Order 7: The logos
Time Stamp: Present
Location: Train Station, privately owned by the Hellsing organization
"Make sure that crate gets on board."
"I don't care, check the guns again, I don't want to be behind something that's not going to work."
"Make sure that the tranquilizer guns, ammo and O2 are loaded in the cargo compartment."
"Sir, this armor paneling has metal fatigue."
"Than replace it soldier."
The installation was buzzing with activity around The Logos, the recently re-commissioned world war two train. The train was originally designed, of all people; the Nazi's to be able to survive a beating from any attack in any form. The few cars that came with it were heavy armed as well. Integra had always wondered what use her father had for buying this at the auction all those years ago. Before he died, he had left plans that should the need arise, they could use it to insert a team of soldiers in a city that had been overrun by the undead. Not that long ago she had found those instructions and decided to make preparations, though she would admit she never wanted to use it.
"What's the status Walter?" Integra asked as she watched on from the balcony.
"Nathan and Seras' crew will be ready to go within the hour." Walter replied.
"Will William be with them?"
"Yes, my son has informed me that he will be on this mission, when they reach Vatican City he believes he can get in contact with the other Phoenix in the area. He will also be coordinating the attack inside the city from the train."
"Walter, go with them, I can see it in your eyes so ill make it easy on you. Go, that's an order."
"Yes ma'am. Thank you ma'am."
R-O7-TL/
"Okay ladies listen up. You have been fighting vampires but this is another beast all together." William shouted over the noise of the mechanics going over The Logos one last time. "Unlike vampires and ghouls, if you get bit by one you wont become a ghoul or vampire. Instead its just going to hurt like a bitch."
That got a few nervous chuckles from the men as William continued. "Also, unlike vampires, demons can not directly cause you harm, so long as you don't invite them to. However, what we will most likely be facing are P.C.'s, P.H.'s and if were really unlucky, P.V.'s."
A hand shot up, it was Seras. "Could you please explain those abbreviations sir."
"Not at all Seras. Recently, thanks to technology, man has been able to clone entire human beings. The demons can easily take command of these husks. We call them P.C.'s or possessed clones. There you're basic, run of the mill foot soldier in their forces. P.H.'s are possessed humans, and P.V's... are possessed vampires."
"What the hell, I thought you said we weren't facing anything like vampires." A soldier shouted out.
"Your not, these are worse but can be taken out just the same as a normal vampire, a silver bullet to the heart or head. Just going to be a hell of a lot harder to get a hit. These not only have vampire powers but demons as well."
"There's a difference?" one of the soldiers said, Seras shot him a dirty look.
"I trust some of you knew of the vampire Alucard, imagine him and that being just some of the things that they can do." William went on explaining a few other things, the gear they would be using, how to take out zombies, and a hand full of other bits of vital information that they would need if they hoped to survive this. Seras listened carefully, absorbing all the information. This felt right, like she should have been doing this the moment Alucard bit her. She felt a hand rest on she shoulder, turning; she looked into Nathan's eyes.
"Got a minute kitten?" Seras nodded as the two headed out of the building and into the courtyard.
"This mission, you don't have to come with me."
"Why? I'm a big girl now Nathan, I can take care of myself."
'There are things that will be there that not even you former master Alucard could imagine. Children's nightmares will be made real there, the monsters will look human.' Nathan said threw the link that they shared.
"I will be fine, I've seen a lot since I became one of the true undead." Nathan looked at her, for the first time, his mind didn't pound; it didn't hurt to be near her. He took her hand in his as he looked into her red eyes. The color wasn't frightening; Nathan gently brushed a strand of air out of her face as he kissed her.
R-O7-TL/
The train roared down the tracks, they had passed threw the Euro tunnel a few hours ago and were now running at full speed through France. The train was pulling three cars as it ran down the tracks. The cars looked like something from a military caravan, ironically that's what hid its true intentions, seeing as Italy had executed several diplomats. The first car carried the computers and William's link to the nest network. The second and third held the troops and ammo. The train car's weren't without protection though. Several heavy torrents doted the sides and roof as well as windows that the men could shoot out of. It was essentially a mobile fortress. Most of the men were asleep; the action would begin as soon as they neared the French Italian border. Only William, Walter, the conductor, Nathan and Seras stayed up.
"Here dad, take a look." William said, handing Walter a picture. "My daughter and grandson. I guess that would make you a great grand father."
Walter looked at the photo, he had hardly known his son, it was news to learn that he was a grandfather now; painful to learn he was a great grand father. He had missed out on so much to defend Queen and country. "What's the lads name?"
William chuckled as he took the photo back. "Walter C. Michel's, he's only five this year, but he seems to have inherited the family trait of using wire."
"So how did you enter this, line of work?" Walter asked. William was about to answer when an alarm sounded on his computer. Looking at the screen he swore off.
"Kid! We have company!"
R-O7-TL/
The helicopters descended after the targeted train, the section thirteen emblems were painted on the belly of the steel beasts. The side doors opened as ten odd men appeared fully clad in equipment that looked like it was meant for boarding a train. As the first few jumped out the trains roof torrent's opened fire. The helicopters dodged the fire and returned in kind.
"I do believe that they have come to board us." Walter said as he gloved his hands, a grin appeared on his face at the prospect of action once again.
"They must be on a suicide run, they know kid is on board..."
"Then lets send them on their way." Nathan said, as himself and Seras appeared behind William.
William grinned as he took a thick cigar and lit it "Soldiers are shooting at the copters with the torrent's, getting the same back. Think you two can handle it?"
Both Nathan and Seras grinned as they faded away. A moment later the sound of powerful gunfire and swords cutting could be heard over the torrent fire.
R-O7-TL/
The first group of possessed clones landed on the roof without a hitch, the only threat was the torrents, but only if they stood up. They began crawling their way to the roof hatch, intent on entering the train that way. They figured if all but the phoenix was dead, than the main force in Italy could over power him. An explosion caught them off guard as one of the helicopters exploded in a brilliant flash of light and metal. The other helicopter returned the favor by destroying some of the torrents on the train's side.
One of the clones had reached the hatch and was about to open it when it felt someone tap his shoulder, looking up he saw a strawberry blonde, red eyed female smiling at him, a powerful looking weapon in hand. "Oh shi…."
The gun fired straight into the clones head, sending the body tumbling over the side, forgotten by his comrades.
Nathan looked at the clones as they crawled along the roof of the speeding train; there bodies have been twisted by the demons in control of them to make them more "Combat ready". Fire wasn't the best choice for this; the wind the train was generating would make it nearly impossible to properly control the direction of the fire. His blades would have to do for this job. Running towards his enemies, he began throwing them off the roof of the train one by one. The way he saw them was strange he had to admit. From what William had told him, even the first guardians didn't see what he saw. Instead of the possessed human body being surrounded by a red aura he saw the demon itself. Like something out of the matrix he saw what was really in control of the body. He guessed it was a way of letting him know what he was truly fighting, not some human but the demons within.
R-O7-TL/
Henikel heard the sound of battle all around her. It was insane, as she walked threw the train cars trying to help however she could she would sometimes see a body fall or scurry by as she glanced out the window. When she had first joined Section thirteen she had heard rumors of what a possessed body was capable of. Usually though it was never allowed to manifest that far either by intervention from the church or the human soul still trapped in the body would fight back.
She realized how much bigger this was now and she chuckled as she thought of the minor dent Iscariot did in the grand scheme of things. She heard a pounding on the side of the train car. The other soldiers that were manning the torrents couldn't turn away to look to see what it was, but they all knew something was trying to get in.
Heinkel watched as fist sized dents began to form in the thick armor of the train. A moment later a crack appeared. The sound that followed, she hoped that it was either the metal moaning as it was damaged further or it was merely the wind, she didn't want to think about what could possibly make such a hideous noise. She pulled her twin desert eagles from their hoisters as she watched hands reach in and grab the metal to pull it back to reveal several human like creatures holding onto the side of the train. She didn't have to think, she pulled the triggers of her weapons.
From a birds eye view, a man watched as bullets flew by, the clones were going down far to quickly but were still managing to do some damage to the train. He spotted his prey, the vampire and the phoenix, a smile appeared on his face as he watched the lesser demons being thrown aside. Opening the side door to the helicopter he jumped out of the flying machine and landed on the train. Anderson was ready to play.
R-O7-TL/
Nathan had his back turned away from the helicopters, but he felt the impact of something heavy landing on the roof. Turning to face his new opponent he was taken back by who, or rather who it used to be.
"Ah Nathan ma lad. Tiss good to see yah, so sorry tha it will hav to be short lived." Anderson chuckled.
"I know what you are now, cut the crap and lets get on with this." Nathan spat, his blade flipped around to extend past his hands.
"Very well lad" Anderson said, the tattoos on his body began to glow a dark red as the two faced off.
R-O7-TL/
"Okay Seras, that was the last of them, the Helicopters pulled away awhile ago." Williams voice chirped inside the earpiece Seras wore. "Oh Static, get back into the train, a tunnel is coming up!"
"Roger, where's Nathan?"
There was a pause, a fraction of a second to long for her liking. "He's still fighting, with Anderson."
"Damnit, doesn't that man know when to stay dead." Seras said as she turned as saw down the train the two fighting. It was strange watching the two of them fight. Both had control of fire and made use of that. Even to her vampire eyes it was a blur to try to keep up with them, but she managed to catch glimpses. The two were nearly equal, however as Andersons power came from his regeneration and Latin Tattoos, Nathan's was natural, if you could call what happened to him to achieve his abilities natural. She saw Nathan, though he was different somehow. His clothing had shifted to black and silver. His hair had grown in considerable length and the tips of his hair had turned silver. Seras knew that Nathan could shape shift and he could alter his clothing, similar to what Alucard was able to do but why would he worry about such things now?
For the first time, she wondered if Nathan had kept things from her. He had explained things to her when he and his crew came to the Hellsing manor but she didn't pay much attention for obvious reasons.
Seras pushed her thoughts aside; her questions could and would be answered later. Right now she didn't want to take the chance that Anderson might get the upper hand on Nathan. Reloading fresh clips into the Redeemer and Jackal she ran towards the two.
R-O7-TL/
"I see tha ye can control yeself now lad. Good I vas hopin for a challenge from ye." Anderson said as he pressed his swords against Nathan's. The two were several feet in the air, both using the fire that they could control as a form of thrust. Nathan's fire had turned a silk black, a fitting color to his current appearance; Andersons fire blood red as they continued to do battle over the train.
Nathan kicked into Anderson's stomach, separating the two only for them to hover a few feet apart from each other. The two looked at each other for several seconds. Both looked like something out of the future. Fire shooting out of their backs providing thrust to keep them in the air and stay at pace with the Train, the sight looked surreal.
Bullet reports ran out from behind Nathan. Nathan didn't have to turn to know who it was, it was a good thing that he didn't turn to look at Seras or else he would have missed Andersons actions, or lack of. 'That's strange….'
When the last bullet report died Anderson felt the bullets in his body being pushed from the holes they made. They fell out trailing droplets of blood down towards the train as it continued to speed passed. "Draculina…"
Anderson shot forward, passed Nathan straight towards Seras. Jets of flames erupted from his arms as he closed the distance between himself and Seras. His swords poised for her heart and head.
R-O7-TL/
Seras could only watch as the nightmarish version of Anderson flew towards her. She could feel the wind ahead of the swords part before the metal took up the space the air had occupied moments before. For a moment she thought that death would finally claim her. She was so expectant of the blow that for a few seconds she thought that the body that had pushed her back was the impact of the blades.
She watched, mouth agape, as Nathan stood in between her and Anderson. The blades had embedded themselves into Nathan's body. Something like liquid fire dripped down Anderson's blades as she watched, unable to move from the sight. Seras didn't see Nathan's face, or the grin he had on his face, a very familiar grin that belonged on someone else. A moment later Nathan exploded. Black fire latched onto Anderson and seemed to pull him back away from Seras. Anderson struggled against the flames as he tried to crawl his way back towards Seras, to his original target to finish the job.
'Seras get inside the train now!' Nathan shouted with their mental link. For a moment Seras didn't comprehend what was happening and then it hit her. The tunnel, it had to have been close now. Jumping up with inhuman speed she ran for the space between the cars and ducked down inside.
R-O7-TL/
Anderson dug his fingers into the metal of the train as Nathan in his fire form continued to pull him back. "Ye arnt goin to kep me from my job lad."
"No, but that will!" Nathan shouted from the fire, a moment later it released its hold on Anderson and fled for the back of the train. Anderson looked forward in time to see the tunnel several meters from him. "You bastar…."
In the train cars the men all heard what sounded like something scrapping along the roof of the train as it entered the tunnel and could only wonder what happened. Several men pulled there guns and aimed at Nathan as he opened the door to the car. It was a sight to see as he reformed himself from the Black fires. "That was just a taste men, we have a half hour before the real battle begins."
With that Nathan walked towards the front car.