities they may have, their very touch feels like acid but leaves no lasting marks. Like radiation raking over the skin to deal damage on a deeper level.

Hellboy has posed:
Hellboy narrows his eyes at the glimpse of hellfire, that other world of which he is born. He's been to hell a few times and he never enjoyed it. Hard to believe he's supposed to belong there. They don't even have cheese fries.

He plugs a couple of more of the charging ghost children with the Samaritan, the heavy ammunition likely blowing them to bits in whatever spectral form they have. "So do I trap 'em in it, give it to 'em, smash it? I dunno what I'm supposed to do with the damn thing!" he says, kicking out when they try to grab him by the legs and holding the mirror up over his head. He looks over at the old man, "C'mon, help me out here, Hobo Joe."

Daniel Ketch has posed:
When the children rush them, the Ghost Rider breathes hellfire again, trying to from a circle of flame between the creatures and the trip, to keep them away. A second later, he summons his motorcycle, which crashes through the playground like a bulldozer on fire, likely running over several of the children until it reaches him.

Then he attempts to grab Gabby and jump to the seat, and break through the crowd of little monsters.

Gabby Kinney has posed:
The Hellfire engulfs the children leading to more of those animalistic screams. It sounds like a pack of coyotes bellowing as they turn to ash. The numbers are drastically dwindling however which gives the Ghost Rider plenty of time to grab Gabby.

She instinctively swings when grabbed only to stop once she realizes the familiar rumble of the motorcycle is there. Instead she just holds on as best she can eyes open wide with a grimace. The moment catches up to her and she yells out, "Destroy it, Red! They want it so bad... Can't be good! Destroy it!"

Even as she yells this the human that had been shuffling around controled by them comes from the side trying to grab it out of Hellboy's grasp. Futile, likely. Even the black eyed children that had tried to rush him had fallen quickly from the shots he's fired turning to ash and dust. At least there was no messy splatter--Just a heavy cloud of hard to breath dust at this point.

Hellboy has posed:
The screaming really bothers Hellboy, the sound of it grating at his ears as he shoots another one, almost more out of spite than anything.

"You got it!" he calls back to Gabby. He's got the mirror in the Hand of Doom, which is bad for the mirror. Even if it were somehow mystically resilient, the Hand isn't something to be trifled with and he squeezes the mirror until it shatters in his grip, sending shard everywhere as the frame is bend into curlicues by his superhuman strength.

"Sc on that, you kindergarten creeps!"

Daniel Ketch has posed:
The Rider puts some distance between the creepy kids and his motorcycle, then turning sharply, the fire wheels skidding on the ground for a couple yards as he stops. "Are you still under attack?" He asks Gabby, sparing her a glance, then looking at Hellboy and the broken mirror.

They said their parents were coming, so this might not be over yet, even though it looks like many of the creatures have vanished.

Gabby Kinney has posed:
Gabby Kinney sucks in a few quick breaths only to shake her head firmly at the question. "No, they stopped now that I'm not in the way," she confirms feeling herself more at ease now. Nevermind the blood that had run down and drived over her nose and chin. That was trivial in spite of things. "Thanks."

The shattering of the mirror seems to ring out through the park in spite of the noise of screaming, fighting, gunfire, and the motorcycle and hellfire that may linger. It's a tinkling noise as if more than just the polished silver had crumbled and broken. Something in the air seems to SNAP as well.

For just a few moments silence comes. Pure, utter silence. The area is devoid of any sound.

Then from where they stand in the forested area able to see the park one direction and the church the other, on the road in between the park and church a black sedan drives to as top. The driver door opens and a single near impossibly tall man steps out wearing a black suit, tie, and sunglasses in spite of the night time around them. A proverbial Man in Black.

A long stare down at the fight ensues for several heartbeats. Then without a word or any fuss he simply folds himself back into the sedan and drives off again as if dissapointed in the outcome.

The remaining children snarl, enraged... but suddenly step back into the shadows of the trees one by one vanishing from sight, perhaps even existance. The mesmerized man sways on his feet and then crumples to the ground. Alive, but out cold.

All that's left are Hellboy and some bits of silver that seem to turn to molten drops on the ground devoid of any power they once held. Ghostrider, and Gabby.

Hellboy has posed:
Hellboy shakes the shards out of his hand. He gives the Man in Black a staredown of his own - he's met a few of those guys before. They're not always bad. But a lot of them are dicks.

"I never know why they bother to cover shit up anymore. Cat's long out of the bag. The world's weird, folks better just get flamin' used to it," he says.

He holsters the Samaritan and makes his way over to Gabby, kneeling down a bit and putting a hand gently on her head, "You're okay, we got ya. Smart thinkin' there," he says, then looks back at the Rider. "We cool?"

Daniel Ketch has posed:
The Rider glares at the Man in Black, saying nothing as the black sedan vanishes the way it came. Was that the 'father'? Daniel would want to know, but the Rider is notoriously uncurious. He feels no immediate threat.

Which means he should be elsewhere, punishing the sinners that deserve his attention. He nods curtly to Hellboy, giving his hand a few seconds of attention. "Anum's Hand. It is..." he tries to remember. It was important, but his memories of ancient events and dark secrets are long gone.

And it can't be as important as his mission of vengeance, anyway. "I need to return to New York."

Gabby Kinney has posed:
Gabby Kinney glances after the sedan as well. She had no idea one way or another, but it seemed that person whoever they were knew what was going on to some extent. A little shake of her head comes at least until Hellboy puts his hand ontop, and she manages a tired sort of smile.

"Yeah, thanks. I figure if somebody wants something that much it can't be good to have around in the first place." A sentiment that has served her well, so far. "Sorry about that," she adds lifting her hand to rub breifly at her eyes. "... Awhile back, I had some 'Old Ones' trying to break into our dimension rattling around inside my head. I guess I didn't fully recover from that."

Turning back to look at Ghostrider she nods, flashing a smile. "Yeah, of course. Thanks for the save, Noble. Take care of yourself and Daniel, yeah?"