Order I – Blood Orchid

From above the world and beyond the heavens, the blood-red moon illuminated the night over the English countryside, in a place that seemed serene and peaceful to those that beheld it by day. This night, however, shattered that notion and ground the pieces to dust; for with the events that transpired there, it seemed the moon had been dyed red from blood spatter.

In the town of Liverpool, for several nights there had been outcry from the frightened and frustrated citizens over events they could not explain. Almost a week earlier, an organization claiming to be a branch of MI-5 had been established on the outskirts of town, alleging they were conducting surveillance training and weapons testing. As it turns out, nothing could have been farther from the truth; yet ironically, there was true merit in their words.

Shortly after their arrival, dozens of homeless and prostitutes from the surrounding area vanished, going missing over a span of a mere 48 hours. Then, the attacks had started; many villagers reported that they had found loved ones dead, drained of all blood and dried out completely. In time over 100 villagers were dead. Or so they believed.

A lone scientist ran through the hallways of a large, empty facility as though his very life were in the balance. His face rang of true terror and fear for his life. Ever since he had been hired by the stranger, he had known that their research was dangerous and likely to cause them harm. Were he not so afraid, he would likely have laughed at the thought that even though he was right, the boss was likely not still alive to gloat to. And soon, neither would he be.

Reaching one of the stairwells on the 10th floor of the building, the man found himself tripping at the top of the stairs on spilled fluid. Tumbling, he fell in a spinning motion down all 15 stairs to the landing below, leaving him in the dark and completely without any sense of direction. He could feel blood pouring from his temple; and worse, he could hear the incessant moaning.

"May God forgive me for what I have done." Initial tests on the 'patients' had yielded terrific results; from the saliva of a rare form of vampire bat, they had found cures for sexually-transmitted diseases previously incurable to so-called modern science. The drugs had worked magic; and though the early side effects of headache and dryness of mouth were annoying, they were well worth having one's syphilis or gonorrhoea treated and cured.

At least, that's what he had thought originally. Within several days of the first trial, the patients had exhibited new symptoms of fever, aggression and muscle spasm. As first he thought the sterilization had been compromised by the new and prototypal compound and had given them antibiotics. Within several hours, they had all died of heart attacks.

The very next day the coroners for the nearby town had been called, alerting them of the results of the trial. Nobody had expected this result, and certainly nobody had wanted it. With so many people dead, the trial should have been called a failure and scrapped. For whatever reason, the stranger had continued the project, with dire consequences.

The coroners never arrived to claim their decedents; instead, they had been cancelled by the boss, and another company was contracted to have the bodies buried. After that, villagers began dying of loss of blood, as though being victimized by some blood-sucking monster. Vampires, so the doctor thought, did not exist; they couldn't. Humans cannot metabolize blood, so nothing that was once human could be vampiric.

Now the horror of their mistakes had come back to haunt them. Earlier that night, 7 of the 22 deceased test subjects had returned, their skin pale and their eyes crimson red. Behind them, the wailing forms of dried-up, corpse-like beings. Zombies; something else that supposedly did not exist. The security force on site had been devastated, becoming victims of the test subjects and joining the ranks of the wailing, moaning monstrosities that followed them like rats.

Looking down towards the small light from lower down the stairwell, he could see the shuffling, slowly-moving outlines and glowing eyes that accompanied the wailing. Horror did not begin to describe the doctor's feelings; for he knew now that his time had come. He was being punished by Him for playing with His world; and he had no recourse but to accept judgment.

Within seconds, the shambling forms had made their way up the stairs to the floor below, continuing on their path towards the doctor and his flesh. Though he tried to crawl back away, with his legs broken there was no escape. He was going to die here, and he knew it. All that was left to do was make peace with God, and hope that He was as loving and forgiving as they said He was.

Again, however, the doctor was surprised to see that he was wrong; and this time, in a pleasant way. Zooming past the 8 or so shambling figures, a black blur passed around the doctor and stopped on the stairs just above him. Before the doctor could turn and see the party responsible, the bodies of the decaying army fell to pieces along deliberate slash marks that formed in several places. The end result was tumbling pieces of meat that fell down stairs, landing in the darkness below.

Finally averting his eyes from that spot, the doctor shifted his head and gazed upon his saviour. Standing on the steps, dressed in a full-body form-fitting black outfit with stiletto heels and matching gloves, a young girl with rather pale skin, strawberry-blonde hair, and bluish eyes looked down upon him in concern, showing that she was there to save him rather deliberately. "Are you alright, sir?" she asked softly and kindly. "You weren't bitten by them, were you?"

"N-no m-madam," the man replied, his voice shaky but his word still polite. "No, they didn't get a hold of me just yet; but I fear they would have if you'd been any longer. I'm dearly grateful to you, miss…"

"Seras," the girl replied, flashing the man a small smile. "Seras Victoria." Reaching to her side, she produced a small handgun and gave it to the man, saying, "You should hold onto this, and use it to protect yourself. Allies of mine will he arriving soon with medical supplies; but I have to deal with the entire ghoul outbreak in the meantime, so I can't stay and protect you."

"Are you sure miss Victoria?" the doctor offered, trying to be chivalrous even to an assassin. "Don't you need this gun in tackling this… this outbreak? I mean… I know you're certainly a professional, but is it wise to disarm yourself in a manner like this?"

"I have plenty more weapons," Seras explained, reaching into her other pocket and producing an entire set of 10 throwing knives, each with the Holy Cross carved onto the tips of the blades. "But with your leg broken, you need that gun more than I do." Reaching down, Seras wiped some of the blood away from the doctor's glasses and adjusted them for him, in the process getting blood on her hand. "I'll check on you again when I'm done."

"Thank you, miss Victoria," the man told Seras, smiling as the girl turned and jumped up the floor he had come from. Bursting through the door, Seras placed her knives back in her pocket, and took a second to lick the blood from her hand. She was starving, having lost a lot of energy from the raid; but she could not bring herself to feed on an innocent human. For now, she would simply snack on a wound.

With the taste of blood ion her mouth, her eyes immediately returned to their normal crimson colour; and with that she grabbed the throwing knives, placing 5 in each hand, and she started down the first hallway. Immediately she was met by about 20 ghouls that all reacted to her presence by advancing. Though ghouls were faster than one would expect of the dead, they paled in comparison to a Nosferatu like Seras.

Immediately Seras fanned the throwing knives within her hands and threw them, her arms going in swinging arcs. The knives each embedded in the forehead of a ghoul, causing them to fall to the ground, eternally silenced. Since the Incognito incident, it had become policy for Hellsing employees to carry blessed weapons other than guns; blessed throwing knives were an easy choice.

"Let's dance, boys," Seras then challenged confidently, reaching over her shoulders in an x-formation and producing two katanas. Each of these weapons was a standard-issue weapon, steel-iron alloy blade; but the handles were silver, shaped like the cross, and carried the blessing of an Anglican priest. Jumping forwards, Seras used her two weapons and sliced the heads off 6 more ghouls, her heels going straight through two more of them and smashing their brains against the walls.

Turning around, she saw the two ghouls behind her spin around, preparing to move for her again. Once again, however, they came up short; using her powers, Seras raised her right hand and brought the knives back to her, pulling them from their victims' flesh and pulling them back straight through the remaining two. In both bases the knives passed straight through the heart of the ghoul, meaning that by the time Seras grabbed her weapons they had silenced the targets.

Turning back in the right direction, Seras was quick to continue running down the hallway, re-sheathing her swords and putting her hunting knives back in place. Before long she came across a feeding place where 5 ghouls, and 3 vampires, were bent over a series of dead and mangled corpses of scientists from the facility. All 3 of the vampires were prostitutes, women dressed in the clothes of their profession; and when they saw that Seras was there, each of them turned and stood up to face her.

Licking their lips at the pretty young Draculina, each of the three rogue vampires before her looked unsatisfied with such a simple, meaningless kill. The only meal they desired was vampire blood, a treat no vampire could refuse. Instead of showing fear, however, Seras saw a flash of crimson out of the corner of her eye and issued, "Have at me, ladies."

Each one of the three vampires made a face like a cat ready to pounce, their elongated nails and fangs bared and ready to attack the prey. This meant nothing, however; for as the three of them pounced, a flash of red zoomed by the other end of the hall, accompanied by three gunshots. Each one of the heads of the vampiresses exploded, splattering blood and brains all over the walls; and as the bodies fell to the floor, they simply dissolved into piles of blood-red sand.

Wasting no time, Seras reacted to this by producing one of her swords again; this time, she swung it with lethal precision, decapitating all 5 ghouls in one motion. Not wanting to waste any more time than she already had, she replaced the weapon on her back and jumped upwards, using her powers to simply pass through the ceiling and land on the next floor. "I need to quit forgetting that I don't need to take the stairs anymore."

When she landed on this floor, the only thing she saw was darkness, as well as four more piles of blood-red sand strewn around. That meant 7 in total had been eliminated; and since only 7 of the 22 victims had become vampires (the rest, she suspected, had in fact become prey for them and thus changed into ghouls instead), that meant that there were to be no more ghouls here.

"Hold it right there!" a voice issued from behind Seras, causing her to gasp in surprise. The voice that spoke had a distinct Asian accent, North Korean she believed; and as she turned around, she saw that the man before her was in fact dressed in a North Korean military uniform. But more importantly than that, he held up a sub-machine gun pointed at Seras; and from the inscriptions on the side, it was likely the bullets were silver and blessed.

"You have no idea how much trouble you've caused me, Hellsing concubine," he issued, indication for her to step to the wall with his gun. Once she was there, he stepped and positioned himself right in front of her, reaching to her back and taking her swords. As he moved to take her knives as well, she noticed that his skin was flesh-tone and his eyes dark brown; this man was no vampire, but he was some kind of monster. "My boss wanted these vampires tomorrow; and now what do I tell him?"

"Let's start with you telling me some things," Seras said boldly, actually surprising the North Korean given the situation. "I know you're not with MI-5 like you told the Municipal Government here; after all, Yon Kai, defection from Kim Jong-Il is a death offence." As the man snarled from the girl's use of his name she added, "What did you think; that Hellsing wouldn't investigate the vampires?"

"The vampires were never supposed to get so out of hand like they did," Kai explained sternly, insulted as though she had actually criticized his work. "Everything was planned so perfectly; with the Freak Chips monitored, then using injections was the perfect method of vampire production. Using the useless members of society gave us easy scapegoats; after all, nobody misses drug addicts and whores. The one thing we didn't count on was the vampires being so hungry."

"You didn't expect that vampires would drink so much blood?" Seras questioned disbelievingly. "Vampire bats drink half their weight in blood in one night. For a man of science like you, that's a pretty basic fact-checking error."

"SHUT YOUR MOUTH TO ME, VAMPIRE BITCH!" Kai screamed, pointing the gun between Seras' eyes and gaining a look of unbelievable rage. "The problem was not the volume, but the impatience. Previous research said that the vampires would rest after their first two or so victims; so after they devoured the other test subjects, they should have been satiated. But because our base was late to pick them up…"

"The coroners you contracted out," Seras deduced, remembering the details she had been told. "You were going to sneak the vampires back to North Korea. And then what? Use them as weapons against the United States? Did you learn nothing from the failures of Projects Sturgeon and Cherry Blossom?"

"Those fools experimented only with ghoul production," Kai explained, his expression shifting all at once to one of sadistic victory. "Producing vampires is a whole new step. And we have your Hellsing Organization to thank for that. After all, you gave us the idea of using vampires. That's right, Seras Victoria; North Korea is using Great Britain as its templar. How does that feel?"

"The idea of a loose cannon bastard country like yours using our techniques sickens me," a deep, strong voice echoed seemingly from all around them. As Kai looked up to observe the location of the sound, a red glowing sigil with several symbols around a pentagram and adorned with Latin writing appeared on the ceiling, spinning; and determining its meaning to be something Seras had done, he repositioned the gun.

"Time for you to go to hell, stinky bitch!" the man yelled, reaching for the trigger and starting to press it. Seras let out a small yelp of fear as he started the process; but a second later, a flash of red consumed the man entirely. A fraction of a second later, the sound of the gun went off, but with no bullet to hit Seras; instead, the red light withdrew from around the man, revealing yet another figure to have joined the fray.

Standing behind Kai, a man at least 6'6" stood, a sadistic grin on his mouth showing his fangs. Most of his face was hidden by red sunglasses and a matching fedora; he also wore a red trench coat over a black riding suit and boots, as well as white gloves bearing the symbol of the now-vanished sigil. The man had his left arm around Kai's chest, pinning his arms at his side and thus aiming his gun down; and his right hand held a long black handgun, labelled "Jesus Christ is in Heaven Now", against the man's temple.

"I see I was just in the nick of time, Police Girl," the new male vampire issued, speaking in a rather confident and snide manner. "Had I waited any longer, I'd be looking for a new partner. I trust that you eliminated all the ghouls?"

"Every single one of them," Seras told the man, smiling and giving him a thumbs up. "And I can see that you've already taken care of the vampires. Did you find any survivors?"

"20, I believe. Two of them were bitten by ghouls and had to be put down; the rest suffered more minor injuries and are awaiting medical treatment. Now then, I take it I don't need to hold him here and wait for you to go change your pants; so unless something else needs to be addressed, we can begin our interrogation."

Looking down, Seras saw the three small holes in Kai's leg, which were now letting off some blood; as well as a small chip out of the concrete floor. When Kai was pinned, his gun must have gone off at his feet, fragmenting and digging into his leg. "Ah yes, let's," Seras decided, looking back at Kai. "But first, I'd like to introduce to you, Kai, my Master and Hellsing's lead agent; Alucard."

"I know who this guy is," Kai responded harshly, prompting Alucard to press his gun harder against the man's temple and place a tighter grip on the trigger. "Go ahead, shoot me! You'll never get anything out of me that way!"

"Don't be too sure about that, punk," Alucard hissed. In less than a second he repositioned the gun against Kai's neck and pulled the trigger. The bullet grazed Kai's neck, missing both his carotid artery and jugular vein and embedded in the wall; and after that blood began to pour from his neck, which Alucard began to lap up with his long tongue.

Looking back at Seras, who had moved away from the wall, Alucard turned Kai in the same direction to face her, returning his gun to its position against the man's temple. "This guy's blood tastes like pig shit; and what's more, he has no valuable information. He's nothing but a grunt for Kim Jong-Il; he knows nothing more that he needs to know. Some brilliant scientist; he's a fraud."

"I'm the fraud, Alucard?" Kai asked disbelievingly. "What about you Alucard? What sort of example are you? You're a vampire, a creature of the night and a servant of Satan; and yet, you dare to hide behind the mask of holiness. You work for the Queen of England and a Protestant Organization. How can you sell yourself so short of your true potential? Join us, and we'll use you to the best of your abilities."

"Let's get one thing straight, punk; I don't give a shit about the Queen or her church," Alucard growled at him. "But this bullshit you've drummed up has gotten my Master in a stir. That woman is who allows me to exist and feed without the tedious task of isolating or protecting myself; and I owe everything to her for letting me out of that cell they had me in. And then, as though that weren't enough, you had the gall to corner and threaten my partner, my blood; and after all that, you expect me to join you? I'd sooner set up shop in Satan's basement."

"Then in that case," Kai told him gaspingly, showing restraint for his anger, "I'll give you the chance to do just that!" With reflexes to shame a cat, Kai bent his arm up and back so that his gun was pointed straight down at Alucard, ready to place a holy round in the vampire's skull. In awaiting the next event, Seras closed her eyes and listened for the sound of a gunshot.

Instead, a second later, she heard the sound of bones snapping and flesh tearing. Opening her eyes, she could see that in fact Alucard had been faster; he had moved his left arm and pushed it straight through Kai's head, back to front, resembling a stiff-arm salute as the man's head splattered all over the walls in a grotesque fashion.

Pulling his arm free from the man's face, Alucard was fast enough to grab the man's corpse by the shoulder, pocketing his own weapon while he grabbed the man's machine gun from off the floor. Looking over it for a second, he the pointed it at the window and pulled the trigger, watching as a spray of bullets left the gun and destroyed the window. "I think I'll keep this."

Watching as Seras turned to leave, a sadistic smile came over Alucard's face and he yelled, "Police girl!" Once she had started to turn to face him, he threw Kai's dead body straight at her, making her squeak like a mouse before she caught the body with her right hand. When she threw him an angry glare, Alucard explained without changing his expression, "You did a lot of work tonight; you should eat and regain your strength. Unless of course, you're squeamish about sharing food with me."

Looking at Alucard and then at the dead body in front of her, Seras had an almost disgusted look on her face. Putting aside even his grotesque condition and the fact that he was already starting to stink, Alucard had just told her that his blood tasted terrible. A second later, however, her stomach let out an audible rumble and she sighed, turning her attention to the neck wound. As she pressed her lips to the injury, she began to suck the blood, prepared for the horrid taste; but instead, she was confronted with something that didn't taste all that off. "I thought you said it was awful."

"You're surprised?" Alucard mused. "It's much more entertaining this way." Hearing a sound from outside the window, he then walked over to it; and looking outside he issued to her, "Our cleanup crew has arrived. Join me when you've finished your dinner." Upon saying that, Alucard stepped through the broken window, his coat billowing as he fell straight down in a soldier's position. Once he reached the ground, he turned his attention to a man in a black uniform; and stepping up to him, he told the man, "Mission complete."

"I'm not Ferguson, Alucard," the man corrected, indicating a gold name plaque which read 'Cotford'. "I know full well that you wouldn't even be out here unless the job was done. Unless you want to fill out the paperwork, I need details for the report. Now, can you try that again with a little less brevity and a few more specifics?"

"Very well," Alucard told him, his hat and sunglasses disappearing and revealing his red eyes as he moved to continue. "7 vampires were found, all originating from the experiment; all were terminated. 115 townsfolk, including the other 15 test subjects, were found to be ghouls; all were terminated. There are 30 human survivors in the building; in addition, 13 were killed as a result of ghoul attacks, 2 needed to be terminated before becoming zombies, and 1 North Korean operative was killed by me in self-defence. Is that enough detail?"

"For now, that will be sufficient," Cotford told him, jotting down the numbers he had given with a pen and notebook. "If I need anything more from you, I'll come get an official statement." After he finished, he looked up at the vampire and asked, "Where is Seras? I'll be needing her statement as well?"

"She's stuffing her face after a hard battle," Alucard answered defensively. "She'll be down shortly. In the meantime, I suggest you focus on the humans first; Seras can wait, but some of the humans' injuries need attending to ASAP."

"I am aware of how to do my job, Alucard," Cotford told him. "But I thank you for that bit of information." Turning to about 15 men in white outfits, 12 with stretchers and the other 3 armed with surgical kits, he barked out, "Alright men, we have 30 seriously injured on multiple floors! Get to it now!" Without missing a beat the men moved into action, rushing in through the ajar doors to the compound.

"You know Cotford," Alucard said, his sunglasses and fedora rematerializing, "when I first met you, I thought there was no way we'd get along. Clearly I was wrong. You're a man of dedication and passion, not unlike I was in life. I think we'll get along just fine."

"Well let's see," Cotford answered, thinking aloud. "Provided you continue to respect protocol and my men remain off your lunch menu… yes, we'll get along just fine." Tipping his hat, Cotford issued to Alucard, Good night to you, sir," before he stepped off into the building as well. Having ended that, Alucard stepped towards some nearby trees, past all vehicles and men, staring up at the moon.

"In my life, I was a soldier of God and a crusader for my people," he lamented, recalling when he had been alive. "Now, even after I have died, I find that I am still in the exact same role…"

In a dimly-lit office, a tanned, blonde woman dressed in a green leisure suit complete with a red decorative tie and a gold cross fixture sat, looking at a series of documents placed before her while she drank from a wine glass. Putting the glass down, she scanned the papers before her through her glasses, the glare of which obstructed her eyes. She had seen no end of paperwork as of late; it was becoming rather tiring and bothersome, even for an administrator like her.

Suddenly, the sound of air moving got her attention, and he looked up from her paperwork. Turning closing her eyes, she smirked and said, "You've made good time, Alucard. I trust then that the mission was a complete success?" Sneering, the red-clad vampire stepped out around the desk, positioning himself directly in front of her.

Looking down at her desk, he became interested in a single object in the room as Seras also materialized beside him. Curled up on the desk, a small smoky-grey tabby was curled up, purring in the presence of its owner; and reaching forward softly, Seras petted the cat and scratched behind its ears lovingly. When Alucard reached to do the same thing, the cat simply turned and hissed at him. "Lousy flea-bag," he muttered. "What's his problem with me?"

"Maybe your familiars are barking at it too loudly," the green-clad woman issued. "Cats don't like dogs all that much, remember? Now I'll ask again, how was the-" the woman's question got cut off at that point when a cat-like being jumped out of the shadows onto Alucard, pinning him to the floor. The beast was the size of a panther, entirely constructed of shadow, and covered in green eyes.

"What the hell is this?" Alucard asked, taking his left hand and pushing the best up into the air. As it started back down from the ceiling it simply faded away back into the body of the cat, as though it had never been there. Getting up, Alucard stared down at the cat again and asked, "What is this thing? It's like no cat I've ever seen."

"It's a Kinka-Byou," the green-clad woman said, looking down at it herself. "It's a Youkai, a demon from Japanese mythology that can project a shadowy double of itself, many times its own size. It was a gift from the Japanese ambassador after you solved that case last month. To be honest I don't fully understand the meaning of the gift; but I suppose Shintoists are hard to understand."

"A demon that can project its shadows as a familiar?" Alucard asked intently, staring at the creature with a goofy smile on his face. "I'm intensely amused."

"Master, you really need to find a hobby," Seras told Alucard, whose expression did not change and who did not even bother to look up from the being before him. "Am I right, Master Integra?"

"Indeed," the dark-skinned woman replied. "Now Alucard, I ask you again," she added forcefully, finally getting the attention of the male vampire, "how did the mission go?"

"It doesn't come much simpler," he answered smugly. "It was so simple early on, Master Integra, that I almost thought you were trying to bore me to death. That is, until I discovered the importance of the mission."

"Come now Alucard, I've never bore you like that intentionally," Integra told him, reaching for her wine glass and taking another sip. "I know how difficult it is to stay entertained anymore. The renovations at Hellsing manor are taking long enough as it is; but these MI-6 suits are making everything that much more tedious with their rules. But I digress; I need details, for that is my entertainment these days."

"That North Korean scumbag Yon Kai found a way to make vampires without FREAK Chips," Alucard told her, taking out his black gun and another, light grey gun and placing both on the table. "He produced a serum disguised as a Retro Antiviral, and used it on unwitting test subjects. It got out of hand, he accidentally made ghouls, blah, blah, blah. Fortunately, he's dead now, and so are his little pets."

"North Korea is a powerful foe, Alucard," Integra warned. Don't take them too lightly. However, if you speak true and the enemy vampires have been silenced, then there is less cause for concern. I will alert our division at the UN Security Council and make them aware of the threat; and it should be dealt with swiftly. Job well done, Alucard."

"Technically, the job isn't really done until North Korea's entire project is silenced," another male voice issued. Opening the door to the office, a man in a business suit and white smoking jacket entered. His face was covered in permanent stubble, his eyes were glassy and dark green, and his steel grey hair completed the robot-like look of the man.

"And to what do we owe the pleasure of a visit from Director John Orelock, director of MI-6's V-Branch?" Alucard questioned, his arms crossed and his sunglasses reflecting orange from the light outside. "You still don't trust us enough to leave us be after a mission? Or are you worried we might liven this place up a bit?"

"Your sense of humour never ceases to annoy me, Alucard," Orelock answered, producing a folder from behind his back. "But I'm here to deliver you a case, actually. The French Government has requested the help of the Hellsing Agency specifically in dealing with a rash of serial killings."

"A serial killer?" Seras questioned, cocking her head and raising an eyebrow. "What makes them suspect vampires are involved?"

"Every single victim has been killed, drained of all blood, stripped naked, posed as Da Vinci's Vitruvian Man, and surrounded by satanic sigils in black paint." With this answer given, he placed the file on the desk and opened it up, showing the crime scene photos to all 3 other parties present. "Very little evidence is left; and this combined with the lack of blood screams vampire."

"These markings here," Alucard pointed, indicating the common runes at each crime scene. "They're from the Seal of Nosferatu, an ancient text on vampires. The thing is, humans and FREAKs cannot read them; only a true undead can decipher their meaning." Smiling darkly, Alucard added, "Finally, freedom from this boring regime. After losing Incognito a year ago, I finally have another original to play with."

"Yes, well, Alucard," Orelock stepped in, indicating the door. "As part of the agreement between MI-6 and Hellsing, this will be a joint operation; however, given that the French requested you personally, you will lead and my agents will follow your instructions." Turning to face the door, he yelled, "Agents Connery, Moore, Brosnan! Enter and stand at attention!"

With this given command, three tall, thin men in black suits entered the room, standing at attention beside Orelock. The first of them, Connery, was the oldest and had greying temples on his jet-black hair; the second, Moore, had brown hair, and was somewhat younger-looking; and the last, Brosnan, had reddish-brown hair, indicating Celtic descent. But most interesting was that they all had crimson eyes.

"I see they don't call you V-Branch for nothing," Alucard declared, picking up his guns off Integra's desk and placing them back on his person. "But you know by now that I don't work with just any special agent. I need to see some details on all three of them, or else you can find me some new agents."

"Supervisory Special Agent Thomas Connery," the eldest agent issued, his voice tinged lightly with a Scottish accent. "12 years with MI-6, 8 of those with the V-Branch. Special Agents Moore and Brosnan each have 10 years with us, also 8 years with V-Branch. We have been ordained by the Protestant Church itself." Holding up his gun., he added, "Silver bullets, carved with the cross and polished in holy water. Even you would choke on one of these, Alucard."

Crossing his arms and sneering at the men, Alucard chuckled and finally declared, "I'm quite pleased with these agents. I'll gladly work with them provided that they agree to work under me and not over my head." When each of the men nodded in reply, Alucard added, "Then it's agreed. Seras and I will go with your agents here."

"Your plane leaves tomorrow morning at 0800 Hours sharp," Orelock explained, signalling for the agents to leave the room. "Be ready for departure from London Airport. Now, assuming we're done here, Integra and I have administrative measures to discuss." Following this command, Alucard and Seras both started out of the room. When they had gotten a few doors down, Seras issued,

"Master, I know that even though you put on that face, you still have some apprehension about you. Is it that you don't speak French? Because I can translate for you; I'm fluent in French, you see."

"Very perceptive Police Girl," Alucard told her, "But you have the reason wrong. I can speak French just fine, along with English, Romanian and 7 other languages. No, communication is no barrier. The issue is that France is a Catholic Country; and given that vampires are suspected there, he's sure to be there." Emphasizing the word 'he', Alucard gave Seras an exact impression of who he meant.

"Its' not like you to be scared of him, though," Seras retorted, sensing immediately that there was more to it than her former master let on. "That can't be it at all."

"I have no fear of that man whatsoever. It's more that… if I meet up with him again, I have to keep my word and kill him. And if I do that, then lose the only human I have left to play with. For me, that's a sadder thought than dying again."

"I can see where you're coming from on that," Seras responded, knowing the volatile yet fulfilling relationship the two had. Turning away from the red-clad vampire, she watched him continue off in the direction of the firing range; and turning down another hallway, she headed for her quarters.

Meanwhile, back in the office, Orelock closed the doors and turned back to the Protestant Knight in the room. Approaching the desk, he looked the woman straight in the eye and then asked rather bluntly of Integra, "How much longer will Hellsing be enjoying our hospitality? You see, if you're going on this mission, I need to know how much longer your crew will be occupying my men's quarters."

"We will only be residing at V-Branch for a few more days," Integra assured, looking up at the Director with an indifferent look on her face. "The work on the Manor is almost finished; and somehow I doubt any of us intend to stay away from our homes longer than we have to. Why? Are you finally glad to be rid of us?"

"Hardly. Once you leave, then we can't write you off our taxes as a business expense." After both figures got a light chuckle out of this, Orelock added, "Besides, you and the company you keep are rather quite enjoyable; even that smug snake Alucard." Looking down at the wine glass on Integra's desk, he asked, "May I? It's been a long day and I'm thirsty."

"Certainly," Integra told him, indicating the glass. Stepping over to Integra's desk, he picked up the glass and moved it to his lips, wondering what he would taste. He was expecting perhaps a smooth merlot, or even a chateau with a woman as classy as Integra; but upon tasting the contents, he was forced to spot them back out into the glass.

Handing it back to her, he wiped his mouth and came all at once to recognize the iron-like taste. "Is that… blood?" With an amused expression on her face, Integra's smile answered the question for him; and from that, he put together a rather shocking idea. "Then you are…"

Taking the glass, Integra simply pressed it to her own lips and drank then entire half-glass in one swig. Looking forward at the man, she then pulled off her glasses – which she only really wore for decoration anymore – and revealed to him her crimson eyes. Glaring at him in a cheeky smile with them, she simply commented, "It took you long enough to catch on, Lester."

The Director was fast to get over the shock of the situation set before him, eventually smirking in a sarcastic way and saying to her, "How silly of me. Of course you're Nosferatu; after all, for what other reason would Home Office be so interested in you?"

"It's more of a cover-up than anything else, to be brutally honest with you," the blond woman answered, reaching into the drawer of the desk and producing a cigar and a lighter. "You see, Parliament is hell-bent on removing any evidence of the Convention of Twelve as part of the New Renaissance. Even Her Majesty aided in the destruction of the bureaucracy. The only reason my organization was spared is because we aided in the salvation of England."

"It must be such a contrast from what it was before," Orelock pondered, watching Integra place her cigar in her mouth and then light it before returning her Zippo lighter to the desk drawer. "Just over a year ago, you were one of the most powerful people in the entire United Kingdom, stronger even than the Prime Minister. Now you're essentially the leader of a defence agency; and were that not enough, now you're being outsourced to the French."

"Actually, I find the idea rather liberating," Integra told her partner, again reaching into her desk as she spoke. This time, she produced a bottle of scotch and a glass, into which she poured some of the alcohol before handing it to the MI-6 Director. "There's now no longer any need for secrecy, and the burden of national decision-making is lifted from my shoulders."

"Personally," Orelock said, taking a drink front the scotch he had been handed, "I simply prefer the idea of an elected leadership of our country, as opposed to an aristocracy nobody is supposed to even know about. Then again, I am a civil servant, so I suppose it does seem rather more honest to be working for who they actually say I am."

"Honestly, being a member of the Convention of Twelve used to actually mean something," Integra reminisced, taking a drink of her own glass while looking off in one direction, as though trying to focus on a long-lost memory. "We did our best to put the needs of England, its people and its Church first. I'm simply ashamed that one of our own sold out their country to a terrorist group."

"Did they ever identify which of the Round Table Members was responsible?" When Integra gave the Director a knowing look but said nothing, he simply said in a self-berating manner, "Of course, how silly of me. Her Majesty swore you all to secrecy. Let me ask this then: are there any new leads on the group responsible for the siege?"

"Well, since none of the missions you sent my people on in the last year have yielded anything," Integra informed, "we had no choice but to send Walter to The Dark Continent, in order to find answers personally. Given the use of a weapon by ArmsCor, we deduced that South Africa was involved; until, of course, we learned that the type of weapon used is a custom model used by the Egyptian Military."

"And to think I always enjoyed Egypt," Orelock thought before taking another swig of the liquor. "Well, I will arrange for a courier service to return all of your belongings to the Hellsing manor when the time comes for you to depart. I'll just need 24 hours notice. Of course, if you change your mind and wish to stay…"

"You're overstretching your bounds, James Lester," Integra told her counterpart, actually causing the man to blink at the use of his full name. "We will be returning to our home regardless of your continued hospitality. That being said, I do have admiration for who may be the only human left in charge of an agency of the Undead. If you wish to join us…"

"I'm afraid I cannot take you up on that offer," Orelock told her. "Then I suppose this is the last we will be seeing of each other until the Government sees fit to partner us up again. Until then…" With that the man downed the last of his scotch and placed the glass on Integra's desk before opening the door, stepping out into the hallway and closing the door behind him.

Standing at the end of a dimly-lit hallway in the firing range, Alucard remained in the shadows, sneering as he reached into his two side-pockets. Into his left hand, he drew his massive black pistol, and with his right a similarly-sized silver gun, much like an old-fashioned Colt. Looking down the range, he could see very clearly his objective; and as such, he saw no reason to hesitate any longer.

In a motion faster than any human could have done, he took off in a marathon sprint, extending each of his arms with the guns in their hands pointed at targets on opposite sides. Without stopping to look, he fired each gun simultaneously, impacting twelve of twelve targets on either side of his before the slides pulled back and the empty magazines dropped to the floor.

At the end of the hallway, Alucard stopped and examined his guns, before a woman clad in a skirt-suit stepped into the room with a stopwatch in her hand. Gazing down at the display, she told the vampire, "Impressive. You've shaved 137 milliseconds off your previous time, and as usual you have a 100% hit rate."

"You flatter me Abby," the vampire told the woman, turning to her and looking at her hazel eyes and light brown hair. Reaching into his pockets, he produced silver and black twelve-shot magazines and loaded them into their respective guns before simply placing them back in his pockets. "I had an excellent gunsmith. Walter gave me the tools; all I have to do is implement them."

"Nonetheless, you still implement them with more proficiency and skill than any human could ever dream of," Abby answered. "Oh, I almost forgot; we have a brand new model for you to test out."

"Yet another one?" the vampire asked in a bored tone. "You can keep throwing these prototypes at me all you want, my dear; but for precision, balance, accuracy, power and ultimately nostalgia, the Jackal is by far the best weapon I've ever used." Looking down at the black gun in his hand, he noted, "In fact, it was such a good gun that even Walter couldn't rebuild it properly."

"Then perhaps we'll simply have to wow you with sheer size and brute force," Abby responded, walking over to a table to one side of the range, followed closely by Alucard. Already waiting on the table, a massive gun case sat waiting; and next to it, a single bullet stood on its end, but this bullet was the width of Alucard's thumb and its case the length of his index finger.

"Tell me, are you familiar with the 700-series Nitro Express?" When Alucard looked back with an intrigued, but blank-looking smile, she explained to him, "It's the largest bullet made, normally used as a hunting rifle round for big game. The bullets are charged with Nitrocellulose for a better firing. Now, imagine if you will a handgun loaded with a twelve-shot magazine of these."

"Really?" Alucard questioned, looking down at the case before him. "I'd imagine a gun of that size would need to be at least 50cm in length."

"Try 75, with 60 of that as the barrel." Watching Alucard's eyes open wider in sheer childish amazement, Abby unlatched the lid with both hands simultaneously and lifted it up, giving Alucard an eyeful of the massive contents of the case. "So tell me, if we cannot best your Walter's gun for nostalgia, will this do as a runner-up?"

"Yes, I believe it will," Alucard declared, closing the lid on the case and latching it before hoisting the gun into his hand. "I should be able to get some major use out of this weapon during the mission. Once again I find myself thanking you for your time and effort, dear Abby." Smiling and bowing, the girl showed her appreciation while the vampire stepped out of the room; however, instead of leaving, he stopped to get out one last statement.

"Tell me; I sent Walter a weapon to be customized some time ago, a project which he was unable to complete before his assignment," the vampire mentioned, immediately getting an understanding hum from the woman. "After it got transferred over to MI-6's weapons' makers, I never heard about it again."

"Yes, I'm quite aware of the weapon in question," Abby interpreted. "You'll be happy to know that the firearm in question has indeed been completed; and Director Orelock has requested it added to the equipment to take to France. I believe that it has been already taken with the other luggage to the airport."

"Excellent. That will be sufficient for now. Good night Abby." With that final pleasantry, Alucard again started off into the darkness of the building, dematerializing before he got very far down the hallway. Looking back at where he had been with a smile, the woman likewise turned and started down the hallway, slipping off into the night.

The explosion of a supposedly-indestructible wall within a laboratory at Pyong-Yang, North Korea, signalled to the scientists inside that the time had come for them to flee. Putting down vials of serums and blood samples, many of which they had been in the process of extracting or treating, they tried to run for the doorway, only for it to burst open violently.

Both at the doorway and from the wall, men in green military uniforms and carrying large weapons – assault rifles, machine guns, MGLs, and anything else whoever assigned them could think of – which were all focussed on the scientists, whose only response was to raise their arms in the universal sign of surrender. Looking at the men's uniforms, the American flag was easily visible on their chests, showing exactly who had sent them.

Immediately following them, three men in black suits stepped into the room via the exploded wall. The first man was middle-aged, his beginning-to-grey black hair and the lines around his eyes giving away a history of many years. Behind him, the other two were much larger and younger-looking, wearing sunglasses and earpieces and holding their arms in a crossed position.

"Well, that was a brilliant show in Liverpool, wasn't it?" the man asked sarcastically of the Korean scientists, most of whom spoke English and thus felt the impact of everything he said. "Good attempts at creating Ghouls, even vampires. Rather impressive, actually; I honestly never thought your work would yield results so easily. Yet somehow, a lab full of pencil pushers like you didn't have the foresight to realize that Hellsing would become involved; and that was because…"

"Please sir, you must understand," one of the scientists offered up, stepping forward and risking the added guns pointed at him. "The implementing of our work: not our doing. Yon Kai, he did everything. The mess in Liverpool, all his doing. We just made the serum, that's all. Please, sir; we did exactly as you requested of us."

"Yes, and I saw the results of that," the American responded, just barely keeping his anger in check. "An entire hospital full of ghouls and vampires. A whole fucking hospital… and two Hellsing agents, just two," he repeated, and held up two fingers for emphasis, "destroyed the whole lucking lot of them. That's fucking useless to me."

"No, please, sir, you can't…" the scientists started, but was immediately opened fire upon by no less than five men with machine guns, filling his body will bullets until pieces of his limbs and torso began to explode into clouds of blood and meat.

"Oh, yes I can," the man reiterated, ensuring the men were aware of what he was getting at. "Project Second Life is now terminated, as are all of you." Snapping his fingers, the man told his troops to open fire on all of the remaining scientists, reducing them in mere seconds to a mass of chipped meat and shell casings. Several magazines dropped to the floor afterwards, prompting the soldiers to reload their guns.

"I want no proof this place ever existed," the man finally stated, turning and walking out of the room through the hole in the wall, followed by the two bodyguards. Most of the troops then exited right afterwards; but a few hung around long enough to throw timer-activated pipe bombs into the room, before they took off full sprint.

Less than a minute later, the man walked along the top of the building with his bodyguards, hair blowing as the spinning rotors of helicopters filled the air with noise. With troops now pouring out of the building behind him, he stepped into one of the choppers with his men and the door closed, allowing the helicopter to take off.

One by one, the rest of five much larger helicopters filled with sixty men, allowing them to take off mere seconds before a massive explosion blasted throughout the building below. Looking down through the window, the man looked down on the ensuing fireball with a satisfied smile on his face, while he thought, "Next time, I'll ensure that not even Hellsing – no, not even Alucard – can stop my project from succeeding…"