The trip back to London went without incident. Matthew thought about what Breka represented, and American vampire. 'Means there's more of them there, and this one was a lot like Alucard.' That meant his family was at risk. After all this time, he still cared for their well being.

Fargason was ready to debrief them when they arrived back in Sir Integra's office, though Integra spoke first. "Report."

"Mission successful," Alucard replied. "Most targets silenced. One managed to escape. A high-profile target."

"You should have gotten them all," she said with a steel look. "But it would seem you did enough. Fargason, proceed."

This time, Fargason had no charts or maps to show, simple a few sheets of noted. "Preliminary reports show the activity believed to be connected with the Global Fangs is becoming disorganized. My intelligence sources are still looking for details, but I doubt we'll have more than simple mopping up from now on. The Global Fang organization in England is effectively stopped."

"Good news," Integra said. "Until we get more information, you can stand down, but be ready to mobilize again should we find a pocket. Dismissed. Alucard, stay here."

The group started to file out. Matthew stayed at the back of the group, but held back after exiting. The door closed, but had enough force to bounce back open a tad. He slid his foot in place; curious what was going on in there. Integra spoke. "Is what I heard about Victoria true? Is she showing abilities like your own?"

"Yes," Alucard replied. "There was little doubt happening. Though I doubt you have anything to fear from her. She seemed frightened of it more than anything else. I will work with her; ensure that she knows when it is proper to use her full power."

"Do that. She is still your responsibility, Alucard. Continue her training. There's no telling what the future may bring. You can go."

Matthew gently shut the door and started down the corridor. Alucard was right. Seras had been shocked and scared at what she'd done. He'd felt it, as he was sure Alucard had. As he made his way down to the basement, he sensed something. He quickly went to his room, finding the door open. Seras was there. "Need to talk?" Matthew asked as he entered. Seras nodded. He walked to the desk, grabbing the now clean parts to his Smith & Wesson 500 and started putting the revolver back together. "Let me guess: you're still startled about what happened arlier. You feel another part of your humanity is slipping from your grasp, and you wonder how far it's gonna go. And, you're questioning the decision that brought you to this point. Close?"

Seras cracked a small smile and nodded. "That's about it, yes. You seemed like the only one who could identify with that feeling, so you were the best one to come to. Any advice?"

Over the years, upon occasion, something would happen that made one of the other of them question their decisions or feeling despair over what had happened. They're come to rely on each other for support. Matthew had always wanted to help those around him, especially those days. "Mainly not to let your feelings cripple you. Yeah, what happened was creepy I'll admit. But you won't loose a part of yourself unless you choose to loose it. Just see this as another defensive option for use in worst-case. An undefeatable fall-back. Huh?"

Seras seemed to consider that for a bit, as if weighing it against her feelings. As she opened her mouth to speak, an alarm klaxon pierced the quiet. It was one Matthew had never heard, but Seras seemed familiar with. She sprung to her feet. "We're under attack."

"We need to get to the armory," he said, grabbing the 500 and a couple boxes of ammo. "I've only got lead for this. Useless if we fight a vampire." He loaded five rounds into the revolver's cylinder as Seras ran to and opened the door. Matthew led the way down the corridor, running towards the armory. A trio of ghouls stood in their way. Matthew took aim, cocked, and fired the 500. The revolver gave its loud report and one ghoul fell in ash and pieces. The other two quickly fell to the revolver's 50 caliber bullets. Another group waited around the corridor. Matthrew fired his last rounds, then dug into the box for more ammo. He reloaded the 500, then brought his gun up to fire again. More 50 caliber bullets shot outs its long barrel, finding themselves punching through ghoul skulls. More ash and ghoul parts fell to the ground.

Matthew spun around, suddenly noticing a ghoul behind him. Seras was already there, punching her fist through the ghoul's heart. It fell to ash. "If we keep finding ourselves needing to take out ghouls by hand, we might want to get some martial arts training," she noted. Matthew nodded in agreement.

The armory was still a few corridors away when they met their next foe. This time, it was the vampire Matthew had been fearing. "Run!" he shouted to Seras. "Get to the armory!" He brought up his revolver and fired, trying to hold the vampire back. He only made it mad. It ran at him as he tried to reload. As he brought his gun up, the vampire dissolved into ash and fell to the ground to the staccato of gunfire. He looked down the corridor to find Harison, holding an MP5. Matthew gave a nod of thanks.

Harison and his small team escorted Seras and Matthew the rest of the way to the armory, giving them a brief update. "We do not know much," Harrison said, "but we think these vampires and ghouls are connected to the Global Fangs. Probably why they haven't been moving much lately. We're not sure of their numbers, as the reports are still coming in. Everyone is forming into search and destroy teams. Luckily, many of our forces were drilling when the attack came. They had ammo unloaded from their weapons nearby, so they held off the attacks until more weapons could be appropriated from the armory."

As they neared the armory, Harison's men took out another small group of ghouls. "They seem to know their way around pretty well," Harison noted.

Matthew could've slapped himself. "Damnit… I should have realized… At that Global Fang base, I kept thinking it looked a lot like Hellsing. We smashed them so hard last night, it must have slipped my mind."

"Same for me," Seras added.

A report came in about another group of ghouls elsewhere in the facility. "We'll have to worry about that later. Good hunting," Harison said.

"You too, sir. Thanks," Matthew replied.

Seras and Matthew entered the armory. Walter was ready for them, tossing Seras's pistols to her as she entered. Matthew's gear was near the door, so he quickly pulled on his browning belt and backpack. Spitfire was already attached. Walter gave them similar information to what Harison had told them. "What are you going to do, Walter?" Seras asked him.

"I will locate Sir Integra. One of my jobs is to protect her in times of crisis; a job I take very seriously."

"Best of luck, Walter," Matthew said. He set the 500 and its ammo on a counter. The two vampires, now much better armed, began one of their usual search and destroy operations within the Hellsing facility. Every so often, one or both of them could encounter a target; quickly silenced. Why the Global Fangs, this these were them, were making such a bold move Matthew had no idea, but they were certainly putting a lot of force into it.

The two entered the back courtyard, feeling the presence of vampires there. Pistols drawn, they started a search. A vampire appeared to Seras's left. Matthew took aim, but the vampire fell to ash before he could fire. Alucard stepped from the shadows. "They are indeed Global Fans, young Jemeth. Trust your instincts. And no, Seras Victoria, Breka is not among them. I grew tired of waiting and started searching for her." He smirked. 'The coward sent her forces here as cannon fodder while she escaped. It's a good thing I didn't rank her as a grade A vampire."

"Not just as cannon fodder," a voice said from the darkness. "Ridding her of your annoyance would do nicely as well."

Three figures leapt from the bushes, moving faster than inhumanly possible. "They're enhanced," Matthew muttered to the others.

Seras opened fire, sticking the vampire in the chest. There was a metallic clang to the sound, and the vampire kept coming. "Armored, too."

Alucard's Jackle fired, its 13mm bullet busting through an enemy vampire's armor plate and tearing into his heard. "Not well enough," he added.

Matthew kept firing until his pistols were dry, then brought Spitfire to bear. Its bullets tore a hole into the vampire's chest, exposing the armored box around its heart. Several of the Spitfire's silver bullets pierced the plate, but went no further. Matthew leapt forward, slamming the butt of his rifle into the front armored plate. It detached and crashed into the vampire's heart hitting it with the embedded bullets. The vampire fell in a pile of ash.

Seras took aim at the third vampire and started shooting, sending her 10mm rounds streaking. Each bounced off the vampire's heart armor. He started laughing as Seras reloaded using a belt rig similar to Matthew's. Then, she let out a snap shot that hit the back of the vampire's throat. The bullet hit an armor plate at the back of the vampire's skull and ricochet into his brain. The vampire froze, fell over backwards, and dissolved into a pile of ash. Matthew swung his rifle over his shoulder to its railings. Alucard's Jackel disappeared into his trenchcoat.

And all was quiet at Hellsing.

The three quickly made their way to Sir Integra's office. Alucard entered first. There she sat, at her desk, calmly pointing her gun at the door. As their feet was a pile of ash. "Mission accomplished," Alucard reported.

"Excellent," Walter said. He brought her hands slowly together, putting away the wire weapons strung between his fingers. "I will collect damage and casualty reports." With a bow to Integra, he turned and left.

Alucard, Seras, and Matthew moved into the room. Moments after, Fargason entered. Once Sir Integra acknowledged him, he began. "I've already done some investigation. For one thing, we weren't the only one attacked. It would appear that nearly all of our bases in Great Britain were attacked just now."

"That would explain why this attack wasn't that large," Seras noted. "The Valentine brothers' attack was a lot worse." The Valentine brothers. They'd been turned by an unknown vampire and preceded to form their own organization. They made a massive assault on the Hellsing facility several months before Matthew was turned. The facility had sustained heavy damage and many troops were killed and turned into ghouls, essentially making a second wave of troops for their attack.

"The Global Fang leader has left England," Fargason continued. "We believe she is rejoining her forces in the United States."

That got Matthew's full attention. "Are we going after her?"

Integra answered him. "The United States have their own anti-vampire forces, but I will contact them and offer our assistance." One thing she'd learned about Matthew over the years: he was very loyal to the Hellsing Organization, but his home was very important to him. Still… why would she make that offer Matthew wasn't quite sure. Possibly to ensure they didn't rebuild and attack England again?

Still, best not to look a gift horse in the mouth. "Thank you, Sir Integra."

Fargason continued. "They committed a large number of forces in these attacks. I am not sure how many they have left, but I can't believe many remain. I will continue my investigation."

"In the meantime," Integra said to the Hellsing vampires, "you three stand down."

A half hour later, Seras found Matthew in his room packing. "You're going," she stated.

"Yeah," he replied while grabbing another shirt to roll up. "Sir Integra got in touch with the US anti-vampire unit. They discussed the situation and decided that having one of us would be a good idea. I may be with Hellsing, but I'm an American. They'll deal with me better than you, or at least that's the theory, and definitely better than with Alucard. So, I'll go. You and Alucard get to stay here and mop up England."

She nodded in understanding. "I'll miss you."

He gave a slight smile. "I'll miss you too, Seras. Though I will keep in contact, let you all know how I'm doing."

There was a knock on the door. Matthew stuffed the shirt into a bag and looked up. "Enter," he called.

The door swung open. Walter entered. "Greetings. Would you come with me, Mr. Jemeth?"

"Of course," Mathew replied. He and Seras followed Walter to the armory. They didn't speak; there was nothing else to say yet.

"I have some bad news for you, Mr. Jemeth," Walter said as they entered. "It would appear that one of our younger soldiers panicked and threw a grenade at a group of ghouls. Part of the ceiling collapsed. This is the result." He wheeled a cart out. The remains of Valkyrie sat atop it.

"Oh, no…" Matthew said. The Valkyrie Assault Cannon had been the first custom weapon he'd received from Hellsing. Its shoulder stock was smashed and fore grip broken off. The launch tube and receiver were intact, though.

"I can salvage some parts and build a new cannon," Walter said, "but you won't have it with you in the United States. Luckily, I already have a new weapon for you." He grabbed a gun case from under a counter and handed it to Matthew.

Matthew opened it and pulled out a large pistol. He instantly recognized it. "A 44 AutoMag," he said in awe. It was a 44 caliber pistol, noted for being used in one of the Clint Eastwood Dirty Harry movies. Its magazine held seven rounds. "What ammunition?"

"Standard anti-vampire. Blessed silver bullets, mercury charge." He pulled a holster and tossed it to Matthew. "Wear this under your jacket. You can also hold four magazines in one side. I will modify your backpack to hold magazines for your rifle and pistols only. Cutting out the cannon shells will slim it down a fair amount. Your gear will be packed separately from your belongings. I noticed your revolver was left in here. If you wish, I'll pack that as well."

Matthew nodded. "Yeah, please do." He looked at the gun and the holster. "A big gun held under a jacket… Walter, you're turning me into an Alucard. But thanks."

He managed a slight chuckle. "You are welcome, Mr. Jemeth." Now he looked to Seras. "I trust you have recovered from your experience on the Welsh border, Ms. Victoria."

Apparently, Seras hadn't had blood in a while. If she could've blushed, she probably would've. "Yes, I have. Thank you, Walter."

"Good to hear. We'll need to stay alert until we're certain the Global Fangs are defeated in England."

Walter wished the two of them farewell and wished Matthew good luck on his mission to the United States. Seras and Matthew returned to his room so he could finish packing. "I won't be leaving until tomorrow," he said. "Wanted the pilot to get good sleep. Won't make a lot of difference anyway." He shrugged. "If the Global Fangs can take over the States in a few hours, my bring there won't mean much."

He looked at Seras. Her expression had suddenly grown serious. "Matthew, there is something we must discuss." He set down the pair of jeans and turned to her. "Before you leave, I must make this offer. You will be, essentially, on your own. Yes, you'll have help, but you'll only have yourself to rely on. You'll need to know that you're making the right choices instantly because you won't have time to second guess." She brought her right index fingernail to the flesh of her left arm. "I offer to release you from your servitude to me. If you drink my blood, you will be your own person again and never even think of calling me 'Master'."

Matthew slowly sat, taking a couple minutes to think once his brain had recovered from a minute worth of shock. For some reason, the idea of being separated from Seras like that frightened him, even thought he hadn't even thought of his 'servitude' in some time. Eventually, Matthew shook his head. He stood, walked over to Seras, and set a hand on her still embedded fingernail. "No," he said. "I don't want to be released yet. Somehow, I find your being my 'Master' comforting. Knowing there is someone, essentially, 'in charge'…"

A realization dawned on him. "Wait a sec… I think I understand now..." His thoughts shot back three years to the might he'd first met Seras. What she'd said to him… no, how she'd said it. "You never wanted to turn me, did you? When you make the offer, you hesitated. Because…" A pause while the thought fermented. "You didn't want to be separated either. You didn't want to loose that connection you had with Alucard." When he'd spoken, he didn't accuse. He simply noted with the tone of sudden revelation.

She nodded. "Yes, that's correct. Though I was wrong in that assumption. I know now I can always rely on Alucard no matter what." She smiled. "And it turned out that turning you was a good idea. I can't complain about the help. And that offer remains open."

Matthew walked over and set a hand on Seras's shoulder. "For what it's worth, I think this was worth it. My 'life' as it were, certainly got more exciting. And while I doubt I'll ever take you up on it, I appreciate the offer."

Seras gave another smile; probably glad he'd made the realization and understood. She returned his gesture, setting a hand on her shoulder. "Good luck back home, Matthew."