redrighthanded | IC; Duplicity Inbox

[ Hellboy gives an amused grunt, enjoying the strange conversation they've drifted into. ]

Nah, he disappeared before my time. There are theories he was just a guy in a cape. That or a demon summoned up by some nobleman with a nasty temper to take the heat off his own crimes.

Having run after the bastard a couple of times, I can safely say that wasn't just a man in a cape. Had feet like yours, claws for fingers, and I don't know how he did it, but he could put me into a trance just by talking.

[It's so foggy in his mind, not because it happened a long time ago, but because the whole thing had felt like a strange opium dream.]

You ever... ever take something you probably shouldn't have, hallucinate some strange adventure? That's what it was like.

[ Hellboy makes an interested noise at having that particular theory confirmed. ]

Once or twice. [ To say the least. Though not always on purpose, and most of his strangest adventures haven't been hallucinations. At least not as far as he knows. ]

That part of your responsibilities running the gang? Seeing off guys like Jack?

[He pauses. He probably needs to face this sooner or later]

The gang work was part of something bigger. Not exactly a sideline. More... a means to an end. There was a group of people in London- the Templar Order- running the city into the ground. Forcing children to work in their factories all hours of the day, selling toxic potions as medicine, trading weapons, influencing Parliament for their own gain.

My job was to kill them.

[He gives a one-shouldered shrug] We thought Jack was part of one of their operations. I never did get to the bottom of it.

Templars, huh?

[ Hellboy doesn't seem phased, though he notes the slightly reluctant tone to Jacob's voice. He takes a final drag on his cigarette and stubs it out against the tabletop, dropping it into a chipped enamel mug that's become an impromptu ashtray, then leans forward over his knees, eyes on the younger man. ]

Those guys are always trouble. Something about doing the dirty work in the Crusades cooked their heads.

[ Now this is interesting. He hadn't thought that the order would exist outside his own world, so what Hellboy says makes him cock and eyebrow.]

They've been causing problems a lot longer than that, all the way back into Ancient times. But what trouble have they been giving you?

[ He can't imagine what the Templars would be doing that overlapped into Hellboy's work.]

[ Hellboy shrugs, leaning back in the chair. ]

Nothing personal. But them, guys like them, they're always hanging around. Orders of knights who think they need to be involved with everything. Pacts with demons and ghosts they made getting snarled up over the years. I got into it with one of them in, uh.. '85, I think, thanks to the Order of the Knights of Saint Hagan, some offshoot of the Templars. They were being killed off one by one by a demon they'd pissed off, then once that was done the demon stuck around. Started picking off villagers, taking girls to be his wives. So I had to put him down.

Doesn't surprise me, that they'd mess around with things they didn't know or understand like demons and whatnot. They mess around with that stuff where I'm from, but it's always innocent people that pay for it.

[ He leans back against the window sill arms crossed over his chest.]

Have you heard of the Assassin's Brotherhood?

[ Another shrug, though Hellboy's eyes narrow a little with interest. ]

Nope, sorry. Anyone I should know?

[ Jacob shakes his head. The fact people haven't heard of the Brotherhood doesn't mean it isn't there.]

I was curious. If your world had Templars, it might have us too. But the idea is that you shouldn't have heard of us.

Hence the hanging out on rooftops. [ Hellboy studies his roommate with interest. ]

Wouldn't have assumed you were the sneaky type. Though maybe that's the point.

Hence the rooftops. And the... not wanting to tell you immidiately. Sorry.

[Although he's not too sorry. Hellboy is sensible, he understands why Jacob wouldn't admit to it right off the bat.]

And I'm not. I'm the kick-the-door-down sort. My sister is better at sneaking.

Edited 2020-12-06 14:28 (UTC)

Guess you can't keep doing that stuff here.

[ He reaches for the whiskey bottle and takes a swallow. ] Unless those Templar guys show up.

Yes and no. As far as I'm concerned, there's a lot of things I can do to make things better here, whoever's in charge.

[It doesn't matter if it's Templars, in truth. Whoever runs this place needs to be stopped.]

Sure. [ Hellboy holds out the bottle to see if Jacob wants it. ]

These guys seem pretty powerful though. Not just a group of creepy guys in some bedsheets in a basement.

[ He'll take it, take a swig, and then another.]

I got myself into the Houses of Parliament, avoiding all the fucking police, and stabbed a member of the peerage through the neck. I can handle this place.

[ Hellboy raises his eyebrows a little. Not disbelieving, but speculative. ]

You stabbed a Lord and got away with it?

[ A roll of the eyes. ]

I'd be bloody useless if I got caught. That's why we're assassins, we get in, we get out.

[ Hellboy holds up a hand. ] Hey, I'm not doubting your skills.

[ Jacob calms down a little, his hand going to the short hair at the back of his head, rubbing at it. ]

Sorry. Had to defend myself a lot. But yes, I killed Lord Cardigan before he could bore me to death with war stories.

Remind me to stay on your good side. [ He hopes it's clear that's a joke. ]

Maybe you can teach me a thing or two sometime.

I doubt that will be very hard for you.

Sure. And maybe you can return the favour? Last time we were in a ring, it didn't go the way most fights tend to.

[ That gets a fond sort of smile. ]

Yeah, this place has a habit of messing with expectations. [ He scratches his bristly cheek. ] You have fun?

Certainly turned everything I thought I knew on its head. But there's some things... that aren't that bad.

Aren't that bad?

[ Hellboy pushes himself up from his chair and wanders back over to the bed, hunting down the last slice of pizza. ]

Like what?

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