Disclaimer: I don't own Hellsing, James Bond or Ranma, they belong to... someone, but not me.
Changing Path
Chapter-4 Agent in training.
The plane hit the ground with a screeching of tires against concrete, the craft slowed down and then came to a stand still.
Ranma yawned as the stewardess woke him, he absentmindedly scratched his neck while trying to shake the drowsiness away. Ranma could see as the stewardess walked down the rows of seat and waking up all the other passengers sleeping.
He looked out the window and could see that it was snowing hard, the wings already having a thin sheath of white on them.
It was early in the morning, the sun hadn't come up yet, so the only light came from the airport, but they where dim in the blizzard raging outside the plane.
A prolonged stop in Germany had made that the plane arrived early in the morning.
The compartment was slowly emptying of passengers and once it was only a few left he stood up and opened the overhand baggage storages and picked out his coat.
He put it on and then exited the craft. As he walked down the small staircase leading down from the jet he could feel the freezing wind blow hard against him.
He pulled the coat tightly around him to protect against the cold and then ran to the airport building.
As he entered the building he rubbed his hands to chase away the cold, he shivered a little.
He looked around and then walked towards transport belt to get his luggage.
A man in his mid twenties walked up to Ranma. He picked up his luggage and then both he and Ranma went to the desk to check their luggage out.
"Man it's freezing outside." The man said as the woman behind the desk checked so he got the right suitcase.
Ranma looked at the man.
"Yeah, know what you mean." Ranma said as he rubbed his cold fingers again.
The woman handed the luggage back to the man.
"They told us to prepare for cold weather but I didn't think they meant arctic." The man as he looked outside the window and shivered.
The woman behind the desk handed the suitcase back to Ranma and he thanked her. Both Ranma and the man began to walk away from the desk, going for the security boxes.
They both left their luggage in a security box so they could pick it up later when they needed it, right now they didn't have time to worry about that.
"Well I know one thing now at least." Ranma said as he and the man walked towards a café.
"And what's that?" The man asked as they both took a seat and ordered a coffee to chase away the cold.
"I hate Russian winter, too cold for my tastes" Ranma said as he sipped his coffee, grimaced and then looked down on the cup.
"I also hate Russian coffee." He said and gulped down the last of the coffee with a grimace.
The man chuckled and looked out of the window at the blizzard.
Ranma ordered a cup of tea and swirled a plastic spoon in it boringly.
"Our intel was wrong, shouldn't he be here by now? The man said and looked down on his watch.
"Fourth table on your left behind me, dark suit reading a newspaper." Ranma said as he leaned back in his chair casually.
The man blinked and then took quick look around the café with an absentminded expression. But Ranma knew that he was far from that, he was checking their target, but staying inconspicuous.
"I hate it when you do that Saotome, you haven't looked back once and still you know that he was there."
Ranma just shrugged and gave him one of his cocky grins. He really didn't need to tell him that with his ki senses he could feel the aura of the man. He had needed only a glimpse of him and then he could pinpoint his aura.
"How long has he been there?"
"He was sitting there when we arrived, between five to ten minutes before we entered." He said as he picked up a newspaper and glanced at it.
Unfortunately it was in Russian and his skill in the language was passable at best. He laid it back and looked up at the roof.
"How can you tell so exactly, Saotome?" The man asked.
"His coffee is still warm, it's still steaming, so he can't have been here longer then that." He said and scratched his neck.
"You're just creepy, you know that don't you?" The man said and looked over the café again, and just as he had said the coffee was till steaming.
"Well I have learned to pay attention, you simply live longer if you do that Peter." Ranma said and sipped his tea.
"You're still green, Saotome." Peter said with a frown.
Numerous pictures of a crazy Kendo captain, an almost blind hidden weapons master, a obsessive pig that was built like a tank, and a group of lab goons armed with machine guns filled his head. Often they attacked without warning and then every second was valuable, if he didn't recognize the danger in time he would in big trouble.
Ranma shrugged.
"Just take my words for it okay." Ranma said.
He had always had a good memory and always noticed the small details, it was just that back in Nerima he had only looked for signs of danger, and nothing more. The MI6 had thought him that just because it wasn't dangerous didn't mean that it wasn't important.
"Whatever." Peter said.
The man continued to drink his coffee and read his paper.
Both Ranma and Peter had been handpicked for this mission by M, they where two of the best. It was normal agency regulations to always send two agents on a mission, exceptions were made rarely because of the danger working alone. The only operatives that worked alone were the 00-agents, but that was only because they worked best alone.
M had told them that this was of big importance, if they screwed up it would reflect on the entire bureau. Both Ranma and Peter had been nervous with the amount of responsibility given them, but decided that they would do every thing possibly, (and in Ranma's case impossible), to complete the mission.
A quick debriefing about their target and mission perimeters, followed by a quick visit to Q to get some gear, and they where off to Russia. The bureau had somehow managed to get their gear through the customs which in normal cases would have proved a problem for Peter, Ranma would have simply used the hidden weapons style to get it past them.
The man finished his coffee and then walked out the door, being followed by two pairs of eyes.
Once their target had gotten a good distance away, they too walked out and began to follow the man.
Keeping the man just within eyesight they trailed behind him, both Ranma and Peter cursing the cold weather. The temperature had gone up somewhat when they sun came up on the horizon, but it was still twenty degrees Celsius below zero.
They almost lost him when he walked through a crowded mall, but thanks to Ranma ki senses and their training they found him quickly.
Their target stopped by a five story office building and then entered.
"Do you think this is the place?" Peter said and looked the building over.
"There is only one way to find out." Ranma said and began to walk towards the door.
Peter just blinked and then ran up to Ranma.
"You aren't serious." Peter said.
"Yes I am." Ranma said.
Ranma opened the door and looked back on Peter, he just sighed but followed him.
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Integra was standing before the portrait of her father, contemplating about the number of Hellsing men, or rather the lack thereof. Hellsing had been short on men after Incognitos death, but Integra thought that they would be able to build up their forces with the end of the freak-chips.
She was wrong, the amounts of freak-attacks decreased to barely one a week, but they were a lot worse then anything they had ever encountered before, hundreds of ghouls every time. After the Incognito incident Hellsing had lost ¾ of their soldiers, but now with the new attacks from freaks they where down to 1/8 of the number of men before Incognito.
The recruiting was going slowly, they needed at least a year to replace all lost men, and that was time they didn't have. They had tried to find out where the freak-chips were coming from, and who was behind them, but to no avail.
Then there was Victoria.
The men had always been on their toes when around her, but that was to be expected when you think about their work, but they had never really avoided her until now. It had started when she had been the sole survivor of one of the teams entering a building filled with ghouls.
Victoria had said that they had been ambushed and that she had only barely been able to get out, but there was a rumour flowing around in the barracks that she herself had killed the men in bloodlust.
Integra didn't believe the rumour, Victoria had problems drinking blood from a medical bag and she highly doubted that she was capable of drinking it from the source. If she for one second had doubted Victoria's loyalty she would have killed her immediately, she just couldn't risk having a stray vampire around.
And she was sure that Alucard wouldn't allow his fledgling to go rouge, he was annoying but he was also reliable, he wouldn't put the Hellsing institution in any danger.
Another thing regarding the Victoria was that she had been more relaxed during the last months, she didn't seem to mind the fact that the Hellsing personnel avoided her any more.
It had started a little after she began to meet with the man, and Integra didn't have any problems with that. As long she did her work and didn't endanger Hellsing she could do whatever she wanted.
Well, during the last week Victoria had been very absentminded, always wearing a far away look in her eyes and sighing constantly.
Walter had said that she was lovesick, and just missing her friend. Integra had groaned at that, a bloodthirsty vampire she could handle, a lovesick vampire she could not.
Then there was Alucard, if he had noticed Victoria's meetings he didn't appear to care. He was his usually annoying/mysterious self, always giving Integra headaches with his antics.
She looked up at the portrait of her father and wondered silently what he would have done in her current situation. She sighed, she just couldn't figure out what to do.
A knock on the doors announced Walter with his usual tray of tea and scones. He placed it on the desk, bowed and then walked towards the door. He stopped at the door and looked thoughtful for a moment.
"I almost forgot, a letter arrived to you today through the secure line, but from whom it doesn't say." He said.
Integra raised an eyebrow.
"Where is it?" She said.
Walter pulled out a normal white envelope from a pocket and handed it to Integra. Only the address to her secret post box was on it, nothing that could give a clue to whom had sent it. But Integra knew from who it was directly, she only knew one that could write in such a way.
She quickly seated and opened the letter.
As she had suspected it was from her sister Nodoka, she hadn't heard anything from her in a good two years. She smiled slightly as she began to read the letter, she had always liked her somewhat crazy older sister.
It started off normally with the usual greetings, but when she read the rest she went through it again just to make sure she had understood correct.
Integra got a violent twitch in her left eye.
Nodoka had sent her son to England and wanted her to tell him about the Hellsing family history. She changed "somewhat crazy" into "totally insane", she couldn't believe that Nodoka would want that her son began to work for the Hellsing institute, and more importantly how could she know that he would believe her?
How could she know that he would accept the fact that things as magic, vampires and ghouls existed, and if he didn't believe it he could become a security hazard.
Integra just groaned, sure it would be nice to have some family around but the amount of trouble it would bring... she really didn't want her nephew tangled into the world that she was living in, tangled into the web that was Hellsing and all that came with it.
Unbeknownst to her he already was in deeper then she ever could suspect.
Downstairs sleeping in her coffin the vampire Ceres Victoria sneezed in her sleep.
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Ranma covered his mouth and sneezed.
"Stupid weather, I must have caught a cold." Ranma said and grumbled a little.
Ranma entered the building followed by grumbling Peter. A reception desk was the only piece of furniture in the hall that greeted them.
Ranma walked up to it followed by Peter. The woman sitting behind the desk didn't taker her eyes of the computer, she was typing into. She had her black hair tied up into a bun and had a small pair of glasses on.
"You have been expected, third door to the right." She said, still her eyes on the screen.
Both Ranma and Peter blinked and then looked each other.
Ranma just shrugged and gave Peter a cocky-grin.
"Told you." Ranma said.
At that moment Peter just wanted to smash Ranma's face to make that irritating grin disappear.
Peter grumbled loudly.
"Yeah, yeah! Man I'm never going to hear the end of this." Peter said and groaned.
They walked down the corridor and stopped by the third door to the right. They looked at each other again and both shrugged.
"What the hell, it is better then freezing our asses off outside." Peter said and opened the door.
They stepped inside and could see that it only had three occupants, an elderly woman in her late sixties wearing an Russian uniform, an man in his mid fifties they recognised as their target, and their commander James Bond. The three was sitting around a small table.
"I see you made it, I'm impressed." Their target said and leaned back in his chair.
"Thanks, it wasn't easy." Peter said.
"Well I am glad you made it. Welcome to the Co-operation for International Security or C.I.S for short." The woman said.
Both Peter and Ranma, together with James Bond, had been chosen to represent Great Britain in the yearly meting of C.I.S.
After the fall of the Soviet Union and the end of the cold war the hostilities between NATO and the former Soviet began to cease.
Now that the threat of a nuclear war between NATO and the Soviet was no more, the agencies who had been bitter rivals began to work together.
Now the threats didn't come from different countries, now they came from international criminal organizations that put up disguises as legal companies, splinter cells from the former Soviet that worked as mercenaries and having access to military hardware and in some rare cases nuclear weapons, and political extremists that tried to achieve their goals with terrorist-activity.
To put a stop to this the different Intelligence-agencies began to work together to achieve international security.
To further better the relations between the different countries the C.I.S was formed. It was one month long meting where every country sent two agents-in-training and one experienced agent. The trained agents would work as teachers and tell about how their countries agencies worked, the training methods with which they trained their future agents, and such.
There weren't only seminaries, there was training missions in everything ranging from hostage-rescue to bomb defusing.
Then there was the highlight of the entire meting, the technique show. There the agents could stroll around and check what the other agents gear consisted of. Basically the tech-geeks showed off their new toys.
In reality the entire C.S.I meting was a big international spy school, training the students in a wide array of skills.
Apart from the teaching the veterans secretly traded information on new threats and discussed what to do about them.
This year it was Russia's time to host the meting.
This year the veterans had decided to play the rookies a small practical joke with the entire "trail-the-target" thing, and some bets where made on the outcome.
James stood up from the chair and he was sitting on.
"Well it was a pleasure meting you again, maybe we will se each other later" James said towards the two people sitting down.
Ranma and Peter followed James outside to a waiting van. At the back they could see their luggage that they had left in the security boxes at the airport. They didn't question it, they where agents after all.
Both shrugged and took a place inside, there was already four people sitting there.
A quick greeting and they found out that the other like them was representatives from the US and France respectively.
The van took off and headed outside Moscow to a military base.
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M sat and read the newest reports on the second attempt to murder the Queen. They had little to go after, the three men they had managed to take alive had committed suicide in their cells before they could be interrogated. All traces on where the men came from stopped in Hong Kong.
M groaned, they where supposed to be the best, but still they couldn't find a single trace, worse the Queen still insisted that she kept out of the case.
She could only think about one good thing about the day.
007 wasn't near, and he wasn't on some dangerous mission that would cause major property damage. He was her best agent, but he was also her most troublesome agent.
But now she was happy, he was half a world away in Russia, and he would just work as a teacher for the time being, no access to weapons, and M shuddered at the thought, high explosives.
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Ranma groaned as he threw himself on the bed. It was the last day of C.I.S meting and it had ended with a long seminary, and Ranma being Ranma hated school, no matter what the case.
Even though it had bored him like hell he had managed to stay awake.
Well now he should pack and then they would be off towards the airport and England. He quickly began to pack his suitcase and made sure he didn't forget anything, he turned around and saw that Peter already was finished.
Both left the small room they shared and walked through numerous halls and down numerous stairs.
A small group of trucks were already waiting for them. He and Peter stepped up to the one closest to them and found that it already was filled, they walked from truck to truck but there wasn't a single vacant seat. They where running out off truck to check.
Opening the door to the second last truck they found a single vacant seat between a blonde and a redhead. Peter seemed to disappear from his side and reappear on the empty seat with a happy smile plastered on his face, the girls got a little irritated look in their eyes.
Peter turned towards Ranma.
"See you later mate." He said with toothy grin.
Ranma's left eye twitched violently, Peter was even worse then Kuno in some matters.
Ranma grumbled as he closed the door and dragged his suitcase over to the last truck. He opened the back and threw the luggage in and then opened the door.
He stopped as he was about to step inside and blinked a few times. There was a single seat unoccupied but it wasn't because off this he stopped. The entire truck was carrying all the senior agents and they were looking mildly interested at him, he had the small ID-badge on his chest that identified him as one of the "students".
Ranma nervously took a seat, he could see that he was the only rookie. Off all the trucks he had to land in the one with the bosses.
He had just broken the first rule in the book, do not draw the attention of the seniors.
Well it wasn't anything he could do about it now, he thought as the engines of the truck started.
He leaned back in his seat and tried to relax a bit.
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Joseph drove slowly down the road, making sure to keep his eyes on the road. The gates of the military base appeared before them, and he slowed down.
Coming to a halt he opened the window and handed the guard his false ID, to his right his partner did the same.
The armed guards took a quick look inside but didn't find anything of interest and let them pass.
Joseph stopped outside a garage and stepped out of his vehicle. It was specially prepared for this mission with an airtight passenger compartment, knock-out gas, and self locking doors.
Now the only problem was to take care of the drivers of the other vehicle. He opened the door to the garage and was thankful that only the two drivers were there. He greeted them and walked up to them followed closely by partner.
When he got close enough Joseph slammed the butt of his pistol over the man's head, knocking him out, next to him he could see as his partner did the same.
Dragging the bodies of the two unconscious drivers into a small storage room they quickly changed from their guard uniforms into the drivers' clothes. Making sure to hide the bodies well they stepped out of the small room.
They walked back outside and stepped inside their truck.
Now the hardest part was done.
Their mission was simple, drive into the base with false ID, take care of the drivers and take their place. They would use the specially prepared truck to take some of the most important intelligence personnel in the world. It appeared like some had been getting close to revealing their organization, and they wanted to make sure how much they really knew.
They would "convince" them to co-operate so that they could monitor what the different agencies was doing more exactly. And if they didn't want to do that, they would just simply kill them.
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Ranma could see as the truck took a different way then rest off the trucks, and he could see that the others had noticed as well. A woman in her middle thirties had opened her mouth to say something but didn't get the chance.
The small glass hatch between them and the drivers slammed shut and an audible hissing was heard.
The other passengers covered just slumped down in their seat unconscious. But Ranma didn't, instead he fell into something of a half-sleep, his eyes were open and he could see, but his mind didn't register what happened around him. He had worked up a resistance against drugs thanks to being around Kodachi, and poison thanks to Akane (the US had been interest in buying her food and use it as a bio-weapon, but decided against it when they saw the cruelty of it).
After a long drive they stopped and a couple of thugs wearing masks opened the door and began to drag them out.
They dragged Ranma and the others through some kind of old industry facility, rusty and old machines where standing around.
They opened a thick metal door and carried them inside. Eight metal chairs was standing in two rows facing each other.
The thugs placed him and the others in the chairs and tied them up.
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James groaned as he began to regain conscious. He opened his eyes slowly, but closed them again as he was met with the bright light. Everything was blurry, but after a couple of minutes he began to recognise familiar figures, the forms of his colleagues who also began to regain conscious.
It was a huge room made off brick, a good ten metres high, and had probably been used as a storage area.
James took a deep breath and cursed himself for falling into this trap, he was one of the best, this shouldn't happen to him.
He tested the bonds, but they where to strong, he couldn't budge them one inch. The rest had regained conscious as well and they where looking confusingly around. His feet where stuck with the legs of the chair, his arms where locked tightly over the armrest and a long leather strap went over his chest to hold him in place.
James didn't have the slightest idea how he should get out of this mess, he couldn't move a millimetre, and he didn't have any Q's equipment on him.
He began to look around for anything he could use to get out of this chair. The rest was doing the same, trying desperately to find a way out of this mess.
He was interrupted when the door to the room opened and three men walked in. Two of them was carrying automatic rifles and the third had an iron pipe in his hands.
Everyone was looking at the man as he walked between the rows like a drill sergeant.
"Good evening ladies and gentlemen, my name is Dimitri Chekov and I will be your host for tonight." The man said with a cruel smile.
Nobody said anything.
"I will give every one of you the same chance, you answer my questions and co-operate and I will treat you just fine. However if you don't... well then painful thing will happen." The man said, still with the cruel smile on his lips.
Nobody said anything. The man stood before the student that had been with them, and raised the iron pipe like he was about to strike.
The boys just raised an eyebrow, but didn't look afraid.
"What do you work with?" Dimitri asked.
The boy didn't answer.
The iron pipe struck him in the stomach and his face fell forwards as he gasped for air.
"I will give you another chance, what do you work with?"
The boy didn't say anything as he gasped for air.
The man began to hit him with the iron pipe, slamming it into his stomach and hitting him over the face. James could see as some closed there eyes and looked away. The sound as the pipe struck was disgusting. The treatment went on for over ten minutes.
It looked like the boy was unconscious, but the man still beat on him. The boys face was a mask of pain.
The man stopped and turned towards the others.
"This is what happens if you try to play heroic. I will give you some time to think about my generous offer and then I will return." The man said and moved towards the door, the men carrying automatic rifles following him. The man knocked on the door and half a second later it opened.
The iron door closed with a screech from rusty hinges. Once they where gone everyone turned towards the boy. He was still gasping for air.
"Are you okay?" One said in concern.
The boy opened one eye and looked around, and after making sure there wasn't any hidden cameras and such sat back up like nothing had happened.
"Any ideas on how to get out?" the boy asked.
Everyone just stared in shook as the boy went from almost dead to as healthy as can be.
The beating hadn't hurt Ranma much, he had gotten worse from Akane and her damn mallet on daily basic.
Everyone quickly composed themselves again and shook their head in negative.
"These bonds are almost impossible to get out off." John, a CIA veteran from the USA said.
He tried to rip them apart but wasn't able to do it, strength was Ryoga's thing, not Ranma's. He promised himself that once he was back in England he would begin to visit a gym or something like that.
Ranma looked around the room for anything useful but couldn't find anything. He sighed and let his head drop in defeat.
He blinked once, twice and then smiled.
"Bingo." He said and everyone looked at him.
He began to try and get his ID-card on his chest between his teeth. After a moment he managed to sink his teeth in it and then ripped hard. He had the card and the small metal security pin in his mouth.
Some of them looked on him in confusion while other recognised what he was trying to do.
He spit the plastic card on the floor and then opened his palm and managed to spit the small security needle into it.
Using it he began a special technique Genma had thought him as a child to feed his fat stomach "Anything Goes Master-Lock-Pick". Genma was an idiot but he knew how to steal and open locks like a professional thief.
He fumbled with the lock for half a minute and then heard a small click. Now that he had a free hand the next lock wasn't a problem, and soon he was standing up with a triumphant smile on his face.
He began to walk from person to person and unlock their bonds and soon everyone was free.
"So how are we going to get out of this? I mean we can't open the door, it doesn't have a handle." A woman said and pointed towards the door.
"We will have to use that vent, it's the only way, unless we want to wait for our friendly host to return." A man said and pointed to a air vent located eight metres above the floor over the door.
"And please tell how we will be able to get up there?" The woman said.
"We can..." The man tried to say but stopped in mid-sentence as Ranma jumped up and took a good grip on the net covering the vent.
"What the hell?" He said unbelievingly, no one could jump eight metres straight up in the air.
"Wait here, I will open the door for you." Ranma said and ripped the net away as if it was just paper.
Two minutes later the door opened and everyone turned to see Ranma standing in the door holding an assortment of weapons. He threw a weapon to each person and then made a gesture for them to follow him.
"Where the hell did you get these weapons?" John said as he held onto the AK-74 rifle.
"Borrowed them." He said and moved out from the door.
As they stepped out into the corridor they just blinked in confusion. There was unconscious bodies lying everywhere. Everyone was dressed as the two guards that had escorted the man, the only difference was that they where missing their weapons.
Everyone looked at Ranma with newfound respect.
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M was drinker her tea when she got a familiar feeling up her spine. It reminded her a lot of the feeling she got when James had done something that she wouldn't like, but it wasn't quite the same, just eerily familiar.
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They dove for cover behind a couple of metal crates. The bullets pinged of them.
James cursed, they where trapped. He fired a short burst to keep those guards down, and to give them time to get an escape-plan. He scanned the room quickly and his eyes stopped on the big military jeep.
"Bingo." He said with a smile.
He pointed towards the jeep and everyone nodded their heads in understanding.
He fired another burst to suppress the guards and then took off towards the parked vehicle.
In the resulting tumult that issued Ranma somehow ended up behind the steering wheel.
He looked confused for a second.
"Get us out of here now!" Came the gathered yell from the back.
He started the engine, laid in a gear, looked forward, gripped the steering wheel tightly, and then hit the pedal. The vehicle accelerated with incredible speed... backwards.
The jeep slammed into a pair of crates who tipped over and fell over a couple of guards who was fumbling with a couple of grenades. The grenades, which from the beginning were meant to destroy the jeep, rolled down a flight of stairs and stopped at a huge tank... filled with fuel.
"Where the hell did you get you drivers licence?" John yelled from the back of the car where he was lying on the car floor. The jeep was still stuck at the pile of crates
Ranma who finally figured out how the gear worked turned towards the back.
"I don't have one!" He yelled.
Everyone paled, this wasn't good.
But Ranma decided to ease their fears...
"But I did see "the fast and the furious"!" He said and shifted gear.
And failed miserably.
"We are doomed." Came from the back.
Ranma hit the peddle once again, and this time the jeep shoot forwards and through the closed doors.
The grenades, who were still lying under a fuel tank, then decided to go BOOM.
A hundred metres away in a jeep eight people could see as a huge pillar of flame erupted from the building complex.
All of the agents sighed in relief and was about to tell Ranma to stop when the rattle of weapons made them look back.
A couple of jeeps was following them at high speed and shooting.
Ranma just shifted to a higher gear and hit the peddle to the metal. Seven agents were thrown to the floor of the car as a wild car chase began.
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M once again felt as another familiar feeling went up her spine, but also this time it wasn't completely the same.
It reminded her off the felling she got whenever James had caused major property damage.
M just groaned.
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A military jeep exited the forest and slowly made its way towards the Moscow airport. The jeep was a wreck, dents, scratches and missing plates where just some faults.
The hood was damaged beyond repair, both lights were malfunctioning, the engine compartment looked like so someone had driven the thing into a tree (which wouldn't be to far off) All the windows were missing, a thick plume of smoke was rising from the engines, one of the wheels looked like it would be falling off (which it did a moment later) just to name a few faults.
It was a wonder the thing was actually moving.
But the jeep wasn't even looking as bad as it passengers. Everyone looked like they had met the devil himself, their faces was pale and filled with fear.
Even James Bond, notorious for his wild car chases was shivering a little (but if you would have asked him about it he would have said it was because of the cold).
The only one who didn't seem to mind was the driver, who had scratched his neck absentmindedly.
He pressed the brake and miraculously they where still working. The jeep came to a slow halt and the Ranma opened the door to driver seat and stepped out.
As he opened it water splashed out of the jeep. Ranma sweat-dropped as he looked back on the passengers, who was clinging to the interior of the jeep in death-fear.
They staggeringly exited the vehicle and began to move towards the nearest bar, right now they needed something strong to calm down there nerves.
Ranma just shrugged and began to walk towards a desk to get a flight back home. Right now the only thing Ranma wanted was to sleep for the rest of the week.
He felt an arm fall on his shoulder and turned around to see his James standing before him.
"Kid, once we get back you are going right to a driver school." He said.
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Ranma was sitting in the "hanged man" and sipping a cup of tea. He could hear the door open but didn't pay it any attention, he was simply too tired.
"Ranma!" Came a happy yell, and that he did pay attention to.
Followed by the yell was a blonde who glomped onto his arm. Ranma blinked and looked confused on Victoria who was smiling at him.
"Hi Ceres, so want to go to a movie or something?" He asked, and looked into her crimson eyes.
God it was good to see his friend again. Even though Ranma had changed a lot he still was ignorant when it came to girls.
"Sure."
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M read the latest report on Ranma progress. It was a good month since the entire Moscow incident and Ranma had been away one week to learn to handle weapons.
Ranma had been quite good in that department, not that he was a master marksman but still good enough.
He had excelled in one area of the training program, and it appeared he had gained a real fondness for it, and M shuddered at the thought... high explosives.
The trainers had said that he was a natural when it came to handling explosives. M couldn't for the love of god understand why you needed talent to blow things up, it was just placing a bomb and then run like hell.
Then there was another area Ranma had trained in, one that James had insisted on that Ranma should take, car driving.
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Ranma had just returned from his stay in Newcastle and had decided to invite Victoria to dinner in some fancy Italian restaurant.
After a good dinner they where slowly walking down the streets of London. Victoria was as always holding onto his arm and leaning her head against his shoulder.
As they walked through an alley Ranma's instincts went into overdrive. Something wasn't right, something was definitely not right. He could feel an unnatural cold fall over his body.
He stopped with a frown on his face, eyes darting from side to side as he searched for the disturbance. Everything seemed to be covered by mist.
Victoria looked up confused at Ranma.
Ranma began to extend his senses, using sight beyond sight to see through the mist and scanning for presence he felt.
He closed his eyes and could first feel the aura of himself, then he began to slowly extend it felling the aura of Victoria standing next to him. He could feel the natural flow of ki around him, the ground, the brick wall, and then something... He couldn't describe it, it didn't have an aura normal meaning, it felt strange, artificial somehow.
Only a small spark of ki was left in them, not enough to keep an human alive but there still was energy there, not ki and not chi, but it felt awfully familiar and it had a dark and twisted felling. A small thread of energy went from them into a more powerful creature, this one even more dark and twisted.
He extended his senses more and could feel that there were hundred of them, all moving towards them.
"We go to get out here now." Ranma said, he really didn't want Victoria caught in this kind of fight.
Now Victoria could feel them also, but unlike Ranma she knew what they where, ghouls. She looked up at Ranma, she couldn't let him stay here, he wouldn't stand a chance against the ghouls.
He began to back away dragging Victoria behind him. He stopped and looked forward into the mist and frowned. Victoria looked back and wondered why they and stopped.
"We are surrounded." He said.
Victoria looked at Ranma strangely, but then she to could feel the ghouls moving towards them from the other way.
She looked surprised as Ranma took a martial-arts stance.
The mist started to move like it was alive, dark shapes seen slowly walking in it. Out of the mist hundreds of shapes appeared, some wearing normal clothes and some wearing the uniform that identified them as members of Hellsing institute.
Victoria felt cold fear for Ranma's safety as he stepped between her and the ghouls.
The former Hellsing members raised their rifles and fired.
She could feel as one of the silver bullets hit her in the shoulder and another in her chest before Ranma threw himself over her and pushed her behind a trashcan for cover. Victoria was in a world of pain, silver was a vampires greatest weakness.
She could only stare in wonder as the ghouls holding the rifles turned into ash.
As soon as the ghouls brought up their rifles Ranma had thrown four of the double-bladed daggers towards the things and pushed Victoria behind out of the way of the bullets.
Whatever they where they weren't human and not even living and they had threatened Victoria. So with Happosai's words of wisdom he attacked.
He groaned as he felt a searing pain in his shoulder as the bullets hit. But right now he didn't have the time to care about it. When Victoria was in relative safety he threw another four daggers towards the oncoming horde.
He used Ryoga's bandanna trick and charged the daggers with ki. The daggers cut down numerous of those things and turned them into ash.
They charged him and he threw away his last four daggers before pulling out both his katanas from hidden weapons space.
Pulling the energy of live from his body he led strengthened the blades with ki, and in the process making them glow with a holy light.
Falling into a two weapons combo style he attacked and began to decimate the ghouls.
Victoria was freezing, the silver had seriously hurt her and she couldn't mover her body, her breathing was ragged. She wasn't sure if she was conscious or dreaming, but she was betting on the last.
Ranma looked like an angel with the golden aura surrounding him, then like an angel of death as he pulled out two swords from his sleeves. The picture was becoming unfocused.
Ranma was sweating, the pain in his shoulder was becoming unbearable, and the tide of enemies didn't seem to stop.
He could see as a couple of ghouls were moving towards the downed Ceres. He frowned and threw one of his blades.
The blade beheaded the ghouls and then stuck into a brick wall to the hilt.
Holding his remaining blade in both his hands he made a quick dash and made a 360 degrees swipe, cutting down three ghouls who was trying to attack him from behind.
Sweat was pouring down his face, the wound to his shoulder was severely restricting his combat skill.
He jumped back to prepare for an attack he began charge his blade with ki. He began to form the ki into a familiar pattern and once he was finished he charged.
Grinning he charged but when he got within five metres he made a 180 degrees swipe in waist-height.
"First class demon god assault blade." He whispered and let out a massive vacuum blade from his sword, cutting the ghouls apart and blowing apart a wall behind them.
He could se numerous ghouls appear out of the mist, he had maybe taken care of a good deal but not all.
Holding the blade with his uninjured arm he charged again.
Those things lunged clumsily at him and Ranma cut them apart with ease.
As the last ghoul turned into dust he turned towards Victoria and began to walk towards her.
"Not bad... for a human." He could hear a voice from somewhere in the mist. Ranma looked around but couldn't find who had talked.
Ranma spit out a little blood on the ground and then spoke.
"Whatever you are show yourself."
A man appeared in the mist, holding a small submachine gun in his hand. He was wearing jeans and t-shirt. He raised the gun it and pointed it towards Ranma's head.
"Think you can dodge a bullet?" The man said with a smile.
Ranma didn't say anything, he was thinking about what he should do.
The mans smile widened and he fired. Ranma seeing the small movement off his arm that betrayed that he would shoot leaned his head seemingly bored to the side.
To the vampire who fired it really looked like he dodged the bullet.
"Yes I think I can." He said and poured massive amounts of ki to his legs to speed up the attack.
He seemingly flowed around the bullets the vampire fired, but in reality he just predicted the vampires move. He closed the space between them and raised his blade to strike.
The vampire eyes widened in fear and he fired straight forwards, but this time Ranma didn't have the time dodge.
He took numerous hits to the chest at the same time he brought the blade down on the vampire's neck. The vampire hissed viscously, and then turned into ash.
Ranma slumped to the ground, clutching his chest. He looked up towards Victoria and began to stagger towards her.
He fell to his knees beside her and examined the wounds. Her ki was fluctuating rapidly, and was growing weaker by the second.
He summoned a bit of his own and began to lead it to her wounds, increasing her healing abilities dramatically. He picked her up and began to move towards the street. He stopped and looked down on her face, crimson orbs looking in terror on him. He opened his mouth but not a word came out.
He quickly spun around where he stood, holding Ceres in his left arm while holding his katana in the right. He beheaded the ghoul who had managed to sneak up on him and then turned his eyes back towards Ceres.
He could see that she was crying, but instead of normal tears she cried tears of blood.
He slumped to the ground and stared up at the stars.
Ceres could se as Ranma picked her up from the ground, warmth filling her body at his touch. He began to move towards the street, Ceres looking in awe at what he had done.
She looked into his eyes and then her eyes widened in terror. Ranmas body jerked a little and she could see the tip of the combat knife sticking out of his neck. She looked around his shoulder and could see a ghoul in Hellsing clothes holding the knife. Ranma opened his mouth trying to say something but only blood came out.
He jerked again as the ghoul pulled the blade from Ranma neck, blood pouring from the wound.
He spun around and summoned his katana, and with one quick motion beheaded the ghoul.
The katana fell from his hands with a clatter. He raised the hand and brushed his finger over the wound and the pulled away and looked as the bloody fingers in confusion.
He looked her straight in her eyes and then fell to his knees, still holding Ceres.
He tried to stand up, but failed. He fell backwards and was lying emotionless on the ground, looking up at the stars with glassy eyes.
A pool of blood was slowly forming around his head.
Ceres cried, tears of blood trailing down her checks. The pain in her shoulder and chest increased, silver was really dangerous to vampires, but this time she didn't fight away the darkness.
Now she truly had lost everything, now the peace of internal darkness was welcome.
She didn't fear death this time, like the time in Cheddar church.
A final trail of blood fell from her eyes and mixed with the blood of the person who had died to protect her.
Ceres Victoria embraced the peace of darkness
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In another part of London Alucard looked up from the remains of the vampire and seemed to scan for something in the distant.
He could feel the link with his fledgling flicker for a moment and then disappear completely.
He tried to search for the link but knowing already before that it was a futile attempt. A vampire could perhaps block the link to ones master but not cut it off completely.
The only way to sever a link formed between a vampire and his master would be death.
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Authors Notes
Finally done, sorry for taking this long but real life has once again caught up with me.
Now that school once again has started it will probably take more time between my updates.