The Holy Trinity: The Origins of Team Iscariot

By Detective Ryoshi

1:00, OCTOBER 31ST, 1973. LEVATICAN:

The loud echoing of the paladin's steps against the fine, pale marble stirred Maxwell. He was sitting in his fine oak chair behind his heavy, marble desk. Enrico gave a small smile as he saw Anderson approaching him. Working in Section 13 was just lonely. Maxwell was surrounded only by high, marble walls, stained glass, and a great emptiness. Alexander looked down on Maxwell. His deep emerald eyes were not brimming with excitement and enthusiasm as they always were. Instead, they were stagnant, still. Maybe it was the hour, thought Maxwell. But still he had never seen him like this before. He wondered if the mission he was about to give him would break him out of it or just make him worse.

"What kin' ae dae' fer' you? 'Tis All Hallows Eve this fine night. Somethin' mus' be a'stirrin'…" asked Anderson.

"Yes… All Hallows Eve. Well, actually all the vampire-and-heathen-killing assignments have all been taken by other paladins." answered Maxwell.

"Ae see. Well, then, why did yah call me?"

"Well, there are two teenagers…"

"What have they done, the filthy heathens? Drunk draeving? Drugs? Did they end up in some sert o' cult?"

"Well, no actually. They're two well-behaved youngsters that are nuns who've grown up in our organization's orphanages. And well…"

Anderson flashbacked to when he took care of Maxwell at the orphanage. That was so long ago, he thought. He remembered how he always wanted to be there for him, to take care of him, and how angry he would be if he lost Maxwell.

"They want to become paladins…"

"…and yah wan' me tah teach them?"

"…well yes."

"How ol' are they?"

"One's fifteen, the other is sixteen."

"Dae yae really wan' mae to put those poor lassies al' through this? Ae mean, they're so young. It's too dangerous…"

"Here's the thing. They really, really want to become paladins. And I think you'll change your tone when I tell you their stories."

Maxwell handed the paladin two dossiers. One read Yumiko Takagi and the other read Heinkel Wolfe. He found photographs and sheets with detailed information. In her photo, Yumiko appeared to be a happy, shy, Japanese nun who wore thick glasses and had long, un-combed hair. Heinkel, oddly enough, did not wear a nun's uniform. Instead she had a priest's get-up. She had a confident look on her face as well as short, dirty blonde hair and seemed much more assertive than Yumiko.

"…these are mere kids Maxwell! If I were tah teach 'em to be paladins... why, that would be simply barbaric!" exclaimed Anderson.

"Listen, Anderson. Let me tell you why I'm asking you to do this," began Maxwell, "you see, last month their orphanage in Kyoto was attacked by vampires. Everyone died… except for these two…"

"Ae din' understand!" cried Anderson.

"Every person within the walls were turned into ghouls. Even the children…"

"But that means-" Anderson gasped.

"Horrifying, I know. But somehow, these two managed to survive. As well as kill not only a total of fifty-seven ghouls, but also ten vampires, each one over one thousand years old and with a double-digit kill streak."

"How? That's damn near impossible!"

"As it turns out, Yumiko suffers from Multiple-Personality-Disorder. Inside Yumiko's psyche is an alternate version of herself, named Yumie. While Yumiko is ordinarily kind and soft-spoken, Yumie is… well… viscous and extremely violent. Yumie also has an incredible talent for combat, specifically Aikido. Yumiko, er, I mean Yumie, was responsible for neutralizing the fifty-seven ghoul threat all by herself."

"But what about Heinkel? The German?"

"Well, she, unlike Yumiko does not have Multiple-Personality-Disorder. She's a perfectly ordinary teenager. But still, she had to act quick. Very, very quick. She used her abilities of analysis and survival to manage to survive the massacre. By simply using stealth, teamwork with Yumie, and very strong intelligence, she managed to escape the vampires, until she got what we like to call, the emergency kit…"

Alexander knew exactly what Maxwell was talking about. All Catholic churches were given "the emergency kit", a safely concealed last-resort weapon or defense of mass holy power. Most churches didn't use them, most commonly because they didn't have too, but sometimes, unfortunately, because they didn't know the vampires who would soon take their lives existed.

"Well, what did she get?" asked Anderson.

"The dual CZ-75 .38 pistols with Silver Armor-Piercing rounds made from some of the metal rosary beads previously owned by Pope Pius XII."

"… and how did she do with 'em?"

"Very well, actually. She killed all ten of the vampires. However, after the incident, both Yumiko and Heinkel feel very guilty. They wish to become paladins and to hone their skills, that way they hope to prevent an event like this from ever happening again. They begged me to get you as their teacher. Why not show mercy and give them some absolution?"

"Absolution? Absolution? Ae'll tell yah what this position will feckin' give 'em, endless heart-ache and death! Yah want that for these poor girls? You feckin' want that?" Anderson had raised his voice.

"Well, I'm afraid resistance is futile. You see it's an order…" Maxwell flashed a sinister grin, the same smile he gave whenever he was manipulating someone, "… and anyway why resist the Lord's will? Isn't it such a pleasure to do the holy work of God's commandments? Isn't the truly pious man willing to do anything our Lord Jesus Christ says?"

Anderson winced. He hated when Maxwell did this.

"Very well. God be with you." Anderson left Maxwell, carrying the dossiers with him.

"May God bless you and aid you with your endeavors. Amen." Maxwell said, still leering.

"Amen." Anderson muttered, in the distance.

12:45, NOVEMBER 1ST 1973, THE ITALIAN COUNTRYSIDE

The paladin walked up to the Section 13 training fields, a great, large ranch, as the sun beat down mercilessly upon him. He found the two teenage girls he was looking for, a timid nun and a lively blonde wearing a priest's uniform were around the shooting range. As Anderson walked more and more close to them, he found Heinkel firing at the targets with the same pistols she had used in the Kyoto orphanage incident. He was shocked to see that Heinkel's shooting was 100% perfect. She had hit every vital point on every target with perfect accuracy. He had read about it, but it wasn't anything like seeing it in real life. Anderson gulped, the paladin felt a bit intimidated. However, that wouldn't stop him from his task. He smiled and waved at the teenagers.

"Hello there!" Anderson said in a friendly manner.

Heinkel turned her head menacingly at Anderson. "What do you want?" she asked sternly.

"Well… Ae'm the one you asked fer'… I'm Father Alexander Anderson… your teacher…"

Heinkel quickly changed her mood and grew a confident smile. Yumiko was over-flowed with joy and rushed over to see the paladin.

"It's a pleasure to m-meet you sir!" Yumiko stammered enthusiastically.

"It's a pleasure to meet you… Yumiko, correct?" replied Anderson.

"Y-yes!" exclaimed Yumiko.

"And I'm Heinkel Wolfe" added the German.

"It's wonderful to meet you too," said Anderson, "Nae I take it you both want to be paladins, right? Well we better get started training! Ferst, lets werk on some basics…"

Anderson took the two, excited at the chance to become paladins, to a big barren field located in the ranch. There he taught Heinkel and Yumiko some basic hand-to-hand combat in a calm, yet bright manner. There would be more lessons to come. However, the entire time Anderson tried to keep up his happy demeanor. In reality he was sad and confused. How kin' I ae jus' let these two innocent lassies fall into the paladin profession? Do they know what awaits them? Oh, is this really God's commandment? the paladin thought. He was so worried for their sake. He wanted to yell at them to run away from this place and never come back, but he couldn't. It drove Anderson insane thinking of what he might be doing to these girls' future.

18:14, NOVEMBER 14TH 1974. AMITYVILLE, LONG ISLAND, AMERICA.

Finally, his first mission with the girls had begun. Anderson was filled with anxiety over it. He had grown quite close to Yumiko and Heinkel as he refined their skills over time. He had learned of their secrets, their feelings, their hopes and their dreams. And he himself shared some of his secrets, feelings, hopes and dreams with them. They had become as close as family. Yet, why then, had he never told them why they should have never become paladins? Why was he unable to tell them how scared he was for them, or how every night he'd wake up from a nightmare where he lost them? As he, Heinkel, and Yumiko approached the suburban house that dark, cloudy night in Long Island, he finally summed up enough courage. He decided to give them a prep talk.

"All right girls, listen up," began Anderson, "this mission is pretty simple. The man inside that house is a Mr. Ronald Defeo Jr. who has just killed his entire family. The intelligence at Section 13 highly suspect this man to be a vampire, and we are ordered to proceed with caution and engage the enemy with extreme prejudice. As Ae have watched you grown as paladins over the short amount of time Ae taught you, Ae have seen you accomplish great, mighty tasks. You are ready, if not too ready, for an assignment like this. However, why do Ae find myself crying that Ae'm not ready to lose you?"

Heinkel and Yumiko exchanged very puzzled looks.

"That's right, ae said it," continued Anderson, "Ae'm not ready to lose yah. Every time we did something the least bit dangerous in training, Ae always had a hard attack…"

Tears started to form around his stirring, green eyes. Heinkel and Yumiko wondered if it would be okay to comfort him during a mission.

"Ae'm always terrified of losing you both. You're both like daughters to me. I don't know what I'd do if I lost either one of you. I just wanted to say, before we enter this mission, that even I'm not allowed to, I would tell you to quit being paladins if I could. Anythin's worth the risk of you two not bein' hurt. An' while I feel that you're ready for this mission, I want you to know I'll have your back always. Ae'll always be there for you. That is all…"

Anderson wiped the tears of his quivering face with his arm. Heinkel and Yumiko were very moved by his words. No one had ever talked to them like that before in their entire lives. They were good friends with Anderson, but they never knew he felt like that about them.

"You think of us as daughters…" muttered Heinkel.

"Yes…" Anderson replied, still quivering.

The two then wrapped around him in a warm, powerful hug. A tight, powerful hug. They ended their embrace, Anderson now feeling much more relieved. He smiled at them as they walked to the door of the house, and breached it together.

TO BE CONTINUED…