"Butler?"
Walter winced. He was convinced that Frankenstein didn't actually know his real name, or had ever actually remembered it. It was always Butler. Ever since he had crashed through the Major's window, it was always Butler to them.
Though, as he thought about it, it made sense. Millennium referred to themselves by their titles. It was the Major, the Captain, and the Doctor, not Montana Max, Hans Gunche, or Boris Frankenstein. They viewed people by what they were, not by who they were.
"Butler!"
Walter snapped to attention as Frankenstein's complaining grew more incessant.
"It's time, Butler. Affix the lightning rods and send someone to get the kinder."
Lightning flashed outside, silhouetting him against the window. The light reflect off his glasses, making him seen him seem even more deranged than usual.
It was so much like an old horror movie to be almost laughable.
And yet, somehow, the clichéd image sent a tremor down Walter's spine.
Integra sat up in the observation room and puffed on her cigar. It felt a bit odd, sitting where Abraham, Michael, and Arthur, had all sat before.
She still wasn't sure if Abraham wasn't standing right next to her.
It felt like a perversion to let Frankenstein do his work in it.
"I must say Anderson, I was rather surprised that you agreed to this," she said.
"Oh?" the burly ex-priest answered.
"I would have thought that you would have found such a thing unnatural and against God."
He shrugged. "They're both already against God. If they wish to further ingratiate themselves with the Devil, that's their own lookout."
Integra raised her eyebrows in a gesture of amusement. She glanced to the other side at Alucard. "What are they talking about?" she asked.
"Either they are being silent, or they don't wish for me to listen to in," he responded.
"They might be blocking you? Is that possible?"
"Certainly. Even a human could do it, if they tried. The brain isn't something that can be just cracked open and perused at one's leisure. Even when a person isn't actively trying to block me, say they don't notice my intrusion, I can only read what's on the surface. The human mind is far too chaotic for anyone to hope to intrude."
Walter wiped his monocle on his sleeve. Frankenstein would not allow anyone else to touch his equipment. Walter supposed it was a mark of respect that he actually allowed anyone to touch his equipment at all.
Still, it did mean Walter got some of the least fun jobs.
He glanced down into the opening where Seras and Pip's bodies were laying on flat slabs. He idly wondered what they were thinking. He wondered if this was a safe idea.
Well, no. He didn't wonder if this was a safe idea. He knew this wasn't a safe idea. Perhaps he was wondering if that's what Pip and Seras were wondering right now.
He knelt down, swung into the opening and dropped down to the laboratory beside Seras' body.
What was going through their minds, he wondered. He glanced up at Frankenstein, who was scribbling something on a pad of paper he had attached to a clipboard.
What was going through, his mind?
What was going on through his mind could be written down, but no one would be able to understand it. It was beyond 98 percent of the world's population.
At most it would seem to be a random stream of consciousness of numbers, scientific terms, and general babble. Chaotic, seemingly random.
But in reality there was nothing random about it. Nothing at all.
In reality, there was a cold, frightening purpose to it all.
If they had known that they were capable of blocking Alucard's intrusions, they certainly would have, but it wouldn't have mattered anyway.
Because Alucard's first guess was right. They were silent. No good-byes, no talking of how much they'd be better off without other. Just silence.
Neither knew what to say.
It looked just like it did in the movie. Both bodies were raised up into the rainy night, with Frankenstein and Walter riding up with them. Then the flash of bright light, arcing electricity, and both slabs were lowered to the ground.
Walter and Frankenstein undid the straps and Pip and Seras stood up the from the slabs. Pip took a moment to feel his face, making sure it was his, feeling the scars that had been left by the procedure.
They stared at each other for a long time.
Walter stepped in and nodded to Pip. "We've restored your room to just as you left it, Captain Bernadette. "
Pip nodded, glanced at Seras one more time, then followed Walter out of the lab.
Seras stood there, with her eyes up towards the rainy sky. She seemed to be stuck in some sort of trance until Frankenstein touched her on the shoulder. She recoiled, glaring at him, and left the lab.
Integra stabbed her cigar out in an ash tray, the rising smoke giving the atmosphere a sultry feel.
"Thoughts?" she said.
"Shame things are so sour between them," Anderson said.
Integra could practically hear Alucard's grin. "You find it amusing, don't you?" she asked.
"She's reaping what she sowed. There are consequences to taking a willing soul into you."
"Regardless," Integra said, "I was referring to Dr. Frankenstein."
"Difficult to say," Alucard said. "Reading that man's mind is somewhat like a dog trying to talk to a human. It's beyond even me."
Anderson smirked. "It must hurt your pride to admit it."
"Not at all. Science, as I said, is hardly my area of expertise."
Integra stared thoughtfully at the Doctor as he cleaned up after himself . She had arranged to meet his price.
She couldn't help but feel there was a hidden fee somewhere.
"Gray! Add some more weight!"
The mercenary looked at his Captain. "Are you out of your mind? You're already doing twice what you've ever done!"
Pip glanced at the weights on the bar. "Huh. I am. Barely feel it." He put the bar back in the rest and stood up off the bench. He walked around behind the equipment, placed on hand on the bar, and picked it up effortlessly.
"…What the hell is going on?"
"Is there something you weren't telling us?" Integra asked, calmly.
Pip opened his mouth to say something when Walter suddenly put a hand on his shoulder. He glanced up Walter's arm, where the butler's expression clearly said that he should shut the hell up and let Sir Integra handle this.
"Ahhh," Dr. Frankenstein said, putting his book down. "The ultra mortis has begun then?"
"Ultra… mortis?" Pip said.
Dr. Frankenstein raised an eyebrow. "Aren't you familiar with rigor mortis?"
"Er…"
Frankenstein sighed. "When the body dies, the muscles eventually stiffen, in a process called rigor mortis. The process the muscles go through when a dead body goes back to life with the Frankenstein process is called 'ultra mortis', although it's a rather misleading name. Suffice to say, you are stronger. You are faster. You are smarter. You require less food, you need less sleep. You are, in essence, better. Better than you were when you where a pathetic human, better than the creature my ancestor created so many years ago. Still," he said as he picked up his book, "you are hardly my masterpiece in this regard."
"The Captain," Walter said suddenly.
Frankenstein continued to read his book, but answered Walter anyway. "Exactly. No vampire he. Alucard killed him. I had to rebuild everything after we captured his soul. Well, almost rebuild him. I couldn't quite figure out how to repair his vocal chords. Of course, I was quite surprised to learn that they hadn't atrophied from lack of use anyway."
Integra puffed on her cigar. "Are you saying Captain Bernadette is capable of going toe-to-toe with Alucard or Anderson now?"
"Of course not," Frankenstein said. He seemed annoyed by their continued presence. "The Captain had many… after market modifications. Now if there's nothing else, can I be left alone? I think I've figured out who killed Samuel Ratchett."
Integra puffed thoughtfully on her cigar for a moment longer, before turning on her heel and walking down the corridor, Walter and Pip following.
"No, he would never be able to beat Anderson or Alucard," Dr. Frankenstein said. A small remote slid down his sleeve and he flipped over and over in his hand as he read the book.
"But then again, he doesn't need to, does he?"