A/N: new chapter, new character, new views on unlife. Thanks to the guys that reviewed the first chapter, and yes, I am basing it more on the anime since I can't find a store anywhere that carries the manga...and since I can't read Japanese, I'm somewhat in a spot.
Disclaimer: I don't own Hellsing...sadly...though I do admire the prospect of a second set/movie coming out...anyone got a lead on that?
The empty magazine dropped from the bottom of the pistols handgrip, clunking dully on the asphalt. Drawing a fresh one from his pack, the man grimly shoved it into his weapon and released the slide.
The FREAK was heading for the edge of the roof, leaping into space. He felt his lips quirk at this. This one was too young to survive the fall unharmed. He reached the building's edge and gazed down at the creature as it landed, the sound of its bones snapping clear to his ears. He stepped onto the buildings raised edge, dropping off the side. He landed smoothly, little more than the ruffle of his jacket and his satchel moving about breaking the stillness. The crippled FREAK tried to crawl away, its fingers scrabbling in the bricks that made up the alleyway, it's legs already drawing back into the proper shapes and angles.
He moved up and put his boot in the middle of the beasts back, halting its movement. He centered the pistol on the back of its head, feeling the grin tugging at the corners of his lips, but killed the urge. He stared at the FREAK as it twisted, staring up at him, fear distorting its face.
All that the FREAK saw was a shadowed face, framed by long locks of rust colored hair. His eyes, a strange grey-blue, reflected no light from the lamps in the alley. They were the coldest, hardest orbs that it had ever gazed into. The leather duster and the battered satchel showed the wear of years of duty. The fingerless gloves creaked as the hand holding the pistol tightened.
"It's been real fun, but I'm tired of this game. Any last words?" He pulled the trigger. "Didn't think so."
As he secreted the pistol beneath his jacket again, he scattered the pile of ash with his booted foot. The third FREAK in as many days. It was getting out of control. Reaching the alley's mouth, he stuck a thin cigar in his mouth and chewed on the tip before lighting it, the sweet smell of cherry and vanilla wafting up. He scratched at the stubble on his chin as he pulled out a folded piece of paper.
FREAK infestation growing. Source unknown, Das Millennium group underground now. Contact Sir Integra Hellsing, Bloomsbury, London, England. Documents for travel will await you at JFK international.
Hmmpph. So he couldn't just go and apparate to England. Bloody fools, he thought. Who are they to tell me how to go about my travel?
He sighed, a large cloud of sweet smelling smoke wafting out with his frustration. Such thoughts were poisonous, detrimental to his efforts. He knew when he volunteered for this group that he would be taking certain limitations and restrictions onto his person. He smiled in the dim light of the streetlights as he left the alleyway. His teeth gleamed, his canines still enlarged from the fight. He reached a corner and glanced around, getting his bearings.
A mist gathered, cloaking the street. Just before he apparated, he glanced up at the moon, gazing at it's full circle. What a wonderful night.
I wonder if that red-coated maniac is still kicking.
"Your orders, my Master?" said a red-coated vampire, in the stillness of the office. Sir Integra Wingates Hellsing looked up, a cigar still smouldering in her lips. Alucard stood before her desk.
She pushed a small file folder towards him. "This came in from an American organization this morning. It was addressed to me, and curiously enough, to you indirectly."
The vampire raised an eyebrow as a sarcastic smile spread on his lips. "To me, Master? I'm touched. I haven't received fan mail since that time in Arabia. Or was it Armenia? You sent me on so many runs after Incognito that they blend in my mind."
She gestured impatiently at the folder in his hands. "Open the blasted thing. It's been sealed such that you are the only one that could open it."
This furrowed Alucards brow. A message from America, sealed so that he alone could open it? He picked up the folder, and noticed that a seal similar to the ones on his gloves and hands was set in the wax holding the thick material closed. At his touch, the seal lit up, melting the wax. He opened the folder and glanced over the documents inside, a sly grin lighting up his face.
"Well, this is a welcome surprise. It seems," he said, laying the papers on Integra's desk. "That an old friend is coming for a visit. He has been ordered to aid with the FREAK outbreak, since they are funneling through England."
Integra looked at the dossier in front of her. "James Hunter," she said. Her face narrowed as she frowned. "Why haven't I heard of him before now?"
"Well, Master," quipped the vampire. "You never asked."
"I'm asking now, Alucard."
Leaning back in the chair, Alucard gazed back in the mists of time. "He is a Dhampir, a mixed blood. Neither Human nor Vampire, he carries our powers, our thirst, yet is unaffected by the sun. Many of my kind see his kind as an abomination, an affront to their Vampiric pride."
The woman sitting across from him raised an eyebrow, familiar with this particular vampire's mannerisms. "And you?" she asked.
"I found him to be absolutely entertaining and a capable fighter. I haven't seen him since the War, however. Walter should remember him as well." He gestured to the folder in her hands. "If he is coming here, than it means that whoever he is working for now views the FREAKS as big a threat as we do. Possibly more so."
Integra scanned the papers again. "I see nothing here noting when he will arrive, or how to contact him. Does that imply," she narrowed her eyes. "That he can appear unannounced?"
The Cheshire cat grin flashed as he phased out of the room.
"No more so than I, my Master. It seems that he is arriving by airline."
"How do you know this?" she called into the air.
"Because I can sense his frustration from here. It's delightful."
I hate these blasted things, Hunter thought as the plane bucked a bit in turbulence. Or rather, I hate not being behind the controls. I've got more hours in aircraft than these fools have breathed. He forced himself to relax. Letting his unease overwhelm him would be worse than anything else he could do now. Calm, he must maintain his peace. He turned up the volume on his CD player, the strains of Moth by Over the Rhine comforting him.
He smiled grimly, keeping his teeth masked. Imagine him, a Dhampir, one who has wiped out ghouls and FREAKS without a second thought, reveling in the violence of battle and bloodlust, attempting to maintain an almost Buddhist calm and listening to a song debating the greater hurts of death and separation. He had thought himself a study in contrasts more times than this. He pulled out the folder from his satchel, making sure not to disturb the weapons hidden by various means.
You are transferred to and will work with the Hellsing operatives, answerable ultimately to Sir Integra Hellsing. Share with her what information that would be pertinent to the mission, but no further. Use your discretion in this operation. Make sure that the primary mission goal is achieved.
He chuckled. Transferred back to Hellsing. Things seemed to move in circles. The last time he had been home, in Surrey, it had been just prior to the outbreak of World War II. He had been asked by a rather polite young man by the name of Walter to aide in the battle, since the Nazi's had been dabbling in the black arts. It was during that time that he had met Alucard, and learned why the Nosferatu referred to the man as the 'Angel of Death.'
He smiled at the memory. It had been informative, seeing the young man conjure those threads, slicing ghouls like soft butter. He hadn't pressed him on the acquisition of those threads, respecting the young mans privacy.
The captain's voice crackled on the intercom, announcing their arrival in England. He tucked his documents and CD player away, and gripped the armrests. He hated these landings. They were almost always rougher than they should be, and they had a tendancy to upset his stomach for some reason. The last thing he needed was to vomit and be detained for medical help since most of his stomach contents were blood at this point in time.
Seras Victoria stretched her arms. She looked down at the disassembled Gravedigger on the table in front of her. She didn't know why she had spaced out just now. It was as if a presence was growing in her mind. She knew that her powers of intuition were strong, stronger than most. But this was more than intuition. It was almost as if someone was trying to...
She stood in a field cloaked in darkness, the Gravedigger aimed in front of her, the last shell ejecting from the top. She ejected the clip, slapping her pockets for another one, coming up empty. She released the slide, tucking the pistol back into a pocket and reaching for her old Socom. Another pistol roared in the darkness, and she saw Alucard there, both his Casull and his Jackal drawn and firing. His face didn't hold the manic glee that it usually did in a fight. His face was formed in a rictus of determination. Beyond him stood Walter, bleeding from a cut on his forehead but still flinging out his garrote wires. She heard another pistol fire from the other side, and saw a man she didn't recognize, with rust colored hair and dead eyes firing twin pistols into the blackness. They resembled Desert Eagle .50 pistols with blowback minimizers, but the barrels were longer, more streamlined, something on the lines of her Gravedigger. She felt fire as a round caught her in the shoulder. She spun as she fell...
Hunter sat forward, his mind brushing against the tangled skien that was Fate's web. Someone was seeing a vision. He felt a familiar scent, almost like Alucards, but slightly different. As he felt this touch, he sensed Alucard at the terminal. He frowned and reached out, trying to see the vision more clearly. But the cloudy view was all he was granted, despite his efforts.
As the plane drew up to the terminal, he was the first at the disembarking ladder.
Seras fell back, her view clearing, her hand clutching at her shoulder. Her throat felt raw, as though she had been talking or yelling or screaming. Walter stood over her, trying to calm her.
"Miss Victoria, what is the matter?" his wizened face was cragged with worry.
She wrapped her arms around his neck, glad for the company, the solace. "I don't know! I just saw these horrid visions, these nightmarish things. It was almost as though we were fighting a hopeless battle."
The longtime retainer patted her on the back. "It was merely a nightmare, Miss Victoria. Nothing more."
She reared back and looked at him. "No, it was something more. I could feel it, Walter."
She looked at the man, her eyes widening with her distress. "Something terrible is going to happen, I just know it!"
Hunter slung the strap to his satchel over his shoulder as he left the security kiosk, walking through the terminal to a shadowy corner in the back of a hallway. Glancing around, he spoke to the air. "Alright, you old fool, come on out."
Oozing from the shadows like liquid, Alucard looked hurt. "Now, is that any way to greet an old friend, James? I'm hurt." He put his hand to his breast as though covering a wound.
Reaching out and slapping a red covered shoulder, Hunter smirked. "Haven't changed a bit, Alucard. Still a stuffed-shirt, puffed-up baby. So, do I rent a car, or should we just pop in on Sir Hellsing unannounced?"
Alucard smiled, letting his spectacles slide down his nose a bit to reveal his eyes, crimson and shining. "I see you still like grand entrances. It might irritate my Master to just pop in."
Hunter eyed the vampire. "And since when have you not tried to irritate a member of the Hellsing family?"
"Good point," he said, fading into the shadows again. "If you would care to walk this way," he finished, the shadows about him rippling slightly.
Shaking his head, Hunter phased into the shadows, following his old friend.
"James Hunter reporting for duty, Miss Hellsing."
Integra looked up, mildly surprised at the appearance of the man in front of her. Grizzled, with rust colored hair hanging about his jaw line, and grey-blue eyes that held a depth and an intensity she saw rarely. There was also the slight smirk on his face that she associated with a pestering vampire in her employ.
"First, let me say that despite what Alucard has told you, we do not, repeat not, simply apparate into my office without being called. Do I make myself clear?"
The smirk didn't fade. If anything, it grew larger, though his face didn't change. "Yes, sir,"
"Secondly, I want you to be aware that I will, under no circumstances, permit you to run amok here. You will be answerable to me and you will have restrictions placed upon you, the same as Alucard and Commander Victoria. Understood?"
"Of course, but I do wish to let you know that merely tattooing seals into my hands will not bind my will to yours. Dhampirs have been notorious for being independent." He handed her an envelope. "Within this are the documents you'll need to enact the restraints I placed upon myself when I joined the Corporation. If I may be permitted to speak freely?"
She raised an eyebrow. "This is different. Go ahead."
He cleared his throat. "I have no objections to being placed in restraints, but I feel the need to remind you that I work best if left be. I will abide by your laws and rules while I am in your manor, but in the field I would advise leaving the leash off."
Integra looked at the man, hearing the soft touch of an English accent, growing stronger as he talked. He stood in a loose parade rest stance, as though never truly at rest. His eyes were locked on hers, but also seemed to take in the entire room at the same time.
She nodded. "Accepted," she said. "Provided you follow my orders. Are there any special requirements you will need for the duration of your stay?"
He shook his head. "Unlike vampires, I do not require a coffin to sleep in. As long as I get a packet of medical blood every couple of days to keep the thirst down, I'm no more than a regular human. I sleep on couches and cots, eat Italian and have an opinion on most wines that would rival connoisseurs. I would," he continued. "Like to speak with your weapons master for a brief minute or so to get one of my weapons serviced and to ensure the proper ammunition allotments."
She waved at the door. "I'll have Walter find you. He's our resident weapons expert."
A smile tugged at the corner of Hunters lips. "Walter Ddollneaz?"
"Yes," she said, a smile playing with the corner of her mouth as well. "I understand you two are friends from an age ago."
"You could say that," he said, his posture not changing but giving off an air of being more relaxed now that the formal proceedings were over. "It's been a long time. It'll be good to see him again."
As he walked out the door, Integra spoke to the empty room. "I thought I told you not to appear without being called or announcing yourself, Alucard."
His voice reverberated in her mind. Ah, but I didn't, Master. He did. You never said he couldn't.
She sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose as his laughter echoed in her mind. It was bad enough FREAKS were overrunning the country, but she had a vampire who liked to split the hairs of her orders. Not for the first time, and certainly not for the last time, she wished that she could have had a normal childhood.
Seras sat on the steps in front of the house, staring out at the moon and stars, contemplating what the vision had been.
"One so young shouldn't be so worried," a voice said from behind her, a trace of a cockney accent making the words softer than the reproach would have been. She turned, and her heart stopped. Well, it would have, if it had been beating at all.
The man from her vision stood there, down to the coat and bag. He sat down on the concrete banister, one leg propped up with the foot tucked under the opposite knee.
"I know that you saw something earlier tonight. I felt the stirrings." She gaped at him, brain still not quite working in the shock. "What did you see?" he asked.
"Well, I'm not certain," she stammered. "I was fighting something, and Alucard, and Walter were there as well. So were you." She stood, remembering her manners. "Commander Seras Victoria," she said, offering her hand.
Surprisingly, instead of shaking the hand, he took it and kissed the gloved knuckles as though she were a dignitary from some country. "James Hunter," he said, his voice betraying nothing. He looked her over, eyes measuring her. "You were one of Alucard's fledglings." It wasn't a question.
She nodded. "He released me from the servant bond almost two years ago."
"But you haven't grown into your full power yet." Again, not a question.
"No," she said, nervous as she hadn't been in years.
"You worry that you've lost your humanity, that you are no better than the monsters you put down."
She stared. "How did you know?" Could he read minds?
His face didn't change, but his eyes looked to be smiling now. "Yes, but I also recognize the look on your face from when I was your age." He stood and tucked his hands in his pockets. "If my actions on behalf of mankind have redeemed me, or if I was condemned to Hell just because of the side of me I never asked for. If my humanity was something I had to give up or if it never existed when I woke in my new state. If by drinking blood I destroyed my ticket to Heaven."
She nodded mutely.
He waved a hand upwards. "Look up, Miss Victoria. What do you see?"
Glancing up, she saw a vast field of stars. "The stars," she said simply.
"What are stars, exactly?"
Wondering where this was going, she replied simply again. "Burning gas in space."
"When I was young, no more than fourteen, the elders in my town would tell me that the stars foretold the future, that they were the resting places of great heroes, that they told of great deeds and misdeeds of the past." He pointed towards a constellation. "Do you see the Seven Sisters, the Pleiades?"
She nodded, looking.
"I used to wonder what it would have been like to live back with the Sisters, to see the deeds that they wrote poems about." He sighed. "As time went on, science discovered what stars were, no more than plasma burning. Helium and Hydrogen being converted back and forth in fusion. I began to wonder if there were planets circling them, with someone looking up at the sky wondering the same thing. Who knows, maybe I'll live long enough to find out, though I doubt it would be in this generation."
She looked at him, not sure where this was going. He took a deep breath.
"Information has always been like a drug to me. The more I learned the more I wanted to know. I could spend all of eternity learning and still fall behind. I was forever pestering the wise men and women in my village for what they knew." He looked at her, his eyes gleaming lightly in the dim light. "Do you understand what I'm trying to say?"
She shook her head. "Not exactly," she admitted.
He dug at a crack in the pavement in front of him with his toe. "Humanity is a state of mind, not a state of being. If it were, then there would be no hope for any of us. It is your humanity that has you fighting the FREAKS, serving Sir Integra. It's what has Alucard submitting to the seals and to the Hellsing family."
"Alucard has humanity?" she asked, remembering the torturous way he had treated her as a fledgling, and the edge of insanity he walks purposefully. Hunter cracked a grin, revealing slight fangs.
"Such as it is, yes. He knows that if the FREAKS were to run rampant, there wouldn't be anything on the planet but their kind and the filth that would follow them. He has the ability to slip from his chains at anytime, as evidenced by the fact he takes obscene pleasure in annoying those of the Hellsing line. But he has reasons for what he does, despite his monstrous background on both sides of the grave.
"Humanity is what drives us to sacrifice for others. In that," he turned, taking her by the shoulders. "Is how we differ from those we hunt. They seek only personal power. We seek to defend. Just because you are no longer human is in no way a statement as to your humanity." He released her and headed back into the manor.
She pondered what he had said. It made a lot of sense.
Of course it does, Police Girl.
She turned, finding Alucard phasing into being behind her, sans hat and glasses. "James has always been something of a warrior monk, spouting philosophies while eliminating targets."
"Have you known him long?" she asked.
"We met during the War. He had been drafted shortly after Walter and I had begun to battle the Vampires and ghouls in German control. But I never could get him to enjoy the delights of battle fully. It was sad," he finished almost wistfully. "But we had fun in those days. There were real challenges back then."
"Who is he, Alucard?" she asked, remembering the strange feeling he gave her, and the mixed scent.
"A friend, and one that will be a great help to us now that the FREAKS are getting to be almost challenges." He let out one of his cackles, fading from the scene. It should be fun, in any case.
Seras looked up at the sky, seeing the faint pink hue on the horizon. The sun was coming up. She should get inside before dawn hit her full on. She phased into the remaining shadows, heading for her room.
Across the way, a figure lowered a set of binoculars. As he wormed his way backwards from the bushes he had been concealed in, he pulled a cell phone out and punched a number.
"Targets identified and confirmed on site, plus one non-hostile freshly arrived. No, identity not verified as yet. Affirmative, still awaiting orders."
He tucked the phone back in a pocket and stalked away, trying hard not to make noise, despite the empty landscape.
A/N: still liking the philosophy angle, though I think in the next chapter or two I may have to up the rating, since I've got gore and battles coming up. Also going to put in some comedy. Any questions, just send them to me and I'll answer them if I can...if not, I'll make sure to clear it up in a coming chapter.