Disclaimer: As always, I own no charicters from Hellsing or Torchwood or Doctor Who. The implied characters are property of their creators, B.J. Blazkowicz is property of ID Software, and the organizations the Camarilla and Sabbat are property of White Wolf Publishing.
IV
The past week had been the best week that Alucard had experienced since the Millennium invasion. For the past week he had left to his own devices, and had done nothing but hunt and sleep. The hunt had gone rather easily thus far. Since his return, Alucard had rediscovered many of his long forgotten talents, the most useful of which he found to be the ability to make his coffin move on its own. This in turn made resting away from Hellsing headquarters much easier even in the middle of nowhere. In addition to this, he had spent his first day performing occult rituals to call the hound of Baskerville and the army of Wallachia back from hell in order to assimilate them once more. Strangely enough many of his more recent victims, such as Tubalcain Alhambra and Rip Van Winkle were somehow even out of his reach.
To compensate for this loss, Alucard had acquire fresh, if unwilling recruits to his impressive managerial, including but not limited to a pompous, but highly trained American movie star and martial arts expert, who was visiting England to audition far a part in a action movie, another American, who claimed to be a monster hunter and had a chainsaw for a hand, a scared thirty-something with thick glasses who utilized a wand for spells, and three witch sisters who happened to be on vacation in England from America.
He should have returned to London, awhile ago, but time off was something he sorely needed, and besides, a few more familiars couldn't hurt, could they? For that reason, the No-Life-King was stalking around the moors of Scotland in search of powerful supernatural creatures such as a banshee or one of the hellhounds that often wandered Scotland's less populated areas. What Alucard found was by no means supernatural, but no less dangerous.
Approaching a cave which had been illuminated by the light of the moon, Alucard heard the voices of creatures he did not recognize. "Hypothesis correct, the barrier can be breached here!" began a high-pitched grating voice voce to which a second, almost identical voice replied,
"Correct, chances of being discovered are…five percent!"
"Alert, perimeter breached…subject unknown…subject is to be EXTERMINATED!"
Without warning blue energy shot out rapidly from the caves entrance striking Alucard in the right arm and head, smoking his entire form and causing him to collapse to the ground , smoke rising from his remains.
"Target eliminated!" screeched the first of the two creatures as the pair of them emerged from the cave. Even in his incapacitated state, Alucard was able to examine his assailants. They had a tall, wide silo like body, which was caped with a long mechanical tube with a viewing lens, as well as two other tubes attached to the sides like arms, one of which appeared to be a weapon, while the other resembled a plunger and served a purpose which he could not divine. Feeling that he had observed enough, the eldest of all remaining vampires, gathered his familiars to regenerate his form. Slowly the moon began to cast an evil red light on the immediate area and the shadows of the rocks and hills lightened tenfold. The creatures which had cut Alucard down, backed up nervously as the shadows began to bleed together and swirl around what they thought had been their latest foe to be conquered. Accompanied by a chorus of whispered prayers, screams, and wails emanating from the various damned souls which comprised his form, Alucard rose once more, his red eyes flaming like the bowels of hell behind his orange tinted sunglasses and a demonic smile cracking his face almost in half.
"Ahh…what a lovely night don't you agree?" spoke the No-Life-King as soon as his resurrection was complete.
The creatures did not respond, but instead opened fire once more. Instead of striking their targets, however, the beams of energy were absorbed by the multitude of shadows which seemed to guard Alucard on command. In retaliation the vampire drew his guns and fired at his targets, but to his surprise, the blessed rounds burnt and exploded mere feet from their targets.
"Human weaponry is ineffective against us!" the creatures screamed, "WE WILL EXTERMINATE YOU!"
What the creatures did not realize, however was that Alucard was more than a one trick pony Focusing himself, Alucard blanketed the area in darkness and a horde of demonic eyes, and as he released his favorite familiar, the dreaded hound Baskerville, the creatures began to fire widely again, all that could be heard in the outside world were their metallic screams.
Hundreds of miles away in Cardiff Wales, the Torchwood team was going through a debriefing after the round table conference. For the past two hours, the team had been debating the best way to contact George Marin, and no one could come to an agreement."With all due respect Sir, " Johnson began, addressing a clearly irritated Jack Harkness," the man is rich and has tons of body guards, we can't very well just waltz into his house and say 'Hi we're from Torchwood, we'd like to talk to you about a tape you might be involved with', that's suicide!"
"Well we can't just charge into his home and drag him off for questioning either!" retorted Jack as he leaned against a wall. As the bickering continued it was Lois who managed to butt in and put it to an end.
"Found us a way in." she stated in a matter of fact tone, which caused the room to stare in her direction. Clearing her throat, she continued, "The official Marin company website is announcing a party for the principle scientists and shareholders next week. If we could get a hold of one of the invitations, we could forge one and get into the party." Jack and Gwen looked at each other a moment before speaking simultaneously
"We have a plan!"
"I'll go see if Rhys knows someone," Gwen continued, "while I'm out, does anyone need a ride home?" And with that the meeting was adjured, and silence fell across the Torchwood instillation.
About two hours later, the only personnel left in the installation were Martha, Johnson and of course, Jack. While many of the hours were spent in silence, eventually, however, the sound of a ringing bell broke the monotony. Glancing halfheartedly into the view screen which monitored the upstairs shop which disguised the true purpose of the installation, she spotted the figure of a child who appeared no older than twelve, none other than Schrödinger.
Failing to take notice of his ears, or rather assuming that they were part of a headband as part of a new fashion statement she headed upstairs hoping to give the child directions to another store. Little did she know shopping was the last thing on Schrödinger's mind at the moment. Upon entering the upper room Martha cleared her throat to get the child's attention.
"About time someone showed up," Schrödinger said with a sigh, "I vas getting bored ringing zhat bell."
"Sorry…miss but we're closed, if you need directions to a store that's still open I…"
"MISS? I'm a boy!" interrupted Schrödinger, as he huffed up before continuing, "Und I don't need a store, I'm here to talk zu Jack Harness." Martha's eyes widened, how could a child know about Jack?
"Sorry I don't know him." Martha panicked backing up slightly.
"Quatsch! (1) I know zhis is Torchwood und I'm here zu talk zu Jack., so go get him for me! I'll meet you inside!" before Martha could blink, Schrödinger was gone, as if he was never there at all. Convinced that this was a hallucination due to a lack of sleep, she made her way back downstairs and into the kitchen to make herself a cup of tea. Much to her surprise, however, the boy from upstairs was sitting Indian style on the kitchen table, a pop-tart in one hand and a bottle of beer in the other. "Man you're slow. I had time zu make a pop-tart und get ein beir before you arrived. Vhy is everyone so slow!"
Martha blinked as the boy bit of a mouthful of toaster pastry and washed it down with a swig of beer. "Sorry kid, your not allowed down here, get out, and put down the beer, you can't have that either."
"Who's going to stop me? You? Du bist Verruckt!" (2) retorted the boy sticking out his ridged tongue in Torchwood's doctor's direction. "Now go get Jack…I'm tired of talking to zhe help, so get going mammy, tell him Schro vants to chat ja?" With that Martha stormed off, but not before slapping the boy across the face for calling her Mammy. Grumbling to herself the entire way she soon enough reached Jack's office and opened the door, casing him and Johnson to look up from the blueprints of George Marin's manor which they were examining.
"Jack some…boy is here wanting to talk to you."
Jack, looked up and perked a brow, "A boy?"
"Yes sir I tried to get rid of him, but he kind of let himself in. he said to tell you that Schro wants to chat…whatever that means."
Jack raised his other brow and then stood and headed toward the door, donning his coat along the way. Strangely enough, he did not say a single word on his way to the boy in the kitchen but only spoke once the pair laid eyes on each other. "Hallooooo Herr Harknesssss!" the boy said in a chipper manner, as Jack cracked a smile.
"How are you Schrödinger? " The blonde youth opened his mouth to answer but was immediately silenced as Jack drew his revolver and fired a shot into his heart, causing him to collapse backwards, twitch for a few brief moments and then lay still. As the head of Torchwood breathed a sigh of relief he was alerted to the sound of gun safeties clicking of behind him. Turning slowly Jack beheld the shocked faces of Martha and Johnson.
"Captain Harkness, I'm placing you under arrest for the murder of a child!" Johnson spoke forceful as she speedily unfastened a pay of handcuffs from her belt.
Jack sighed, "Put those away Johnson the kid is fine, or will be at least, there's nothing to worry about "
"You just shot a twelve tear old boy in the heart! That's something to worry about Jack! He's dead!"
"Really?" Jack said with a bit of a smirk, "then where's the body?"
Martha and Johnson both peered at the table where Schrödinger's corpse had been not five minutes before only to find no traces of the catboy, no hair, no blood, nothing at all to revel he had even been there save for a spilled bottle of beer and a half eaten pop-tart. As the two ladies gawked, the impish cat-eared youth reappeared this time sitting on top of a counter a scowl plastered on his face.
"Zhat's the third time this veek zhat I've been shot." the golden haired youth muttered to himself, "Vhat's next, I get crushed by a police box?"
"It could happen." Jack chuckled as the boy shot him a glare and walked over to the table to retrieve what was left of his snack.
"Und du!" said the youth, turning on his heels after grabbing his half finished pop-tart and beer, "is shooting zhe vay you great ein old freund?"
Jack sighed, "Rape isn't exactly a good way to start a friendship Schro!"
"You're still mad about zhat? It vas almost a century ago" the cat boy scoffed causing Jack to roll his eyes
"Why are you here kid?"
"I've come vith a message from Integra Hellsing mein freund!" said the catboy with a smile which could almost out charm Jack's as Martha and Johnson stared at each other in confusion having finally noticed that the boy's cat like ears were not a decoration but were actually attached to his head. Staying silent for now to prevent further irritating either individual, Martha and Johnson simply read the letter silently over Jack's shoulders. The contents of the letter were as follows:
Captain Harkness,
Your actions at the conference today have lead me to believe that you were attaced by a creature of un natural origins a werewolf to be absolutely precise, the same one who attacked myself and my associate shortly after the roundtable conference. As your failure to retain or defeat this creature is a direct cause of the attack on myself, it is only fair that you recoup me for my losses. Enclosed is a bill for my damaged property…
Jack quit reading at that point, crumpled the letter and threw it aside. "I'm not paying her a damn cent Schro and you can tell her that."
"She von't be haaaaaaapppppppyyyyyy!" the boy began in a sing song voice, "Und zhen She'll vant to come here und I vill have to bring her." Jack sighed in response. True Schrödinger was as annoying as a bad rash, but if they boy was telling the truth and he did work for the Hellsings now, Integra was an old-school noble, and therefore even more a annoying to Jack's semi-working class sensibilities. Jack stepped over to his discarded messege and uncrumpled it.
"I'll pay her…just tell her the check is on the way. Just…keep her out of here." The boy smiled before nodding,
"Vill do Huptmann Harkness…oh and I hope you von't be a stranger zhe Kapitan und Ich miss you greatly you silly, silly man!" Before Jack could react, the boy was gone, and only the sound of his malicious giggling could be heard echoing around ther room for a few short moments before it faded as well. Once he knew the boy was gone, Jack breathed a sigh of relief.
"I hate that kid, I really, really do," he began as he made his way to the lift which lead to the other entrance to Torchwood's installation, "you two can go home if you want, I'm going for a walk." As the lift was stirred into motion, Martha and Johnson looked at each other in utter confusion. Over the past few days they had seen Jack panic at the sight of possibly the tallest man they had ever seen and shoot a child with cat ears without a second thought, only to have the boy reappear minuets later without a scratch. Whoever these people were, to Johnson and Martha it wasn't a good sign if Jack reacted this poorly to them.
Up on the street, the cool breeze and fresh night air of Cardiff were helping Torchwood's leader regain his senses. As he glumly sauntered down a street where shop keepers were closing up for the night, Jack Harkness couldn't help but curse his luck. Over the past few years he had been able to convince himself that the TARDIS had chosen not simply to restore his life, but to give him eternal life for a purpose. However, he still felt responsible for the deaths of Owen Harper, Toshiko Sato, and Ianto Jones, and it was this guilt which continually tested his faith in himself.
To make matters worse, Jack, like most World War II veterans had seen the Third Reich fall twice, and yet, without warning two of its most talented agents reappeared without warning, both with unclear goals. Whatever he did, whoever he tried to help, Jack seemed to himself to be only a temporary fix to any problem at best, and the direct cause of them at worst.
It was during this train of dark and unfortunate thoughts that Jack happened to catch a glance at the moon and fell to his knees clutching his shoulder in pain. Catching just the tiniest glimpse of the moon out of the corner of his eye caused the wound with which Hans had gifted him to feel as if someone were stabbing him with a red hot poker and grinding it down deeper into his body. And yet, despite the searing pain Jack found himself enamored with the tiniest crescent of the moon, its dim, pale light seemed to stir something inside of him, call to him, and anger him all at the same time.
Suddenly and without warning Jack found himself pressed against the side of a building, with the largest pair of tits he had ever felt jammed against his shoulder blades. "Well this is interesting; I like a woman who knows when to use force!" Jack remained suave even with a mouth nearly full of brick.
"Not interested Jack." Came the reply from slightly nervous female voice as Jack was pressed harder against the wall.
"Seras?" he asked recognizing her voice.
"y-yes." Jack couldn't see her from his current position but something told him she was blushing.
"I'm fine now, he replied as he ceased to struggle against her grip, "I promise, you can let me go." As the Draculina released her grip Jacked smoothed out his trench coat and took a deep breath and regained his trademark smile."I haven't talked to you in years, come on lets take a walk." Seras shook her head. True she really wished she could talk to someone about other topics than her job, but her duty came first.
"I can't Jack...I'm just here to warn you, you can't look at the moon, whatever you do…and…you" she began to stammer thinking of the best way to put it, "you have maybe a month, two at best, before you change, permanently." Jack paused a moment before heading back towards Torchwood,
"In that case you'd better go back to Hellsing and tell Integra that I'm coming tomorrow, we might need to work together after all". Seras watched silently as Jack slowly disappeared down to street, her mind however was not as quiet.
"Is 'e always zo gloomy?" came the rich French accent of her familiar and former friend Pip Bernadotte, as he echoed in her mind.
"Not, always," sighed the Draculina in response,
"Zhen what is his problem?"
"I…I think he just gets lonely…it's what happens when you live forever."
"WHAT THE BLOODY HELL IS THAT THING?" Integra shouted as she looked at her eldest vampire servant, who was currently smiling in a way that would make an alligator jealous. Just moments ago he had barged into her office without warning and placed a small squid like creature with a single eye onto her desk. To further her annoyance with this event, Schrödinger, who had finally gotten around to making her evening tea, had let his animalistic side take over and was poking and swatting at the dead creature as cats do.
"This, my master," Alucard began his smile still plastered on his face, "Is a Dalek, the inhabitants of a long destroyed planet called Skarro, creations of a man named Davross and arch enemies of a man known as the Doctor." Integra raised a brow, true this was shocking to her, but she had seen Nazis in blimps bomb the hell out of London so somehow her first contact with extra terrestrial life just seemed like a normal day to her.
"Is this the only one you've found vampire?" Integra asked as she lit a cigar and began to examine the creature closely.
"No, there was another, but I devoured it to bring you the information I have master."
"And the Doctor, how much do you know of him?"
Alucard suddenly seemed to become deathly serious, his smile replaced by a slight scowl, "More than I'd like to, we've met before."
"Can you bring him here?" the Hellsing leader replied her attention almost fully focused on the dead Dalek in front of her.
"Yes, but I will need both the police girl and the cat to get to him."
"Granted, just bring him back…alive Alucard"
"Of course my master!" the No-Life-King replied with a smile, he was looking forward to actually having a worthy opponent once more.
Schrodinger was infuriated as he headed into a rather rundown looking café with Alucard. First they would wait for Seras to return from Cardiff which wouldn't take ling due to her ability to fly, and then they would wait for the Doctor. In the meantime, Alucard would have to deal with his companion's childish ranting.
"CIGGERETTES!" he began almost attracting unnecessary attention to himself and Alucard, "I opened zhe packadge you're butler left his replacement und it was a pack of ciggerettes! Vhat am I going to do vith zhoes hunh? Why couldn't he have left me somzing useful like a feather duster or somezing?"
To be honest, Alucard wasn't paying much attention to the irritable catboy, he was too busy envisioning his upcoming fight with the Doctor; a man who can never truly die, not a human but not a monster either. To Alucard he simply seemed to be, and therefore was the very thing that Alucard hated, someone who was an anomaly.
"Quiet cat!" Alucard stated returning to reality, "You're giving me a headache." Schrödinger scoffed and began swinging his legs in his chair before sighing and pulling a cigarette from the pack and lighting it with the lighter and taking a few deep drags off of it and coughing.
"Uch! Your butler is going to be a bad influence on mich even in death!" the boy said raspily between coughs. Alucard smirked,
"Maybe he'll rub off on you and you'll learn some manners cat." Schrödinger's ears flattened underneath his cap, which bore a logo for Manchester United.
"I have manners," he retorted feigning a hurt tone "I just don't use zhem!"
Suddenly Alucard's eyes widened and he seem to be concentrating on something, in this case a sound. Schrödinger heard it too, it sounded like bending metal and rushing wind and as the sound continued Alucard seemed more and more excited,
"He's here, and sooner than I thought. I'll wait for Seras, go do what I told you."
"Ja, Ja," Schrödinger replied extinguishing his cigarette, "zhis better be fun, or I'll be sehr (3) pissed!" and with that he was gone. Alucard smiled, the catboy was going to get his fun and a whole lot more.
The TARDIS materialized against the corner of a store, which oddly enough for the Doctor specialized in bowties, as he, as always, explained the current destination to his two companions, Amie Pond and her Husband Rory. "London in twenty-thirty-five! A very good year if I say so myself."
"Wait wait, in thought you said we were going to ancient Rome" protested Amy.
"Yeah," Rory joined in, "I still have memories from my fake life, I could be your personal tour guide!"
The Doctor seemed to be off in his own little world as he adjusted his bowtie and ran his fingers through his long brownish hair to get it in order as he stepped towards the door of his means of conveyance through time and space. "You'll get your chance," he stated in a tone which reminded both of his companions of a giddy child, "but first, this exact date, is when bowties come back into fashion, and I need a few extra ones! Besides, it's only twenty-five years in the future, you'll learn what to expect!" With a bit of a laugh, and a collective sigh from his companions he open the doors to the TARDIS and stepped out. The first thing to attract his attention, however, was not the large crowd gathering outside a store called "Perry's Menswear" but the sobbing, mud-covered child at his feet."
"B-bitte (4).. you…you gotta hilf me…please mister!" To the Doctor and his companions, the boy looked absolutely pathetic, he was covered in mud from head to toe, and his dark sunglasses were soaked with tears. Amy was the first to speak her new found motherly instincts taking over.
"Oh my God! You poor thing! Come on we'll get you cleaned up." With that Amy helped the boy to his feet and led him inside the TARDIS, Rory in tow. For his part the Doctor looked with longing at the store across the street. his precious bowties would have to wait.
Once inside the boy, namely Schrödinger's jaw dropped. Both his childish human side and inquisitive cat side were going crazy, there were buttons to push, things that made interesting noises, and lights, oh so many lights. It was as if he died and went to Disney World, and this time he wouldn't be kicked out because the Major threatened the life of a turkey leg vender. "Hey, why don't you come with me and I'll get you cleaned up." Amy suddenly stated, grabbing the insane neko's attention to which he nodded in reply "And while we do that," she continued, "Rory can make you something to eat! Would you like that?" Schrödinger nodded again feigning a sniffle and wiping his nose.
After the others were gone the Doctor walked up to the main consul of the TARDIS and started typing away on the computer there. He would help the boy, just as he would have helped nearly anyone who cried for help at his doorstep, but something about him was off. Call it Time Lord intuition or what you will but the Doctor felt that the boy wasn't entirely human. And so he wasn't that surprised when the TARDIS returned the result "Seventy-five percent human, twenty-five percent domestic house cat? Wonder how that happened." He said to no one in particular as he turned around and headed towards the entrance to his vehicle, he would figure this out later, for now he had bowties to buy.
If one could hear the sound of pure unbridled suppressed hatred it would have echoed Alucard with as much intensity as a mosh=pit at a metal concert. Schrödinger had kept him waiting for three hours now on a park bench at their rendezvous point. Three hours, no Doctor, no Schrödinger, just Seras, who had arrived shortly after he did. Despite her vampiric nature, Seras had actually fallen asleep due to boredom, and so Alucard was one again left with only his thoughts to keep his company. It was during this time that the Romanian Boyar decided that after this task was over he would show the boy why they used to call him the Impaler, and not in a way that the little fruitcake would enjoy.
Finally, at about four in the morning, Schrödinger's childish voice could be heard close by and growing steadily closer by the second. "Quickly, he's over here! I zink he's planning to kill everyone in zhis park at dawn!" Alucard smiled and mugged Seras with his elbow to awaken her,
"Get up police girl, it's finally time to work." Seras woke with a jump and rubbed the sleep from her eyes.
"What time is it?" she mumbled with a yawn. She never received an answerer, as at that exact moment, the resident cat-boy emerged from the bushes with the Doctor and his companions in tow. Upon setting eyes on Alucard the neko gave a slight smirk, invisible to those behind him before quickly running back and clinging to Amy's leg for dear life. He was going to play the part of a frightened child to perfection.
"Zhere he is! Zhe man in red! He vants to kill me!" Amy patted the boy on the head trying to reassure him, and herself as she looked at the imposing figure in red and his companion a large breasted blonde in an outfit that reminded her of something she would have worn in her days as a "performance artist".
"Ah Doctor!" Alucard began with a smile and a graceful bow in a voice which could out-suave Lucifer himself, "you've changed faces yet again, I see you have yet to draw the ginger card though. That must be so disappointing to you!" As Rory and Amy exchanged glances of confusion, completely unaware of the Doctor's regenerative ability the Time Lord responded.
"Picking on children now count? Or are you just using him to get to me? I told you I was sorry about Mina but her death is on your shoulders and yours alone!"
"And selling me out to Abraham? Are you sorry for that Time Lord?"
"Again, that was your fault, I gave you an opportunity to leave England and you refused until it was too late!"
All parties present were confused by this cryptic exchange, but luckily the No-Life-King switched topics.
"Seras, the Doctor is to be brought back alive, if his companions try to assist him in any way, you and the cat can send them to hell!"
"Roger!" Seras replied as she lifted and readied the Harkonnen.
"What cat? I don't see a cat." Rory stated looking over at his wife to notice that the boy who had been clinging to his wife's leg was now firmly perched on her shoulders and had a wicked looking knife to her throat.
"Zhat vould be me Herr!" Schrödinger said with an impish smile. Rory started to make a move toward the love of his life as the boy pushed the knife harder into his wife's throat, breaking the skin slightly. "I wouldn't do zhat Herr Rory! Vone more step and the last thing you see before Seras blows you to kingdom come vill be deine Weib (5) smiling ear to ear!" continued the boy with no hidden amount of sadistic joy.
Meanwhile, Alucard had drawn his own guns and had them pointed in the Doctor's direction, who had in turn drawn his screwdriver and had it pointed at the elder vampire.
"I have to say this is one impressive welcoming party you set up Count." The Doctor stated in a tone that appeared on the be jolly but comtained a hint of nervousness
"Only the best for you Doctor!" Alucard replied with a sneer. What followed was a fight that nearer Alucard or the Doctor would soon forget. Alucard fired rapidly as the Doctor headed for the closest piece of cover he could find, in this case a steel drinking fountain. Sparks showered the area as the bullets collided and ricocheted off of the object. Making a few adjustments to his sonic screwdriver the Doctor leaned over slightly and targeted Alucard's Casul with a blast from his weapon casing it to jam.
One down, one to go! the Doctor thought as he resumed his position being his cover. Surprised and slightly angered by the temporary loss of a weapon Alucard rushed forward and tore the drinking fountain from its concrete base and cased it aside as easily as a beach ball.
For this small effort, Alucard received a punch to the groin as the Doctor took off towards the closest line of trees. Once there, the Doctor reset his screwdriver to effect wood and used it to sever a branch from a nearby tree and took cover.
Meanwhile, back in the open, Rory and Amy were still stuck in a tight situation. If she moved, the kid on her shoulders would slit her throat and the tart with the cannon would open fire. The same would happen if Rory moved. Either way they seemed screwed. However, as the battle continued, the boy on Amy's shoulders seemed more and more distracted by the fighting. Amy blushed in embarrassment as she heard the kid who she once viewed as an innocent victim pant and moan with each gunshot, each punch, and every scream which came from the fighting between the Doctor and the man in red up ahead. Yes, the illusion of Schrödinger's innocence was gone. To Amy he was now visible for what he truly was, a perverse creature who got his jollies from bloodspots.
Suddenly, Amy got an idea. "Rory?" She whispered as to not break the distraction of the boy on her shoulders.
"Yeah?" he replied in the same tone as his wife.
"Do you think you can get to the girl before she reloads that thing?"
"What!"
"Yes or no Rory? We don't have time!"
Rory stopped a moment as if weighing his own abilities against the perceived abilities of his opponent. "Yes." He concluded.
"Ok then on three charge her and tackle her…one, two, three!" as soon as she finished her countdown Amy twisted Schrödinger's wrist roughly causing him to hiss in pain and drop his knife.
"Seras!" the ex-Hitler Youth screamed as his wrist snapped, "KILL ZHIS BITCH!"
As predicted, Seras turned and fired upon the struggling pair. Quickly throwing herself onto her back so that the Psychotic child would take most of the impact, Amy's eyes widened as she realized how close she had come to being killed as the shell whizzed over her prone form and collided with one of the park's information centers, obliterating it.
Seras cursed under her breath, she had missed, and against an ordinary human at that. As she began to reload her weapon, she uttered a silent prayer of thanks that Alucard was too distracted with the Doctor to notice her mistake. Suddenly she was knocked off balance and back against the park bench. Rory had reached her and managed to knock Seras away. He kicked her gun away, if hurt his foot and probably broke one of his toes, but he'd worry about that later. Right now all he needed to do was keep the blonde bimbo away from her gun. If he couldn't they were as good as dead. A punch to the ribs sent Rory reeling backwards and made him feel as if he had been hit by a truck.
Amy was faring better than her husband by far but was still in a world of pain. The little bastard on her back was still clinging to her and was tearing at her throat with his nails, hissing like an enraged cat. In response Amy attempted to slam her head into his stomach but to her surprise, her head hit the ground. The boy was gone. Breathing heavily Amy rubbed her slightly bloody neck, got to her feat, and rushed to help Rory, picking up a rather heavy fallen branch along the way. By the time she arrived, Seras, now fully in the grips of vampiric frenzy, was literally trying to stomp Rory's guts out, bringing her foot down over and over onto his rib cage, longing to hear the bones snap and feel them give way. Seeing her husband in that position, Amy flung the stick as hard as she could, knocking Seras over, the branch splintered as it connected with the Draculina's face, sending splinters into her eyes and temporarily blinding her. Wasting no time, Amy helped Rory to his feet and scrambled to the Doctor's aid, completely ignoring the woman writhing in pain on the ground.
Deeper in the park, the Doctor was hidden in a large cluster of bushes. He had fashioned a rough wooden stake using his screwdriver and was now waiting for Alucard to find him. That's when he would strike. Soon enough a large shadow in the shape of a blade hacked through the Doctor's cover. Springing into action the Doctor lepta and jammed the stake into the elder vampire's chest, just above his heart. Reaching down Alucard lifted the Doctor up by his jacket and pinned him against a tree, grinning like a maniac.
"Well Doctor, it's been fun..but as the saying goes, 'All good things must come to an end!'" With that Alucard opened his razored maw and leaned in to drain the last of the Time Lords, until his phone rang. Keeping the Doctor pinned with one hand, he answered the phone as the doctor looked on with a mixture of horror and surprise.
"Greeting's master, I was just about to call you!" the Nosferatu began, "yes master, no…no…he's alive….of course master." Alucard closed his phone with a sigh, and dropped the increasingly surprised extra-terrestrial onto the ground. "Tonight is a good night for you Time Lord. Let's go!" The Doctor took a moment before moving to consider tonight's events, he had no idea why he was just allowed to live, but he'd gotten out of worse situations in stranger ways.
Amy couldn't believe it, The Doctor had filled her in on the whole situation. She, Rory and the Doctor had been attacked by two vampires. Two real Bram Stoker style vampires, one of whom was the real life Dracula. According to the Doctor the blonde woman who had assisted in the attack and was now driving a possible stolen car was more than likely a fledgling of his, Seras if she remembered what the boy had said. Out of all of the people who she had been attacked by tonight, Seras seemed the nicest. It almost made Amy feel sorry for breaking the branch on her face, but then again she was trying to kill Rory. And besides it didn't appear that she was injured anymore anyway.
Speaking of Rory, he had fallen unconscious due to pain shortly after catching up with the Doctor, which was probably a good thing, as the Doctor thought that he had broken at least three ribs and would probably have been screaming in pain. And as for the Doctor, well it was no surprise that he was enamored by the boy that Seras referred to as Schrödinger. Even though Amy was sure that the Doctor had not seen the boy disappear in the middle of a fight only to reappear afterwards with the car they were now using for transportation, he seemed perplexed by the boy's very existence and had scanned him several times with his screwdriver. Finally Schrödinger had enough,
"If du flash zhat zing at me again, I'll bite your dick off!" he hissed, glaring at the last of the Time Lords as he removed his sunglasses and hat, revealing his cat-like eyes and ears to the Doctor and Amy. Immediately the Doctor backed off but was smiling ear to ear as the boy continued, "It's bad enough zhat I didn't get to kill any of du, now I got to have du examining mich?"
"Be civil Schrödinger, I don't think he means any harm. Do you Doctor?" interjected Seras as she turned onto a road that lead to the outskirts of London.
"No of course not, Just curious about what you are Schrodinger." the Doctor said with a friendly smile.
"You're not learning anyzing from me until you apologize for killing mein Vater Doktor!" the car fell silent as everyone became utterly confused. As far as Alucard and Seras knew, Dok was the closest thing the boy had to a father. The fact that the boy actually had a blood relation was suprising to everyone.
"Sorry…I don't ever remember meeting you before," the Doctor said pondering, "who was your father?"
Schrodinger fell silent a moment and then chuckled, "You helped a man named B.J. Blazkowicz kill mein Vater. Do you remember? I saw everyzing!"
The Doctor's eyes widened, "That would mean you're the son of…"
"Schrödinger Hitler at your service Herr Doktor!" The rest of the ride was spent in silence and shock.
Integra slammed the phone down upon the reviver and lit a cigar. She had gotten up early to receive the Doctor and get started on any leads he might give. Instead her day was started by a call from the minister of the Interior. Apparently *someone* had started a fight in a park in London early in the morning and destroyed a large portion of it in the process. It took all of half a second for her to conclude who this "someone" was.
Finishing her cigar she headed out to the entrance of her ancient manor to await her servants and her guests. Sure enough, just before down, a stylish car which she did not recognize As expected, the car came to a halt in front of her and Alucard and Schrödinger exited the vehicle, followed by a gentleman in dress clothes, who she correctly assumed was the Doctor, and a reddish brown haired woman. The last out of car, was Seras carrying an unconscious and bloody man in his mid-twenties. "Sir Integra, this man was with the Doctor he's been injured!"
"Take him to the infirmary Seras," Integra stated rather coldly and with a sigh. Seras nodded and headed inside, accompanied by Amy who refused to leave her husband's side. Turing to the assembled group she grabbed an ear a piece from Alucard and Schrödinger and dragged them both closer to her, before giving the Doctor as formal a smile she could muster at the moment.
"Greetings, you must be the Doctor, I am Integra Fairbrook Wingates Hellsing, if you would be so kind as to make your way into my office I'll be with you in a moment. And as for you two," she said turning to her two servants, "you both owe me an explanation!" As the Doctor watched the terror of Romania and the son of Hitler get dragged off by their ears by a normal human woman he couldn't help but crack a smile.
About fifteen minutes later the Doctor found himself in a Spartan and yet somehow still elegant office in Hellsing manor. The large cathedral style widows which made their home behind the large desk in the back of the office illuminated the entire room with the soft light of the early morning. Eventually, the woman who had introduced herself as Integra entered the room carrying a parcel roughly the size of a beach ball under her arm. She sat down at her desk and lit a cigar after offering the Doctor one which he flatly refused.
"Your friend will be fine," She began after taking a drag off of her cigar. "I also apologize for the rude welcome you received at the hands of my servants, they tend to be overzealous and best and downright disobedient at worst."
"Disobedient is…a bit of an understatement if I am permitted to say so mam. Downright murderous might be a better term."
"Agreed Doctor, but now is not the time to argue about my men." She said undoing the parcel and revealing the dead Dalek to the last of the Time Lords. "I brought you here to tell me what this means." The Doctor nearly jumped out of his seat upon seeing the body of one of his most ancient and powerful enemies in the possession of the great-granddaughter of Abraham van Hellsing.
"Where did you find that?" he demanded, his countenance changing from jolly to stern in a blink of an eye.
"My servant brought it to me after a mission. What does it mean Doctor?
"It means…it means we have to move fast. How fast can you get me to Cardiff Wales?"
"A few hours." replied Integra raising a brow as she did. "Why?"
"Because, I need to get into the Torchwood installation."
Integra sat and thought for a moment before speaking "In that case, I have to make a phone call and we can go."
The Captain still couldn't believe it. It seemed to him that in between bouts of pure insanity, and utter childishness that Schrödinger had moments of clarity during which he could work miracles if he so chose. The latest of these incidents occurred just a few days before when Schrödinger had not only managed to bring the chronic hostage situation in the apartment where the Captain was currently staying to a close, but also got him a free room out of the deal. The deal was as follows.
First the family, known as Cecilia, Mitchell, and Melissa Hitchenson would be released to continue their life as normal. Second they would not alert the government or police to the presence of the Captain. In exchange for this, the Captain got free reign over the guest room, would not eat them, and would keep to himself unless specifically requested to do otherwise. The Hitchensons also got a brand new set of bed linins for their master bedroom for reasons that the catboy did not elaborate on, but did assure them were sorely needed.
Regardless, everything was running smoothly for Hans and he could finally begin to see a light at the end of the tunnel so to speak. He had it all planned out. First he would go see this so called "speaker" at his so called "party" to see if he had a job offer. Then he would begin to formulate a plan to free his cat eared lover form Integra Hellsing. Finally together they would return to Germany, find a nice rural village to settle in and live out the rest of eternity happily. Of course he would occasionally have to travel to one of the major cities, because as the last of his particular breed of werewolf he felt honor bound to occasionally stir up trouble for the tight assed Vampires in the Camarilla and those psychotic ass-hats in the Sabbat. But that was a problem for another day.
At the moment, Captain Hans Guenche was slowly making his way up a driveway toward a rather impressive manor just outside of London. At Schrödinger's behest he had purchased an new outfit, which included a light shirt baring the emblem of a wolf's paw, which he found fitting for his current mood, a pair of blue-jeans, the only thing he had secretly wanted since shortly after WWII but could never have as long as the Major was alive, and a long black trench coat. He liked the coat especially, since it was one of the few that he found that could fit him without looking comic. Lastly he had forgone a hat, allowing his cleanly trimmed but sill unruly platinum blonde hair to be fully exposed to fresh air in over three decades.
As he approached the house, he was blocked by two suit wearing guards who immediately blocked his way. However, after he flashed his invitation, they bid him to enter the manor. Personally the elder werewolf would have preferred if they had still resisted, he hadn't eaten since breakfast and they would have made an adequate snack. But, not one to argue with quick results, Hans continued into the manor. He was immediately struck by the amount or lavish amenities in the manor. The parlor was covered in marble and paintings depicting battles from throughout history. Hans knew full well about the expensive taste of the European gentry, but this just seemed excessive, as if this "speaker" was trying to compensate for something.
As he walked aimlessly though the house, he eventually encountered a servant who lead him to a large pair of double door, and bit him to enter. Stepping though the threshold into the other room, Hans was immediately aware that the other guests who had been making idle chatting amongst themselves up until now fell silent and were staring at him. This is going to be awkward, isn't it? he thought, wishing somebody would say something.
For two decades he had waited, he and his children who had spent all their time screaming into the darkness of the void behind the rift. They all screamed until their throats were sore, it was the only thing which let them know they still existed in some form. And then, as if fortune finally smiled upon him, he met the twelve-fingered man, who had pledged his loyalty to him, and now he, his children, and the army of the twelve-fingered man were at the final stages of their plan to escape this dark hell of nothing. Soon, very soon, they would exit the void en-masse and bring terror to the lesser beings of earth once more.
Translations:
1. Bullshit!
2. You're crazy
3. Very
4. P-Please
5. Wife
A/N: the next chapter will be a treat for my Torchwood fans, a Jack Harkness flashback chapter! See if you can identify the new additions to Alucard's army if you can you will please me greatly. Two are fairly easy and two are hard. Also, after the next chapter will be a little treat for everybody, and a special opportunity for my readers who can also write! As always your review is appreciated!
~Baxyratty