Disclaimer: Same as before, don't own the Van Helsing thingamajiggie.

Author's Notes: To all those who read and reviewed chapter 1 of this fic, thank you all!  Y'all are divine, thanks so much for reviewing.  I agree with what one of the reviewers said, I can so totally fuck this up, so let's hope I don't.  Thank you for the kind reviews, I'm so glad you like this so far!  Here's chapter 2!

Mobilicorpus

A Carl Fic

By Lady Tavington/Marciana

Rated PG-13

CHAPTER 2

Carl could hardly help smiling smugly to himself.  Cardinal Jinette had hardly suspected a thing when they had reported to him, even when "Van Helsing" threw in a few praises of his "trustworthy genius sidekick Carl."  He had played arrogant, reckless popinjay as best as he could, and, though in his opinion his portrayal of the monster-hunter hero hadn't been too far from the truth, Van Helsing was as indignant as Carl hoped he would be.  That was basically how he felt around the hero anyway: indignant, unimportant, invisible until needed.  It was strangely vindicating to know Van Helsing was now experiencing it too.

Carl found being Van Helsing harder than he thought it might be, though for the life of him he would never admit it to anyone other than himself.  He found the weight of the authoritatively intimidating glare of the Cardinal on him most of the time, as opposed to being partly out of the picture.  He couldn't let his thoughts drift to which gadget he could use for a particular part of the mission, nor could he even try to remember if he'd let something on the Bunsen Burner.  There just wasn't enough time for that.  Van Helsing, as the Cardinal knew, usually pieced together whatever pieces of evidence Jinette could give him.  This Carl was forced to do.  He had to form some sort of story and conclusion just from the vague pieces of information the Cardinal gave him before he even made sense of the evidence presented.  He was a genius, yes, but his mind was a calculating mind, meaning he believed in experimentation before conclusion, at least for verification purposes.  It was suddenly clear to Carl that everyone, including Cardinal Jinette, treated Van Helsing as his semi-polar opposite in almost every way.  Carl suddenly had an urge to turn to Van Helsing and say something, but what to say, he wasn't sure yet.  He turned to Van Helsing anyway.

"I'm confused," were the first words that flew out of his mouth, even as they formed as thoughts in his head.  Carl hated admitting to Van Helsing that he was confused.  Van Helsing never missed an opportunity to be smug about his companion's confusion, especially when he himself was clear about that particular thing that caused the confusion.  Now was no exception.  A mile wide smug smirk creased Van Helsing's face-Carl's physical face-and Carl cringed.  "I do not look like that when I'm being smug," he said.  Van Helsing snorted, and it sounded strange to Carl to hear his own voice snorting from his throat.  "Yes you do, smartass," the monster hunter said, "Believe me, I've seen it one too many times not to know."  Carl shook his head dismissively as he turned the corner that led to the labs below.

"So," he began as he shoved a sack into Van Helsing's hands, "What are we going to do now?"  There was another short as Carl shoved his gas-propelled crossbow into the sack.  "I don't know," Van Helsing answered simply, "You tell me, you're the smart one."  Carl picked a couple of flasks of holy water and carefully dropped them into the sack.  "Well," he replied, "As true as that is,"-and here Van Helsing rolled his eyes, which Carl chose to ignore-"and as much as I hate to admit it, I'm CONFUSED.  And once you're done being smug about it, you can tell me what you've managed to conclude."

"The Nox Liberi," Van Helsing said as Carl added a crucifix into the sack, "They're some sort of cult, a religious cult that doesn't follow our religion.  They don't like our practices, they don't like our God.  They believe in those many gods that their country believe in.  They're heretics."  Carl wagged a finger in disagreement.  "Not necessarily," he said matter-of-factly, "A lot of the friars who work here don't like the practices, nor do they like God.  That doesn't automatically make them heretics."  "Whatever," Van Helsing replied as he followed Carl around the lab, "Anyway, something is causing the numerous deaths of members of the Nox Liberi.  Something unholy, I should think.  They sent the cable to the Vatican, asking for our help."

Carl put a couple of guns into the sack and threw some spare barrels in as well.  "Nox Liberi…" he said to himself, "Latin for 'Children of the Darkness.'  So where are we off to this time, and I'm pretty sure it is US that's going, because I definitely can't NOT go, because I'm in YOUR body, and you can't not go, because…because…you're YOU."  "Greece," answered Van Helsing, not really understanding what Carl was implying, "Thebes, to be exact.  The cable said it was urgent, so we'd better hurry."  "Right," Carl said, dropping 4 or 5 bags of a black liquid so cautiously and slowly into the bag that beads of sweat had begun to form on his forehead by the time he was done.  "What in the world are those?" Van Helsing asked, peering into the sack.  "My little secret," Carl said with a proud smile of his own, "For me to know and for you to find out, should the occasion ever present itself.  Do we know who sent the cable?" "Someone named Sophone," Van Helsing answered, tying the sack up, "Pressumably a man, what with the way it was written."  "It could have been a woman, you know," Carl argued as they headed back towards the door of the labs.  Van Helsing laughed.  "You wish, Carl," he said, "You wish."  "I do, actually," Carl answered with a shrug as he followed Van Helsing to the door.  Van Helsing just shook his head as he exited.

As Carl turned to close the door behind him, he found everyone staring at him.  "What are you all staring at?" he snapped automatically.  A few friars murmured amongst themselves as the lab seemed to go back to work simultaneously.  Carl belatedly realized the answer to his question.  How unusual it must have been for them, seeing "Van Helsing" going around the lab, picking out weapons and chemicals as if he knew what they were without being told, while "Carl" followed after him with the sack, looking puzzled as hell about what the other was putting in.  Stupid Carl, he berated himself mentally as he closed the door with a snap.  Wonderful.  He'd just given Van Helsing's reputation one push up, and his own one push down.  He'd have to remedy that of course, but perhaps later, when there was more time.  For now, he had to go find where his physical self had rapidly shuffled off to.

END CHAPTER 2

Author's Notes: Hope you liked this one!  Reviews please, all kinds are welcome!