Disclaimer: I do not own Hellsing, I am merely borrowing its characters for my own amusement; I am not making any money whatsoever on this particular piece of fiction.

A/N: All first-person sections are from Integra's point of view. All other sections follow a sort of third-person limited from one of the other character's points of view.

Seras Victoria was fighting for her life, and of course Alucard was nowhere to be found. Swinging the Hallconnen downwards, she fired an incendiary round into a small group of ghouls advancing rapidly on her position, only to have half of them jump out of the way avoiding the blast all together.

'What the hell?'

The ghouls weren't doing anything they were supposed to do tonight. Agile and quick, they climbed the walls of the warehouse with ease, swinging down out of nowhere to attack. Many were landing small hits on Seras; gashes and low caliber bullet wounds that were beginning to wear on the young vampire.

She staggered as she felt the impact of high caliber weapon's fire coming from behind. Tearing through her lower back two bullets exited through her abdomen in a spray of warm red blood, leaving gaping holes in their wake.

'You should be better prepared for this, Police Girl.' Alucard's voice slid into Seras's mind.

'Damn it, master! No one knew it would be like this. Not even you, I expect.'

Alucard laughed as he materialized behind her, placing the barrel of his 454 Cassul against the forehead of the ghoul that had just injured Seras. With a swift squeeze of the trigger the ghoul's entire head exploded in a mess of gore.

'I am prepared for anything, Police Girl. You should know that by now.'

The rather bloody Seras Victoria sighed, 'it really isn't so much as you're prepared for everything, master. Its more like you're entirely indestructible.'

Alucard chuckled, dematerializing and reappearing in front of his servant vampire, firing off two more rounds at close range into the heads of the last of the approaching ghouls.

'I can't believe how human these ghouls look, master.' Seras exclaimed before shouldering the Hallconnen and pulling out her smaller Walther sidearm, putting two rounds into a ghoul approaching from above, springing down from the ceiling.

Earlier when she'd first entered the warehouse, Seras had gotten the shock of her life when a ghoul had launched itself out of doorway straight at her, rapidly pulling the trigger on its Glock. Most of the bullets had missed, but two had found their mark in her left shoulder, tearing out a great deal of her flesh as they passed through. The ghoul had still been sailing through the air towards her when she'd recovered from the impact and had readied her body to strike.

However, before she could make a move, she'd found herself paralyzed as she gazed into the wild, frightening face of the human that had fired upon her. The hesitation had cost her the moment and her attacker had collided with her, wrapping its arms around her. It had slammed a small knife that it had been carrying in its left hand into Seras's back while it had bit ferociously at her exposed neck.

She had managed to throw the berserker off of her before it punctured her jugular; the thing landing in a heap fifteen feet down the hallway before scrambling up again and running towards her. Bringing the Hallconnen to bear on the attacking human Seras had hesitated again.

'It's not human Police Girl! Destroy it!' Alucard's voice had come thundering into her mind.

'But…but it doesn't look like a ghoul, master!'

'Smell it Police Girl, it may look human but it's not! Kill it before it kills you!'

Unable to refuse her master, Seras had fired a depleted uranium round into the creature point blank, leaving nothing left of the ghoul but a smear on the floor and nearby wall.

Despite her reservations, Seras had continued to dispatch as many ghouls as she could. However, the acrobatic shenanigans of this new breed of ghouls had proved too much for her to handle alone. She would probably have been looking at permanent death, had Alucard not shown up when he had.

"Master," Seras said as she re-holstered her Walther. "Where's the FREAK that's controlling these ghouls?"

As if simply the word itself was a summoning incantation, the FREAK vampire in question, a tall, broad man with grey, blonde hair stepped slowly out of the shadows at the end of the hallway. "I'm right here, lass." Before Seras could react, the FREAK swung his two MP-5s upward and opened fire on her and Alucard. Alucard, ever the gentleman, bore the brunt of the attack, accepting the 9mm slugs into his body, reveling in the feeling of the bullets tearing through his flesh.

'That's disgusting master.'

'Someday Police Girl when you are free, pain will cease to have meaning for you.' Alucard laughed quietly.

Despite the pool of blood rapidly forming on the floor, the attack didn't faze Alucard; something the arrogant FREAK wasn't at all expecting. As his right arm was reattaching itself, Alucard brought forth his left and fired off three rounds from his Jackal. The first tore through the barrel of the FREAK's left MP-5, the second impacting the trigger of the right, blowing off the pseudo-vampire's finger in the process. The third would have found its mark in the FREAK's forehead, had he not moved at the last second.

Abandoning his ruined weapons the FREAK charged Alucard, managing to dodge a majority of the rounds the Hellsing vampire fired at him. With a loud snick, two blades shot out of the FREAK's coat sleeves as he closed the final few feet between him and Alucard.

'Are you ready, Police Girl?' Alucard asked his protégée calmly.

'Always, master.'

With that confirmation, Alucard vanished into nothing, and the FREAK found himself crashing into the business end of Seras's Hallconnen, instead of slamming his blades into Alucard's chest as he had intended.

"It's just not your day, mate." Seras Victoria said calmly as she blasted the FREAK into so many tiny, little pieces with an incendiary round.

When Alucard rematerialized, he looked at the mess the warehouse had become, and began to laugh at the destruction around him.

"Honestly master, I'm never going to understand your taste for devastation." Seras sighed as she herself looked around at the bloody chaos.

"When you are as old as I am now, Police Girl we shall see what your hobbies are."

With that last statement, Alucard disappeared from sight. Seras sighed again. Reaching down to her belt, she activated her radio.

"Walter."

"Yes, Miss Victoria?"

"Mission accomplished, Walter. Notify MI-5 that they can send in their clean-up squad."

'God, I hate relying on MI-5. If only Hellsing hadn't been scattered.' Seras thought to herself.

"I'll see to it personally, Miss Victoria. Also, Sir Integra wishes a full mission report in her office in one hour. And if you would, find the chip that was inside the FREAK."

"I will Walter. Sir Integra won't be disappointed. Oh, and Walter?"

"Yes, Miss Victoria?"

"Call me Seras. We've been through too much to worry about formality."

"Of course, Miss Victoria."

The radio went dead and Seras sighed yet again. 'I swear, I think he does that on purpose.'

Using her excellent vision she was able to locate the surprisingly intact chip without much trouble. As she was about to leave though, a thought occurred to her. Walking over to one of the less damaged ghoul bodies, Seras knelt down and lifted the dead weight onto her, by now, thankfully repaired left shoulder.

'Might as well take one of these back for study. Walter might be able to make out something useful about them.'

Turning on her heel, Seras found the back exit of the warehouse, and with one last glance behind her hastened out into the night.

"Tell me Walter, why exactly did Officer Victoria bring home a dead body?"

"She seems to think it will be useful for scientific study, Sir."

I had to resist rolling my eyes at this remark, settling instead for looking heavenward before returning my gaze back to Walter's patient form.

"I seem to remember only requesting the FREAK chip be brought back, Walter."

"Of course, Sir. Miss Victoria was operating entirely on her own when she returned a short time ago with the body in question."

I sighed steepling my fingers. Before I was able to begin again, though, there was a knock at my office door.

"That would most likely be Miss Victoria coming to give you her report, Sir."

"Right. Walter, I expect a full analysis of that chip. And you might as well examine the ghoul while you're at it. No point in letting it go to waste."

"Very good, Sir. Also," Walter paused, "I'm going to have to call in some…ah, assistance in finding men to fill our ranks."

"Do whatever you deem necessary, Walter."

"Right, Sir."

He bowed before turning and walking towards the door.

I reached down into my desk drawer to retrieve a cigar. After pausing for a moment at the door to carry on a short conversation with Walter, of which I only caught Walter saying "just be polite," Seras Victoria moved into the room shutting the door behind her. By the time she had walked up to stand before my desk, I had trimmed and lit the cigar, drawing deeply on it. Seras paused, waiting to be acknowledged and I ignored her for a moment taking the time to enjoy the smoke filling my lungs.

I exhaled, "Report, Officer."

Seras, standing at attention, began her report in a slightly quavering voice, which relaxed into her usual firm soprano as her account wove on. I found her attention to detail most useful. However, her description of the severity of her wounds was most unsettling to me.

She finished her narrative and stood waiting quietly for me to say something.

"Very good, Officer Victoria. I am however, concerned with the amount of damage you tell me you received during the mission. While you appear to be alright now, I find it difficult to believe that a vampire of your pedigree would be so unaware of her surroundings as to allow herself be as injured as you were. Hellsing Organisation is going to need your help if it is to survive. I expect to see a drastic increase in your performance from here on out Officer."

I could see my words sink in as the look in Seras's eyes underwent various emotional alterations, beginning first with fear, changing rapidly to a flare of anger, and then settling back into something closer to determination. I was glad to have elicited such a reaction in the girl, and felt secure in the knowledge that this young vampire wouldn't disappoint her master's master a second time.

"Upon my honor Sir, I swear to you, I'll not let you down."

"See that you don't." I almost dismissed her then, but she looked like she still had something to say. "What is it, Officer?"

"I only wanted to say…, it's good to have you back sir."

"Thank you, Seras."

The girl nodded her head once, the positively glowing look on her face telling me I'd made the right choice when I'd decided to call her by something a little less formal than usual.

"That will be all for tonight."

"Yes, Sir." She bowed slightly before turning and silently exiting my office.

I sighed, reaching down to snub out my cigar. Seras Victoria's report had given me plenty to think about; a new type of ghoul didn't really bode well in the short or the long run of things, not to mention a FREAK that despite the ease with which the duo dispatched him appeared to be faster than the average FREAK.

'Human troops will have much trouble dealing with them, master.' Came Alucard's voice in the back of my mind.

"Indeed, Alucard."

The vampire slid through the walls of my office like they were not even there, coming to rest on the floor next to my desk.

"Tell me vampire, what would you suggest? Sending only you and Seras in on every mission?"

Alucard chucked, "Despite the effectiveness of that solution, I believe I would eventually become bored of the arrangement."

"And we all know how unreliable you are when you are bored."

Alucard's chuckle deepened into a low laugh.

"That was a good job you did with Police Girl. I think you're liable to have a loyal follower for life if you keep it up."

I snorted. "Thank you Alucard. I'll remember that."

There was a moment of silence between us before I posed a question to him.

"Give me your take on the situation, Alucard. How different are these FREAKs, truly?"

"Truthfully master, tonight's FREAK's ghouls were unlike any I've ever seen in my considerable un-lifetime. They retain much of their human intelligence, not to mention mobility, despite being dead. If that is any indication, then yes, these FREAKs are indeed different. "

"And any troops we send against them are likely to be slaughtered, correct?"

"Of course."

"Damn."

"Indeed."

My right hand made a rather loud thwack as I slammed it downward in frustration. The thought, 'what the hell am I going to do,' coming unbidden to my mind.

Alucard appraised me for a long moment before saying quietly, "I don't know, master."

I glared at him, mildly shocked that the ancient vampire did not have an answer for once. He flashed his usual feral grin at me, "but, I'm sure you'll figure something out." He began to laugh, "you always do."

"Leave me be, Alucard. I need peace."

Reaching up, the vampire tipped his hat at me before disappearing from view. Cheeky Bastard.

Walter wasn't very happy with the solution he'd come up with to save his master's organization, but it was frankly the only thing he could think of.

Reaching down he removed the telephone receiver and dialed long distance to America. There were three rings before Walter heard that telltale click, indicating someone had picked up on the other end.

"How did you get this number?"

"You gave it to me eleven years ago, Ms. Garret."

"Ah Mr. Ddolneaz. It's been a long time."

"Indeed."

"Might I ask why you're calling me?"

"I have a procurement job that might interest you Ms. Garret. It would seem my organization is lacking somewhat in troops at the moment."

"Which means of course, you totally lack troops, right Mr. Ddolneaz? Or you wouldn't be calling me."

"Yes."

"Hmm, it's going to cost you Mr. Ddolneaz, my services don't come cheap. Although, you know from experience that I deliver."

"That would be correct Ms. Garret."

"How many troops are you talking about Mr. Ddolneaz?"

"We currently need three battle ready squads, with one in reserve. They must be up to date and knowledgeable in the use of most modern equipment. And since Hellsing Organisation is paying good money for them I expect them to be efficient in killing the supernatural."

"Wire me the standard downpayment, and I'll see what can dig up. Expect to see me in one week. A pleasure doing business with you Mr. Ddolneaz."

The line went dead in Walter's ear and he reached out, setting the receiver down in its cradle. He sighed and rose, brushing away imaginary specks of dirt from his vest. 'Now to break the news to Sir Integra. She's not going to like this, I'm afraid.'

To be continued…

This work is dedicated to my sister. Without her help I would never have been able to sit down and write it in the first place.