"We need to join forces Sir Hellsing and destroy this common enemy," Lady Caterina was now practically glaring at Integra as if her own will convince this other woman to break all her codes and ethics, and her number one rule if you can't do it yourself then you are weak. Lady Caterina now appeared weak to Integra and if they accepted Lady Caterina's offer for an alliance that would make her weak as well. Integra knew though, if the AX, the secret service of the Vatican, was having problems with this case then she wouldn't have much better luck. She did have her secret weapon Alucard but tracking the enemies was the problem. Cardinal Caterina, the "Iron Willed Woman", knew just about everything going on the her country and her neighboring country. If she couldn't find these villans then Integra would have that much more of a problem.
Lady Caterina let out a sigh, "I detest asking for help it makes me feel weak and defense less and as a woman in power being weak is not an option. That is why I am asking for your help and not my brother's, as soon as i ask for help he will dismiss me as someone who is crippled. When I started the AX he told me that a woman can never run an organization such as that. Well I am sitting here today and I can almost hear his laugh." Lady Caterina's voice sounded almost haunted. Integra recognized that fear she felt it every time she was laughed at when dealing with the police. They never took her seriously because she was a woman, and when she brought up vampires she became a laughing stock. She didn't care it was her job, no her duty, to keep vampires off the streets.
This woman, Integra realized, had it worse than her. when she messed up the only people she had to answer to were Walter and Alucard. Lady Caterina had not only her two brothers and The Vatican but all of Rome. She was a political leader as well. Yet her she was letting down her guard and doing what in a million years Integra would never do, ask for help. Integra had a sudden new found respect for The Cardinal.
"Alright, I will help. If this mission is failed we both lose our faces," Integra let go of her own sigh and rubbed the bridge of her nose between her eyes in an attempt to fight the on coming head ache.
Caterina felt a heavy weight lifted from her shoulders. She felt so relieved, " Thank you. I kew the one other person who would understand would be you Sir Hellsing."
"What clues and leads do we have?" Integra sipped he tea while keeping eye contact with The Cardinal.
"We have found a lab that we suspect to be conducting the experiments, but every time we find this lab and raid it it's empty. Almost as if they see us coming. There isnt a trace of their equipment but we have found traces of the same wolf hair that we find on the corpses," Integra watched Caterina pull a black folder out from under the newspapers.
Integra took the folder from Caterina. She flipped open the folder, in it were crime scene pictures of grostesque corpses. Hair completely coveered their bodies, the face was englongated and the nose was the nose of a dog. Their teeth were canines and eyes were human but were gold in color. The limbs of the corpses were contorted as if the poor creatures tried to move some way their body wouldnt let them. "What killed them?" Integra finally asked looking up from the pictures.
"Heart attack."
"And the name of the company or laboratory?"
"They call themselves Millenium. Have you ever heard of them?"
Integra felt her stop for a full five seconds, "Yes I have heard of them." She answered through gritted teeth.
Lady Caterina was in her office going over her usual paper work. Father Havel was standing at her back looking out the window over looking an open courtyard.
"How do you think you meeting with Lady Hellsing went?" , Father Havel asked. Lady Caterina slumped back in her chair. "I can't tell. At first when I brought up the alliance she looked insulted and she was looking at me the way my brother does, but after a while her face softened almost like walls came tumbling down inside her." Today was a day for stress. Caterina wasn't sure if Integra was happy about teaming up with the AX, after all The Hellsing Organization and The Vatican have always been enemies. Despite of that Lady Caterina was always wanting to make an alliance with Hellsing, and this new case was the perfect excuse. Havel stood behind Caterina. He could feel the stress eminating from her body. He placed his hands on her shoulders gently. Under his hands her shoulders became less tense. That made hime smile. He loved the fact that he had that much of an effect on her. "Don't worry, from what we heard of Lady Hellsing I don't think she would do anything that she didnt want too." Havel was right Integra Hellsing was supposed to have the temper of a cranky lioness and the stubborness of a bull. Caterina however was the same way but she asked question first and shot later where as Integra shot everything in sight and looked for survivors to question after. Havel pulled Caterina away from her desk so he can turn her toward him. She looked up into his dark brown eyes and couldn't help but smile, despite everything that was going on. Havel touched the side of her face with the tips of his fingers then leaned down and brushed his lips against hers.
The Professor was working at his desk in the Vatican lab. It was the only underground room safe from the sun so that is where they stored Integra's special cargo. He was looking over some papers when he heard a stirring in one of the crates. Setting doen the papers The Professor walked over to open the lid to the crate making the noise. Two large woden crates housed one coffin each. In this crate The Professor found a modern looking coffin. Black in color with gold metal hinfes and handles. The door to the coffin flung open and a young girl sat straight up in it gasping for air. She had short blonde hair and true blue eyes. "Ah, you must be Ms. Victoria," The professor smiled at the girl.
Seras Victoria blinked up at the stranger kneeling over her coffin and she suddenly felt uncomfortable. "Y-yes. You can just call me Seras," she glanced around the lab. It was dark and lit by gothic wraught iron lanterns hanging on the brick walls, that were mostly covered by bookshelves and the scematics of military airships. A six foot by twelve foot table sat in the middle of the room that was littered with glass flasks containg vibrantly colored liquids, and the lantern light played off of those colors reflecting them on the walls. In a way to Seras it was quite beautiful.
She gently slid her coffin lid to the floor as to not wake her sleeping master next to her. Now that she though about it; it was odd how she was the first to be awake. "Master?" she called out in a hushed tone.
The Professor stepped closer to Seras and the other coffin, "Is something the matter?"
"Well...it's just that my master is always awake before me, I just think it's odd that he is still sleeping."
"Maybe he just needed some more rest this time," the Professor assured her.
Still Seras had an unsettling feeling. "Now remember this is your fault for not waking up on time," she stated to the person inside the other coffin as she reached out to touch it with a shaking hand. Slowly she pushed open her master's coffin. "Master?" she asked again only this time a bit more loudly. Still no response. That alarmed her. Throwing aside the lid and let it crash to the floor she peered inside the empty coffin.
It took a few seconds for it to register in her brain that she watched her master climb into his coffin and get sut away in his crate, yet the coffin was empty. That could only mean one thing, the vampire Alucard was wondering around the Vatican unattended.