Well, the way I see it Iscariot had information about Shalrik's serum as well, to the bad guys hit their computer too. Iscariot's been trying to find more information about them, just as Hellsing has, and they end up finding locations at the same time.

As for how it's always Alucard vs. Anderson? Well, you could say that Iscariot sends Anderson when they figure Alucard will be there, as Anderson's the only one who could stand up to him. Or, you could say it's random chance.

But in the end, it's because I see Alucard vs. Anderson as one of the classic battles in the series, and I like putting my own spin now that Anderson's getting upgrades.

As for the crossovers… I appreciate the confidence you have in my writing abilities, but I'm not sure I could do that well. I know some about Naruto (And really enjoy the YouTube series "Naruto Abridged". If you haven't seen it, GO NOW!), and I've seen / read Harry Potter, I've only heard about the others. ('Cept Black Lagoon. That one's new.) I've dabbled with crossover plots (mainly between the real world, Star Trek, and Star Wars), but I'm not sure how well I'd do an anime crossover.

Who knows? I may learn enough to give it a try someday, but as I sit here I'm not so sure.

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Matt wasn't sure how much longer he'd be playing Halo 3 on-line in the standard match games…

Sure, there were moments he could enjoy remembering, especially in Forge powered games, but constantly dealing with this prepubescent little shits was getting old. Nekky still wasn't around, and hadn't left any messages for him. He'd eventually found another friend of theirs who was up for a couple other game ideas. Fusion core Jenga was highly entertaining once you messed with gravity and weapon settings.

Matt, Rho, and Brian had made it to the main lab computers. After getting a better layout of the base and getting all the data they could Brian had split off to do… whatever. They'd exchanged contact information in case one side made a breakthrough and needed assistance. Honestly, Matt hadn't expected to hear from Iscariot… ever, but stranger things had happened. Their escape from the base was uneventful, and just like last time the ground collapsed behind them as they climbed the hills, taking the farm with it. The Vulture had returned unharmed and whisked them back to London. Walter and Fargason were pouring over the data with their people, leaving him with little to do.

Right then, though, he needed to get out of there. Stretch his legs a bit. Maybe Rho would be up for some chai?

Rebecca looked over the newly modified e-mail she planned to send home. She was pretty sure it would work, considering how long she'd put into it. Before she could get her original e-mail sent, she received a couple messages from her folks. They'd only been in the last couple days, but that made sense to her. She really hadn't been missing all that long, and when busy at school she was known to disappear for a few days.

She'd modified her story a couple times since her first plan. Walter had said they could make it work, and when she asked Matt through telepathy he'd agreed, so… Still, she took another read over it.

Hey guys,

Sorry I've been out of touch for a while. Life got kinda hectic for a while, and not just from school. I'm doing ok, though, and I think I'm in a good place now.

An internship offer came up around the school. Very short notice, but an excellent opportunity. I know we'd planned on me coming home next month, but we're probably going to have to push it back. I might even get a job here, if things go well enough. I'm still getting a handle on things around here, so I'll give a description next e-mail.

I'm not sure how long I have to write this. They've got me pretty busy around here, but I'll let you know when I'll be free enough to come back for a bit.

I hope everything is going well back home. My love to everyone there.

Love,

Rebecca

She did like her nickname, but it was more for her friends and father than anyone else. Her mother was quite adamant that her name was 'Rebecca', not something else. It made like easier if she just went with it.

In the end, she'd figured that being really vague would work for the time being. She still had no idea what to tell them, what they would believe she would drop everything to go do…

Saving the message for later, Rebecca stood and turned toward the door.

She needed to get out of there. Stretch her legs a bit. Maybe Matt would be up for some chai?

Seras dipped her spoon into the bowl of blood before her, bringing it to her lips to drink it down. "Do you think Anderson made it out of the base?"

Alucard leaned against a nearby wall, a bag of blood in hand. "I would be surprised if he hadn't." He raised the bag to his mouth and sipped through the attached tube. This had become common, the two of them taking their daily blood together and discussing whatever came up. "Besides, I've already asked Walter what he could provide for heavier weapons. I'd hate for his work to go to waste."

Seras smiled, swallowing the next spoonful. "I'm hoping I have Harkonnen next time."

Alucard smiled back, one of his rare full ones. "We'll worry about next time once we're sure there will be a next time. For now, it's a better idea for us to prepare for our current foe."

"The nameless organization." Alucard nodded. Seras eyes him carefully, holding another spoonful before her. "Alucard… are you planning on having fun?"

He simply smirked.

"We may be sending you into a fire ant nest this time."

A map of Ukraine on the wall, Fargason carefully pointed to a spot on the map near the Belarus border, a good fifty miles from anywhere. "We have no good images of this area, so we're not sure exactly where this base is located. However, I consider it likely you will encounter heavy resistance. Much of their research has been gathered here."

Walter spoke next. "There are no reports of Iscariot presence in the area, though I do know they recovered Paladin Anderson."

Matt sighed. "Of course, he couldn't have the decency to just die and stay out of our hair."

Sir Integra looked at him in the corner of her eye, but said nothing. It seemed she agreed with him. "Continue, Fargason."

"We could keep a number of our troops nearby, but I feel this mission is best suited to our vampires. I feel, however, that we should keep a majority of our troops in the country, spread to the satellite bases in case of an attack." Matt knew that Fargason trusted them… well, at least the three of them he knew. Still, an old soldier like Fargason didn't walk away from a fight easily.

Further still, part of the reason the four vampires were there was to preserve the life of the human troops. Well trained as they were, the vampires were tougher. In many ways, it was the right call. Sir Integra knew this. She nodded. "Very well. If you see a way to take this organization down, do so. Regardless, gather what information you can, specifically about their enhancement research." She set her cigar on the side of the nearby ashtray. "May God and her Majesty be with you."

For stealth purposes, Alucard and Seras again joined Matt and Rebecca in the Vulture. It was a longer flight then the last one, but with the Vulture's sonic boom dampening design the flight lasted only a few short hours. Alucard had picked a bench, leaned against the bulkhead, and pulled the front of his wide brimmed hat down over his eyes. Seras seemed in debate as to whether or not she should bring her cannon. Rebecca checked that, yes, she still had all her weapons in place.

Matt's weapons were still in storage, though he wore his holsters, frames, and swords. She counted up the nearby weapons and came up two short. "You leave something?"

He looked up at her. "Didn't notice before? I decided the 5-7s were a little too small for front line use. I'll stash 'em in the FX once she's done."

"Okay." She picked a spot on the bench beside him and settled down.

Matt gave her a smile. "Hey, don't worry. We'll be fine."

Rebecca looked over. "Are you sure?"

Matt nodded. "I'm positive."

Rebecca had a sudden flash of memory. She was curious if he knew this chunk of movie dialogue… "Only fools are positive."

Matt chuckled. "Are you sure?"

"I'm positive."

They were both silent for a moment, staring at each other, but before long one of them cracked and both started laughing. Matt ended the fit with a happy sigh, rubbing at an eye. "Oh… I needed that. Thanks."

"Thanks right back."

They said nothing further for the rest of the flight, but both were able to hold on to that moment and relax.

The Vulture finally descended for landing, the flight having felt both too short and too long. After the four vampires hopped to the ground, the Vulture once more dusted off. Not knowing what to expect, Matt, Rebecca, and Seras kept weapons drawn. Night with no moon in this forested mountainous area pushed Rebecca's vision to the limit. Matt tried to fill in what he could, but he was having trouble as well. Alucard simply walked on, not worried or simply not caring what might be out there.

They didn't find a clearing this time, instead coming upon a large stone cave stretching back into the darkness. It became two branches almost immediately, so they split off in their usual pairs. Within moments, Matt had dug into his pocket for a flashlight to attach to his FS2000 rifle, Rebecca doing the same. The stone tunnels were manmade… No, vampire made. After a short distance inside, Matt's light landed on a strange symbol carved into the wall. It was a globe with a pair of fangs stabbed into it. She saw him shudder ever so slightly. 'What is it?'

'One of the last big things we had to fight. The Global Fangs. Kinda hoped I wouldn't have to see this symbol ever again.' He gave a quick thought clearing head shake. 'They're long gone, though. Let's move on.'

Seras couldn't help but give Alucard a slightly annoyed glare when he suddenly thought to her, 'You won't be needing that.' It reminded her of her first mission at Hellsing, when Fargason had told her she couldn't use a scope on her rifle. True, she didn't need it in the end, but it would have helped her on that first night.

This time it was about the flashlight she was about to grab. 'Ok, then, what do you suggest I do?'

'Give your eyes a chance to adjust. They are far more adaptable then you know.'

She sighed, but humored him. She soon saw that he was right. There was a very faint, almost infrared light source. Once her eyes locked on to it, she could see well enough to navigate. 'Huh… Pretty comfortable, actually.'

'That,' Alucard replied, 'and it would put human vampire hunters at a disadvantage. They would need night vision goggles to move through here undetected, which makes them vulnerable to being blinded if they switch the lights on.'

'Very true… I hadn't thought of that.'

Alucard smirked. 'You were a cop, not a soldier. Now you can be both, and you must be.'

She smiled back. 'I will be.' She passed the message along to Matt. He wasn't stupid, but he would likely pick the more expedient option.

'Got it, Seras. Thanks.' He looked back to Rho. 'Ok. Lights off. Seras says if we give our eyes a bit, they'll do fine.'

'Well,' she replied, 'I might as well give 'em another chance.' Her light switched off moments later.

Matt's did too. They stood there for what felt like several minutes, but it turned out Seras was right. He could even see the miniscule light bulbs, probably small LEDs, embedded into the ceiling. Rho said she couldn't see much, but she would likely not hit anything, so both continued.

It was all just stone. They found no equipment, no supplies, no ghouls, not even a random small woodland creature. But they'd also found no end, so they pressed on. Soon, another message came from Seras. 'We found a door.'

'Good,' Matt replied. 'How are they hidden?'

'Wait a sec, Matt.' Matt turned to look at Rho, who seemed to be staring at a piece of wall. 'I think I've got something here.'

'One moment, Seras. We might have one too.' Matt walked back to her. 'What do you see?'

'It's similar to the symbol I saw in France.' Matt suddenly felt something move through her mind. 'Woah…' She reached out to the wall, as if about to fall. Meanwhile, a slab of the rock before them started sliding down into the floor, revealing an airlock like chamber beyond.

Matt grabbed her shoulder to steady her, but she patted his hand to let him know she was fine. 'What is it?'

'Mind probe again. This one was a bit different from the last one.' She looked over to him. 'I'm okay, Matt, really.'

'Alright.' He set a hand on her shoulder for a moment, then let it down. 'We're in, Seras.'

She sounded a little annoyed. 'Good. We're not. There was an override for the France door. Nothing like that here.'

'Give us a chance to look around. There might be a way for us to let you in from the inside.'

He heard a mental sigh. 'Alright. We'll wait here.'

Matt turned to Rho. 'Let's do it.'

They entered the airlock, the false stone door sealing behind them. Slowly, the light in the room increased to more normal levels, their eyes adjusting quickly to keep up. 'Ah, so more of a 'lightlock',' Matt thought to Rho. Once to a decent level, the inner door opened… to an empty corridor. 'How the hell could they have built all this stuff without us knowing?'

Rho thought for a moment, probably thinking back to what Walter had said. 'Dummy corporations? Bribes in the right places?'

'Heaven forbid, human partners?' He sighed and shook his head. 'Maybe when we find the guy leading this group I'll ask him before ripping his head off.'

'I'll join in.'

After a brief search, they found a small computer room. Finding it unoccupied, Rho was able to get into the system thanks to her mental imprint and get both schematics to the place and open the door Seras and Alucard were waiting at. The place only had two levels, but those levels stretched far into the mountain. Matt and Rho would remain on the upper level for their search. Seras and Alucard would take the lower.

As they searched, Matt became convinced that these vampires had known Hellsing would be coming, and probably evacuated their base. But Rho hadn't sensed a self-destruct in progress, so they continued. The schematic had identified some sort of command chamber to the place. If there was anyone around, and therefore anyone they could get answers from… after blasting off a leg or two, of course, that would be the place. They entered a higher security section, evidenced by the round portals in the ceiling. Matt switched to Matilda, and its HE slugs, in the nick of time. A scanner dropped. There was no time to duck for cover, so Matt simply blasted it.

Almost immediately, red lights started flashing and an alarm klaxon sounded. "Damn," Matt said. "So much for a smooth mission." Bringing Matilda to his shoulder, he pressed on. Moments later, though, a number of vampires and their escorting ghouls entered the corridor before them. Matt opened fire immediately, sending several explosive slugs into the group. The ghouls were torn apart as silver bullets from Spitfire leveled several vampires. Matt switched to his silver slugs, taking down the remaining few.

They had another pair of skirmishes, both easily countered, en route to the far side of the base. The control room door parted once it scanned Rho, and both entered. The spartan nature of the rest of the base was made up for by this room. Banks of computers lined the walls, giving data links from a large number of their own bases as well as maps showing a number of military and anti-vampire force bases around the world. Matt saw several of Hellsing's hidden strongholds on one map, and several of DPSD's on another. A conference table sat to one side, several lamps suspended above it and a number of complex chemical structures represented on charts. There was a small vial of orange goo on the table as well.

It was also populated. There were a large number of vampires, some of them looking like they'd gotten too much sun. 'Weak bloods,' Matt thought, mostly to himself. But one of the ones before him was different. He was large, built like a linebacker, with short brown hair and wearing a denim vest, black jeans, boots, and blue metal bracers.

"Well, well," the big one said, "looks like the Hellsingers have finally showed up."

Matt's eyes slowly went wide.

He knew that voice.

These vampires weren't the strongest they'd ever fought. According to Alucard, they didn't even meet the average. Seras wasn't sure if that was the truth, or just Alucard's disdain. Then again, Alucard was able to hide the two of them from detection while in a brightly lit room, so she tended to agree with him.

There were a number of vampires in the various labs of the lower level. Antechambers with large windows allowed them to see inside. Within were large chemical analysis machines, high powered microscopes, multiple vial centrifuges... Basically, all the equipment they'd expected to see in all the other bases they'd found. The pair watched as the techs mixed various chemicals, blood, and processes. The end product was a strange orange goo; many vials of it. They were packaged in a box, save for one which was carried off soon after it was filled and capped. Seras and Alucard looked at each other. Both knew what came next; they needed to get their hands on a vial.

Suddenly, an alarm klaxon split the air. Seras looked around, but didn't see anyone charging at them. 'Doubtless Jemeth has been spotted,' Alucard noted. They peered into one of the labs again. There was a flurry of activity as techs started working the computers, downloading information from remote terminals and sending it to other bases. Suddenly, one vampire came in and barked some kind of order. All the techs dropped what they were doing and left through a back door.

Seras gave the glass a quick once over. It wasn't bulletproof, but it looked blast resistant. She drew both Glocks and sent a double burst of nine millimeter fire into the window. The bullets were captured, but the glass was weakened by it, allowing Alucard's follow-up shots to blow straight through.

It seemed he'd agreed with her assessment; gun fire might be hidden by the alarms, but teleporting would probably draw anyone nearby to see who was doing something funny. Seras instantly dropped before one of the computers. She halted the upload and made a quick search of the system. Locating the destination, she plugged in a flash drive and grabbed all the data she could. Alucard grabbed a vial of goo, which disappeared into his trench coat.

They had grabbed all they could. Techs were returning. Hiding the evidence of their interference, they returned to the antechamber.

Alucard toyed with the techs a little further. Not only were Seras and Alucard hidden, but the techs never noticed the shattered window either.

Someone tossed a shotgun into the head vampire's hands, which he pumped and aimed at his hip at Matt. It was nearly identical to the Halo shotgun. Matt chuckled. "So, that's Betsy, eh?" Matt asked. "Well, so much for originality."

The shotgun was lowered, slightly. "Huh… Jemmat?" He looked back at another, lankier vampire with lighter brown hair, plus beard stubble across his chin, wearing a dark green vest and tan jeans. "Look who we got here, KC; Jemmat, in the flesh."

KC shrugged. "Never pinned him as a Hellsinger, though. You, Nekbrekr?"

Nekbrekr shook his head, his eyes returning to Matt. "I don't suppose you'd be willing to join us," he said. "If you're half as good as you are in Halo, you'd be an asset."

Matt slowly shook his head. He probably should have expected this, especially considering Nekbrekr now saw what Matt could bring to his little organization. "You've been a good war buddy on Live, Nekky, but this isn't Halo. Same rules don't apply."

Nekbrekr didn't fire immediately, instead looking over at Rho. "How about you, Sniper Bait? Wanna ditch this looser and hook up with a winning team here?"

Matt thought he heard a very quiet burp from Rho as she tried to swallow her disgust. "Sorry, I just threw up in my mouth a bit, just now."

"All right, I'll take that as a no." He shrugged. "Shame. I think we could have kicked some serious ass." Nekbrekr fired.

Matt had dodged almost immediately, barely getting out of the way. Rho opened fire too, but Nekky moved as well and her shots landed in some random underling. The small massed group all fired, their shots crisscrossing but few managing to find their intended targets. Abandoning the vial, Matt and Rho ran for the door and somehow made it out unscathed. More ghouls approached from further down the hall.

Matt and Rho needed no further encouragement to run.

They had something of a running battle as they escaped from the base and back into the cave. Someone had switched the lights on, meaning they had a far easier time backtracking to the cave's entrance. Seras and Alucard were already there, and quickly reported that they had scored pretty big.

They started back down the wooded mountain, calling for the Vulture to make an emergency pickup. The nearest clearing was still several minutes ahead, and they ran as quickly as was possible.

But a group of vampires and ghouls intercepted them en route. Suddenly, enemy forces were approaching from all sides. The four Hellsing vampires dropped to a knee, quickly forming a four person infantry square, with each member facing outward with twin pistols firing. Seras's Glocks mowed down ghouls, while Alucard's huge Jackal and Titan took them out in columns. Matt's Brownings held their own, but were slightly outdone by Rho's P99s. For what seemed like ages, the enemy just kept coming in a never ending cycle of shoot, cover, reload, and shoot again.

And as suddenly as it had started, the attack ended. Seras and Alucard were both fine. Matt checked himself for any new holes, then looked to his right. He quickly stood, looked around, and shouted, "Rebecca!"

Rho was gone.