A mischievous smirk appeared on the face of a certain blonde gentleman as he stood outside in the autumn air, listening to the voice that spoke to him through the small box placed up against his ear. Did his beau not tell him that he was not to participate? He did, and Alois was going to rub it in. Now was not the time, though. There were people to save and right now, he was the one who their salvation depended on at the moment.

Upon ending the call, the blonde put his phone away before replacing it with the radio in its spot against the menace's ear. Alois followed Ciel's given instructions, informing Alpha team of the situation and alerting some of the back-up soldiers that he needed their assistance. With that, he made sure that his doors were adequately sealed shut before running off to the side of the building to join Gamma Squad.

Huckabee and Denzil were waiting along with a few other soldiers from Echo team were waiting for him. When he jogged up to them, however, a few of the Echo soldiers pointed their weapons at him, immediately causing him to freeze and put his hands up. He was surprised by the action, but fortunately, Huckabee spoke up for him.

"Wait! He's one of ours!" the man shouted, holding an arm out to act as a barrier between Alois and the H.E.L.L.S.I.N.G. soldiers. "That's 'Leo'! Don't shoot!"

The blonde uttered a sigh of relief once his allies lowered their guns. He supposed that it was a rational response. They were instructed to shoot whatever came through that door, and no one else was supposed to be in the area. Perhaps he should start wearing a H.E.L.L.S.I.N.G. uniform while on these big operations? When that was cleared up, he put his hands back down before walking over to Huckabee.

"Thanks, mate." He said, putting a hand on the other man's shoulder.

"Don't mention it." Huckabee replied. He nudged his glasses back up onto the bridge of his nose before asking: "So what do we do?"

"I'm going to lead you guys to Ciel." Answered Alois. "I can sense him, so it'll be easier than using a map. We're going to go in, and I'm going to seal the door behind us. Then we're going to find Ciel, get the captives, lead them safely out through the front, and then escort them to the truck. Super-easy."

"Sounds like a plan." Huckabee stated. "Lead the way, sir." Alois grinned at being called "Sir". Thus, he turned his attention toward the rest of the soldiers.

"You lot got that?" he questioned. "I'm agent Jim Macken, assistant to Sir Ciel Phantomhive and agent of the Round Table Conference! We're gonna follow this plan, alright?"

"Yes, sir!" the soldiers answered, causing the menace to become practically giddy. He had a huge grin on his face when he gave the order:

"Let's move out!"

The soldiers filed into the building with Alois at the rear, and once they were all inside, the blonde sealed the door. He could still manipulate the roots while indoors. His eyes glowed crimson and the sound of cracking concrete could be heard from outside. Once he thought he was successful, he double-checked it by shoving the door. It held, so he gave his team a nod before heading toward the front of the group to lead them to the Phantomhive.

It was dark. It seemed as though the power went out, so the humans in the group put on their night-vision goggles. Alois was fine without them, his eyes glowing through the darkness. Clear as day, he could see the bodies of dead vampires littering the floor, the blood stains and bullet holes in the floors, walls, and even the ceiling. Somehow, it didn't bother him anymore. The time he fought in Castle Krampus was far worse. Part of him was somewhat worried about the fact that he wasn't fazed, but to the rest of him, this was normal. His definitions of "normal", however, seem to be constantly changing.

His thoughts came to a screeching halt, as did his feet. The soldiers behind him stopped as well as he listened intently, furrowing his brow. Footsteps. Lots of them.

"What is it?" asked Denzil.

"We've got company." Alois replied, reaching into his coat and pulling out his gun. "Shields up! Prepare for combat!"

Just like that, the H.E.L.L.S.I.N.G. soldiers raised their bulletproof shields into position. It was best to keep the vampires at a distance, showering them with a hail of bullets, however, sometimes they would make it past, so it was best to have a barrier between them just in case. Furthermore, Baldassare warned that they may be armed, and unlike the blonde menace, humans were not as sturdy, and could die from being shot with an ordinary bullet.

"Sir, please step back. We don't want to accidentally hit you, too." Said one of the soldiers.

"Oh, right. My bad." The blonde replied, leaping over the wall of men and women that his team has made and taking refuge behind them. Although he could probably take on this horde himself, he wasn't going to run the risk of dying. He had already done so once and it was an event that he would like to avoid repeating.

The H.E.L.L.S.I.N.G. troops raised their shields and stuck their guns through the gaps of their barrier before opening fire. Vampires fell in heaps as casings landed at the feet of the squad. When that didn't work, Gentlemen's forces backed off momentarily before knocking tables and whatever else they could over to create a barrier of their own. Some piled the bodies of the fallen on top of each other and hid behind them, seeing as though some the H.E.L.L.S.I.N.G. weapons seemed strong enough to pierce wood. With their own guns, they returned fire; their projectiles bouncing off the other side's shields. H.E.L.L.S.I.N.G. was still winning. This would be over in only a few minutes.

When the last vampire landed on the ground with a thud, the team advanced, falling out of their lined formation for better maneuverability. Alois proceeded to take the helm and lead the way toward the Phantomhive demon, kicking the stack of bodies over so the soldiers could make it through the hallway. He was also sure to match his pace to theirs, as well. They were humans, after all, and were weighed down with lots of heavy equipment.

Ciel was getting closer; the blonde could tell. He rounded a corner and made it to the theater where the bluenette was still waiting and opened the door. With the other soldiers he stormed in, only to find a massive amount of bodies surrounding one stage. Ciel and Baldassare still stood casually on it with the captives, who simply wouldn't come out of their cages.

Why wouldn't they? They were terrified. Even the hardened soldiers were frightened of just the aftermath, so goodness knows what they must be feeling. All of this destruction was done by two people, or rather, just one. Ciel lit up somewhat when he saw the blonde as the menace and the team made their way toward the stage. Alois simply hopped up on top of it to join him while the soldiers had to either climb or use the steps.

"Hey, baby." The blonde greeted with a grin. "Looks like you weren't able to follow Integra's instructions, after all."

"Don't even try it." His beau replied, reaching out a hand so that he could pinch the menace's cheek. "You're going back with them, and that's final."

"Uuuugh!" complained the menace, wiggling free of the Phantomhive's grasp in order to nudge the man's shoulder with his forehead. "That's so not fair!"

"Sorry." Ciel stated, bringing the same hand up to pet the Macken's hair. "You're so clingy…" he added teasingly.

"It's not my fault. I just have a lust for attention." Answered Alois. "Hugs and kisses fuel me."

"Is that so? Shouldn't you be using that energy to help those guys tend to the victims?"

"Don't wanna…"

"Now, if you can't do that much, than how are you ever to be trusted with continuing the infiltration?" asked the bluenette. The blonde pulled away with a pout.

"Fiiiiinnnee…" he whined, leaning back in to kiss the other man on the cheek before turning to walk away. He wasn't even sure if the captives would trust him especially now that they had seen him being familiar with Ciel. The problem was that he simply didn't know how to help out.

The other agents were talking to the victims, assessing the damage and trying to persuade them to come out of the cage. Alois didn't know how to do any of that. He was sort of tempted to just start pulling people out, but he was somewhat afraid of making things worse. His beau simply chuckled at the confused faces he was making as he fretted over it. That is, until there was a voice over the radio.

"This is Alpha. We've found the rest of the captives. We're moving them to safety." Said Harland.

"Roger that, Alpha. This is Gamma. We're having a little trouble on our end." Answered Huckabee. "We should be out after you."

"We'll come back after dropping off the victims for a final sweep." Spoke the woman's voice. "If you're still having trouble, we'll help you out."

It wasn't necessary, however. Eventually, the soldiers were able to coax the captives into cooperation. One by one, the people crawled out and stood up, a little wobbly at first, and were helped off of the stage and out the door by the H.E.L.L.S.I.N.G. operatives. The blonde menace waved to his partner, playfully blowing a kiss before following them. He would cooperate as well, for now.

Reluctantly, he tagged behind the squad as they headed toward the front door. Huckabee radioed Beta squad of this so they wouldn't fire at them by mistake. This seemed like it would be over in a few more hours. That was sort of a relief. Alois was starting to get restless…

Wait, that wasn't restlessness.

"Prepare for combat!" he shouted. "They're attacking from the rear! Form a barrier in front of the captives!"

Wordlessly, the soldiers did just that. The captives cowered and some of the screamed. Alois took cover behind the barrier with them. He tried his best to keep them calm, he really did, but that effort was somewhat in vain. It worked on some, but for others, not so much. The guns went off, mowing down more of the undead. This batch was apparently unarmed, as they fell pretty quickly. Even still, they had their surprises.

Alois had been so caught up in trying to keep the peace with the captives that he didn't sense what was in the vents above them. Out slinked a certain serpent by the name of "Gary", falling down right on top of one of the soldiers as the smoke began to clear. The young man who fell prey to him uttered a scream as Gary's fangs pierced his neck.

"Denzil!" shouted Huckabee, turning and pointing his gun. Immediately, the vampire released his comrade and dodged, forcing the poor member of Echo to fall to the floor. He was still conscious, but he wasn't well off.

"Wait don't shoo-!" The blonde winced as the gun went off, feeling sharp pain in his shoulder. His eyes and Huckabee's widened.

Alois didn't remember bullets being this painful. As it registered, the menace uttered a grunt and grit his teeth, clasping at the injury and leaning against the wall. The wound burned and the blood around it boiled for a few moments. It would have continued to do so, had there not been an exit wound as well. The bullet went straight through the Macken and embedded itself into the wall. Now Alois understood why it took several days for Ciel to recover from his fight at the castle.

The captives screamed, even the ones who were relatively calm, as the Gentlemen general leaped away. He made eye-contact with the demon momentarily, smirking at the menace's glare. Then, just like that he sprinted away, having caused his chaos.

Finally, the dust cleared and the vampires had fallen, all but the one that successfully bit one of the members of the squad. Denzil was bitten. Now, the soldiers had a problem. The young man, who couldn't be any older than nineteen, was coughing and wheezing as he grasped at his bleeding neck, terrified out of his mind as he tried to process what had just happened. Not only this, but their demonic escort had been shot with an anti-freak bullet. It missed both his head and his heart, so it certainly wasn't fatal. It did, however, hurt.

"What do we do?" asked one of the soldiers. "We can't leave him like this…"

"Was he a virgin?" questioned another. "Maybe we can save him? He could join the supernatural division."

"Can't. That vampire was a bloke." Said one more. "He's gonna be a ghoul."

Upon registering these words, tears formed in the man's eyes. Denzil pressed his face into the floor so that no one could see. Without one single doubt, Denzil was a deadman. Now his comrades had two options; they could leave him, allowing him to turn into a ghoul for the other team to take care of in the final sweep, or they could do what was standard protocol, and kill him now.

It was considered an act of mercy by H.E.L.L.S.I.N.G. For one's body to roam mindlessly and devour the flesh of his fellow humans was a cruel fate. Either way, Denzil would die, but the question was: would he die a human, or a monster?

"We could let him go on his own." One soldier suggested. "Just leave him for Alpha squad to take care of?"

"No! We can't do that!" protested Huckabee. "Captain Harland is on that squad! Do you want her to have to go through the same thing twice!?"

To that, the soldiers all looked down. That would be cruel. Captain Harland almost quit her work with H.E.L.L.S.I.N.G. after her teammate; her husband, was bitten by a vampire. Supposedly, he had begged her in his final moments to give him "mercy" before he could become a ghoul. No one knew what killing a teammate a second time would do to her. So it would have to be one of them to pull the trigger.

"I'll stay with him." Alois said. "I need a minute or two to regenerate, anyway. You guys get the victims to safety."

"Are you sure?" asked one of the troops.

"Yeah. Don't worry about it." The blonde replied, standing up from the wall and straightening his back. He winced as pain shot through his shoulder again and as the wound continued to burn. "I'll take care of him."

Some of the men were wary. Alois was a demon, after all. Perhaps he simply wanted to swoop in and steal a soul while no one was looking? Sir Integra seemed to trust him, though, so perhaps not. Regardless, they had to act quickly, for the captives were getting restless.

"Alright." Said Huckabee, struggling to keep his voice calm. "We'll go, then. Take really good care of him, alright."

"I will." Alois answered, watching as the other man struggled. He waited for Huckabee to say "goodbye" to his friend and for the others to leave. With that, he slid down the wall, grunting as his bottom his the floor. This gunshot-wound stuff was painful. Anti-freak bullets were no joke.

He looked over at the man who was currently lying face down on the ground in front of him. Alois did feel sorry for him. Had he been paying attention, he could have prevented this. He scooted over toward Denzil, observing him a while longer but saying nothing. What could he say? This man was dying. Along with the pain in his shoulder, a pang of guilt ran through him as he witnessed his comrade trying to hide his sobs.

"It's okay to cry, you know." Alois said finally. "You've got everything to cry about, right now. Hell, I cried right up until I was killed."

Moments passed as Denzil continued to sob. Eventually, however, he was able to choke out: "I-I don't… want… to… d-die…" He inhaled sharply with every word.

"Few people do…" the menace answered, reaching a hand out and rubbing Denzil's back soothingly. His voice was soft as he spoke. "You'll be okay, though. I'm a demon. I know what happens when you die. Let me tell ya, unless you've done something really fucked up, you're not gonna end up like me."

"Y-you're not gonna shoot me?"

"Well, I have to, eventually. Sorry. I'll let you decide when, though. I can shoot you now, or we can wait a bit. I think that's only fair."

Denzil sniffled. "Wait a little longer…"

"Okay then." Alois replied. "That's what we'll do."

The demon stayed with the soldier, continuing to rub his back and keeping his promise. His comrade never told him when it was alright to shoot, however. The wound to the man's neck bled out quickly. His heart stopped beating and his breathing came to a halt. He was completely still, now. It would only be a few more moment until he started moving again, though.

Alois stopped rubbing the man's back and tilted Denzil's head to the side. H.E.L.L.S.I.N.G. would without a doubt come back for his body, so he probably shouldn't blow a hole in his face. With that, the demon stood up, grunting at his shoulder again before reaching for his gun. With that, he pointed the barrel at the side of the soldier's head.

"Sorry…" he said softly.

BANG!


A/N: So close to 3,000 words on that one...

Kinda gloomy...

Goddammit, Gary.

If all goes well, tomorrow, I'll be starting school. If it doesn't, then due to a screwup on their end, I might not be going and have to re-enroll for Spring.

So, depending on that, I might or might not slow down with updating again.

We'll see.

Question?

"Hey Hate, what word processer do you use? Can i maybe get a link to download it(perhaps for free)? Plx and Thx." by Guest

Just Microsoft Word. The 2013 version?

Until the next chapter, my duckies~!


CHARACTER SHET

Question: "Luka! What do you think of Moltres and Articuno?" by RapunzelInTheSnow

Luka's Answer: "Articuno looks like if Ciel was a bird, and Moltres makes me want chicken nuggets."

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Question: "Question for Baldassare: What were you feeling after Ciel said those things to you about how the special zone needs you and all that?" by Gracie Sutcliff1124

Baldassare's Answer: "Tch. None of yer goddamn business..."