"Ah, now Fraulein Hellsing, where are your manners? A guest should not treat her host's staff so ungraciously." The comment came from behind her.
Integra took stock of her surroundings. She was no longer on the ground. Seras was nowhere to be seen. She'd been grabbed by that insufferable Hitler Youth and now her arm was restrained by a tool which was wielded by only one man to her knowledge. She turned slowly, the pain in her chest had nothing to do with recent exertions.
She took it in with a single glance before focusing on any element in particular. She was clearly on a zeppelin. The short fat man in the white suit she recognized as Major Montana Max was before her and to the left. He was joined by the cat boy, who sat at his feet. A bit to her right was a tall cadaverous man dressed in white. Directly in front of her, guiding her by the wires was a tall angular man in black.
A tall angular man...
...in black
...black hair pulled back in a ponytail
...that monocle perched in front of a red eye
No other man commanded the wires. "Walter!" Oh Walter, what have they done to you?
The Major cut in, "A cymbal clash would be so fitting right now. This moment was worth sixty years of planning. The look on your face will never be equalled by any performer in any theater at any time in history. Brava, Fraulein Hellsing! Brava! Thank you for staying alive long enough for this scene."
Anger overrode the pain, that was good. She glared her hatred at the Major. "What are you doing you twisted little creature? What are you doing to London? What have you done to Walter?" She let the fury rise and warm her chilled soul. She took a step forward to be stopped by a warning tug on the wire around her wrist. Blood welled up from the cuts and began to drip.
Integra was reminded that she was standing in front of three, maybe four vampires (she wasn't altogether sure about the cat boy) and was now dripping her virgin blood out in front of them. She noticed that all eyes were on the liquid dropping off of her hand.
"Fraulein, let us get you inside before you make a mess out here. We can make sure that your injuries are properly tended." The intensity of the Major's stare at her bleeding wrist belied the courtesy of his words.
"I don't think so. Why don't you just kill me here and we can be done with this farce? Alucard is free from the control art restrictions and he will destroy you and all of your minions. I will not play your games and I will not have Alucard show you any mercy." Integra stood straight and looked unflinchingly at the Major. It was easier if she didn't look at Walter and see what they had done to her retainer, her friend, almost her father.
"Fraulein Hellsing, the locks we have on the Angel's mind are unbreakable. Do not push me or I will have him slice you into small pieces while I enjoy that lovely blood of yours. It smells delectable and I have large appetites. It will not be fast and it will be excrutiating." The Major licked his lips and smiled. "Perhaps I would like you to continue to defy me."
Integra weighed her options. She could force them to kill her, but she couldn't afford the risk that they might try to make her a vampire. She could try to live a while longer in the hopes that Alucard or Seras would come help her. She could try to get through these "locks" that the Major had mentioned. No lock is unbreakable, after all. She determined to hold on as long as she could and then force them to kill her if she could not find a way to prevail. She inclined her head at the major in a gesture of assent, she didn't trust her tongue at that moment.
Sir Integra?
Seras? Integra winced as a scream of pain tore through her head. She dropped to her knees, partly because of the agony ripping through my mind and partly to buy time before they took her into the bowels of this behemoth. Her abrupt movement brought more pain and blood from her wrist. She had tried to hold it above her head as she fell, but she couldn't prevent Walter's wires from biting more into her flesh.
Integra wasn't the only one to hear the psychic shriek. For the first time, the man she didn't recognize spoke, "It sounds as though Alucard's whelp has encountered our cargo." His voice was singularly unpleasant and grating. She especially detested the pleasure in his voice. She resolved to make his trip to hell as painful as possible. She rested her head against the zeppelin's surface. She breathed slowly, trying to push back the pain in her head from Seras' scream, trying to keep herself from vomiting in front of her enemies and lowering herself still more. Someone who didn't know Integra Hellsing would think she was prostrating herself. Anyone who knew her would know that she was marshalling her forces for her attack. She made a degrading, but necessary choice.
"Walter," she looked up from her crouched position. It was rather ungainly with her arm still held above her head, but she wanted to come out of this with her right hand intact. "Walter, what have they done? Remember me? Why are you doing this? I know that you don't have to be evil just because you're a vampire. Seras proves that. Walter!"
She could hear them laughing at her. She knew they wanted her to beg. Begging bought her more time and she still held out hope for the man she loved like a father. "Butler! This is my order. Come back alive at any cost. At any cost!" Her voice was low and fierce as she reminded him of their parting words to each other. "You said you'd follow my order as I commanded. Will you be foresworn, Walter?" She searched his face for any sign of the Walter she knew, but there was no change.
"Walter! Angel! Listen to me damn you!" Her voice began to rise. "You spent your life fighting these filth. You lost your family in Poland to them, you joined the Hellsing organization to be able to kill them and punish them for everything they did. You will not give in to them Walter, you must not!" Was that a glint in his eye? He was moving. Had she gotten through to him? No?
He was pivoting gracefully and the hand not holding the wires attached to her shot out. She had the briefest thought that she was seeing the true Angel of Death in action before she recognized his target. Seras.
The young vampire screamed as the wires wrapped around her. She had no idea how this man on the zeppelin had even known she was there, let alone caused her the agony she was experiencing. She was coming apart. Something was wrapped around her, biting deeply into her flesh, stopping only at bone. She was jerked out of the air to land roughly on the zeppelin. The amount of blood that sprayed from her body made Integra fear that Seras would not make it through the next few minutes.
"Damn you, Walter! That's Seras! The Police Girl! Remember her? The little girl who refused to kill humans? The girl who wouldn't even drink her medical blood? Do you see what you've done to her?" Integra attacked as fiercely as she could, thrusting her words at Walter like a blade, straining to break the locks on his mind. He turned to glare at her. If she had been anyone other than Sir Integra Wingates Hellsing she would have flinched under that red gaze. Instead she glared right back at him. "Do you remember how terrified she was the first night Alucard brought her in from Cheddars? Do you remember how she had this annoying habit of giggling during briefings? Do. You. Remember. Walter?"
"Doc," the Major's words interrupted her tirade against Walter, "go retrieve that little girl. She's an original, we can use her."
Be ready. Integra didn't blink as she stared into Walter's eyes. Be ready.