Ever since the boy had discovered what his father did for a living, Hellboy had wanted to come along. So when the Professor finally relented, after months of refusals and big yellow puppy dog eyes, Hellboy was ecstatic. He would finally get to help his father "fight monsters and beat up bad guys, just like Lobster Johnson!".
The truth of the matter was, Professor Broom had chosen this particular assignment because it seemed relatively action-free. The ‘Beast of Busco’, an enormous turtle originally sighted in 1898 by a farmer named Oscar Fulk in what is now Fulk lake, had been reportedly sighted again by a couple while fishing. Several mysteriously damaged boats and a media frenzy later, the BPRD was politely asked to look into it.
Trevor had hoped to show the boy that his job was more about gathering information from locals and exploring new places to discover lore than it was about encountering the actual ‘monsters’. His only worry was that his rambunctious lad might get too bored and run off to find his own trouble.
The boy hadn’t shown any sign of that so far, however, as he had brought along his fishing pole and tackle box. “I’m gonna FISH HIM OUT,” was his reasoning, and as soon as they got to the lake he settled down on a grassy hillock to do just that. For the past hour he’d sat there, unmoving, intent on his prey.
The relieved professor was interviewing the couple that had originally sighted the beast when-
"PROFESSOR! I GOT SOMETHING!"
He turned to see Hellboy enthusiastically pulling at his line, pole bent nearly in half.
"Excellent job, my boy. Don’t break your equipment, now!" he called in return, then continued the interview. Perhaps if it was a catfish, they could all have a fish-fry later. That would be a nice change of pa-
"PROFESSOR! PROFESSOOOOOR!”
With a sigh he turned again, ready to exclaim at an expertly caught tin can or clump of weeds, only to see Hellboy actually being yanked toward the edge of the lake by a lump that was emerging from the water just in front of his grassy knoll.
As the couple he was interviewing screamed and ran away, Trevor was off like a shot in the opposite direction. He reached his son just before he hit the water’s edge, grabbing both boy and pole while digging his heels into the marshy ground.
The lump emerging from the water had a distinct wedge shape, and as it surfaced the ground beneath their feet shifted in a jerk that tossed them both onto their backsides in the mud. The pole flew from Trevor’s hands and into the waiting maw of a turtle whose slimy head was larger than he was. They were currently seated on what was revealed to be its grass-covered shell.
Hellboy, for his part, looked delighted as his fishing pole disappeared into the turtle’s massive beak with a series of noisy crunches."Your name’s Oscar now,” he told it, then began digging through his tackle box for more snacks to give his new friend.So he had been paying attention at the briefing, thought Professor Broom dazedly as he peered over the side of the shell at the muddy ground. The boy never ceased to amaze him.Minutes later when the other agents ran up with their guns drawn, they found their team leader attempting to measure the jaw length of a turtle the size of a car while his young ward enticed it out of the water with a jar of worms.
"You’d best call an airlift in, chaps," hollered the Professor, waving his tape measure at them. "I daresay this fellow could stand to be moved to a bigger pond!"
