This was a right pickle, HELLSING was in. Thinking that they had captured Skullface, they allowed him to get away! They believe that it was when the van slowed down under the bridge, but they had no proof and no idea as to where it went. Thus, at long last, it was time to call in the Phantomhives to help them out with the investigation. Elizabeth called them immediately upon this realisation, as time was of the essence. In a matter of minutes, she had the demonic duo in her office, wearing cheap black suits and being ready to go.
"I'm done playing games with this cretin. I want him found. Now." Elizabeth said in a rather serious tone. The kindness that usually radiated from her visage had dulled, leaving a rare stern expression in its place.
"The van slowed down underneath one of the bridges. Here." She paused, indicating the area on the map on the table. "My assumption is that there is that he escaped somewhere under there. Bridges sometimes have drains and even doors that lead to their inner workings underneath."
"Have you sent anyone down there to have a look yet?" questioned the bluenette while his spouse continued looking at the map.
"No. I want it done right the first time." the woman replied, but then she stopped and shook her head. "Sorry, no. That's a bit mean. I have faith in HELLSING's investigators, but this has the potential to blow up very quickly..."
"Think we're the ones who can crush it before it does?" playfully inquired the menace.
"To put it bluntly, yes." Rubbing her forehead, Elizabeth sighed, having appeared to have lost all patience over the matter. "I thought I might ease the burden Integra has to bear by taking this on, only to realise just how much stress she is under. Is it just me, or has this job become more complicated since my time?"
"Modern advancements are funny like that." Ciel replied with a somewhat apologetic look. "I'm sure Integra needed the vacation, however."
"There is no vacation. She's merely focusing on her usual duties and routine investigations. Also pestering me about how this investigation is going on. It's almost sweet, how worried she is."
"She's as cuddly as a bear deep down." jested the Watchdog before standing up straight. "I suppose we should be going, then."
"Roger that, boss." quipped Alois while turning to walk toward the door. As he did so, Elizabeth stood up and walked toward the coat rack, much to the demons' confusion.
"Who's driving?" she asked, stopping as she picked up on the others' reaction. "I was hoping I could come along and learn a thing or two. Is that alright with you?"
"Perfectly. You might want to wear something else, however." her cousin pointed out. "If we're going to be crawling through drains, then you're not going to want to wear your Sunday best."
"You actually crawl through drains?"
"Of course! Could be worse." Alois butted in. "Could be raining blood. It makes your hair stink. And it's hard to get the colour out."
"You're blond, so the latter is your problem." chuckled his beau, finding amusement in the displeased face the menace made.
"You still have to smell me." spoke the fair-haired Phantomhive before addressing the Hellsing woman once more. "Anyways, if you're offering to drive, feel free to! I don't get to ride in cars that often anymore, so it doesn't hurt my feelings any."
"Alright, I'll go change clothes, then!" the woman replied before leaving the room. The two demons simply waited for her patiently, unbothered by the situation and just engaging in idle chit-chat. It really wasn't long, as the woman was indeed in a hurry, so she only bothered to throw on a men's shirt and tuck it in to a pair of jeans. She didn't look as dignified or put together as she usually did, but she really didn't need to in order to do this job.
"It's not exactly 'cute,' or anything, but I'm not going to ruin my good clothes while hunting psychic murderers." she said during the car ride over there. "I've lost many perfectly good petticoats in my day."
"Were you in the field often?" questioned her cousin out of genuine curiosity.
"No, not particularly. In the early days, I was quite often, but once we built up a militia, that became less and less necessary." She explained. "By that time, I could focus on other things."
"Are you excited?" the other Phantomhive asked from the backseat.
"About as anyone could be while about to trudge through God-knows what." Elizabeth replied.
"Looks like your time to shine has come." Ciel quipped with a point of his finger. "That looks like the place."
"Alright."
The car began to lull to a gentle stop and was put into park when it finally did. The group stepped out and began inspecting the area. It really didn't take them long, as they found what they were looking for almost immediately. The large entrance to the drain was plain for all to see, so how anyone at HELLSING would have missed it is too sad to dwell on.
"Gee, I wonder where he went." jested the menace, putting his hands on his hips. "So how are we going to do this? Are all of us going to go in?"
"You don't know?" Elizabeth asked. "Did you not decide yet?"
"Nah. This is the stage in the operation called 'winging it.'"
Pulling out a few plastic bags out of his inner jacket pocket, Ciel handed one to each of the others while keeping one for himself. He then took out his cellphone and wallet. Immediately, Alois knew what to do with it and did the same. It took Elizabeth a moment, but it dawned on her that they were protecting their valuables from water. She then copied the demon's actions and pulled out a flashlight, followed soon by the Phantomhives.
"Let's go." spoke the Watchdog, gesturing for the other two to follow him.
Without a moment's hesitation, they did. Immediately, the two men shuddered as their shoes immediately became soaked, while Elizabeth trudged through the drain in rainboots. She looked ahead, waiting for her cousin to complain for her own amusement, but he refused, no matter how much he wanted to. He couldn't give either her or Alois the satisfaction or opportunity to tease him. Thus, he pressed on.
"Watch your step. Who knows what's down here..." he warned
"Like this dead cat, here?" inquired the menace, immediately hearing the woman shudder behind him.
"Is- is that what brushed against my leg?" she asked.
"You have boots on. You're perfectly equipped to handle this. Your legs are the cleanest ones here."
"That makes it only slightly better." Elizabeth said with a paled face. She then tripped over some other unseen obstacle, catching herself on Alois' shoulder.
"You alright?" the man questioned.
"I'm not a demon, so seeing in the dark doesn't exactly come naturally to me." she confessed.
"Out of practise, hm?"
"More like the ability doesn't exist. It's a useful ability for demons, but for angels, it's not very."
"Huh. Sometimes I forget that we don't have the same powers. We're rather similar, most of the time."
"I don't mean to interrupt, but I found a ladder." Ciel informed, pointing up. "And some light. It looks like the cover was removed and not put back. Sound suspicious?"
"This is going bizarrely smoothly for a first attempt." his cousin noted while she watched him begin to climb. "If you do manage to track him down, I'm afraid I might be rather miffed."
"Or we just got lucky." Ciel said, grunting as he crawled out of the drain onto the street. Bending down, he grabbed his husband's hand and helped him out, followed by his cousin shortly after. "Are we doing anything that isn't standard practise?"
"Not that I'm aware of thus far. Are you suggesting that I wasted your time?"
"No, if things turn out simple, it's fine. It would be bad if things got 'complicated' and we weren't here to take care of it."
"Besides, you're family, so it doesn't really bother us." Alois chimed in while looking around. He looked up and chuckled. "I think I found what we're looking for." he said, pointing up at a security camera.
"Sounds about right. London is full of them, so it would be tough for Skullface to slip away unnoticed." Ciel stated.
"Perfect. I'll call Intel and tell them to get the camera feed from this location around the time of the attack." the woman replied, reaching into her pocket and pulling out the plastic bag with her phone in it.
"Guess it really was that easy." Shrugged the menace.
"Maybe." his husband answered. "That's just one step, however. Next, we have to actually track him down with the lead we have and capture him."
"Eliminate." corrected Elizabeth while dialing. She paused to look over at the two demons. "Someone that dangerous can't be left alive."
"Want us to handle it?"
"If you'd be so kind..."
"Alright." her cousin replied with a somewhat malicious grin. "Sort of interesting that an angel would employ demons to kill someone, however."
"Sacrifice one to save many." The woman said flatly. "Sometimes, those are just the types of decisions one has to make."
"Very well, then. It's a pleasure doing business with you..."
A/N: I don't like this chapter for the reason that I don't know what it's ABOUT. The whole point of it is to just let you guys know that "hey, they're on the right track" and not much else. I actually wanted it to be longer, but this was an okay stopping point, which I wouldn't have had if I dragged it out.
Good news is: The next chapter should be out fairly quickly, because I kind of have everything sorted out with it.
Also: I wanted to talk about a thing. Apparently, people haven't been receiving e-mail notifications that DLTP has updated, lately. It's not just an isolated thing. It's been more than one person. Bad news is: I don't really know how to fix it.
I'm sorry.
Until the next chapter, my duckies~!
