"There's something you haven't told me."
A cold wind blew over the table, the leaves on the trees rustling in it's wake. Sir Integra lifted the cup of tea to her mouth, slowly taking a sip as the woman across from her sat with her lips pursed. Sir Integral Fairbrook Wingates Hellsing, and Heinkel Wolfe, the head of Iscariot.
On tuesday afternoon, the two where outside of a small restaurant in outer London. Although the capital had been bombed and burnt to the ground, the deathtoll forever rising as more charred bodies where uncovered, it was the outer boroughs that sustained the least damage, and had already begun on their long road to a new city.
This cafe in particular had been opened only months prior, and was managing to thrive on the outskirts of such a haunting city.
Sir Integral Fairbrook Wingates Hellsing, and Heinkel Wolfe. Two of the most powerful women in the world, and there they sat, discussing the countries greatest matters in the open and right under the publics eye. That was the way that both organizations had always worked. Covert, yet obvious as the light of day. They where right under the noses of every civilian, they where part of the crowd, they where everywhere. They where out on the line to let others lead normal lives, and most notable, they where the few who the world would never name heroes no matter what they did in life.
"You're...hiding something." Integra said, elaborating.
Wolfe stirred, looking up from her own cup of coffee.
"Yes, I am. Vould you not expect as much, protestant?" She replied in a cool tone, lifting the cup to her scarred face and drinking. Two robed figures where sitting several tables behind her, under the the cafe's awnings, they where silent, though obviously on her side. Just as Heinkels cup clanked against the glass topped table, one of them rose to their feet, passed to Sir Integra's side, and set a folder down infront of her. Integra raised an eyebrow, as the young man returned to his own table. She looked at Heinkel for any sort of response, but after getting nothing more then a brief nod, she scowled, opening the folder her self and skimming through it's contents. After several minutes she lowered the files, her eyes narrowing on Wolfe.
"...Really?" She said, gravely, setting the papers down on the table and lighting a cigar.
"Yes" was the only response she received, as the Iscariot leaned back in her chair, a rather satisfied smile on her lips.
"Just why have you begun research again? So far as Hellsing has been informed, your organizations research on such matters ended decades ago. They failed." Integra paused, lighting a cigar that she felt was needed, then continued, "Anderson was the only success."
She lowered her cigar after taking a drag, deliberately burning the edge of the paper with it.
"Regenerators..." She murmured. "...Once more Iscariot plans to mess with the natural order and send such...things to do their work."
She exhaled a ring of smoke, then took off her glasses for a moment, cleaning the lenses with a cloth before resting them on the bridge of her nose. Heinkel practically growled, as she pulled the papers away from Sir Hellsing and back to her own side of the table.
"It ist different now... und I vould advice you to watch vhat you say. Hellsing's practices are far from upstanding..." She stood, leaning over the table and paying the bill, flourishing a signature on the paper. "...Unlike you, ve are using the knowledge given to us by God to improve our efforts... und ve have succeeded, in His grace, vhile you delve into the occult for such things, you protestant cretins have no morals." She finished, with a bite in her tone.
Integra remained at the table with her legs crossed.
"...My great-great grandfather once thought that if something so powerful was aligned with God, rather then the devil, that great things could be achieved, that souls could be saved in the process," She snuffed her cigar out in an ashtray, "...Great things."
Standing she continued, lifting her coat from the back of the chair and draping it over her shoulders, putting it on.
"...We've illuminated darkness, in ways previous thought impossible. Your people are just creating more."
Heinkel said nothing, as she joined her two men, ready to leave this pointless meeting. Integra gave a curt nod of the head, taking the files from the table, before departing herself, but not without adding a few last words.
"...Wolfe...? Since when are our organizations sparring so vigorously again?" She said, with a raised eyebrow, though not expecting a response, for she knew full well that all this was just due to the recent tension brought about by that 'woman in red'.
...and no response she received, as Heinkel turned swiftly, and strode to her next destination, which, The Iscariot was glad to say, was to a plane back to rome.
--
Seras shuffled through the files.
"...So...basically, she's got a bunch of researches building an army." the former police girl murmured, running her finger unconsciously over a thin scar down her neck.
Integra nodded, standing beside her fathers portrait, staring into the painted eyes of one of the many men she missed so much.
"Yes." She replied, vaguely, "...It was one thing when they had Anderson... but the idea of making all of their agents this way...It's preposterous, I won't stand for-"
"...It is the way things are." A voice interrupted. Both women turned to the door, where Helena stood. It wasn't possible to say exactly when she had entered the room, nor how long she had even been on Hellsing grounds, but her usual melancholy sent a chill through the office.
"There was a time when we thought that the hunting would cease. When humans became so proud, so smart... They no longer believed, their new religions was logic. It was in those times that the vatican was the only thing standing in the way of the nosferatus." She walked past the desk, brushing her hand over it, then calmly taking the paper from Seras.
"...Then over one hundred years ago...Hellsing put an end to over half of our population...Yet, it has made little difference, has it?"
Integra clenched a fist, digging her nails into her hand, but said nothing.
"...In retrospect, The ones to cause our destruction in this land where the ones who wished to become us... Those lowly imitations... Quite ironic."
She paused, her expression changed for a moment as a piece of paper fell out between the pages. "Oh?"
She held the photograph in her hand, something akin to a sad smile on her face.
"...I doubt that the Iscariot intended this to get mixed up in such important matters..."
She mused, setting the photograph aside and continuing to read the report. Seras' face read of confusion, as she moved swiftly to the desk, Integra turning from the painting to join her, nobody noticing the blood now dripping from her palm.
The photograph on the desk, which must have dated back over fifteen years, was none other then Alexander Anderson, joined by three children. A young japanese girl, a boy whom, despite the young age, Integra could recognize as Maxwell, and finally Heinkel, who's smile beamed as she looked up to Anderson, hugging the japanese girl who was now assumed to be Yumiko. Seras, who had been hovering over it with interest, moved aside as Integra picked up the picture, her expression unreadable as her own eyes met with those four familiar, yet unrecognizable people.
Helena continued to read the document, but raised her eyes from the paper just once, and although she did not face the two, she voiced the feeling that had made itself present in the dimly lit room.
"...It would seem that we are all the same, stumbling through the darkness. We are merely divided by an impenetrable stockade."
Integra shuddered, setting the photograph back onto the desk.
"...She'll be wanting that back... if she realizes it's missing," She said sharply, turning and exiting her own office.
Seras sighed, raising herself to sit on the desk.
"...Bloody hell..." She murmured. "...They look so...so..."
"Merry?" Helena asked, monotonously.
Seras smirked, as she heard her beloved captains hysterical laughter ringing through her head; yes, he knew what she had really been thinking, and could not agree more.
"...Well... I was thinking 'sane'" she chuckled, tucking the photograph into her shirt.
"...Just what are you doing with that?" Helena asked, as she finally finished reading, and sat the papers back on Integra's desk.
"Nothin'" Seras said, jumping off the desk. "...I just got an idea."
Helena caught on immediately, whether it was her vampiric senses, or is Seras had just made it so obvious, and she spoke up.
"...Seras. He is nothing more then a shell, and all you know him to be is merely a mass of souls... If his being is somewhere inside that body, frankly I would be astounded." She approached Seras, reaching a hand up and resting it on her face. "I apologize, Childe...However, you stated it yourself: You felt nothing when you saw him."
Seras paused, looking away from Helena' deep eyes.
"I know...but... Sir Integra did."
With that, she stepped back from the smaller vampire, turned, and phased down through the floorboards.
--
Short chapter is shoooort... Sorry about that, but the next one should be abit longer. That scenario of Heinkel's photograph is something I've actually wanted to do for a long time, Infact, she was originally intended to drop it when she was staying at Hellsing... either way, Vlad shall see it soon enough... 'course, from the looks of the last chapter, he's already seen ALOT...
Anyway, thanks for reading, sorry if there are any errors, and please review. Bye.