(Author's Note: Sees last three chapters. Eyes widen. Oh my God, three chapters in three days. I think that's a record. Sulks. I have no life whatsoever. All I have is my fic, anime, and you, my fans. Looks up at empty audience, sweat drops. Crap. On a more serious note, no pun intended, I suggest you have music playing in the background when you read this, namely "Hey Mama", "The World without Logos", any techno you may or may not have, and "Somebody Told Me". Also advised is anything in the actual story.)
Order 4: Traveling Music
"It seems that the vampire in question was a fledgling, similar to Miss Victoria, in that she had limited supernatural abilities beyond heightened senses, strength, and speed. Fortunately, Mr. Banks was able to kill the target, with the help of both Captain Bernadette, and Miss Victoria. Unfortunately, this was before we could gather any information on its reasons for attacking us," said Walter. They were the library, Marcus, Seras, Pip, Sir Integra, Alucard, and of course Walter, discussing the events of the previous night.
Sir Integra sat with her hands folded in front of her, as always, next to Pip, who cleaned his fingers with a butter knife he had stolen from the dinner table. On the other side sat Seras, trying to pay attention, but couldn't help glaring at Pip for being so rude. Marcus sat next to Alucard, whose head was bent low, so that his hat covered his entire face. He seemed to be asleep.
Sir Integra now addressed the group. "Mr. Banks, Officer Victoria, Captain, and Alucard will all go take a trip to Moscow, to see if we can gather any information. Your plane will leave at eight o'clock tonight, so make sure that you get ready. You are to meet one Demetrius Gustafson at the Cathedral of St. Thomas. He says he has information to offer on the matter of our mystery vampire that he will sell to us for the equivalent of thirty million pounds. See if you can bring down the price, and stay off the radar. I don't want any Russian officials finding out we have enough arms to bring down the entire city. That is all. You are dismissed."
Marcus checked his suitcase for the third time, making sure that he had cold weather clothes, boots, formal wear for attending meeting, Archangels, extra ammo, and his new mp3 player. He had just received player from Sir Integra, whom he expected thought he needed to be paid off to ensure his zipped lips. He didn't like the lack of trust, but liked having his music with him as he trained.
"Are you done yet?" came Pip's voice from the door way. He looked incredibly out of place without his usual Britannica Cowboy get-up, instead wearing a black suit that offset the color of his blonde hair well with its white tie. "I don't think I could last the entire plane ride to Moscow in this straight jacket."
Marcus looked down at his own un-tucked, unbuttoned, blue over shirt which revealed a revealed a white t-shirt and silver cross. He liked the feeling of the silver around his neck, but agreed with Pip on the dress code. They were to be brothers on their way to bury their uncle and cousin in the Siberian country side.
"I didn't know Walter was a tailor though. Not that bad of a job… on the t-shirt," he said with a grin which Pip returned.
Sir Integra met them at the door with Walter. On the site of his hard work going to waste, Walter kept silent. Marcus still saw his eye twitch a little as they walked down the stairs nonetheless.
"Have a safe journey. Make sure you follow my instructions and for heaven's sake, keep out of trouble for once!" Integra yelled at a two long boxes that were being carried outside to the car. Turning to Marcus and Pip, she added "The same applies for you two as well."
Pip shrugged and walked outside to the car, lighting up a cigarette on the way with Marcus. On the ride to Moscow, he listened to all of his Red Hot Chili Peppers songs, along with a little Offspring thrown in.
"How goes that "Russian made Easy" bit you downloaded?" asked Pip when they were over Denmark, to which he answered with an "Easy as pie."
They arrived a little late, but managed to find their hotel without much trouble. When they got the coffins in and closed the window blinds, they let Alucard and Seras out of their beds to get up and stretch a little before meeting Demetrius.
"Do we expect any trouble from him?" Marcus asked Alucard, as he loaded his Archangels.
"Actually, yes we do," he said with his patented Alucard Grin T.M.
"Why?"
"The Cathedral of St. Thomas… is a Catholic Church," he said with a knowing glance at Seras and Pip. Seras made several noises that resembled that of a small, scared mammal and clutched at her throat, where the marks didn't come from only her master. Pip merely grunted and checked to make sure his gun was loaded, twice.
It was night time now, and the air was cooler than it had been in Britain, but no one took notice. They exited the hotel and walked across town, Alucard leading the way while looking at his feet, Seras striding to keep up with her master, followed by Pip and Marcus, who had his mp3 player. If any of them cared to lean closer to their new comrade, they would hear his favorite song: "One Winged Angel", by Nobuo Uematsu. They were about ten minutes away from the hotel when Alucard stopped and turned back to grin at Marcus.
"Where ever did you get such a wonderful song?" asked the vampire.
Marcus looked at him confusedly, when suddenly he heard a voice in his head: I can read your mind, being a vampire and all, you know…
"Oh right! I saw him live at a concert once. It was awesome," he said, smiling at the nosferatu. He met Alucard's gaze, and had the sudden sense that he was being examined from all angles again. Suddenly, Pip and Seras perked up their heads and smiled as Alucard transferred the song to them telepathically.
Smiling, they all walked a little more confidently as they made their way through the Russian capital. Alucard continued to transfer them songs from Marcus, including "Sweet Dreams", "Let the Bodies Hit the Floor" (which Alucard particularly enjoyed), and "Can't Stop".
As they got into sight of the Cathedral of St. Thomas, the mood grew tense. Seras's police instincts kicked in. This was somewhere she wasn't wanted, like the slums of her London home. At the gate surrounding the Cathedral, they stopped and stared at it.
It was a monstrous site, with three towers in the front and one in the rear to make it look like a giant cross from above. The front tower was the bell tower, which hadn't been used for decades, having been made inconsequential due to recordings of the call to mass. Sculptures of angels stared down on the four Hellsing employees, and gave off the distinct impression that they were being barred from the holy place. The original brick work still was in place, but some parts had been replaced to keep the structure intact. It was all surrounded by an iron gate which was rusting near the bottom and showed work of recent soldering. Alucard made to open the gate, and the four of them heard the gate squeak open.
"Pip, Marcus, Police girl and I will wait here for you once you are finished with Demetrius. If you need help, scream…" he flashed a fanged smile. "I'll come running."
The French mercenary and the English soldier walked up to the main door of the church and opened it. Moonlight streamed in through the clerestory windows down to the font, where both Pip and Marcus crossed themselves after dipping their hands in the holy water. No lights were on, the only source of illumination being the moon. The shadows beyond the ionic columns revealed wall murals of the twelve Stations of the Cross, the battle between the God and Satan, and the birth of the baby Jesus upon closer inspection. As they approached pulpit, they heard a door open to their right.
Out of the transept walked two women, one dressed in the traditional nun's robe and large round glasses, and the other oddly dressed as a priest, though her glasses were smaller. When they were about five yards away, the women stopped and the nun spoke.
"Welcome to the Cathedral of St. Thomas the Doubtful. I am Sister Yumiko Takahshi, and this is Sister Heinkel Wulfe. How may we help you?" she asked politely.
"We have come to see Demetrius Gustafson," said Pip simply. The nun seemed to tense up for a moment, and her companion answered in a strangely foreboding voice.
"I see. We will take you to him. Please follow." She led them through the rood screen and into the choir. "He is on your left, in the chapel…"
Marcus opened the door, but there was no one in the small chamber. "Where is Demetrius?" he asked quizzically.
"He is dead, heretic, as you will be as well for defying the laws of our Lord, if you don't do as we say," Yumiko answered in a different voice than the one she had used upon their entry. The Hellsing soldiers spun around to see that she had removed her glasses and taken off her hood to reveal a wiry mass of jet black hair. In her hand was a katana, easily as sharp as a guillotine blade. Heinkel had drawn two semi-automatic pistols from inside her robes and now glared at them over her glasses.
"Step outside, into the nave." ordered Yumie. Marcus and Pip stepped outside. Marcus's eyes were wide in shock as he did as he was told, though Pip face was smug as he winked at Marcus. They stepped out into the aisle with their hands behind their heads. "Who is this young one? We were unaware that you were corrupting the youth, blaspheming pig."
"My name is Peregrine Bernadette to you, zealous whore," answered Pip. Heinkel whacked on the side of the head with the butt of her gun. "His name is Marcus Banks, but you don't need to know that. I just figured it would be nice to let you know who your killer is."
"You seem awfully cocky for someone who just fell into a trap. In case you haven't noticed you are being held at gun point…and at sword point," said Yumie as she shoved her katana under Marcus's chin. At this move, he did the one thing he knew would get him out of this, the one thing that would keep him from getting killed by a nun (Albeit a very, very, hot one, he thought to himself) with a blade longer than his arm.
He screamed.
Suddenly, the shadows in the room started to move, like how you waves move on the open sea on a pitch black night. They swarmed around the room, enveloping everything but the crucifix hanging above the door. Heinkel shot wildly, trying to pin down the source of the power, but only damaged the murals.
At the entrance of the church, everyone heard the doors open with an echoing boom. There stood Alucard, smiling like a devil out of Hell. In the night's gloom, they only saw his flaming red eyes and shining white fangs, only heard his malicious laugh as the No Life King entered the Cathedral. Out of the solid mass of darkness that was Alucard, red and black centipedes emerged, scurrying towards the two Catholics.
Heinkel screamed and unloaded several rounds into the crawling insects, but it did nothing to halt their approach. Yumie leaped to a pew, and pulled out a vial of holy water, which she poured on herself, providing a kind of body armor. This did stop Alucard, so he focused his attention on overrunning Heinkel.
In his head, Marcus heard a familiar voice: Police Girl can't get up there either, and Captain Bernadette would be sliced in half. Are you really going to be beaten by a little Catholic school girl? He drew his Archangels and jumped onto a pew five rows down from Yumie.
Yumie grinned at him from her circle, and yelled across to him "Finally, another human to fight. You have no idea how tiresome fighting immortals can be, little boy," she taunted.
"Though you may be talented indeed, Miss, I assure you, you will fall." he yelled, in a voice that made Alucard laugh in his head.
"Oh, do you now?" sneered the nun and flew to the air to come down at him with a powerful swing.
Marcus unloaded three shots that missed at her before taking a back flip onto the pew behind him. When he righted himself, he was met by a flurry of attacks from Yumie, as she tried to take advantage of her blades length. He blocked each one to her dismay. Now it was his turn to attack. With his left hand, he shot out in a punch that turned his Archangel into a brass knuckle and blocked a horizontal slice with his right. His blow knocked her off the pew, but she managed to grab his sleeve, effectively dragging him down as well.
Panic welled in his eyes on his descent on to the Midian-infested tiles. The holy water protected Yumie from Alucard, who he let hit the floor. At once, the crawling centipedes gathered under him, catching his fall. Caught off guard, Marcus was soon thrown back into the air as the vampiric insects surged up underneath him like a geyser. From his elevated position, he could now see the designs in the stone holding the roof up. Flipping over, Marcus was met by a flock of wings and fur as Alucard's bats gathered behind him, coalescing into great black crow wings, at least five feet long each.
Just because I can't touch that Catholic psychopath doesn't mean that I can't help you slice her to ribbons. Simply think of what you want the wings to do and they are yours. Needless to say, though, you owe me for this, said Alucard in his mind, with a grim smile. Marcus glanced down at Yumie, now far below, sword held at the ready. Giving his best Alucard Smile TM, he aimed his Archangels at the nun and sent his last rounds into her arms. The silver bullets pierced her flesh like a jackhammer, knocking her to the ground. He swooped down, and with a flap of his borrowed wings, landed deftly on the ground.
Walking over to her panting form, Marcus studied her features. There was pain there, surely, but also a level of respect he had never seen before; she had been beaten. She may not like it, but she was mature enough to acknowledge it. Taking a step closer, Yumie spat at his feet, but he picked up her sword, sheathed it, and set it on a pew.
Aww, and I was in the mood for a good impaling. I haven't been able to do one of those in a long time, Alucard snickered in his mind. The nosferatu transformed back into his humanoid form and drew out his Jackal with a wicked grin. Pressing the gun barrel to Yumie's forehead, he clicked back the hammer and started to speak, but was interrupted by Marcus.
"Don't do it Alucard. She was just doing her job, same as us," he said, trying to sound as assertive as he could. Alucard laughed at him and sneered.
"And I would have thought you would want her dead, seeing as this little slip of a nun almost made you wet yourself," he remarked, but holstered his weapon with a small growl.
To Yumie, Marcus said "Your partner is alive, and you have your own life. Now tell me, who do you work for?"
"My work is that of God's work. I am an assassin for the Vatican's Secret Agency, codenamed the Iscariot Agency, XIII. Hellsing must be a little more incompetent than I had thought, if you weren't briefed on us yet," she replied with a forced laugh.
"Funny, and I thought we were the victorious here, or do you need to lose again to allow it to sink in. I had heard that Catholic skulls became thicker with each mind-numbing mass," Marcus said with a glare.
Pip now came in running, guns drawn and battle ready. "Alucard! Marcus! I found an Iscariot car parked in the…back" he said noticing the two downed assassins. "Oh."
"Is the fight over?" Seras called from outside.
"Yes Police-Girl, go get a first aid kit and bring it here. Apparently, the whelp wants to keep women alive…" said Alucard, now thoroughly annoyed, with a glare at Marcus, who laughed nervously.
Alucard then left, saying he was going back to the hotel, after tying up the nuns with some rope Pip found in a closet. Seras could be heard running after him, asking how the fight went. Pip went outside and sat on the steps, lighting up a cigarette, and watching the back of Seras go after Alucard. After tightening the knots holding the Catholics together, he looked quizzically at Yumie, who had remained still the whole time.
"Why don't you try to untie yourself?" he asked.
"You have defeated me in battle, albeit with that demon's help. I am yours to command…for the time being. Besides, I can't go very far with your bullet holes in my arms," Yumie said. Next to her Heinkel started to stir, groaning about the pain in what sounded like Austrian. "One question, though," said Yumie.
"Shoot,"
"Why not kill me? You could have let that demon put a bullet in my head, but instead spared my life. Why?"
Taking a hard look into her brown eyes, Marcus walked over, sheathed his Archangels, and reached into one of his jacket pockets. Fearing he actually would kill her, she closed her eyes as she heard him kneel down next to her and slip something around her head… and into her ears? Opening her eyes up, she saw him walk out the door, not saying a word to her. Piano music started to flow into her ears. Recognizing the sound, she hung her head in shame and sniffled a few times. In her lap lay an mp3 player.
The song playing was "Imagine", by John Lennon.