It would be time to go soon and Alucard had still not taken his leave of his Master. Integra had been very cold to him since the fall of London. She couldn't very well hide her reasons from him, nor could he really fault her for them, but it left both of them in not the best of moods. He was determined to see her once more before leaving. His detour with Seras and her young man had left him with less time than he wanted in which to speak with Integra once more.

With that in mind, Alucard swept through the corridors of the hospital, ignoring the humans who scattered like pigeons before him. He was barely able to suppress a snarl when he saw Iscariot's newly appointed head, Alexander Anderson, approaching Integra's door from the other end of the hallway.

The two men stopped in front of the door where they had faced each other two days before. Humans who walked by and saw the glares they directed at each other scurried away before the violence that hung in the air around the two giants exploded in the hallway.

"Judas Priest, my Master did not inform me that she had summoned you again." Looking over Anderson's shoulder, he recognized both the berserk nun he'd slammed against a wall in London and the other woman in priest's robes who had interested him that same day. He deliberately ignored Anderson's response and smiled lasciviously at the woman whose strength and personality had attracted him before. His smile broadened when she scowled at him and shifted her hands into a better position to draw her guns.

Anderson glanced over his shoulder to follow Alucard's gaze and interposed himself between the vampire and the nun. "She's a Bride of Christ, beast."

Alucard lazily shifted his gaze to his enemy's face and drawled, "Things can change, apostate. Haven't you heard of divorce?"

Anderson was snarling and reaching for his knives and Alucard his guns when Walter's clear voice cut through their rage, "Gentlemen, and I do use the term lightly, this is a hospital!" Both men turned to look at the smaller man who was advancing down the corridor toward them. Somehow, the former butler was radiating a fury that cut through both of the larger men's bloodlusts.

Walter came to stand between the two of them and spoke clearly and cuttingly, "The two of you are supposed to be allies for the time being. I do not care whether you would both like to eat the other's eyes for breakfast, now is not the time for such petty rivalries. Need I remind you that Millennium is not done out there? You will both pretend to be civilized for the moment or I will take an extraordinary amount of pleasure in putting both of your regenerative capabilities to the test. Have I made myself perfectly clear?"

Anderson and Alucard redirected their fury toward Walter, but the man seemed to absorb their glares and use them as fuel for his own immovable righteousness.

"Father Anderson?" Yumiko tugged at his sleeve. "Father Anderson, please don't do this."

He turned to look at the tiny Japanese nun. She had taken a head injury when Alucard had thrown Yumie against a wall in London. She had a long line of stitches across the right side of her face. Anderson didn't think she should be out of her hospital bed, but even when not berserk, the woman was stubborn. She had insisted that she at least be able to see him off when he and Sister Heinkel left with the Hellsing vampires for Rome.

With Anderson's attention shifted, Walter took advantage of the lull in hostilities to move Alucard aside. "Alucard, I know that Sir Integra has already ordered you not to start trouble with Father Anderson."

"I wasn't starting trouble, Angel. Father Anderson merely chose to take something I said personally." Alucard's grin was patently disingenuous and Walter was just as obviously not amused.

Yumiko was clearly trying to talk Anderson out of his murderous rage at the same time Walter was trying to pour some oil on the troubled waters with Alucard. With some effort, both Alucard and Anderson were calmed enough that Walter and Yumiko could stand aside and watch what they would do next.

Alucard chose to slouch against the wall and pull the brim of his hat down over his face. His voice floated from the shadows under the hat, "Go in and see my Master, Iscariot. I will see her and get my orders when you are finished."

•••

After knocking and hearing Integra's call to enter, Anderson and his two companions entered her room. The Hellsing leader looked much the same as she had when Anderson had seen her two days earlier. She was still very pale, her eyes were still tired and she still looked as stoic as ever.

"Sir Hellsing – Integra - these are Sisters Wolfe Heinkel and Yumiko Takagi." The two women murmured greetings to their former enemy.

"I remember them, Alexander. Sister Heinkel held a gun to my head when she thought I was going to harm you." She smiled faintly. "I admire loyalty. Good evening, Sisters."

"Sister Heinkel will be coming with us to Rome, but Sister Takagi's injury is too serious for her to travel. I would like to offer her services to ye while we are gone. She has many skills ye might find useful outside of those she has with a sword." Anderson seemed uncomfortable with the pleasantries, but was doing his best to work out this new relationship he had with Integra Hellsing. Since her proposal that they try to be friends, he had been wrestling with his past attitudes in opposition with present exigencies.

"That's very generous of you, Alexander. Since I'll be shorthanded while Walter and Alucard accompany you, the assistance will be welcome." She shifted her position in the bed and winced as she bumped her stump against the railing the nurses insisted she keep up. She scowled at her missing limb and commented, "The worst part is that the damned thing itches. Not the stump, mind you," she held up her bandaged limb, "my hand. It just doesn't seem right that I have an itch I can never scratch."

She was surprised when Yumiko spoke up, "If you'll allow me, Sir Hellsing, I think I can help you with that." The small woman stepped forward. "There's a pressure point that might help you with the phantom itch, at least, it helps with real itches and might serve the same purpose."

Integra smiled at the nun and nodded before looking back to the new head of Iscariot, "See, the assistance is already welcome."

Anderson nodded and smiled. "We must be going. Yer pet is waiting outside to receive his orders. We shan't keep ye any longer."

"Thank you Alexander. Good luck to you and God bless. Try not to get yourself killed. I have no guarantees that your replacement would be as reasonable as you are." Integra showed a ghost of her former self-satisfied smirk as she poked at the paladin.

"Aye, Integra, not everyone within Iscariot is as level-headed as I am." Anderson met her smirk with one of his own before leaving the room with the two nuns in tow.

Once out in the hallway again, he looked sternly at Yumiko, "Ye must tell her about Yumie, do ye understand?"

Yumiko flushed and turned her eyes down, "Yes Father Anderson. I understand."

•••

Walter watched both Alucard and Anderson as the Iscariots left Integra's room. He relaxed when they seemed to be willing to leave the hostilities for another time. After the three Catholics walked out of sight, Alucard pushed himself away from the wall and walked over to the door to Integra's room.

"Are you coming with me, Angel?"

Walter shook his head.

"You can't avoid her forever. You need to see her before we go, to get any final orders she may have for you."

Walter had been avoiding Integra. He couldn't bear to see what he had done to her. It didn't matter whether he had been under Millennium's control at the time or not, he had been inside his mind, looking out helplessly, and had watched as his wires had taken Integra's hand from her. She had sacrificed her hand in a desperate attempt to either shake him out of the controls that Millennium had incompletely placed on him or to kill him if that failed. She had been inches from destroying him when his screaming horror at what he'd done had finally broken through the locks on his mind.

He had maimed the closest thing he had ever had to a daughter and he had fed from her bleeding stump after doing so. In the past three days, he had woken repeatedly from his sleep with nightmares of how much he had enjoyed both hurting her and tasting her blood. After the first time he had woken screaming, Seras had climbed into his coffin and held him while he slept. He tried not to think about sleeping alone during the upcoming days he'd be in Rome.

He'd lived through – well, survived - Millennium twice, he could face Integra. Walter squared his shoulders and walked through the door when Alucard opened it for him.

•••

Integra watched the two vampires enter her room and her face closed down. She was having trouble facing them for two different reasons. She was still angry with Alucard for leaving her in the hands of Millennium when he could have helped her on the zeppelin, and she couldn't look at Walter without remembering what he had done to her. She knew it wasn't fair to be angry with him, but it didn't matter. If it weren't for his wires, she would still have two good hands.

The three of them stayed in the uncomfortable silence until Alucard broke it. "Our plane leaves for Rome in twenty minutes, Master. Do you have any further orders for us?"

She gritted her teeth and tried to remember to be moderately civil, "Yes, Alucard, don't be an insufferable git to Anderson. Don't kill him, don't kill Iscariots unless they are direct threats to you or Walter. Do kill every Millennium member you can. Do not consume the entire mortal population of Rome the way you seem to have done with London. Oh, and while you're at it, do not betray me again."

Alucard's expression was carefully blank as he nodded his head in acknowledgement of her orders. "And your Angel of Death?"

Walter and his Master looked at each other with the things unsaid loud between them. His regret and her anger were clear on both their faces.

"Try not to get in any more trouble, Butler." It was a clear dismissal when Integra turned her face away from both of them.