The skiff slowed to a stop as it touched the low banks of the shore. Hellboy set the pole in place to keep it steady and jumped down from the boat, hooves kicking up sand. He straightened and shaded his eyes, gazing up at the grassy knoll nearby, as the warm breeze tickled his cheeks and the smell of summer flowers filled his nostrils.

“Well, here we are. Avalon.”

Dr. Doom stepped down from the boat as well, walking over to the red-hued demon and standing next to him. His cape billowed slightly in the soft summer breeze.

"A beautiful place indeed. I am reminded of the grassy hills and fields of Latveria," he spoke. "But let's not idle. You have been here before, Hellboy. Show the way."

“Just follow me. Careful, though. It gets a bit slippery.”

Hellboy led Doom up a small rise towards the castle in the distance. Long, winding stairs led up to the white-washed structure, surrounded by immense walls and parapets. Along the way, however, granite stone statures greeted them, and the demon’s face darkened at them.

“I love what she’s done to the place,” he muttered sarcastically under his breath. “Statues of her followers.” He growled, then spat, “Gothic art, she says...” his words fading into an unintelligible mumble.

He said no more as they reached the large oak doors, stopping before them as he used a large brass knocker, which he hit sharply three times, to alert the inhabitants of their presence. Not that they didn’t know that they were here already, probably, but it was more for propriety’s sake than anything else.

New to New Avalon since the last time Hellboy visited were several statues, each about 15 feet high, built in proportion to the height of the individual. They depicted fae past and present, including all current ones: Ember - guitar slung and arm raised to strum, Valerie - suited up and on her board, and Mere - basically just standing there all Panlike. There was no statue of Morgana, nor did it look like there was any place set out for one.

Morgana was just outside the castle gates, harvesting the fungal growth of a nearby tree.

"It seems to be our destiny, far away from our sacred lands," Morgana quietly sang to herself, one of Ember's songs stuck in her head, "Fighting someone else's war; it's a sad excuse for a legacy..."

“Oh, there you are.” Hellboy turned from the door, mismatched arms crossed over his chest as he eyed the witch turned queen gathering something from a nearby tree—probably for a potion or something, no doubt.

“Whatcha doing, Gramma, darling?” he cooed, striding up to her. “Is your arthritis giving you back problems?”

"Morgana," Doom spoke in greeting, having followed Hellboy up the winding stairs. He had kept quiet during their walk, having spent the time taking in as much of the island as he could. "So this is New Avalon. A serene land, much like my own in summertime. Tell me, my dear, a queen such as yourself must have some sort of guard. Why are they not currently escorting you?"

"Darling." Morgana said, matching Hellboy's tone. "This isn't the makings of a pain relief tonic, this is the makings of a most horrible poison. Paralyzes, then melts the walls of the stomach, letting the stomach acid work its magic from within. I'll give you some when it's done. Supposedly, it tastes... citrusy." She gave her ambiguous smile.

She turned to Doom.

"Oh, the fae are around." Morgana replied. "And besides, as Queen of this place, the raw magical power that courses through every little speck of matter here bends to my whim. I'm in no real danger here, from man, beast, or tantalizing red hunkademon..." She ticked Hellboy's chin, amused.

“Sounds delicious,” he purred, keeping his gaze focused upon her as she and Doom conversed.

“Hunkademon? Aw, sweetcheeks, you flatter me.” Hellboy grinned widely, smoothly pushing her hand away with a stone pinky. He debated about pulling a prank on her or two, but decided to tone things down seeing as he wasn’t alone on this venture.

“I didn’t come here to flirt outrageously with you like usual, unfortunately. I’m here on business.” He looked at the forest of trees around them, taking in the warmth and green, before turning back to her. “Just wondering what your plans for the place are. Besides the tacky statues, that is.”

"Perhaps," Doom replied to Morgana, folding his arms across his chest much like Hellboy had done earlier. "But I would not put all my trust in magic, or your court, were I in your place. Do you not have a standing army?"

"They're not currently standing, no." Morgana replied, flashing her ambiguous smile and leaving it at that.

"My plans? Well, they're rather longterm, but..." Morgana said, walking a dozen feet away from the castle. "See the top of the castle? My plan right now is to recruit and train as many followers as possible. Anei is the first, and more shall come. Once I've trained them to be sufficiently powerful, I will construct an obelisk on top of the castle, which will serve as an amplifier and distributor of raw magical power. This power will then be siphoned by all members of Portal Breach, to be used as they see fit. Essentially, darling, rather than keep New Avalon as the secluded island of mystery that its predecessor was, I plan to turn it into a magical conduit for the benefit of all."

“Hmmmmm.” Surprisingly, that wasn’t such a terrible idea. It was the complete opposite of what Hellboy had been dreading. Maybe... maybe he’d been wrong about Morgana. Just a little. It still sounded too good to be true, though. And that didn’t mean that he’d ease up on her on the subject of Zurg.

“That’s actually kinda... noble of you,” he admitted, rummaging around in his pockets. He still wasn’t completely sold, but anyway. “Not that I’m interested in magic, but seeing as you’re a magic user and the new queen and all, what do you say to this?”

He drew out a jewelled clip in the shape of a butterfly, currently dormant and immobile. “This is what remains of Psyche; it seems to react to strong emotion...” He handed it over to her so she could inspect it. “I really have no use for it, so I thought I’d just bring it back where it belongs.”

"And how do you plan on sharing this magic?" Doom asked, mildly curious about Morgana's plans himself. Avalon was certainly rich with magic. That much he could tell. He already knew it of course, but being here he could practically feel it coursing through the ground beneath his feet. Yes, this place could prove most useful.

"Don't look so surprised, daaaaarling." Morgana said with a smirk. "I come from a world where any man, no matter how foolish and feeble, could become great at magical arts. It's a gift from whichever gods above are the correct ones. So to come here, where I can count the number of true magical beings on one hand with a sizeable remainder, is quite disturbing."

"The obelisk would be keyed into both a certain mindset, and an initial incantation to set up a connection." She continued, answering Doom's question. "Child's play; several people did this back home. The people who wish to draw from the power of my followers and the power of Avalon would need only visit me, or anyone I've trained to do this, for the initial mental conditioning and incantation chant. A few hours, it'd take. Once that's done, well, how they'd draw magic from it is simply by using whatever magic they learn, from me or anyone else."

Morgana then looked at the butterfly clip.

"...Psyche." Morgana said, surprised, taking the clip. "Hm... despite the differences we had, she was a queen here, and her lineage must be respected. I suppose... either I could wear this, as sort of a 'the rulers of Avalon rule for eternity through each other' thing, or find some place of prominence for it within the castle. Hm... I'll have to think on this, darling."

“You got a point there,” Hellboy admitted, momentarily forgetting about his animosity. “There’re a hell of a lot of supernatural beings here, but not many are true magic users.”

He listened to her plans for the obelisk, nodding. The basic mindset behind it was something he was familiar with, having learned long ago from poring over old manuscripts with Bruttenholm. He had to thank him for drilling all of that information into him sometime. They had come in handy more than once.

“Take as long as you need,” he replied, shrugging. “It’s not mine to keep, though you might want to address the other fae before you reach an actual decision.”

He put a hand to his waist then, his tail swishing more agitatedly than before. “You know, I’ve been wondering,” he muttered, rubbing the back of his neck. “Are all those others still here? Puck? Griff, Arthur...?” He couldn’t help but shoot her a mischievous grin. “Or did you kick them out when you took charge?”

"No matter how foolish or feeble? Bah! Where I come from only those with enough intellect and insight into the magical arts would ever be able to learn such things, unless they consorted with demons of a more malicious nature than our red-hued friend here." Doom stated, motioning at Hellboy. "Teaching magics to mere simpletons without comprehension of the forces they are dealing with, and the risks involved, is disgraceful."