9039/Punch It In The Face

Punch It In The Face
Date of Scene:	11 December 2021
Location:	Manhattan Subway
Synopsis:	Hellboy and Tyler Locke fight a troll under Glamour with the Omega Key. It escapes.
Cast of Characters:	Tyler Locke, Hellboy

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Tyler Locke has posed:
It's a cold, miserable night in New York. There are about fifty places that Tyler would rather be right now than here in a subway. But the dreams just won't relent. They were sporadic at first, but gradually became more and more persistent. Now every time he sleeps or dozes off for a nap they come. It's the Omega Key. He seems it in the dream but in the possession of...someone? Something? That part is unclear save for the fact that whoever or whatever has the key is not a Nice Guy.

Being very cautious of his environment, Tyler moves slowly into the subway. His hand subtly brushes against his waistline to confirm the presence of his concealed pistol -- as a licensed private investigator he has, among others, a New York City concealed carry permit. He doesn't know what to expect, but he knows the chances of something good and happy occurring in a subway in New York at night is very unlikely.

Hellboy has posed:
    People rush past him to get out of the subway. It's not quite the same urgency as normal New York City rushing, but it's not outright panic, either. Hellboy is easy to spot. Seven feet of bright red skin, horns ground down to flat nubs, oversized, nebulous trench coat. He stands out. He's known, but with all the goings on, lots of people still don't trust him. Currently, the demon holds a cell phone in his left hand against his head.
    "I'm here," he grunts into the receiver like a teenager tasked with picking up a younger sibling from the mall. He hesitates, looking at where fingernails would be on his stone piston of a right fist. "You're breaking up. Repeat?" More pausing. He pulls the cell phone away from his head and looks at it. He taps the screen with his thumb. "What did you expect," he says to the device. "It's the subway."
    The demon begins looking around. "Now, where's this thing," he says to himself. Hardly a super sleuth on the job, here.

Tyler Locke has posed:
Tyler is no stranger to weird shit, no stranger to it at all. But Hellboy is famous. Or is he infamous? As with so many things in life, the truth is likely somewhere in the middle. It can't be a coincidence that his dreams have led him here, and Hellboy is here too.

"Hey man," Tyler says as he moves in Hellboy's direction. He knows better than to appear as a threat before someone like this so he moves slowly. His hands are out of his pockets, hands clearly empty, arms hanging at is sides. "I uh...I uh..." He frowns a little. How do you even have a conversation like this? "Are you here because you've been having dreams about...about an omega symbol?" Even as he says the words it's clear that he feels a little silly putting the idea out there in the world, making it real.

Hellboy has posed:
    Hellboy looks at the other man and raises a heavy brow. "Hey, 'man'," he says. "I don't have time for autographs, right now. I'm trying to find some kind of baddie." His eyes shift back around. He squints at various people as though trying to see through glamour that may or may not be there. "You a baddie?" he continues as he continues to scan the area.

Tyler Locke has posed:
Hey, if you make it through the first exchange with Hellboy and you didn't get smashed into a grease spot that goes in the W column. "I think we might be here looking for the same...'baddie,'" Tyler responds. "My name is Tyler Locke. I'm a private investigator. I also...dabble in magic." He grimaces a bit. What a stupid way to put it, nice fucking job, Tyler the Idiot. You dabble in magic? Really?

He draws a deep breath. "Look, I've been having some dreams lately, some visions. And they led here. And...and you're here. That can't be coincidence."

Hellboy has posed:
    "Great, kid," Hellboy says. "You see the baddie, you point me at 'em." He is largely done with conversation, and a normal human, even one that dabbles in magic, is not likely a particularly impressive partner for now. His ears perk up, so to speak, as he notices something. Reaching under his right arm with his left hand, he pulls out a truly magnificent and oversized revolver.
    "Hey!" he barks out. Someone farther along picks up a bench, pulling it from the bolts holding it in place, and throws it like a javelin at Hellboy. The demon smashes it away with his right hand then takes aim with his left. Unfortunately, people are now panicking and running every which way, and Red doesn't have a clear shot. "Damn it," he says before breaking into a run.

Tyler Locke has posed:
"Shit," Tyler murmurs when he sees Hellboy pull out the huge gun. Talk about an inferiority complex. Hopefully he won't have to pull out his comparatively tiny pistol. That would be embarrassing. Then the yelling and the throwing starts. And the panicking and the trampling. That elicits another "Shit" from Tyler. His in-country, boots-on-the-ground, shit-is-hitting-the-fan vocabulary doesn't seem particularly extensive.

BUT, he does burst into action. He's no Hellboy, but he has been in rough, supernatural spots before. Noting how clogged the stampede is suddenly getting, Tyler runs to a locked steel service door. He tugs a keychain from his pocket from which depend several old, fancy keys. He flips through them until he finds the one he wants. "The streets outside the subway," he says as he inserts the key into the service door and opens it. Instead of service corridors or machinery, behind it is...the street! "This way leads out!" he shouts, hoping to give the congested stampede yet one more exit.

Hellboy has posed:
    That's nonsensical enough for some people to avoid it, but given all the craziness going on in the world, lately, other people rush for it, and soon it's just another crowded exit with people fleeing through it.
    Hellboy is blindsided by the comparative normalcy of what he's chasing, as it has apparently doubled back. As he passes a support pillar, the demon is kicked. Hellboy's frame is knocked powerfully back, flying against the far wall before dropping down onto the tracks in a heap. He quickly gets himself up, but he's out of the fight long enough for the perpetrator to blend into the crowd. Unfortunately, the crowd is congregating at the exits, meaning there's lots of potential collateral damage there.

Tyler Locke has posed:
Nope. Tyler saw that. He's been dreaming about this moment every time he closed his eyes for the past two weeks. His attention was locked on that demon. Acting cool and coy, he stands there as a river of fleeing citizens floods past him. He reaches into an inner pocket in his vest and pulls out an amulet hanging on a fancy chain. Affixed to the amulet is a key. He slips the necklace on and simply waits.

Eventually, the demon gets close enough, perhaps thinking its ruse to be successful. Then, just when it is about to pass through the door to freedom, Tyler punches it in the chest hard enough to kill a normal man. The disguised creature is knocked back in the direction of Hellboy. Unfortunately, a few bystanders did get struck by the flying body. Tyler quickly moves to see what aid he can render to them.

Hellboy has posed:
    Hellboy climbs up out of the subway tracks. The people who are knocked down are mostly scrambling to get away from the fight. As Hellboy stands, the beastly thing...which just looks like a normal human to both he and Tyler, jumps up onto its feet. It currently has the form of a short, dumpy, gruzzled man (like grizzled, but less attractive). It wears a plethora of tattered layers, and appears to be about a hundred pounds overweight.
    Hellboy raises his hand to nail it into the tile, but the overweight man moves with surprising speed, head-butting at Hellboy. As the demon's fist comes down, it impacts the overweight man's back, which seems to complicate plans. The man attempts to shake off Hellboy like a dog. It curses in various languages, all of which sound gross enough to turn the stomach.

Tyler Locke has posed:
The first thing that Tyler does after the punch is to get wounded people out of the subway stop. With the Hercules Key in place, picking up bodies is pretty trivial. The crowd itself is beginning to thin as most people have already fled the area. That also helps the cause. With the assistance of some other concerned citizens, Tyler ferries some wounded bodies out to the street.

He returns in time to see the disguised creature in melee with Hellboy. "I'm going to regret this," he murmurs as he charges /toward/ the fighting. As he does, he tugs his keyring out of his pocket and isolates one key in particular: the Alpha Key. When inserted into the chest of a demon, it destroys the creature and reduces it to a piece of extremely valuable Whispering Iron. He dives into the fray with the strength of Hercules, surprising the creature just enough for Tyler to tear away the creature's shirt. He blinks in surprise when he sees that no keyhole opens in the beast's chest. "What the...this thing's not a..." he starts to say, but gets cut off as the powerful attacker throws him into a wall. Momentarily stunned, Tyler lies there trying to catch his breath.

Hellboy has posed:
    Lifting his pistol once again, Hellboy levels it at the not-a-demon. However, the assailant quickly wades through the sea of people, pushing people aside and knocking over people like bowling pins. Rushing through the door to the streets, he grabs it and slams it heartily behind himself. Hellboy chases him, running down the gap in the people. Pulling open the door, he wordlessly shouts in frustration as he's greeted with the pipes and cables of subway infrastructure. He shuts the door and moves to Tyler.
    "You okay, kid?" the demon asks him, holstering his sidearm.

Tyler Locke has posed:
After a few moments, Tyler rises to his feet. Underneath it all, he's just a regular dude. And getting thrown into a wall by a supernatural being when you're just a regular dude basically sucks. "Yeah," he gasps as he steadies himself on the wall. He's beginning to regain his senses and his, you know, ability to breath. He flicks his chin in the direction of the door. "What the hell was that thing?" he asks. "It definitely wasn't a demon."

Hellboy has posed:
    "Troll," grunts Big Red. "Not one of the big, strong guys. Fought them before. This one was supposed to be one of the small ones. Scared of canaries. Not sure why it was able to hit so hard."

Tyler Locke has posed:
Tyler swallows. He's holding his ribs but seems to be walking, talking, and breathing okay. He'll be a few days recovering. "I think I might know. There is a powerful key in my family called the Omega Key. It's capable of opening a demonic portal on our ancestral land in Massachusetts. I think that creature somehow has it. The key has been missing for years and lately I started dreaming about the key and some sort of being that I couldn't see in the dream."

Hellboy has posed:
    "Huh," Hellboy says. He rubs his brow with his left hand and says, "Okay, well, that's not part of my mission parameters." He looks once more at Tyler. "Good luck with that key thing." Without another word, he starts walking toward the subway's exit. He hesitates at the service door again. He looks at it, then opens it quickly. "Bah!" he says at the infrastructure. He starts up the stairs to street level.