Another disclaimer addition. I don't own The Matrix either.
And to keep this note in where it was originally placed, I have no intention of pairing Seras and Matt. I've got other ideas in mind for the both of 'em. For more details, read Demon Force and Strong Blood.
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Matthew placed his gear in the Vulture's equipment locker. It normally wasn't used, as troops generally carried their weapons so they could leap out as soon as they hit the ground. Armen climbed into the Vulture behind him. Matthew turned around to face him. "Well," he said, "fancy seeing you here, Lieutenant."
"It's still just John, Matthew. And I'll be coming with you to keep in touch with Richard. Roland's got the platoon for now." He took a seat, opening his laptop computer.
"I've got our flight plan logged and ready. We'll pass over that first base, then start toward Gold Base."
"Sounds good." Matthew closed the locker and took a seat. Somehow, it felt strange to sit there without any of his weapons. Strange, but good. 'My life is constant war. I need a vacation...'
The Vulture shuddered, quietly lifting from the floor and through the ceiling to the dark sky above. "You sure we've got to do this at night?" John asked. "Means I don't get to help watch for anything. And they get to move around."
"Yep," Matthew replied. "Daylight might keep them from moving a lot, but it would also kill move of my chances in finding them. It's the UV radiation: blocks my 'spidy-sense'."
"Understood."
As they flew, the two talked. Not about anything in particular and certainly not about work. John asked Matthew about his life before being turned; who he was and what he wanted to do. Matthew told him about his family, his girlfriend, his college hopes and ideas for beyond. He sighed, realizing how all his plans and dreams had been crushed that one night three years before.
The Vulture reached the first Global Fang base. Matthew peered out the window, stretching out with his senses and trying to get some reading from it. After a minute, he shook his head. "No," he reported. "No trace. Send in people to look for info. No vampires or ghouls."
"Got it." John ordered the pilot to continue on. Diamond Base was in Indiana, Silver Base in Ohio. Gold Base was over in North Carolina. The Vulture streaked along, only pausing to let Matthew scan a Global Fang base. Still nothing. No feeling they had been there.
It was strange. Matthew would have figured there would be a residual sign of their presence. There was nothing, just empty buildings. Almost like... "Wait, go back," he said. "I'm gonna check it out on foot."
John ordered the Vulture back. "You sure?" he asked. "You seemed pretty sure."
"I think I'm being jammed."
A few minutes later, armed with his brownings, Matthew watched as the Vulture lifted off. He was still sure the base was empty, but better to be safe. He approached a central building, something between an office and a mansion. No vehicles sat outside and no lights were lit. Matthew would be relying on all his vampiric enhancements. He climbed the steps to the somewhat ornate door, making sure his brownings were loaded.
Matthew entered the building and felt as if passing through a force field. Once inside, Matthew could feel his senses return. He could feel the presence of vampires and ghouls around him, or more accurately the 'former' presence. They had fled many hours before. Matthew carefully swiped the darkened base, checking every room and many computers. Indeed, there were no vampires here, but there was still a lot of ground to cover.
The Vulture met him outside the office / mansion. He shook his head when he entered. "Yep," he confirmed, "no one there. No useful information, except that I'll have to actively search every base."
The craft proceeded to Gold Base. While Matthew was only minorly affected by the sun and his new decision would take him inside with every stop he figured it was better to stick to the plan. Gold Base was identical to Silver Base. He figured it was a regional headquarters. Over the horizon was the Atlantic Ocean, the sun's rays already playing over the surface of the water. The Vulture dropped down after the pilot received permission to land. Slowly, the Vulture fell through the access door and into the underground hanger.
John and the now disarmed Matthew exited the Vulture, the pilot and co-pilot following. Matthew looked around the hanger. It was smaller than Diamond Base's hanger. Four Vultures sat to one side, one being inspected. Florescent lights lit the area, and spotlights illuminated the DPSD seal on one wall. It showed the United States, stars indicating base locations and a silver shield in the center. Matthew gathered that Silver Base's hanger had once looked like this one. The latter two started for the flight crew side room, while John and Matthew walked up to the waiting base commander. The commander, an older Army Colonel with a few wrinkles and much gray hair, extended his hand. John took it. "Sir," he said.
Matthew was next. "Greeting, sir."
"Welcome to Gold Base. I'm Colonel George Bekmen."
"Lieutenant John Armen." He gestured to Matthew. "This is Matthew Jemeth, Hellsing Organization attaché."
"I heard of your mission from General Wallace. How does it go?"
"Slowly," Matthew reported. "The Global Fang found a way to jam their bases from me. I need to search them all on foot. It'll take longer, but that way there's no doubt. I think we have..." He looked at John. "Three?" John nodded. "Three bases to check tonight, then we stop at Ruby Base for the day."
Bekmen nodded. "Best of luck to you both."
"Thank you, sir," both replied.
"You've been assigned quarters for the day. See Sergeant Vargman at the door. He'll take you to them. Dismissed."
That night set the trend for the next week. Every night as the sun set the refueled Vulture would take them to supposed Global Fang strongholds. Matthew would go in and determine if they had been there, then search for anything useful if they had. Anything they found was wired to Diamond Base for analysis. Then, they would find a DPSD base to hide out during the day, and start up again the next night. John and Matthew had been able to spend a fair amount of time talking, and were quickly becoming friends. It made the time between targets easier to manage. There had been a fair number of bases, but few had contained a significant number of vampires and ghouls. Good news; they hadn't been too strong.
That routine changed during one night of search. As they swung around target bravo 5-9, Matthew's eyes snapped to the window. John looked up. "What?"
"There's something down there this time. I'm sure of it."
John looked at him, nodded, and hit the comm. "Pilot, land now."
Soon after, the fully loaded Matthew Jemeth stepped off the Vulture, which lifted off back into the sky. He looked over the base. Not much to it, just a house and a warehouse. The presence he felt was from the warehouse. He started for it, drawing his brownings. The house was unlit, dead to his mind. The warehouse he could sense. It had no windows, so he did not know anything about the interior. But someone was there. The jamming made it impossible to determine who.
He opened the door, his eyes quickly adjusting to the lit warehouse. There wasn't much inside, mostly empty boxes and a forgotten forklift. But he soon knew what had drawn him here...
...And he was standing in the middle of the room, swords drawn. Paladin Alexander Anderson.
Matthew felt something surge within him, but it wasn't fear. Actually, he didn't know what exactly it was. However, he suddenly felt stronger. This was more than 'Alucard mode'... But he had no time to dwell. Matthew stepped into the light. "Mr. Anderson," he said in a good impression of The Matrix's Agent Smith, "how good of you to show up. I was starting to think you'd never get here." Well, Matthew hadn't known the Paladin would come to the states, but there was no reason to let him know that. He switched back to his normal voice. "Seriously, what happened? Get tired of loosing limbs to Alucard?"
Anderson chuckled, giving Matthew an insane smile. "Ah, yes, Alucard. Ya don't have him to protect ya this time, vampire. May God forgive the Americans for allying themselves with you. Desperation can lead to foolish decisions." He pointed his swords at Matthew. "By destroying you, I save them. Prepare for an eternity in Hell, vampire."
Matthew holstered his brownings, then ran his hands under his backpack straps and let it fell to the ground. He pulled out his shield, drew the auto-mag, and tossed it to his right hand. Then, he drew Amenthyl. He made a pair of experimental loops, then touched the sword's tip to the concrete floor. He drew the blade around him, the metal making sparks off the floor.
In his normal voice, he said, "Bring it, Mr. Anderson."
Anderson started by throwing a series of swords. Matthew was ready. He sidestepped, blocking swords with his shield and parrying them away with Amenthyl. Reaching a steel beam to the ceiling, he set a foot against it and pushed hard, launching himself across the room. He traded several close blows with Anderson, but all his and the Paladin's attacks were blocked. He landed in a roll, coming back to his feet. Extending his right arm, he aimed and fired the auto-mag. A trio of bullets crossed the space between, one landing in Anderson's shoulder. A sword thrown by the paladin in the lull sliced a cut along Matthew's flank.
The Paladin charged, one sword extended one held high. Matthew brought his sword and shield up to block them, then made a fast low slice. Anderson hopped back, avoiding the blade. "Well, at least you're puttin' up a fight this time, vampire. God must be givin' me a little test this time."
Matthew caught Anderson's next attack on his sword and shoved him away. "Don't mind me hoping you fail, Mr. Anderson."
He simply laughed, as if the very idea of him failing his Lord was ridiculous. He launched another attack, swiping at Matthew and throwing a sword at him.
Matthew stepped back, falling over another sword Anderson had thrown which had stuck into the ground. He was uninjured, but he suddenly heard many swords flying in all directions. He got back to his feet, feeling the onset of a headache. Almost as an afterthought, Anderson had spread his holy writings around the room. Matthew could only rely on his physical enhancements now. He was half tempted to call in John... 'No. If Hellsing's troops can't stand up to him, John can't either.' No, he had to defeat the Paladin on his own. And he had to do it fast.
Matthew closed the distance, ignoring the slowly healing wound in his side. He and Anderson traded ferocious attacks, each trying to score a hit on the other. Matthew saw an opening and bashed the Paladin's head with the pommel of Amenthyl. The big priest went down. Matthew aimed the auto-mag, sending a pair of bullets into Anderson's leg.
Anderson stood shakily. His wounds were closing faster than Matthew's. The vampire had to move fast. Matthew charged again, ignoring the pain of a sword bouncing off his shield and making a slice in the side of his head. Didn't hit the skull. Not worth worrying about. Matthew made a low slice, cutting Anderson's shin in half. Anderson fell to a knee, then made a final lunge attack that pierced Matthew's torso. Matthew stepped out of range, shooting Anderson in the elbow. The Paladin fell to the floor. Matthew sheathed Amenthyl, then reached into his pocket for a rag. He pulled the sword out of his himself and threw it aside. "It's over," Matthew said, "for now. And what the DPSD does and how it chooses to run its mission is none of your business. Get out of my country." Without another word, Matthew turned and left, grateful to get outside and away from Anderson's damned Latin papers.
He made for the house, slinging his gear back into place. It was your garden-variety country home; two stories, front porch, wood panel sides, chimney, etc. He threw open the wooden door and made a search. Once through the 'jamming field', he could feel that there was something important in the house. He moved quickly, in cave Anderson decided to have a round two. Searching an office room, he noticed a computer and many books. The books were useless to him, but the computer might have something. He powered it up, finding it wiped clean. But on the floor behind the desk laid a solitary 3.5" floppy disk. He reached down and grabbed it, knowing it was what he was supposed to find.
Matthew signaled the Vulture and started for the door. The aircraft waiting nearby when he exited. He jogged to the open door and the craft lifted off into the air. "Found what you expected?" John asked.
He shook his head. "Not really. But I found this." He handed the disk to John, who stuffed it into his laptop.
John scanned the disk, then looked up at Matthew with a smile. "This is exactly what we needed. Pilot, come to bearing 180 and punch it. Let me know when we reach Wyoming." He flipped off the comm. "That disk had info on a fall-back position, a central HQ. Should be somewhere in Wyoming. Not too horribly far, so we'll check it out before returning to Diamond Base."
An hour or so later, the Vulture started a gentle bank, bringing the Global Fang base into view. Matthew's eyes were suddenly and quickly drawn to the window. He stared at the base. "Yeah... Oh Hell yeah... That's the place, all right." They were in Southern Wyoming, over the Rocky Mountains. The base was below them, nestled between a pair of smaller rises of rock. It tried to look innocuous, looking more like a typical school than a vampire stronghold, but Matthew's senses knew better. He grabbed a pair of binoculars. They with their night vision plus his enhanced eyesight gave him a plain as day view of the ground below. Comparing it to the school it was trying to be, it was about mid-size, with entrances in each direction. He could see a garage 'wing' during one sweep, and one of the mountains nearby appeared to have a covered entrance wide enough to take a small aircraft. There were a few separate buildings; guard posts most likely. He couldn't read anything from underground, but it could have been due to his distance from the base. There were some outside lights on, illuminating parts of the grounds.
John moved to the window, taking a look at the base. "You're sure?"
Matthew nodded. "Yeah. My senses are going wild. Something big down there. It might be Breka... I hope she's not there when we attack." Satisfied, he leaned back in his seat and rubbed his eyes. For some reason, combining vampire eyes with binoculars hurt.
John looked at him. "Why not?"
He sighed. "If Alucard considers her a grade B vampire, she'll probably tear me apart."
"What about that one from a week ago?"
"Grade D, maybe. Nothing compared to Breka, but I still had a tough time." He shuddered. "She's got all the speed, agility, strength that comes with being a vampire. Near instant regeneration, and a lot more smarts than that guy did. She knew to back off and build up her strength before taking on Alucard."
He gave a light chuckle. "Think he'd join us for the battle?"
"Possibly. If we find we need him, I'll get word to Seras, my partner back at Hellsing. If anyone can convince Alucard, she can."
The Vulture turned away and streaked off, heading back to Diamond Base.