Seras awoke at a knock on the door. Stretching out, Seras 'saw' a Hellsing soldier on the other side. Looking around, she found Yumiko on the other side of the bed, back turned to her. Standing up, she dressed in the blink of an eye and approached the door.
"Who is it?"
"Private Donaldson. Err...Sir? Is that you?"
"Yes. Now, what is it?"
"Sir Integra sent me find you, she wants to speak to you immediately."
"Right. I'll be up in a minute."
"Yessir!"
Seras hadn't been in her room, so the man thought to try Yumiko's, hoping she might know where Seras was, as the two spent a lot of time together. Though as the man walked away, he idly wondered what Seras was doing in the other girl's room in the first place. Inside, Seras decided against waking Yumiko, and looking at the sad look on the girl's face while she slept, leaned down and gave her a kiss before whispering in her ear.
"Don't be afraid, Yumiko. I won't leave you alone."
Yumiko face softened somewhat, and Seras quietly kissed her a second time before leaving.
Seras made her way to Sir Integra's office, mentally preparing for the event. Even now, through wall, brick and mortar, she could hear the mob almost a hundred feet away. Made up mainly of reporters from around the world, there were also a fair number of people waving signs and chanting anti-vampire slogans, angry at Hellsing's 'betrayal' of humanity. Once she arrived, Seras knocked gently and entered when answered, walking inside and standing quietly. Sir Integra was standing at the window, looking out over the Hellsing grounds and the mass of people in the distance.
"I saw your 'Interview' this morning."
"Yes Sir."
Sir Integra slowly turned, and Seras waited nervously as she settled herself into her chair.
"I knew this would have happened sooner or later, though I'd hoped it wouldn't until London was back in working order. There are still pockets of ghouls, any number of FREAKS on the loose, and for all we know, some of the Letzte Battalion may be alive and playing fifth column. Hellsing-no, England, cannot afford any kind of petty distractions. Seras...you are a full-fledged vampire, A No-life King. But you are also a Hellsing soldier, and whatever you do that falls into the public's eye will reflect on Hellsing and England as a whole. Remember that."
"I understand, Sir."
"Good. Also, there's one other matter for you to deal with, but how you do so is up to you."
Sir Integra glanced past her, and Seras saw a bulging sack next to the door with a tag that simply read 'Seras.'
"What's that?"
"Your fanmail."
"Oh, bugger."
After returning downstairs, Seras found that Yumiko had already left. A bit unsettled that she hadn't had the chance to talk to her after last night, she resolved to give Yumiko plenty of attention when they met back up. Seras couldn't help but laugh out loud at the perverted thoughts going through her head. She wanted the girl in a way that her childhood crushes and teenage fantasies just couldn't compare to. She thought something simple would be best, maybe a massage or just some old-fashioned cuddling. Let her experience something intimate, a pleasant feeling that Yumiko would associate with Seras, but not something sexual. Getting Yumiko over her past wasn't something that wouldn't happen overnight, and Seras had no desire to force the issue.
Arriving at the practice range, Seras was surprised to see a news crew had set up and a reporter was speaking to several recruits. The rest of the men were lounging around, posing and trying to look important. Seras was annoyed, to say the least. Remembering Sir Integra's words, she refrained from an overt display of power, and simply continued walking forward. One of the men caught sight of her and yelled a warning. The man being interviewed ran madly to get back into position, just barely getting to attention and saluting as Seras turned to face them.
"At ease!"
The men relaxed, a lot. They knew what happened if they weren't in formation by the time she got there.
"Alright! First order of business…"
Seras pointed a finger at the news crew. They flinched, but kept their camera trained on her.
"How did civilians get onto the Hellsing grounds?"
The men began to squirm nervously. One man's heartbeat shot up, and his comrades began to inch away from him. She crossed her arms and stood silently, waiting, glaring.
"Err…that would be…my fault, Sir."
"Oh?"
"Yes…that's…they wanted to interview the men, so, I figured…if I escorted them, they wouldn't get into any trouble…"
"I see. Well, that was very generous of you. Now, why don't you escort the nice civilians out so we can get on with today's training?"
"Yeah…Yes Sir! Right away Sir!"
He broke and ran for the reporters, waving his arms frantically and telling them to pack up quickly, dragging the cameraman along when he began walking backwards, keeping his camera trained on Seras. The other men took a collective sigh of relief as Seras continued and gave them a standard scenario to run through. Once the missing man ran back, full-tilt, she sent them all inside.
Seras hated the little familiars, demonic vermin that were attracted to her by virtue of the dark power she naturally exuded. The very first thing she had formally asked Alucard to teach her was how to control the little bastards, after they had started following her around like a bunch of lost puppies. Though as she called them up and sent them into the dark, drab rooms that made up the indoor training course, in order to add a little 'atmosphere,' she had to admit, they had their uses. Making grown men scream like little girls was one of them.
Elsewhere, a depressed Yumiko slogged through the paperwork she had been assigned. She had woken up alone, and as uncomfortable as it would be, she wanted to talk to Seras. Not about anything in particular, just…talk. Idly, she thought about handing things over to Yumie and letting her handle things. After all, as terrified as she had been when Yumie had seized control and told Seras about her feelings, it had turned out halfway decent enough. Yumie had a confidence she lacked, and as blunt as she was, Yumie could be completely honest about anything, while she would bog herself down with uncertainties, unable to express what she really felt, what she needed that only Seras could provide. Yumie could also do certain other things on her behalf as well, if she wanted.
"Hmmm? What's this?"
Yumiko lifted a sheet of paper to get a better look. Something in the header had stood out, and she read the notice three times to make sure she was reading it right.
"This…could be bad."
"Captain Victoria! Respond!"
"Victoria here, go ahead."
"This is an emergency deployment order! Repeat! This is an emergency deployment order!"
Before the man's voice finished sputtering out of the walkie-talkie, Seras was already yelling at her recruits to halt the exercise. She manhandled the stragglers towards the motor pool, jumping into a waiting truck and a hurried briefing was dispensed to the men over the radio. A team of men, probably looters since repair work was never done at night, had unleashed a swarm of trapped ghouls. Said ghouls had eaten the fools that uncovered them, and the whole lot was now marching towards a populated area. A spot was selected, a choke-point in the ghouls' path where they would intercept them, and Seras could smell the fear rolling off the fresh recruits at the prospect of their first real combat.
"MOVE MOVE MOVE!"
It would be simple enough. The ghouls were reaching the point where the soldiers could see them. The flanks were carefully covered with some men held in reserve, just in case. The ghouls would march blindly to their destruction, and once the main group was dealt with, the men would spread out and eliminate any stragglers. It was at this point the cosmic force that had been anthropomorphized as a little man named 'Murphy' made his appearance.
"What the-"
The squealing tires, babbled instructions and tromp of many booted feet had in fact not been reinforcements. The lights were not attached to guns, the orders to get ready not involving a formation. The circus had arrived.
"What the bloody ass FUCK do you thing you're doing? Get out of here!"
"Captain! Incoming!"
"SHIT!"
The ghouls shambled forward, their pace quickening at the scent of living flesh. The men in front of her shook with adrenaline while the twits behind her seemed to be torn between puking and keeping their cameras steady. Seras couldn't afford to be distracted by the media right now, so she hefted her rifle and focused on the task at hand.
"Ready!"
Safeties clicked off, bolts were pulled back.
"Aim!"
Wait. Just a moment longer…
"FIRE!"
Dead flesh crumpled under the onslaught, and the first line of ghouls dropped to the ground. Heads were first priority, followed by hearts, and if it was impossible to hit either of those, joints. Seras watched with pride as the men fired with practice-range precision, the ghouls decapitated by the sheer mass of fire. Seras turned as the men on her right side sudden started firing, some of the ghouls must have broken away from the main group, but it was nothing that needed her attention. Then the men on her left started firing. She paused in surprise as she saw ghouls further away had not turned towards them, but were continuing onwards. Someone was directing them. An explosion made her lift her arms over her head instinctually, and she saw a bloody mess where the front line had been. Standing among the remains of her men, a single letzte battalion soldier snapped his booted feet together and offered a crisp salute.
"Heil!"
He was the very picture of the Aryan ideal. A handsome face set with ice-blue eyes and topped with golden hair. He smiled, a smile that would make any girl swoon before he ran towards Seras faster than human eyes could follow, hefting a bayonet.
"DIE, HELLSI-"
Seras caught him by the throat, cutting off whatever he was going to say. She grabbed the hand holding the bayonet and tore the entire arm off. He screamed and squirmed, trying to free himself with only one hand. The hand holding the throat simple squeezed, tearing out most of the neck before she drew her hand back. To the onlookers, his body practically exploded, a spray of crimson and two halves flying away, with Seras having not moved an inch, one arm stretched out, fingers together and straight as she had seen her master do on occasion. But instead of piercing through his heart, she had cut him in half at the waist.
"Third squad! Take the forward position!"
She waited precisely three seconds before turning around.
"THIRD SQUAD!"
The men ran forward and took their place among their dead comrades, firing into the mass of ghouls. Seras spread her senses out, and not finding any more FREAKS in the vicinity, calmly picked up her radio, sparing a smile to the screaming, twitching mess that lay to one side. She hadn't hit his heart, after all. That could wait until after she made her report.