8113/Hell on Pets

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Hell on Pets
Date of Scene: 04 October 2021
Location: 102 20th St - Jessica Drew's Building
Synopsis: Hellboy thrashes a demon like menace that is roaming the sewers of New York after Jessica Drew calls him in on the trail of the neighborhood cats gone missing.
Cast of Characters: Jessica Drew, Hellboy




Jessica Drew has posed:
When Mrs. Jankovitch's cat had gone missing, Jessica heard of things stalking the neighbors' pets. Beep, her neighbor's cat wasn't the first to go missing. Speculation was wild among the neighbors. When the fourth pet went missing in as many days, Jess decided to look into the problem.

It's very off the books for a SHIELD agent to call in a colleague to consult on a personal problem. Though Agents do it all the time, knowing full well that there may be official consequences if the 'problem' goes sideways.

Jessica had heard of Hellboy and met him briefly at the shooting range not long ago. His looks and bearing were unforgettable and true to her training; the mutant SHIELD agent wasn't above doing a little snooping on him on her own. She was now aware of his links to the mystical without knowing a lot of the details. The story she gathered from other agents was hair raising and made her origins seem banal. Finally, entirely off the records, she found a way to contact him for help. With a phone call, she arranged a meet in Chelsea and awaited him in her rowhouse.

Pacing the living room, Jess waits for his knock.

Hellboy has posed:
    Hellboy didn't knock with his hands. He rather knocked with a stick that would give before the door. He knew his own strength with his left hand, and he didn't know his own strength with his right hand, so this was safer for her door. When she would answer, he recognizes her quickly. He says nothing about it, but rather, "Can I come in?"

Jessica Drew has posed:
With a raised eyebrow, the dark-haired woman looks him up and down before asking, "Is that like a Dracula question?" Not waiting for his response, she steps back and gestures for him to enter the room. A comfortable high backed sofa faces a bow legged oriental table where a whiskey bottle and glasses sit on a tray.

"Take a seat. I'd offer you a drink but we might have to have our heads on straight for what I think we need to do. Listen, thanks for getting here so fast. I might have been able to handle this on my own but I wasn't sure."

Hellboy has posed:
    Hellboy enters and brushes wet leaves off his huge coat. "Someone told me cats are being hunted," he says in his normal deep baratone. "Don't care what's doing it, this is off the clock work for me. Nobody hurts a cat on my watch." He pulls his coat back to reveal his empty hips. "Off the clock means no Samaritan, though. Hope we can do without it."

Jessica Drew has posed:
Looking skeptical, Jess nods slowly, "I hope so, too. Between the two of us, though, I think we can do it. I called you in because I thought this had a mystical smell to it. One of the cats that went missing was found on some kind of an altar in the alley behind my house next to an open drain. It was not in the best shape. Some of the neighbors are saying voodoo and black magic."

Hellboy has posed:
    A deep growl escapes Hellboy's stoic figure. His jaw muscles tighten and his brow furrows as both of his fists clench tightly. "I got stuff for that," he says, his voice almost disruptively calm compared to the signs. His tail, for example, is flicking back and forth, threatening to knock anything over that's not nailed down. He is a cat on the prowl himself. He is going to hunt and beat down this foe, whatever it is.

Jessica Drew has posed:
Jess quickly grabs the whiskey and glasses to put on the breakfast bar out of the way of Hellboy's tail swishes.

"Yep," she agrees with a satisfied air, "I thought you would be the one to call. Let's get to it then. I figure whatever is doing this went down that open utility hole - kind of careless on their part. Follow me." Jess walks out of the apartment and waits for him in the hall leading to the back alley.

Hellboy has posed:
    Hellboy doesn't waste time. He follows Jessica immediately, nearly stepping on her feet (but not, he's heavy).

Jessica Drew has posed:
At the end of the alley, an ensemble of objects are spread around the splayed open corpse of a cat that did not die peacefully from the rictus on its face. Arranged around the cat's tiny heart laid on a tray are black candles, a cup of congealed blood, feathers, and scales of some sort. Jessica stands over the display, "I asked the owner not to touch anything. Beep was a good cat, you know. It's been hard on her to leave him like this." Turning to the big man, "What do you think? Does it look like some kind of ritual to you or bait to get me down there." She points to the open hole.

Hellboy has posed:
    Hellboy raises his Right Hand of Doom, but doesn't smash the thing. He instead lowers it again and uses his left hand to pull a blue cylinder from his coat. He sprinkles what looks like sand around the altar until the cylinder is empty. "Salt," he says. "I don't know who did this, but that should break it. I'm not forensics, though. I'm the fist," he says, bringing up that Right Hand of Doom again. "Point me at the person who did this and I will do unto him as he did unto the cat."

Jessica Drew has posed:
"Good, that's what I hoped you'd say. The Fist, eh?" She smiles. "Ready to take a trip down below the street? Whatever did this either got careless or was leaving a calling card for someone. I'm hoping that it wasn't meant for me." Then, narrowing her eyes, "Or you for that matter. Give me a sec. I'm not dressed for the sewers."

Before he can respond, Jessica nips back into the apartment. Some minutes pass before she returns dressed in 'work' clothes - form-fitting tactical gear complete with a SHIELD issue Smith & Wesson M+P. "Don't tell anyone," she says, patting the gun in its holster around her waist.

"Let's go!" Using the ladder, Jess disappears down the hole using the utility ladder.

Hellboy has posed:
    Hellboy is...a tight fit to say the least. He does manage it, but only just. He wrinkles his nose as he gets down there. "We find this guy, we make it worth the smell to come down here," he says. He clenches his hands tightly into fists, ready to put the smackdown on any who would dare harm a cat.

Jessica Drew has posed:
It's a comfortable fit for the lithe agent and relatively dry considering there had been a storm a few days ago. In the distance, running water can be heard. The tunnel remains man height and dimly lit by street drains built into the curbs. "I wouldn't want to do this at night. How come you think there is only one? I'm just picking up something rotten not too far from here but I don't hear a thing." She taps the side of her nose and then ears. "I've got good senses. How does it work for you? Would you know if there was something weird or magical down here?"

Hellboy has posed:
    "Blood on the wall," Hellboy says. He takes in a breath through his nose. "Bad smell, too. Not the sewer stink." He looks behind them, then back at Jessica. "This is looking more and more like a trap."

Jessica Drew has posed:
"Blood? Did you smell that?" She looks at a dark smear and sniffs, making a face. "Wish I knew what kind it is. Let's follow the bread crumbs and hope we find the wicked witch."

She heads down the tunnel, careful to avoid stepping in anything. They walk in silence except for the distant sound of traffic for ten minutes, the tunnel getting deeper as they head for the river. Finally, in the dim light at the intersection of a large tunnel where the smell Hellboy had noticed is overpowering, they find another altar populated with three decaying dead cats and the dried remnants of their hearts.

Crouching next to the display, "Look at those leaves, these cats might have been dead for a few days but something has been through here recently." She points to deep gouges in the dead leaves. "Ever seen anything like this before?"

Hellboy has posed:
    "No," comes the reply. Hellboy is not in the mood for conversation. Hellboy is on the hunt. He is out of salt, having just about lost it topside. When Jessica points out the ruts through the leaves, he takes a minute to suss out which way the person through here was going, then rushes that direction. He is not even remotely interested in being the stealthy predator, anymore. He is interested in catching whoever did this and pounding them into pulp.

Jessica Drew has posed:
A breeze picks up bringing a whisper with it. The whisper rises into words in a language that Jessica doesn't recognize. Then Hellboy is gone, following the gouges that lead down toward the Hudson River.

"Hey wait!"

The tunnels like the streets over them don't follow a grid like most of Manhattan. They are the remnants of colonial New York when Chelsea was a fishing village on the edge of the river. Hellboy is lost to her view. Around one of the turns in the tunnel, a hump-backed figure crouches over a freshly killed cat. On the same scale as Hellboy, it's grey shoulders are covered with the roughly sewn together untanned hides of cats and rats found on its forays through the tunnel. When it looks up to see what has disturbed it, an overhead drain illuminates a hairless head and a face that is mostly mouth and fangs, two tiny flat holes that might serve as a nose and two skin covered pouches that may be eyes. It snarls and stands, waving long three-fingered claws at the intrusion.

Hellboy has posed:
    At the sight of the horror clad in catskin, Hellboy's eyes seem to burn with an internal hellfire. He breaks into a sprint his feet slamming into old pipe like pistons, churning up the small amount of fluid there as Hellboy just charges the monster, and he would use that term to describe it even if it were a beautiful woman wearing that coat. Raising his Right Hand of Doom, vengeance burns in his eyes. He is intent to destroy this hideous THING what would DARE defile cats in this way!

Jessica Drew has posed:
Stealth is off. Jessica sprints behind Hellboy, losing sight of him in some of the twists and turns. The odor of decay and the pounding footsteps of Hellboy lead her on.

Rounding a corner, she skids to a stop in a heap of slimy, wet leaves, in time to see Hellboy charge the monster. It roars in pain, at the terrible blow delivered by Hellboy's Hand of Doom. Green ichor drips from its gaping maw.

"What is that?" she yells in horror at Hellboy then jumps to attach herself to the wall where she can actually see what they have come upon.

The cat-clad monstrosity swipes at Hellboy like a bear, the misshapen mouth chanting words that Jess doesn't recognize. They seem to drain the strength from her arms and legs as she vainly tries to grip the wall. She feels herself slipping.

"Arrrgh," she gurgles, struggling to raise an arm to fire a venom blast at the thing.

Hellboy has posed:
    "Took a hit from ME," Hellboy barks. "Not a good sign!" He pulls his indestructable Right Hand of Doom up to tank the scratches at him. As he does that, he brings his left foot forward slightly and snaps his right foot up. Yeah, it's a dirty fighting move to kick a fella there, but if he wanted Hellboy to fight fair, he SHOULDN'T BE KILLING CATS!

Jessica Drew has posed:
"Well hit it again. WHAT IS IT DOING TO ME?" Jess falls into a heap of wet leaves, barely able to articulate, "Magic?"

The monsters roars as loud as an approaching train at the blow it takes between the legs and clutches at itself, missing an opportunity to deal Hellboy another blow. It recovers quickly though and charges the red man grabbing at the stubs growing from his forehead."

Jessica watches helplessly from her heap of leaves, her hands glowing faintly as she tries to generate a blast.

Hellboy has posed:
    Thankfully, Hellboy's horns are made from hornstuff, and that Red Hand of Doom was already winding up for an uppercut while the thing was reeling. Now, Hellboy smash! Well, Hellboy uppercut the jaw of this perversion of black magic and possibly undeath. He would smash it dead first, then get Jessica to safety. Probably the wrong way 'round, but he wasn't thinking the clearest he ever had.

Jessica Drew has posed:
The downed spider-woman has no horse in this race and looks on as her fellow agent's blow lifts it from the ground, Hellboy's follow through is spectacular. Jessica's super hearing picks up the whistle of air blasted by the sonic speed of Hellboy's punch that removes most of the fangs from that huge maw and drives them down its throat. The blow effectively stops the chanting as the monster struggles not to choke to death on its own fangs and falls backward, arms and legs churning like a beetle turned upside down.

The chanting stopped, Jess can feel the energy returning to her limbs. "Whoof," she says admiringly. "Remind me to take you on ops with me, Hell."

Hellboy has posed:
    Hellboy moves to help Jess up, lifting her with his left hand while keeping one eye on the struggling freak. "Well, I feel this one deserved my attention," he says to her. Once he feels she's able to stand on his own, he moves and grasps the other, picking the freak up by the skull with his Right Hand of Doom. "Any regulation to stop me from popping this thing's head like a zit?" he asks.

Jessica Drew has posed:
"Thanks. Um," she says, wiping the leaves clinging to her tac suit from her. "Be my guest? Let me get out of brain splash range first."

Hellboy has posed:
    Hellboy squeezes. There is no feedback from that stony arm that it's doing anything, but the pain on the monster's face is enough. It is in pain from the blow and the pressure on the sides of its skull are likely overwhelming. Its whimpering is mixed with clawing at Hellboy's arm, feet kicking in the air as it desperately tries to survive. Hellboy lowers it, setting its feet on the ground. "Got no orders to kill this ugly thing," he admits, reluctantly. "I subdued it. This isn't Mortal Kombat. I won, it's not okay to pull out finishing moves." He continues glaring at the magic user. "Agent, I need you to call your bosses and have them send MY bosses here to box it or give me a kill order." He doesn't take his eyes off the monster. "If I hear one fucking more syllable out of this thing, however, I will defend myself with deadly crushing force," he concludes, enunciating clearly to make sure it understands that he holds its life in his hand. "In that case, I'll need decon and debriefing."

Jessica Drew has posed:
"I can do that. I can web it while we wait for them to get here." She steps to just outside trashing range of the thing and raises her arm, palm up. Webbing twips from her newly acquired wrist spinnerette, wrapping the thing into a neat package limb by limb. "I'll make the call when we get back to the surface. No worries. Good call on not destroying the thing. Who knows whether it has friends! Great work. I'm glad you came. Thank you!"