by thedoctor and Grimm
As Grimm, Turkish Stringfellow (with Naecken in his arms), and Dirk Bell made their way out of the cave, a large woolly mammoth stood in their way and let loose an awful sound from its trunk.
"Now," Dirk said to the others, "that's something that I can honestly say you don't see every day."
As if already aware of the creature's next move, Turkish asked the cave walls to provide them with some cover. A boulder dislodged itself out of the wall and came to a rest in front of the men just before an ice blast had reached them. Grimm put his hand on the boulder and felt it chill dramatically.
"What do we do now?" Grimm asked.
"I've got a plan," Dirk said as he began to rifle through his coat. He pulled and returned objects to their pockets as he searched for something in particular. "No. Not that one. No. I need to get more organized. Ah! Here we go!" He produced a large grenade from one of his hidden pockets.
"And that would be?" Grimm was curious as to what this little man had in store for the large mammoth at the cave's entrance.
"Thermite. Burns through anything. We both jump out from behind this rock, run like a bunch of morons to confuse ugly there, and pop this on him. Let's see how Mr. Snuffleupagus likes that. You go out the left side, and I'll go out the right while Turkish guards Hellboy here. On three. One... two... THREE!"
Grimm burst from behind the boulder like a berserker warrior. Dirk stayed in the same place.
"What happened?" Turkish asked him.
"I just realized. My plan won't work," Dirk replied. Turkish was about to intervene when Dirk smiled and said, "Just kidding." He ran out from behind the boulder with the grenade in one hand and the gun in the other. Now that bonehead has it distracted, I can sneak up unawares, he said to himself. He had his gun ready in case the beast ever got a glimpse of him.
As the sounds of battle echoed from behind the boulder, Turkish Stringfellow laid his burden down onto the ground and sat next to him. He removed Naecken's severed arm from within his robe, having commanded the blood to stop flowing out from within and set the arm in its former position. He closed his neo-purple eyes and began to concentrate. He had never tried anything like this, as far as he knew.
Slowly, the arm began to reattach itself to Naecken's body, severed tendons knitting themselves back together. Soon, Naecken was whole again. He remained unconscious, however. Turkish was not sure what to do about that.
He removed the boulder as to get a view of his unlikely companion's situation. What he saw surprised him, or rather, what he didn't see.
There was no mammoth. There was no ice. Rather, he saw Grimm and Dirk picking Tobias Christopher up off of the ground and attempting to revive him.
Turkish heard a voice echo throughout his mind.
"The Never-Master would see you survive, Prophet, to one day meet your destiny..."
"My thanks, ancient lord, and of those who stand with me," he spoke under his breath before picking up Naecken and carrying him out of the tunnel.
They were soon joined on the outside by Danny Hearn and Pete Glover/Chance.
Patrick Keith Richards III came bounding over the hillside, his secretary in tow. "What happened? Did you stop them? What were they?" He stopped short on catching sight of Grimm. "Diablo! Muerte! Muerte!"
Grimm turned to look at the small, loud man and responded, "That's Senore Muerte to you."
Pete/Chance turned to glance back at the tunnel entrance and saw a gray-robed man disappearing back into the entranceway. "There he is!" he shouted, and bounded off after the man.
Since when does Pete sound like that? Danny thought to himself.