A/N The first scene is young Integra, the second 17 year old Integra, and the third grown Integra.

I own nothing except the idea. That's mine. All mine.

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"I don't know."

"It's a simple question."

They stood in the middle of the room, squaring off. A young woman and a man.

She looked at him, a defiant gleam gracing her face.

"It is not your concern," she said firmly. "My pastimes are my own."

She turned to walk away, but he was far quicker and caught up to her heels before she had made two strides. He grabbed her wrist and spun her around to face him.

"Your pastimes will never be your own," he snarled at her, spittle escaping him. "You own nothing. You are a woman."

She slapped him hard across the face. He was caught off guard, clearly not expecting the blow. He turned back to her slowly and she saw rage in the way his mouth was set firmly, like a locked steel chest. Immediately she wanted to correct her mistake, but her foolish pride wouldn't let her.

"Women are the bearers of men you fool," she hissed at him, backing away from his advancing figure. "You would not be standing here without a woman to give you life."

He laughed, catching up to her. He grabbed a fistful of her long platinum hair and pulled her head to his, so his lips were pressed up against her ear. She could feel the moist heat from his mouth against her flesh. It was rotten.

"Woman," he told her, "are just vessels for God's brunt work. Men are His divine creatures, made in his image."

The young woman closed her eyes, shutting them so hard that she could not feel anything around her.

"You, my sweet," he told her, "are nothing but the cast off bone from something greater than yourself. A discarded useless rib from the body of a superior being."

Integra despised him like she never had before.

"One day you will see," he said nuzzling up against the side of her face. Integra tired to tilt her head as far as it would bend without breaking to avoid his scruff and the feeling of his slick warm skin against her own. "You will lie beneath a man, begging and wanting. Then you will know your place, the only place for a woman."

She snorted.

"That might be true," she half whispered and half hissed. "So long as you do not retain that happy pleasure as well."

And then, as hard as she could, she took her bony adolescent knee and jammed it so hard between his legs that he released her suddenly and as he sank to the ground she saw tears fill his eyes.

"It would seem," said Integra smartly, "that a man's greatest treasure is also the source of his most vulnerable weakness."

She turned to walk out she stopped in the door way.

"I will kindly remind you, Uncle, that a woman will not fall after one fatal blow," she paused before her next words, wondering how bold she was feeling. "Besides, the bigger they are, the harder they fall."

She could swear she heard him laugh, and knew that she had won.

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"Sir Hellsing," said a member of the Protestant Knights. "You are of age now to take over the Hellsing organization; you have met all the requirements and have successfully managed to convince Her Majesty of your ability."

The man said these words as if they were a eulogy. As if she had done some terrible deed.

"I am quite aware," said Integra dryly, eager to be on with the subject.

"Yes," said the man uncertainly. His eyes shifted to his companions. He suddenly seemed anxious, as if he had been tricked into something. "However there is one more thing that the Order would like to address."

Integra's eyes narrowed dangerously.

"Indeed." It was not a question.

The man pulled at his collar.

"Yes, er, well….There have been some concerns expressed about your gender…about how it will affect your leadership capabilities."

Integra said nothing.

"You see…most soldiers are men…and women are not know for having the mental capabilities to deal with war-"

Integra's eyebrows raised. She put up a hand to silence him.

"Kindly shut-up," she said. Her voice was filled with disinterest. "Your ignorance does you a great deal of harm."

His eyes widened.

"But Ms. Hellsing-"

"Sir Hellsing."

"But it is a legitimate concern," he said, clearly offended. "Women are the weaker sex!"

Integra smiles, a cigar firmly between her teeth.

"Why don't you express your concerns to the Queen?" she asked mockingly. "When she too is of the same belief, I will gladly step down."

With that she pushed herself out of the chair and held her hand out.

"Give me the papers I need to run my organization or I will give you evidence that I have the perfect mentality for warfare."

They did. She left.

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"I dunno Captain, seems a bad idea," said a man in uniform. "Taking a job under a broad, I've heard tell that they're the sort that leads men to their undoin'."

Pip Burnadette shrugged. "She paid in advanced," he stated simply, then with a grin. "Bezides, I've never been able to zay no to a lady."

The other mercenary just looked at him oddly.

"Don't be so zuperstitious," Pip said, rolling his eyes. "Woman never enjoy a brawl, zis iz going to be a hella eazy job."

He snapped his fingers and a group of men started unloading a truck. "I zink our greatest challenge will be ztaying in shape."

Just as he finished his sentence, the boss lady herself arrived on the scene.

"Hello, bozz lady," he said by way of greeting. "We are juzt unloading ze firearms-"

"Do whatever you need to," she snapped. "Tonight you have your first assignment. I expect not to be disappointed."

Pip snorted. "What iz that?" he asked. "I think we'll probably be alright."

"Fine," she said, a mad glint in her eyes. "But just so you know, you'll be facing undead creatures of the night."

She turned on her heel and walked away. Pip wondered if she was kidding, or if his English was failing him.

"Rrrright," he said as she walked away. He turned to the other mercenary. "Maybe you were right," he said. "This one zeems to be off the deep end."

The other mercenary laughed. "No Captain," he said with a smile, throwing an arm around the other man. "This is going to be easy. Clearly she's crazy as a loon, we're going to have to do laps just so we don't get fat."

Pip smiled, but in the pit of his gut he had a bad feeling about this one.

"We'll zee," he said. "But I've learned never to undereztimate a woman, ezpecially ones who wear men'z zuits."

The other mercenary just looked at him oddly.

A/N Well, this little tidbit came to me in a moment or boredom, so I surpassed an hour of sleeping to get it done. Hope you like it and all. I think it's really interesting how Pip is the only one who doesn't take her for a fool, even though he's also the most…manly, I suppose.

As usual, please review; it makes the plot stark drop ideas into my mind, which benefits you.