Lexa Prine is mine. All other comic references belong to their respective owners, authors, directors, artists, etc...
“Spaghetti?” Lexa asked, a mixture of puzzlement and frustration on her face. “You insult me, then you offer me spaghetti?”
“Well, yeah. I said I wanted to start over.” He smiled at her hopefully. Behind him, his tail twitched, and Lexa couldn’t help but snicker. She knew from first impressions that she would be angry with him a lot, but would have a very hard time staying that way for long.
“Sure…why not?”
“Good.” With one broad arm, Red swept the table clear of cats and dropped two bowls to the table. Lexa watched with amusement as he fluttered around the room – as well as a large, red monkey-like creature could flutter – and set the table with spaghetti, bread, and full place settings. “How’s that?” he asked.
“Wonderful,” she replied, and bounded over to the table. There was at least a shred of happiness left in her, because he had found it. As she sat down, she realized that there was more spaghetti in the bowl in front of her than she knew she could eat in three days, but she said nothing about it. At least he had been so kind as to serve it for her.
“So…what other tricks can you do?” Red asked, and shoved a forkful of spaghetti into his mouth. Lexa immediately bristled. She wanted to flare up and scream at him, but the sliver of rationality left in her mind told her that he was only trying to make conversation.
“I’m a shape shifter,” she said through gritted teeth. “I can change my hair and skin, and shift into the form of any mammal.” She couldn’t believe she just admitted it. She had never willingly told anyone what she was.
“Hmm,” he responded through a mouthful of spaghetti, seeming not to have noticed her turmoil. “Prove it.”
“What?” Lexa was surprised by the boldness. Yeah, she’d read the comics, but she couldn’t believe that anyone who would set a table so beautifully could be so forward.
“I wanna see you change shape.”
“No.”
“Come on…”
“No!”
“Don’t be shy. I won’t tell anyone.”
“I said no!”
"Jeez, okay…” he replied, waving her away. “I just wanted a little show with dinner is all. No need to bite my head off or anything.”
“I think this was a bad idea.” Lexa sighed and stood up. He moved like he would stop her, she thought, but he was only reaching for more spaghetti. “I’ll be leaving now.”
“Can’t,” Red replied, and dropped another spoonful of meatballs into his bowl. “Locked in…unless you’re planning to bash through a wall.”
Lexa was frantic. She wanted out – away from him, from Myers, from Abe…from the whole mess of freaks. All the ideas she had that she might be able to fit in here were suddenly crushed by this one simple request. And now she was stuck in the room with him, alone.
“This is not happening,” she muttered, and started pacing the room, careful not to step on the cats. “I have to get out…” She searched the door and the walls around it for any sign of impurity – any crack or crevice that she could disappear into. Just when she was certain she would be trapped in the room with Hellboy until his next feeding time, she spotted her escape.
Without a word, she danced her way across the room, avoiding cats, clothes, and weapons, and stretched up to pull the grate away from the air duct. Red watched curiously as she worked out how exactly she was going to get through the small, rectangular hole. She could feel his eyes on her, and she knew he had several smart comments…she could feel him biting them back. She groaned, knowing she was inevitably going to have to give him the show he wanted.
Resigning herself to it and closing her eyes, Lexa bowed her head and pictured in her head the thing she wanted to become. She felt her skin shifting; her muscles contracting and turning. Her skin turned to feathers, and her toes to talons. When Lexa opened her eyes, she was looking at the world through the amber-colored eyes of a goldfinch. Somewhere above her, applause sounded.
“Nice,” he said, though through the hearing of a bird, the sound warbled. She chirped at him and he tilted his head to the side. “I don’t speak that language,” he replied, and started across the room to get a better look at her. Lexa, ready to be gone, took flight just before he was within arms’ reach, or one of her many feline stalkers pounced. She landed on the lip of the duct, chirped her goodbyes, and hopped through the tunnel, leaving a very large, very stunned red creature scratching his head in confusion.