Order 29: Planting Seeds
Disclaimer: I do not own Hellsing.
Alexander Anderson stood staring at a Vampire's corpse. It was not his handiwork; that was certain. There were strangulation marks on its throat; something that clearly didn't belong there. Whatever had happened to it, it had happened too quickly for the creature to react in time to face its opponent.
What truly concerned Anderson however, was the dark residue that had been left behind. There was something wrong with it. It was almost like a shadow of some indescribable power…
Integra sat at her desk smoking a small cigar listening to Walter's report. "Havoc's body has yet to be found Sir Integra, and there are no traces of ash at the mansion that would indicate he was dusted. That leaves a few possibilities. Number one he somehow survived and had enough strength to escape to some unknown area. Number two he was merely incapacitated and taken into custody by Millennium. Or number three some unknown group has stolen his living or dead body for some unknown reason."
"Living, Walter?"
"Well as alive as he can be anyway. There is another strange fact about the case that makes believe it was possibility number three."
"And what is that Walter?"
Walter replied by taking a golden object out of his project. "This was found at the mansion. It is believed to be of Egyptian origin. There are, however, no objects like it on record."
"Could it be a cult?"
"That's very likely. I think we should ask Masterson to have his people look into it. The Americans might have something in their file that we don't."
That was very likely. The Americans did keep a fair share of secrets. In fact, they were very good at hiding their information. That labyrinth under the base was where most of there information was stored, and it was impossible navigate it unless you taught how to. And the Americans didn't teach anyone how to navigate it unless they were part of their organization.
Integra sat back smoking a cigar deeply while contemplating. The day of both the American and Iscariot soldier's arrivals was fast approaching and if Integra knew anything about the American's agents, she knew that a conflict with Iscariot was not something they would back down from…
"Hey boss," Corvine said, "you don't need to worry about them anymore."
"Good."
"I've got a good idea though boss. Why not use what they've already started and put good use?"
"I like the way you think Corvine. Make it so."
Corvine smiled smugly and hung up. This was goanna be fun…
Shivaren stared at the soldier who had dared defy him. "What do you mean you won't go there?"
"Boss, please don't make go there! They'll tear me to shreds just like they shred to everyone who goes there! PLEASE!"
Shivaren stared maniacally at the man. He was trembling in anger. "You mean to tell me that you're afraid to go to a little park! You will go there, or face being locked alone in a room with the Eyeless Ones, if I decide to show you mercy and not deal with your insubordination myself!"
The man started to sweat profusely, but after a few minutes he nodded and walked off. Shivaren started pace around after he left. This was the twentieth man he had sent there. If it continued much longer, then Shivaren would have to deal with it himself…
"The streets of London shall soon flow heavily with blood," R said as he watched Shivaren minions making there deliveries. He could tell exactly what Shivaren had planned, and he had a feeling that it would shake London to its very foundations. R could have moved to stop it, but his own agenda prevented him from acting. Truth be told, he really didn't care how this battle went. All R knew was that he had to navigate around thousands upon thousands of webs woven by scheming spiders.
Death seemed to flow around Shalsk as he walked into the abandoned building that he had decided to make into his base of operations. He had somewhat altered his outfit by putting a black piece of cloth around his nose and mouth. Most vampire hunters who worked outside of government authority tried to blend in with society. Shalsk, who already felt outcast from society, had done the exact opposite. He had separated himself from it completely. Now he was able to be invisible as much he wanted to be, when he wanted to be.
Beer, whisky, tequila and several other alcoholic drinks coursed though his body blurring his judgment, as he viciously tore apart those who had attacked him. Their blood had now soaked into his clothes and he could not seem to find the strength to run. All he could do was stand their staring out into space, in shock of what he had done.
When the soldiers bearing the standard of Hellsing arrived all he could think to do was stare at them like a deer staring at the headlights of an approaching car. So it was that he his body fell limp on the floor with at least forty silver bullets imbedded into his chest.
"Sir Integra!" Walter shouted bursting into her room at midnight.
Integra, who knew Walter would never have come bursting in at this time of night unless it was extremely important, asked, "What is it Walter?"
A few minutes later Integra was in a blue robe running down to Hellsing Manor's Autopsy Chamber. "When did this happen?"
"Approximately twenty minutes ago. I informed you the moment I found out."
They had arrived just in time to see the beginning of the autopsy. The doctor who was performing the autopsy had just started his initial analysis. "The subject is a male werewolf. He is around six foot four inches tall, and weighs approximately two hundred pounds. His blood alcohol level was off the charts, and we can assume that he was extremely volatile. There were around fifty to sixty metal slugs imbedded into his chest when he arrived here, and it can be assumed that that was the cause of his death…"
That goes without saying, Integra thought.
"I will begin the autopsy by making an incision into his chest."
The doctor took his scalpel and began to cut a strait line down the creature's chest, when suddenly the corpse's hand grabbed the doctor's wrist and the beast sat up, his yellow eyes shinning with a murderous rage. It was just then that Integra got a good look at him. He was unshaven and long red hair that looked completely untamed.
"I don't like being cut open!" were the words that leapt out of the beast's mouth, as he viciously threw the doctor with so much force that he flew through the glass window in the observation booth into the wall.
As the wolf started to stand up, it became crystal clear that he was drunk, from the way that he staggered about. That, however, only seemed to add to the beast-like presence that he exuded. He had walked about two steps when Alucard's voice floated into the room.
"Pathetic little dog wandering about looking for a little treat. What is it that drives you so? You can't possibly hope to survive me. Prepare for death."
At the precise moment Alucard materialized, however, the wolf slammed him into the ground with unrelenting force, and began punching blindly. He hit Alucard's face and body at times, but mostly his fists just crashed into the floor. Alucard quickly threw the creature off of himself and stood up, laughing.
In response, the werewolf's left arm turned into that of a wolf and slashed towards Alucard. Alucard sidestepped the attack, witch tore right through the steel table that had only a few seconds ago held the beast down. The wolf continually lunged trying to tear away at Alucard's body. Alucard, however, had just decided to have fun, and mocked the wolf every single time he missed. It was almost pathetic to watch, until the wolf actually connected and created a large gash over Alucard's chest. What was shocking about the move wasn't the fact that it had connected, but rather the fact that instead of healing, Alucard's wound started to expand, and within a couple of seconds was a hole in Alucard's chest.
The wolf suddenly collapsed on the floor and Integra rushed over to see Alucard.
"Interesting," Alucard said, "My regenerative capabilities seem to have the exact opposite effect on the wound inflicted by this creature. In essence trying to heal this wound only makes it worse."
"Does that mean you're stuck with that wound till it heals up regularly?" Integra asked.
"You need not worry. This wound is but a scratch, and besides of witch, I can over power the effects of it with ease."
With that his wounds began to heal.
Havoc woke up feeling groggy. "How ya' doin' Hav'?" A voice with a thick Brookline accent asked.
"Cicero?"
"The one and only, but don't go thanking me for rescuing ya'. I just got here. It was Sphinx here who saved ya' tail."
Havoc opened his eyes and saw two people in the small, cheap apartment he had woken up in. The first, who had been speaking to him, was a man of medium height and pale white skin wearing a backwards baseball hat, dark red sunglasses, and a New York Mets baseball shirt. Cicero may have looked like an ordinary teenage American tourist, but the two hundred year old Vampire was as deadly as they came, possessing both quick wit and sadistic aggression. Not nearly as old as Havoc and Alucard, but considerably old, none the less. He had a big, almost child-like grin painted on his face. Despite the fact that Havoc knew Cicero was a lethal opponent, he still could not help but feel he was staring at the most naïve person in the world. Well, at least Cicero was happy to see him awake, which was more than he could say for the other inhabitant of the room.
She was a slim woman, and was slightly below average height. She wore a somewhat loose red silk button down shirt and pants of the same color. Around her neck there were several necklaces of differing origins: from Egyptian amulets (which she had the most of) to Gothic Crosses (which she had only two of.) Her oval face was bracketed by dark brown hair that went to hers shoulders. Sphinx looked at Havoc and Cicero with almost equal values of distaste.
She turned to him and said scornfully, "I don't know why I saved you. It doesn't seem worth the risk at all. All got out of it was losing an amulet and gaining two worthless allies. I mean honestly, you'd think your bloodline would have at least some restraint; at least some wisdom, but that'd be too easy for all of you. Instead you all jump blindly into battles, without the slightest idea of what you're getting yourself into. Would it have killed you to have-"
"Now see here you little-" Cicero started angrily, before Havoc cut him off.
"Stand down Cicero. Her little words are not reason enough to throw yourself off a cliff."
Cicero may have been a nosferatu, but Sphinx was as old as Alucard and Havoc. "But mark my words Sphinx, if I weren't in such bad shape I'd tear your heart out right now."
"Another typical response. However, seeing as you've been here far longer than either of us I'll let it pass, but mark my words Havoc, you're in such a weakened state right now that I could crush you without even trying. So as long as you're so weak, you'll abide by my rules."
Havoc reluctantly laid back down and began to talk. All the mean while Cicero slipped out of the apartment, intent on getting his own view of what was happening in the city…
He woke up in a cellbeing carefully watched and recorded by Hellsing's scientists. "Well now, the beast is finally awake." An ice cold voice called out to him.
"If you're goanna say something, call me by my name."
"And what name is that?"
"Connor. Just call me Connor."
Tears started to roll down his cheeks. "They're dead. They're all dead."
"You mean those innocents at the bar you murdered. Those people that you mauled."
A wicked laugh escaped Connor's mouth, "They were trying to kill me like an animal, so I responded like an animal. I defended myself and incidentally delivered poetic justice. No I'm talking about something creatures like you humans would never understand. He killed them. He killed them all, and there was nothing I could do. He killed them, and now he's coming here to kill some more."
Insane cynical laughter escaped his mouth. Laughter that echoed throughout the halls of Hellsing's dungeons…
Integra stared at the insane werewolf very carefully. She turned to Walter and said, "What do you think of him Walter?"
"He's clearly insane, but there is some truth to his words."
"What do you mean?"
"Those people he killed were all equipped with pistols and the ammo for those pistols was silver. In short, they were werewolf hunters."
"But how could there be so many of them?"
"They are part of a group known as the Hunters of the Moon. Mostly they're just a society of showoffs who try to make their pathetic lives worth something by hunting werewolves. However, a few of them are truly dedicated to hunting down the wolves and spend their entire lives attempting to destroy them. Those are the ones who occasionally take down a wolf," a voice called out. "However, they would never be able to take out an entire den of Werewolves. That is impossible for them to do. This bespeaks of something far stronger than they are. It would also say that this particular wolf needs to be questioned."
Integra looked over at the owner of the voice and saw, with little surprise, that it was James Ryan Masterson who had just spoken. He was, like Integra, accompanied by his aid Robert. From the looks of things he was about ready to give her a lecture on werewolves, something she was not in the mood for.
"What are you doing here so soon Masterson?"
"I decided to let you know that in addition to Pip and Devarious, I will be bringing two other exceptional operatives here. I figured it would be best to hedge my bets."
"So, tell me about them."
"The first is Julia Calvin, our resident sniper. She is very good at what she does, so do not try to test her capabilities. In addition to her we will be sending in Maelstrom. I cannot explain him to you, so you'll just have to wait and see him in action for yourself."
Swallowing her pride, Integra said, "I need you to identify something for me."
"Let me have a look at it."
Walter took the amulet out of his pocket. He had been ordered to store it, but not had enough time to actually complete the task. Grabbing it out of Walter's hand, Masterson analyzed it for five minutes.
"Never seen anything like it."
Integra could tell this was a lie, but knew that if Masterson was lying then he had his own reasons for doing so. After all if he wanted to withhold information there was not anything she could do to stop him.
Cicero moved quickly from roof to roof. He was far too quick for most normal eyes to spot him. This was good, considering that the sight of a baseball bat wielding teenager jumping over rooftops would attract far more attention then he wanted.
Then again, he thought, I could use a good challenge.
He was bored, and wanted to have some fun. Well, actually he just wanted to do something other then listen to Sphinx and Havoc's pathetic posturing. Anything was better than that, including receiving a Coach Class ticket to hell. In actuality he had always thought hell would a lot more fun than earth. After all, in hell he would be able to beat the devil over the head with a baseball bat. He laughed lightly at that thought of that.
He remembered the last time he had been in this city. It had been around one-hundred fifty years since he last came here, young and full of ambition. Unfortunately, he had also been far less intelligent and had a run in with Hellsing. That encounter had nearly been the death of him. In fact, he was lucky he hadn't met Alucard that time, or he wouldn't be around at all. As he speeded over the rooftops, he looked for a good place to cause enough of a scene to attract Hellsing's soldiers, but not cause a panic. He dove down into an inconspicuous area and collected himself. He then emerged and went into a bank pulling out a Semi-Auto Machine Gun.
He quickly fired the gun shouting, "Everybody get down on the floor!"
With obvious inhuman speed and strength, he shoved his hand into the fool who had decided to sneak behind him and be a hero's chest. With a crazy look in his eyes he licked the blood off his hands. It was then that one of the tellers managed to call an emergency number, reporting exactly what they had seen. Cicero chuckled to himself. Everything was going the way he wanted it to, and unlike his last visit to London, it was going to be Hellsing's goons who would be running for their lives…