III. Background

[BPRD]

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[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=cellpadding,2,true][atrb=cellspacing,1,true][atrb=width,450,true][bg=131313] "Victory is mine." With those words, Prince Nuada Silverlance threw down Hellboy and took control of the Golden Army. He let Hellboy live so that he might see the world of man destroyed under his rule, knowing that witnessing the destruction of those he had fought so hard to protect would wound him deeper than any spear ever could. Hellboy, Liz, and Abe retreated to the Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense to regroup and think of ways they might attempt to stop the elven king. Princess Nuala went with them, but soon left to do what she could to stall the inevitable. She became queen according to her birthright, splitting Elfland down the middle as those from different clans adhered to either the prince and his army or the princess and her compassion. In the midst of all of this, new agents continued to join the BPRD, hoping to stem the tide that was about to wash over the world of man. Among these were Frankie Guidicini, an immortal fresh from serving for almost sixty years in Russia; Sister Angel Maxwell, a nun with more divine origins than met the eye; and Kasim Chionesu, an FBI agent with no family to speak of. The Bureau continued to function and operate, quelling poltergeists and banishing ghosts, but now in the public eye due to Hellboy's actions in New York City. And, of course, there was the matter with Hellboy and Liz's growing family. Liz was pulled off of field work as her pregnancy progressed and this made Hellboy strive for any solution to the war looming on the horizon. When no solution was found and the Golden Army struck weeks after Nuada seized power in the Giant's Causeway, Nuada got what he wanted. New York City was eviscerated and there was nothing that the BPRD could do to stop it. They were ousted from their headquarters in New Jersey and sought refuge in the long-forgotten and isolated base located in Colorado. The base had been the headquarters for the BPRD after they relocated from Mexico and before they had moved to New Jersey. After brushing off some dust and getting everything back in order, the base accommodated the remaining members well. In an effort to try and halt Nuada's work from the inside, Frankie was sent in undercover. Her fantastic origins granted her acceptance, but Frankie was faced with a quandary -- Her goal was to stop Nuada but to do so without killing him. Killing him would end Nuala's life as well, and that would leave the BPRD and the world with two separate factions of elves that would very likely seek retaliation. No, Nuada's death would solve this war and start another one. Frankie had to find another way to hinder his efforts so that the BPRD could stop him. Months wore on. The war raged. Most of the east coast was obliterated under the rule of Nuada and his Golden Army. Agents died. Civilians died. Mankind as a whole was on the losing side, for Nuada's conquests inspired other fantastic creatures to rise up all over the world and take what had once been theirs. No solution was in sight, so Hellboy decided to make the ultimate sacrifice. Liz had told her husband what the Angel of Death had told her. He knew it would be the end of him, the end of the world that he had known. But if he could prevent the spread of Nuada and the evil that was seeping across the planet, he would face the ultimate punishment for his actions. Using the Right Hand of Doom, Hellboy fulfilled the desire of Rasputin and unleashed the Ogdru Jahad for good this time. Their entrance into the earth catalyzed Ragnarök, and the heavens were ripped open. Chaos is such a bland word to describe what truly happened. All the divine forces that ever were and ever would be entered the mortal plane for one last battle, clashing against the Golden Army, the BPRD, and Anung un Rama. Months later, the mortal plane was a devastated wasteland. Rubble stood where gleaming cities had towered. Corpses rotted and polluted waterways and jagged stretches of road. Nuada's army floundered, but he had enough for one last push against Anung un Rama, the Ogdru Jahad, and the forces of Hell itself. What remained of the BPRD entered the fray and there was one last battle. Liz had watched all of his unfold from the confines of the Bureau, heavy with child. At the moment before battle, her water broke. As her comrades, friends, and love fought for the earth's soul, she gave birth to two twins: Magdalena and Trevor. The stress and heartbreak she endured was too severe, though, and the pyrokinetic died from complications shortly after the birth of her children, nothing but a drop in a sea of death that day. Hellboy gave his life for the world that had shunned him. He defeated Nuada's army, and with the last of his strength, rent the Ogdru Jahad into pieces. He fell to his knees, surveying the carnage -- the tentacles of the abomination, the bodies of Kasim and Angel and so many of his brothers and sisters from the Bureau scattered on the field. He thought to the woman he loved and their children and prayed the world would be better for what he did. His last breath was spent, and Hellboy fell to the earth, dead from the wounds he sustained to quell the chaos that had entered the world. The world still lay in tatters despite his efforts. Though Nuada had lost his army, the king still lived and his kingdom still stood. He retreated to govern his people and his territory. Frankie emerged from the battle, her true colors shown to the King of Elfland and his child growing in her belly. Nuala, torn between her love for Abraham Sapien and her duty to those who followed her, also resigned to pick up the shattered pieces of her kingdom and help her people recoup. The United States of America was no more. It fell into areas underneath the control and protection of whatever forces were left. Some stretches of land were ruled by Nuada, others Nuala, some were protected by the shambles of the BPRD, and still others were vast expanses of No-Man's Land. The supernatural and chaotic forces, while defeated as a whole, claimed some regions as theirs, sticking particularly to where large cities and highly populated areas had once been. Out of all of this, the Bureau still stood. Abe set to rebuilding the organization with Frankie and the remaining agents. John Myers survived, after everything, and did his best to help Abe and Frankie cobble together a network of people that could protect what was left of civilization. The years passed, the twins grew as their BPRD family fostered and nutured them in place of their parents. Frankie gave birth to Nuada's son and Nuala, though she couldn't take Abe as consort, still managed to have her children by him. The world is not as it was and never will be again. But the BPRD hopes to make it better. And there are still many things that go bump in the night. Do you have the guts to bump back?