Disclaimer: As usual, Hirano-sensei owns Hellsing and I am merely borrowing his characters to fulfill my fangirl needs.

A/N: And here's the next portion, where all the action takes place. The main fighting starts and finishes here, with Alucard and Integra action inserted at the cost of Seras' airtime (I'm sorry, Seras). Incidentally, the Major calls Seras all kinds of names because I thought that'd be something he would do, considering that he called her a 'young lady', or possibly 'fräulein', in the manga. You find that several motivations and reasoning behind each character have been compromised or altered, because I chose to follow along with Walter's idea that "Everything Millennium creates is an imitation", leading to the eventual fall of the organisation. That, and the Major's obsession with killing Alucard.

I'd also like to thank chickentyrant5 for adding 'Red' to your favourites list, and for taking the time to read this fic. Thanks much.

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Key:
"Speech"
"Thought-speech"
Thought

German translations can be found at the bottom of the page.

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From Part I...

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The platinum-blond-haired woman bent down and lifted the gun with some difficulty. She slid an accompanying magazine into it and strapped it to her side holster. Seras stepped forward tentatively but fell back again when Integra glanced at her and shook her head.

"Let's go, we've wasted enough time as it is."


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Red (Part II of III).

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When they found the Major, he was collapsed outside another battered door. The flames had not yet reached this part of the airship yet, but all knew that they were approaching fast. There was no more time for any further rematches. The war had to end here. If it ended at all.

"And so you have found me once again, Sir Hellsing." He was crouched on the floor, with only his right side visible. Still, the glimmer reflected by his glasses and the eyes behind them only made him look all the more dangerous, like a cornered, rabid animal. "The Huntress has found her prey. But not all kinds of prey can be hunted, ja? Lest it strikes back when you least expect it."

He pounced; an astonishingly quick move for one of such rotund stature. Integra raised her sword, but felt it deflect off something exceptionally hard. The next thing she knew, she was slammed to the wall forcefully and her limbs were pinned to her side by an unknown force. A sharp pressure on her wrist forced her to release her sword, which fell with a clatter. A quick look to her side showed that Seras had also experienced a similar attack.

When she returned her eyes to the Major, he had stepped out into the flickering light cast by the fire. Involuntarily, her eyes widened as she caught sight of his full profile.

The Major was… a cyborg. It was the only term that could adequately describe him. On the surface, he bore the appearance of a human, but on his left side Integra saw that his outer covering had been blown off, only to reveal a mass of wires, gears and computer circuitry in an assortment of size, shape and colour. They flashed, sizzled and beeped in a way that made the figure before her a disturbing sight. The very human face twisted into a malevolent smile while in his lower body the cogs whirred and clicked in order to facilitate his movement.

"So that, that is what you are, Major!" Integra spat.

"This? Ah, indeed, this is what I am."

A strangled gurgle told Integra that Seras had also seen what she had. "You're a… machine!"

"Machine? Nein, please don't insult me, vampirkind, I am absolutely human. There is only one thing that defines a human, and that is their will. So long as I retain my soul, heart and hence, will, I will always be human despite what my appearance may be.

"That is why I truly detest the nosferatu. They are nothing more than soul-stealing parasites! No matter what form they take, they are still monsters. But I, I am a human who takes on the appearance of a monster."

Integra clenched her fists and narrowed her eyes.

How dare he? She thought. How dare he lower us to his standard? And he dares to call himself a human!

The female knight risked testing her unseen bonds and found that they would not break. Seras moaned softly on the ground and Integra saw her losing consciousness, pinned to the ground and limp with fatigue. Something had drained her strength or rendered it powerless.

"And what devilry is this, Major?" she growled.

"Oh, a little of this and that," he replied dismissively. "It's nothing that your family does not know. Herr Helsing is a famous man even in our beloved motherland, and his techniques are rather widespread amongst certain circles."

She noticed that he was holding a spherical object in his hand. Though the lighting was bad and she had blood running down her eye she could still make out its general shape. It was a skull. A skull with a plaque etched onto its side. One single word was carved into it in capitals: "MINA".

Then she knew. Why had she not thought of it before? Legend had said that Mina Harker had been freed from Dracula's curse upon the death of the Count. But Dracula had not died during his final clash with Abraham van Helsing, and had instead been bonded to the latter's bloodline as a servant. This meant that Mina had never been released from the effects of the vampire blood in her veins. It was no wonder that Millennium had exhumed her remains and sought to use it for their experimentations. Integra felt a twinge of pity for the woman who was long dead. In the end, Mina Harker was simply a tool for Millennium to obtain their ultimate goal: Alucard. Always hungering after what they could never have, they tried to use the vampyric blood in her to create another Count. Like vampires they drained her dry and ground her bones to dust so that they could use that in their making of cheap imitations. When experiment after experiment failed to succeed, they eventually turned their attention to Alucard's destruction.

Like spoiled children, they do not allow others to possess what they cannot have, Integra thought. And Mina was just like the people of London, my troops, and even Iscariot and the Convention of Twelve; caught in the middle of this private vendetta between two forces of insanity.

Perhaps the Major had considered Hellsing Organisation amongst those hangers-on, though she knew better. Her fate as a Hellsing had been carved into stone from the very day that Abraham van Helsing bested Count Dracula. When the Major had declared war against Alucard, he had also inadvertently declared war against his master, for the link between human and vampire was so strong that it tied the destinies of both firmly to each other. And so it was up to her to end this pathetic spat that had gone on for far too long.

The Major had used some form of alchemy to conjure up the last vestiges of power that lay in Mina's remains. That had been why Seras was incapacitated so easily; a fledgling is hard-pressed to fight against the blood of her sire. However, Integra was different. She was Alucard's master, and the master of the most powerful vampire to walk the earth will not bow down to an ersatz prototype. Mina was but a shade of Alucard's true powers. She might have his blood, but she could never measure up to the sheer strength and force that he possessed. And neither could Millennium, because after all, one cannot create the original from an inferior copy.

With a powerful wrench, Integra ripped her arm from the wall, ignoring the splitting pain in her shoulder that accompanied the action. She repeated the same action with her other arm, and caught a glimpse of faint shadowy bonds disintegrating into nothingness. This also freed her legs, and she turned upon the Major. With gleaming golden hair wreathing her face and her blue eyes blazing with an icy flame, she cut an imposing figure against the backdrop of death and destruction. Her sword gleamed silver and gold in the fire.

The Major rose and smiled.

"Perfect!" he cried gaily. "Splendid! I did not think that you would have strength enough to overcome my final resistance. Even the mädchen could not, though she is vampir. This is a testimony to your fortitude. Very well, you have won this match, Sir Hellsing. Kill me. I have nothing left to fight you with."

Integra snarled silently, understanding the meaning behind the Major's words.

You have won this match, but I have won the war. You will give meaning to my death. It will be a glorious death, to die beneath your blade. I will not simply die. I will die for something more.

"You are not human," she hissed. "I will not give you the death that you seek. You do not deserve it."

Swiftly, she sheathed the blade and reached to her side, withdrawing the Jackal. She gripped its midnight black handle with both hands and pointed it steadily at the Nazi's forehead.

The Major saw her new weapon and laughed incredulously. "This? So you have found it after all. I should have expected no less. But that is not a weapon for you to wield. Come now, Sir Hellsing, draw your sword. It is unseemly to use the arms of another."

Integra merely fixed him with a cold stare, though her arms were already starting to sing with protest. Still, she tightened her grip and locked her elbows, and reached for the trigger. The Major saw this, and for a moment his smile fell.

"This is absurd. You are still clinging on to the past, to weakness, to foolishness. Perhaps I had been wrong to recognise you as my enemy. Perhaps you are still a fräulein."

"Wrong?" Integra smiled tightly. "Quite the contrary. You should have recognised me as your enemy when you first decided to play your war games."

She tried to pull the trigger, but the distance from her fingers was just a little too great, and the hammer too stiff. She gritted her teeth and tried again.

Suddenly, there was silence. There was no noise at all, even though the Major was going on with his rant. There should have been the crackling and hissing of the approaching flames, or the creaking and groaning of the metal frames of the zeppelin as in fell apart. Instead, there was nothing. There was no sound at all in the still air, and Integra felt a chill run up her spine.

"And how fares my dear Master?" a disturbingly familiar voice echoed in her mind.

Her throat abruptly went dry. She fancied she caught sight of the ends of a red ascot flapping in the wind, but the vision vanished soon after she registered it.

"Why, no reply? Are you perhaps, speechless with shock? With joy? Or are you having too much fun toying with the Major with that unwieldy gun?"

"It's your gun too, you know. At least, it should have been," she shot back mentally.

"Ah, but I did not say that it was unwieldy for me."

She felt his presence approach her but did not turn around. She couldn't afford to. The Major was still grinning that warped smile and her muscles were aching most terribly.

"Look, if you're done with distracting me you could shoot him." She did not know what possessed her to say that, but she did so anyway. "Since you seem to fire the Jackal with such ease."

"Of course."

Integra felt him sidle up until he was directly behind her. Somewhere at the back of her mind, she knew that he should not, could not have been right there, so close to her that she could almost touch him. But now she was riding on the tide of battle and her focus was narrowed in only on her weapon and her enemy. There was only the dull roar in her head and the pounding blood that burned in her veins, crying out for death and vindication.

Still, illusion or not, her servant's gloved hands felt uncannily corporeal as they covered her own, steadying her grip on the Jackal. The throbbing pain in her arms immediately ceased as he bore the brunt of the gun's weight, guiding her arms gently so that they pointed the weapon directly at the Major's forehead. Integra felt a rush of blood again and she saw the sigils on his glove glow a dark red.

"I will kill without the slightest hesitation." His voice came so close to her ear that she knew that he was bent over her, his head almost nuzzling her neck, and that his lips were curled up in that infernal smirk that revealed too much teeth. "I will beat them to death without the slightest regret. This is because I am a monster; yours to use and yours to command. I will serve, I will shield, and I will kill as you demand.

"I will wield the gun. I will take aim. I will load the ammunition in the magazine, slide it in, and remove the safety. I will even pull the trigger, and take all the attacks that your enemies throw at me. I am ready, Integra, so let me know your intent. Give me my orders, my Master."

"Old words, Servant. Do you still question my resolve even now?"The Hellsing knight smiled and, with his aid, raised the Jackal. He drew closer to her in a flurry of crimson, in a manner that was almost protective, and together they held the gun. "The search is over. Destroy."

The bullet burst from the gun with a bang and ripped through the Major's skull. He fell down with a clatter, sending bits of mechanical parts rolling over the floor. With one side destroyed, his glasses slid off his face, revealing a strangely blank visage devoid of any lingering emotion. Integra was vindictively satisfied that he had not died smiling.

Human? Bah! He was an abomination, a monster, she thought in disgust. To think that this pointless war had been wrought because one man had refused to relinquish his obsession. He gave in to the temptation of power and changed himself to achieve his ends, not unlike some others that we are acquainted with, don't you agree, Alucard?

Her Servant's arms were still around her, his hands were still encasing hers and she suspected that he had all but wrapped her up in that garish red coat that he was so fond of wearing, in their closeness.

"Then the world is rid of another monster, credits to you, my lady," he purred. "The knight hath slewn another drakkor."

The lines of the objects surrounding her blurred as haziness shrouded her vision. She sucked in a shuddering breath and narrowed her eyes at the Major's crumpled form.

"May your soul be damned to the deepest level of Purgatory, Major," she muttered as her strength seemed to leak from her limbs, leaving them heavy and leaden. "I wouldn't like to meet you again when I pass through the gates of Hell."

The red presence that had suffused her faded, and she soon lost track of her surroundings as her sight forsook her. The Jackal was like a dead weight in her hand though she refused to let it go despite its strain on her fingers. Oblivious to the panicked cries of Seras, who had just regained consciousness, Integra slipped from the waking world and fell into empty, welcoming darkness, where silence reigned and fire and brimstone no longer plagued her vision.

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End Part II.

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Translation:

ja - yes
nein - no
vampirkind - vampire child
nosferatu - a term for vampire, or the Devil
herr - term of address, similar to 'Mr.' or 'Sir', or gentleman
vampir - vampire
fräulein - term of address, similar to "Miss", or young lady

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A/N: Well, that's that. Hellsing quotes for the win, heh.

A few plotholes to address:The Major somehow had time to pick up Mina's skull from the room of The Shi after Walter and the Doctor killed each other. That's why he ran away at first. Also, the Major never truly recognised Integra as his enemy (he only challenged Alucard in his first 'declaration') until she gave the order to Alucard to kill Walter, which is pretty silly if you ask me because a Master that Alucard would willingly serve would be a truly challenging opponent; someone not to be underestimated. And it is possible for Integra to faint at the end because she's only human, and there's only so much that our bodies can take before we collapse. She's been through hours running on adrenaline and battle rush, not to mention the fact that she's bleeding, and she just strained herself by using a weapon meant for a vampire. Integra is incredibly strong, but sometimes it is possible for one's body to shut down without warning once it's had enough. As for why the Major didn't see Alucard... well... I'll go to that in detail soon.

Ramblings aside, I hope you enjoyed this installment. Only one more to go!

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-Resident Quetzal