Chapter 1: The Battle Begins
Author's Note: Sorry there wasn't any action in the prologue, I'll try to make up for it with this chapter. Be warned: if you don't like Matrix style- acrobatics, you won't like this. Here we go!
Disclaimer: I don't own Hellsing or Neo (just in case the one mention of his name is illegal without a disclaimer.)
John Carrigan looked at the head forensics Doctor of the Knights of Charlemagne in dismay. He had just finished hearing the news about the vampire bodies, and it was not good. "So someone is manufacturing vampires? With these little micro-chips?" "It would seem so," replied the doctor. "This explains why the ghouls did not all die when you killed the master vampire. It also explains why he went down so easily; the circuitry can cause vampiric change, but cannot grant full powers. This vampire, while still able to produce ghouls, was weaker than a fledgling No Life King. He was barely stronger than the ghouls he made.
"Even still," said John. "A normal human wouldn't have been able to take him. This is very bad news. With these little chips, someone could create an army of sentient vampires. This is very, very bad news."
"Indeed it is, John, but I have some that is worse still," said a voice from the door of the morgue. John turned and saw Pierre, the Chervouz family's faithful butler. He was an expert in detection and forensics, a skilled field surgeon, and a master of fighting with Indian Katal blades. He was an invaluable asset to the Knights, and one of John's best friends.
"Oh, really?" John shot back. "What could be worse than a vampire manufacturing line?" "The fact that a vampire who is most probably from that manufacturing line has overtaken a multi-level parking garage right here in Paris. The Gendarmes have already lost 16 men, and it is time for you to enter the fray. Director Chervouz wants you there ten minutes ago."
"All right," said John. "Tell him I'm on my way. Maybe I can get to the bottom of this. Are my weapons loaded?" "Yes, I got everything ready on my way down here. Your coat's magazine pouches are full, your weapons are loaded and in their holsters, and your van is idling and ready to go. I also took the liberty of supplying you with some vampire interrogation gear, should you be able to take this one alive."
"Thanks, Pierre. I don't know what I'd do without you." And with that, John took off down the hall. He stopped to put on his specially tailored, Kevlar-lined trench-coat, and then headed out to his van. He leaped behind the wheel and peeled out of the garage, leaving a strip of rubber on the asphalt behind him.
"Really," said Pierre as he closed the doors. "There's no need for theatrics.
John careened around a corner and slid to a stop in front of the police barrier. He flashed his Knights of Charlemagne ID at the guards and headed to the temporary police command post. "I'm from the Knights of Charlemagne. Who's in charge here?" "I am," said a distinguished-looking man in a commander's uniform. "You must be from the Knights. Welcome."
"Tell me the situation," said John. "What's going on here?"
"About 2 hours ago, a lone man with a gun killed 3 people in the parking lot, and proceeded to drink their blood. The security guards attempted to bring him into custody and were slaughtered for their efforts. The remaining security forces sealed the garage and called for backup. We sent a team in 30 minutes ago, but lost contact with them. We are preparing a rescue team to go in with you now."
"Don't bother with the rescue team, Commander, your men are now worse than dead. Any that are still alive I can bring out when I'm finished. And I won't need the help, either. Your team would just slow me down. I'm going in now. Keep everyone out of the garage until I come back."
As the Gendarme Commander sputtered weak protests, John turned and headed down the ramp. The commander shook his head. This Knight better be as good as he said he was, or heads would role. The Knight's, most likely.
The first level of the garage was deserted, as quiet as a tomb. As he had that thought, John realized that the garage might very well be a tomb for many people. The 2 hour delay before he had been called in was plenty of time for the vampire to change every person in the place into ghouls.
John scanned the room, every sense alert. He switched his eye implants to night vision mode, and checked each area. There was nothing. John searched the ceiling for bloodsuckers setting an ambush, but saw nothing. Then, he heard a bloodcurdling scream for help coming from the floor above him.
With all the speed that the steroids could give him, John raced up the stairs. He hit the locked door with his shoulder, blowing it out of its frame. As he got into the open, he heard the scream suddenly end in a gurgling cry. He turned and saw a group of at least 40 ghouls feasting on a freshly killed man in police dress. Some of the ghouls wore uniforms identical to his. John drew his Ingrams. "Let's Rock," he said, and grinned.
The ghouls turned away from there meal at the sound of his voice. John lifted his guns and raked the group of ghouls with automatic fire. Several of them went down before the guns clicked empty, hit through the head or heart by a lucky shot. When the Ingrams ran dry, John holstered them, pulled out his SOCOMs, and activated his targeting computer.
Everything seemed to slow down just a little as the nanomachines flooded his body with adrenalin. He lifted his guns, and crosshairs appeared on his field of vision where the bullets would impact, making aiming a cinch. John took aim and shot a pair of ghouls through the head. As they fell, he walked forward, firing. Each shot took a ghoul through the head or heart. By the time the first pair of ghouls had fallen to the floor, 12 more had joined them.
The SOCOMs were empty, so John holstered them. Most of the remaining ghouls were in police uniforms. They moaned, and aimed a variety of police- issue weapons at him. As they began to fire, John cartwheeled to the right, and then rebounded off of a pillar and into the center of the group. He chopped a pair of ghouls in the neck with sufficient force to send them flying 30 feet through the air. He kicked a third in the crotch and then brought his knee into its face, sending it spinning away. He pulled out his sawn-off shotgun and bashed a ghoul's face in with the stock, and then shot another right in the nose, completely removing its head from its body. Another ghoul was cut nearly in half as the silver buckshot from the ten- gauge hit it in the heart. John reloaded and holstered the shotgun, and then shoved it back into its holster. He snatched his .357 from his boot, and shot 6 of the remaining 10 ghouls right between the eyes. Two more went down with busted skulls as he slammed their heads together. The last ghoul was killed as John pulled out his shotgun again and gave it both barrels in the gut. He crushed its head under his boot, and then stopped to survey the situation. Every single ghoul had been killed, and nothing else was moving in the area. John holstered the shotgun and began to reload all of his weapons.
As the last clip was slid into its place, John heard the click of a safety being released from the shadows to his left. Without thinking, he back flipped up and over the nearest car, pulling out his machine pistols as he did. He landed on the other side, covered by the car, a large SUV. As he landed, the bullet struck the other side of the car. Had he hesitated for an instant, he would have been hit. John heard a chuckle from the shadows.
"That was pretty good. I didn't expect you to be so fast. This will be more fun than I thought." "Maybe so!" shouted John. "But I'll be the one having fun, you freak! You'll be dead!" As he spoke, John cartwheeled out from behind the car, firing toward the voice he had heard. He saw a blur as the gunman dodged the bullet, marking him as a vampire. John hit the ground and rolled over behind another car, putting it between him and the vampire.
"Better and better," said the vampire. "I didn't think the Knights had someone this good. I won't make that mistake again."
"You won't have the chance!" shouted John. He activated his reflex boosting drugs, and back flipped out and away from the car, right over the vampire. Time seemed to stop as John fired at the vampire in midair. It dodged to the right, and John fired a burst into its path, hitting it dead center. He and the vampire hit the ground at the same time.
"You must be another one of those microchip-wannabes," said John. "A real vampire would have been much harder to take down."
"At least I don't think I'm Neo," hissed the vampire. John crouched down and belted the vampire in the face with the front of his Ingram.
"No backtalk, freak. I want some information. Who gave you that chip? Did you volunteer or were you forced into it? And where did it happen? Tell me!
The vampire laughed derisively.
"I tell you nothing, you stupid action movie wannabe. You can just ask someone else, 'cause you'll get nothing from me!"
John took out a bottle of Holy Water from his interrogation kit. Pierre had been correct that he'd need this. He poured some onto the vampire's leg, and watched as it screamed in pain. The water acted like acid, burning the flesh of the vampire's thigh.
"You'll tell me alright, or I'll make sure you die slow."
"Naw," said the vampire. "I don't think you'll have the chance. The people who gave me this chip prepared for something like this. They don't want people giving out valuable information, now do they?"
The vampire snapped his fingers, and flames cascaded over his body. He screamed in pain and cursed John one last time. Then, he was gone.
"Damn!" said John. He had the feeling that this was going to be a tough case to crack. He headed down the stairs and out of the garage, holstering his weapons and deactivating his implants. The fight was over, and they needed to recharge. He brushed past the Gendarmes, and headed to his van, grabbing his cell phone when he got there.
"Pierre, I didn't get any info. The freak committed suicide rather than tell me anything. I'm heading back now. See if you can find anything about other incidents like this."
"I already have, sir. It seems that there has been a rash of technological vampire incidents of late in England. Perhaps we should contact the Hellsing organization for more information."
"If they'll give us any," muttered John. The Hellsing organization was not on good terms with the Knights, because the Knights were a secular organization. They used holy water and blessed bullets, but most of them had no religious beliefs and the organization had no religious creed. Hellsing saw this as sacrilegious and tried to have as little to do with the Knights as possible. Still, this was a serious problem, and Hellsing always seemed to care more about lives than religious differences. They might be able to help. "I need to talk to the Director about what's going on. Go ahead and call them, Pierre, and see if we can't talk to Sir Hellsing herself. We're going to need all the help we can get on this one.
Well, what do you think? Was that better? I don't know when the next chapter will be up; I'm a perfectionist so it could take a while. Once again, please read and review, but no flames. Thanks!
Author's Note: Sorry there wasn't any action in the prologue, I'll try to make up for it with this chapter. Be warned: if you don't like Matrix style- acrobatics, you won't like this. Here we go!
Disclaimer: I don't own Hellsing or Neo (just in case the one mention of his name is illegal without a disclaimer.)
John Carrigan looked at the head forensics Doctor of the Knights of Charlemagne in dismay. He had just finished hearing the news about the vampire bodies, and it was not good. "So someone is manufacturing vampires? With these little micro-chips?" "It would seem so," replied the doctor. "This explains why the ghouls did not all die when you killed the master vampire. It also explains why he went down so easily; the circuitry can cause vampiric change, but cannot grant full powers. This vampire, while still able to produce ghouls, was weaker than a fledgling No Life King. He was barely stronger than the ghouls he made.
"Even still," said John. "A normal human wouldn't have been able to take him. This is very bad news. With these little chips, someone could create an army of sentient vampires. This is very, very bad news."
"Indeed it is, John, but I have some that is worse still," said a voice from the door of the morgue. John turned and saw Pierre, the Chervouz family's faithful butler. He was an expert in detection and forensics, a skilled field surgeon, and a master of fighting with Indian Katal blades. He was an invaluable asset to the Knights, and one of John's best friends.
"Oh, really?" John shot back. "What could be worse than a vampire manufacturing line?" "The fact that a vampire who is most probably from that manufacturing line has overtaken a multi-level parking garage right here in Paris. The Gendarmes have already lost 16 men, and it is time for you to enter the fray. Director Chervouz wants you there ten minutes ago."
"All right," said John. "Tell him I'm on my way. Maybe I can get to the bottom of this. Are my weapons loaded?" "Yes, I got everything ready on my way down here. Your coat's magazine pouches are full, your weapons are loaded and in their holsters, and your van is idling and ready to go. I also took the liberty of supplying you with some vampire interrogation gear, should you be able to take this one alive."
"Thanks, Pierre. I don't know what I'd do without you." And with that, John took off down the hall. He stopped to put on his specially tailored, Kevlar-lined trench-coat, and then headed out to his van. He leaped behind the wheel and peeled out of the garage, leaving a strip of rubber on the asphalt behind him.
"Really," said Pierre as he closed the doors. "There's no need for theatrics.
John careened around a corner and slid to a stop in front of the police barrier. He flashed his Knights of Charlemagne ID at the guards and headed to the temporary police command post. "I'm from the Knights of Charlemagne. Who's in charge here?" "I am," said a distinguished-looking man in a commander's uniform. "You must be from the Knights. Welcome."
"Tell me the situation," said John. "What's going on here?"
"About 2 hours ago, a lone man with a gun killed 3 people in the parking lot, and proceeded to drink their blood. The security guards attempted to bring him into custody and were slaughtered for their efforts. The remaining security forces sealed the garage and called for backup. We sent a team in 30 minutes ago, but lost contact with them. We are preparing a rescue team to go in with you now."
"Don't bother with the rescue team, Commander, your men are now worse than dead. Any that are still alive I can bring out when I'm finished. And I won't need the help, either. Your team would just slow me down. I'm going in now. Keep everyone out of the garage until I come back."
As the Gendarme Commander sputtered weak protests, John turned and headed down the ramp. The commander shook his head. This Knight better be as good as he said he was, or heads would role. The Knight's, most likely.
The first level of the garage was deserted, as quiet as a tomb. As he had that thought, John realized that the garage might very well be a tomb for many people. The 2 hour delay before he had been called in was plenty of time for the vampire to change every person in the place into ghouls.
John scanned the room, every sense alert. He switched his eye implants to night vision mode, and checked each area. There was nothing. John searched the ceiling for bloodsuckers setting an ambush, but saw nothing. Then, he heard a bloodcurdling scream for help coming from the floor above him.
With all the speed that the steroids could give him, John raced up the stairs. He hit the locked door with his shoulder, blowing it out of its frame. As he got into the open, he heard the scream suddenly end in a gurgling cry. He turned and saw a group of at least 40 ghouls feasting on a freshly killed man in police dress. Some of the ghouls wore uniforms identical to his. John drew his Ingrams. "Let's Rock," he said, and grinned.
The ghouls turned away from there meal at the sound of his voice. John lifted his guns and raked the group of ghouls with automatic fire. Several of them went down before the guns clicked empty, hit through the head or heart by a lucky shot. When the Ingrams ran dry, John holstered them, pulled out his SOCOMs, and activated his targeting computer.
Everything seemed to slow down just a little as the nanomachines flooded his body with adrenalin. He lifted his guns, and crosshairs appeared on his field of vision where the bullets would impact, making aiming a cinch. John took aim and shot a pair of ghouls through the head. As they fell, he walked forward, firing. Each shot took a ghoul through the head or heart. By the time the first pair of ghouls had fallen to the floor, 12 more had joined them.
The SOCOMs were empty, so John holstered them. Most of the remaining ghouls were in police uniforms. They moaned, and aimed a variety of police- issue weapons at him. As they began to fire, John cartwheeled to the right, and then rebounded off of a pillar and into the center of the group. He chopped a pair of ghouls in the neck with sufficient force to send them flying 30 feet through the air. He kicked a third in the crotch and then brought his knee into its face, sending it spinning away. He pulled out his sawn-off shotgun and bashed a ghoul's face in with the stock, and then shot another right in the nose, completely removing its head from its body. Another ghoul was cut nearly in half as the silver buckshot from the ten- gauge hit it in the heart. John reloaded and holstered the shotgun, and then shoved it back into its holster. He snatched his .357 from his boot, and shot 6 of the remaining 10 ghouls right between the eyes. Two more went down with busted skulls as he slammed their heads together. The last ghoul was killed as John pulled out his shotgun again and gave it both barrels in the gut. He crushed its head under his boot, and then stopped to survey the situation. Every single ghoul had been killed, and nothing else was moving in the area. John holstered the shotgun and began to reload all of his weapons.
As the last clip was slid into its place, John heard the click of a safety being released from the shadows to his left. Without thinking, he back flipped up and over the nearest car, pulling out his machine pistols as he did. He landed on the other side, covered by the car, a large SUV. As he landed, the bullet struck the other side of the car. Had he hesitated for an instant, he would have been hit. John heard a chuckle from the shadows.
"That was pretty good. I didn't expect you to be so fast. This will be more fun than I thought." "Maybe so!" shouted John. "But I'll be the one having fun, you freak! You'll be dead!" As he spoke, John cartwheeled out from behind the car, firing toward the voice he had heard. He saw a blur as the gunman dodged the bullet, marking him as a vampire. John hit the ground and rolled over behind another car, putting it between him and the vampire.
"Better and better," said the vampire. "I didn't think the Knights had someone this good. I won't make that mistake again."
"You won't have the chance!" shouted John. He activated his reflex boosting drugs, and back flipped out and away from the car, right over the vampire. Time seemed to stop as John fired at the vampire in midair. It dodged to the right, and John fired a burst into its path, hitting it dead center. He and the vampire hit the ground at the same time.
"You must be another one of those microchip-wannabes," said John. "A real vampire would have been much harder to take down."
"At least I don't think I'm Neo," hissed the vampire. John crouched down and belted the vampire in the face with the front of his Ingram.
"No backtalk, freak. I want some information. Who gave you that chip? Did you volunteer or were you forced into it? And where did it happen? Tell me!
The vampire laughed derisively.
"I tell you nothing, you stupid action movie wannabe. You can just ask someone else, 'cause you'll get nothing from me!"
John took out a bottle of Holy Water from his interrogation kit. Pierre had been correct that he'd need this. He poured some onto the vampire's leg, and watched as it screamed in pain. The water acted like acid, burning the flesh of the vampire's thigh.
"You'll tell me alright, or I'll make sure you die slow."
"Naw," said the vampire. "I don't think you'll have the chance. The people who gave me this chip prepared for something like this. They don't want people giving out valuable information, now do they?"
The vampire snapped his fingers, and flames cascaded over his body. He screamed in pain and cursed John one last time. Then, he was gone.
"Damn!" said John. He had the feeling that this was going to be a tough case to crack. He headed down the stairs and out of the garage, holstering his weapons and deactivating his implants. The fight was over, and they needed to recharge. He brushed past the Gendarmes, and headed to his van, grabbing his cell phone when he got there.
"Pierre, I didn't get any info. The freak committed suicide rather than tell me anything. I'm heading back now. See if you can find anything about other incidents like this."
"I already have, sir. It seems that there has been a rash of technological vampire incidents of late in England. Perhaps we should contact the Hellsing organization for more information."
"If they'll give us any," muttered John. The Hellsing organization was not on good terms with the Knights, because the Knights were a secular organization. They used holy water and blessed bullets, but most of them had no religious beliefs and the organization had no religious creed. Hellsing saw this as sacrilegious and tried to have as little to do with the Knights as possible. Still, this was a serious problem, and Hellsing always seemed to care more about lives than religious differences. They might be able to help. "I need to talk to the Director about what's going on. Go ahead and call them, Pierre, and see if we can't talk to Sir Hellsing herself. We're going to need all the help we can get on this one.
Well, what do you think? Was that better? I don't know when the next chapter will be up; I'm a perfectionist so it could take a while. Once again, please read and review, but no flames. Thanks!