Things were loud over at headquarters, even deep inside the building. The loud booming of the Harkonnen canons shook the rooms and pulsed through walls. The backup generators were predominantly focused on keeping the Intelligence and Media Management departments operational, along with the medical wing. They had to be ready to go at less than a moment's notice so that no time is wasted. The lights overhead flickered, but as long as the computers and medical equipment stayed functional, it didn't matter. The agents would just as dutifully work in the dark.

"Watchdog is en route to Buckingham Palace." alerted one of the intel personnel. "Lion is in position and keeping incoming enemy troops at bay."

"Gamma, Omega, and E-squad have been almost completely wiped out." announced another. "A few stragglers are still fighting for their lives."

"Orders have been issued for stragglers to regroup at point Q."

"J-squad and Delta squad have been wiped out. Kappa has dispatched an enemy group of vampires."

"A Grenadier has been bitten by a werewolf, but is expected to live."

"Enemy forces outside have received backup from an unknown party." said yet another. "Disregard! Enemy forces have received backup from a group called 'Orchestra'."

"Mercenary group. They have connections to Beattie."

"Humans..." Pondered Elizabeth aloud. "They're working with humans?"

"Yes, ma'am. Further unknown party has also joined the battle. They aren't working with us, though."

"Well, who are they?" questioned the angel.

"Working on it."

"Enemy forces are gaining traction out front." another agent informed. "Some of them have been reported trying to break the bullet-proof windows."

"They probably will, eventually, too." Audrey noted from his own station, pulling up security footage. "How long has it been? Our supernatural agents look fatigued."

"Which ones?" inquired Elizabeth, coming over to the reaper. She bent over slightly and looked over his shoulder, putting her hand on the back of his chair.

"The Garous, ma'am. Agent Victoria is still going strong, though." Bones told her, looking up. His cheeks tinted pink as he realised how close she was before looking away again.

"We need their heavy support." Sir Integra said to her grandmother, causing the angel to stand upright and leave Audrey's personal space. "It's unsurprising that the enemy is getting in closer. We don't have any other supernaturals at hand, so Elizabeth, we need you to assist them."

"Right." dutifully nodded the angel. She paused for a moment and reached down toward her scabbard, tightening it to her belt before making her way out of the room. As soon as she moved, however, Audrey stood up.

"Hey, wait!" he called out, walking after her.

"Audrey you need to get back to work." Elizabeth told him, looking over her shoulder briefly before disregarding him. The reaper followed her, however, keeping up with her brisk pace as she made her way out of the department.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, hang on! I'm a supernatural, too- well, half of one…" Mister Baines replied, trailing off briefly before shaking his head to get himself back on track. "I can help. I have field experience."

"We need all hands on deck at Intel, thank you. I appreciate your willingness to help, but you're needed here."

"I'm needed out there, too. I know that I'm needed here. I know that I'm needed there, too. I just don't want my friends to die, alright?"

"You're friends with the Garous."

"We're neighbours. All of us supernaturals who live in the basement hang out sometimes."

"Hm..." Elizabeth hummed in acknowledgment, but her lack of answer caused the man to mince his words.

"You're… uh… Welcome to join us, of course… Seras said that you were probably busy..." he informed.

"That isn't the issue." the woman stated. "You can't let your emotions get the better of you. Do your duty and stay put."

To that, Audrey paused. He stood still for a moment, allowing the woman to finally gain some headway, but after spending a very brief window of time for reflection, Audrey started walking again. "Ciel would let me go."

Now Elizabeth paused, but not as long as Audrey. "I'm not Ciel." she said simply.

"What happens if I do it anyway?" the man questioned.

"Assuming you live? I don't know. Depends. You could be discharged or fined."

"I can pay a fine."

"Can you handle being a civilian?"

Shuddering, Bones replied: "Now that scares me a little..."

Shaking her head, the Hellsing woman sighed. "You men and your wars… Always so gung-ho about things… There's a reason why women tend to live longer… Fine. If you want to go out there with no gear and fight, be my guest. Just don't expect any demons to protect you."

"It'll be fine. I've been in the field before. It's what I did before working in Intel! I know what I'm doing. I still have my gear in the basement. I'll be right out!"

Elizabeth had never seen him run so fast. In fact, she had never seen him run at all. She hadn't seen him away from his desk very much. Perhaps that was why he was so eager to help, but she couldn't be certain. She wasn't Audrey's friend, but he seemed like exactly the sort of troublesome person her cousin would associate with. She took a moment to roll her eyes before heading to the roof.

It was too dangerous to open the doors on the ground, as there were hordes of enemy soldiers waiting to force their way into the building. She made her way past HELLSING personnel who were guarding the entrances from the inside, knowing that they couldn't cover every window. Occasionally, she got a glimpse of what was going on outside. It was chaos. Why on earth Audrey wanted to be a willing participant in it all was beyond her.

As she ascended the last set of stairs, the woman finished preparing herself for what was to come. Her clothes began to glow a brilliant white before divine threads weaved into the shape of armour around her. It would protect her from most things, although it was going to be very difficult to kill an angel with blessed weaponry. She wasn't bullet-proof, so at the very least, it would save her some pain if she were hit.

She opened the door and stepped out. It locked behind her, sealing the entrance from the outside as the sound of guns thundered in her ears. Looking at her allies, she could tell that they were indeed getting tired. Charlotte Garou was much slower at reloading than she was at the start and Amelie Garou's aim was suffering. Seras Victoria, the most experienced out of all of them, was still going strong and carrying the team. The group seemed to perk up a bit now that Elizabeth was there.

"Status report." Elizabeth ordered, shouting over her surroundings.

"Getting tired. Running out of ammunition." Victoria replied quickly while reloading her canons. "I need someone to help feed the guns and from this angle, none of us can hit the enemy once they've reached the building."

"Alright. Agent Baines is on his way, so he can help you out." While Elizabeth felt a bit embarrassed about needing Audrey right after scolding him, she wasn't one to let her pride get in the way of things. "In the meantime, I'll go down there and clear out the entrance."

"Roger that. We'll back you up. With that angle, we can't hit you, but also, we can't shoot down there if you get cornered."

"I'll be fine." the Hellsing woman answered. "Just keep doing what you're doing."

Golden strands of her garb unwound from her back and drifted in the breeze. They wove back together to form wings before she drew another blade from the divine fabric.. Taking a few steps back, she gave herself a running start until she finally slammed her foot into the ground at the edge of the roof and pushed herself off into the air. She fell for a moment before flapping her wings. Her boots hit the ground with a heavy thud and she retracted her wings. The woman kept her knees slightly bent for better mobility, which she needed quickly, as she was immediately descended upon by the enemy.

After recovering from the shock of the sight, she was shot at, only for her to deflect the bullets with a flick of her sabre. The vampire who had her in their sights grew increasingly nervous as she grew increasingly closer, unimpressed by their attempts to dispatch her. Sweat trickled down their face as she was right in front of them. Their eyes were wide so that they could see all of her and what she was doing, but couldn't see her swing her blade again. It was like lightning. It was too fast to register as anything but a flash, but just as quickly as she moved, she stopped. When she did, her enemy's rifle fell apart in three places before falling to the ground. More pressing to the vampire's situation, however, was the fountain of blood that spurted from their arms before they, too, fell apart. Only afterwards did they register to scream.

Then their allies came after her as well. They yielded similar results, with the woman slashing necks and stabbing hearts. Blood rained down, speckling against her white armour, hair, and face. She was clearing a path along the side of the building while the other HELLSING supernaturals continued to rain hell down upon the field. Then, she came upon it- the first werepire that she had ever seen in person and not on a surveillance screen.

It wasn't polite to say harsh things about the appearance of anyone, but also of supernaturals. They aren't human, so holding them to human standards of beauty was illogical, however, when she saw the werepire face to face, she couldn't help but notice how… strained, they looked. It was like their body was too big for their skin. They towered over the blood-covered angel by several feet and snarled through a mouth so full of teeth that it could hardly close. They could probably hide her entire forearm in their hand, but they moved so fast, Elizabeth wondered if the flesh and skin would tear away from their frame. Veins protruded from their arms and forehead and they let out a nasty, throaty rumble. They did not see her just yet.

Instead, their attention was focused elsewhere- on the window in front of them. They raised a clenched fist and took a swing at it before following up with the other. The bulletproof glass shook, but stayed firm for the time being. Elizabeth knew, however, that it wouldn't last. Bulletproof glass was not invincible. It could shatter. All it took was the right amount of force. She raised her sword.

When the creature cocked back their arm and their clenched fist, she swung her weapon. Blood burst forth from the creature's forearm. They howled and Elizabeth tsked.

"Much too shallow."

The pained noise that escaped the werepire's throat grated her eardrums as stopped what they were doing and took a few steps back, clutching at their injury. Turning their head, they finally saw her and redirected their attention. Their long arms lowered until their hands touched the ground as they hunched over, taking a threatening stance like they were getting ready to pounce. They were low enough that Elizabeth could see the small pupils that swam in the whites of their eyes. Their hair bristled and their chest expanded as they took in the air needed to roar at her. The tooth-filled maw opened and the angel could see the jagged and uneven structure within. Human teeth, wolf teeth, vampire teeth, all crammed into one small space.

The werepire raised a massive, clawed, hand and swiped at the woman, only for her to swing her weapon and lop off a few of their fingers. When they recoiled, Elizabeth took the opportunity to aim at the werepire's neck. She swung hard so that she wouldn't make the same mistake twice and only slash them. No, this time, she meant to kill.

While it shouldn't be surprising to anyone who knew her, it was somewhat amazing just how good the Hellsing woman was at decapitations. Hell, she had managed to lop the head of the famous butler of the Phantomhive Household, Sebastian Michaelis, with not much effort. Separating the head from the shoulders of a brute like this werepire? It was nothing to her. The head fell to the ground and rolled, with the werepire's body following suit with a large thud. While she had vanguished the creature and proved victorious in that fight, the next one reared its ugly head when yet more Philosopher agents came after her, continuing their onslaught. Worse still, she was the only one down there, save for the regular HELLSING agents, as helpful and skilled as they were. None of the other supernatural agents could get to her. They were too busy minimising the number of enemies who got in close enough to fight her.

"Jesus Christ..." breathlessly mouthed Audrey as he peered down over the ledge. He could see what she was doing from there, but that wasn't where he needed to be.

"Audrey! Keep the strips going into the Harkonnen!" ordered Seras, keeping the bullets raining with one gun wile the one in her other hand remained empty.

"Right!" Quickly, the man rushed to her side.

He picked up the next chain of bullets with a loud grunt and struggled to get the end of it in the gun. They were massively heavy, but this wasn't surprising, given how each individual bullet was about the size of his forearm. As soon as he loaded that gun, though, he had to handle the other one. While he didn't know exactly how much each chain weighed, he was close in his estimation. It was over a hundred pounds worth of bullets he was lifting each time. Although he was very much in shape, it was at this moment that he realised that he had been being a bit lax in his training since changing departments.

Each time he got a gun loaded, he either needed to move to the other one, or if both were loaded, stand back and cover his ears. "Guns" is perhaps not the right word for these weapons. "Canon" is more accurate. A "canon" to a human is a "gun" to someone with supernatural strength, it seemed, but regardless as to what it was called, it was still loud enough to damage Audrey's hearing if he wasn't careful.

Sweat soaked his clothes, despite it being cold enough outside to snow. During the monotony of loading the guns, he debated on whether or not it was safe enough to take off his coat. He wasn't an expert on hypothermia, but that sounded bad to him, so he endured. Adrenaline was still rushing through his system as his heart pulsed with the gunfire and groaning of the undead, the dying supernaturals, and the dying humans below. Their battlecries psyched him up and kept him alert even though lifting the chains was getting progressively more difficult. Over and over again, he lifted them- he pushed through it as he saw the mob below thinning, but knew that as soon as he came down from his endorphine high, his muscles would feel the full wrath of the endeavour. For now, though, he was keen to keep moving, even as his arms became numb. Then, however, something changed.

"Audrey! Duck!" Seras ordered. Bones saw the Harkonnen Mk II canon heading in his direction as the woman turned, unable to register the command with immediacy, but able to crouch down quick enough to avoid having his head bashed in by the weapon all the same.

He covered his ears, but the weapon was right above his head. When the blast went off, he felt the pressure wave press him to the rooftop. It hurt. His ears hurt. He let out a yell, but could only hear a muted version of the vibrations running through his head- and ringing- a flat, continuous, ringing.

Quickly, Audrey scrambled away before the second pressure wave hit. He crawled on his hands and knees, unable to keep his balance enough to continue holding his ears. He kept falling over. The ground felt shaky even though it was completely solid. Quickly, he whipped his head around to look over his shoulder, only to get dizzy and fall over again, this time flat on his face.

Rolling himself over onto his back, he blinked rapidly, looking up at the sky for a moment before it was covered by Charlotte's face looking down at him. Bones could feel her hand on his shoulder and see her lips moving, but couldn't make out any words. There was sound, but it didn't come from her. It came from the guns still going off around him, but even that was quiet. He could tell she was calling his name, though. It was all he could make out from his feeble attempt at reading her lips, however. Lifting his head, Charlotte helped him prop himself up on his elbows and he could see what was happening around him once more.

With one canon, Seras kept her weapon trained where the main wave of enemies was, but with her other, she had a canon pointed to the side of the roof, where Audrey could see a few hands reaching up and a few bodies dropping. Vampires climbed up only to be shot down or lose their grip. Claws scraped along the building, gouging out lines in its surface as bodies were hoisted up. Some of them had guns. One young man pulled out a pistol and another aimed a rifle that was attached to his back with a strap. Seras' gun decapitated one while the other had a massive hole blasted through their chest.

Audrey struggled to get back up as he knew that he needed to help- it was his job to load Seras' gun after all- but still felt like his balance was off. Looking around, he could see everyone else working. Seras was keeping the rooftop invaders from getting to the door, while at the same time, keeping some bullets raining on the battlefield. The Garous kept their fire on the field as well, pausing only momentarily to knock off a straggler that Seras might have missed. Audrey rolled over again, this time on his stomach, and crawled back over to the edge that he knew Elizabeth was beneath. She was still fighting, but she was in danger.

"Elizabeth is getting overwhelmed!" He shouted as loud as he could, mostly so that he could vaguely hear himself. As for his teammates, he had no idea if they said anything after that. He had no idea if they heard him, either!

Things were no looking good. Between himself, Seras, the Garous, and Elizabeth, they weren't going to fight off this army. It didn't matter that their enemy was much smaller than they were at the start. The sheer numbers were overwhelming. Many of the non-supernatural HELLSING agents were in a similar situation, too. They were fighting off the hordes as best as they could, but people were dying. Regardless, they stood their ground to the very end. There wasn't much honour or heroism about it, however. There was simply nowhere for them to run.

It was at this moment that the gravity of the situation that Audrey was in started to register. Even Elizabeth and Seras were having trouble doing this many things at once, so things were dire. He didn't know how far this was from being over or how many forces they had left, either. He wasn't in the information room, so he simply didn't have access to the knowledge. It made him feel vulnerable. He was almost naked on the battlefield. It was around this time as well that he registered that he was also injured pretty badly. His head still hurt- in particular, his inner ears. Something was damaged inside, muting his hearing and making it hard to stand up. He needed a medic, but he didn't dare open the door to the roof. Those bastards climbing up the wall would charge him the moment he did.

It could wait. He was alive. That was good enough for the time being. He just needed to focus on keeping things that way. But how? He had a rifle that he brought from inside, but he couldn't aim it in this state.

He watched as Elizabeth narrowly escaped having her face clawed off, only for her to have four long cuts on her cheek that bled and mixed with the spatter that coated her skin. It immediately began to heal, but just as she cut off the hand that scratched her, she was struck over the head from behind with a metal pipe. Instinctively, Audrey stretched out an arm, reaching as far as he could with the ledge digging into his chest.

"Fly up!" he shouted, but Elizabeth was too busy fighting to notice him. He watched as the angel resorted to punching her enemy, once she was too crowded to swing her sword. "Get out!"

Then, all at once, they all just… stopped. The Philosophers, Elizabeth, Seras, and the Garous… All of them. They just stopped what they were doing and froze. They could hear what Audrey couldn't. Howling. It came from just beyond the front gate of the estate. The thunderous march of what was to come shook the ground and everyone turned to face it. Audrey saw the heads turn and followed suit, only to see a new crowd gather. It must have been the new party that he had heard about in the information room, but the question was: where they there to back up the Philosophers? He couldn't see them from that far off, but his team could. At the very least, Seras and Charlotte did.

Black uniforms and red capes covered the large frames of the newcomers and they held guns that were covered in blood. The weapons were undoubtedly taken from the battlefield while everyone else was fighting, but no one knew exactly how they did it without being noticed. They were werewolves, with pointed ears, large teeth, and claws, but they were organised. Very organised. While none of their uniforms matched exactly, they were all unified under the same colours and the same banner. Several of them carried hastily sewn together flags. They were red with a yellow bar on top with a black bar beneath it. Most prominently displayed, however, was the image of a white castle tower. Those were HELLSING colours. Those were HELLSING symbols. Where they HELLSING werewolves? Audrey didn't think so. None of them did. At the very least, no one at HELLSING received any kind of memo about this.

Out in front of all of them was a very visible lycanthrope with golden fur. They wore an eyepatch with a scar peeking out just below it on their left eye. She took a step toward the field before taking in a deep breath. Throwing her head back, she howled. Then her compatriots howled, and howled, and howled… When the she-wolf stopped, however, she took in another breath.

"Stad!" she shouted, her voice carrying above all others. Suddenly, the battleground was quiet again. "Who are we?"

"The wolves of Ossory!" the crowd behind her loudly chanted.

"Why are we here?!"

"To aid HELLSING!"

"Whose sword are we?!"

"HELLSING!"

"Our brothers in arms?!"

"HELLSING!"

"Who do we oppose?!"

"The king of lies!"

"Who are we?!" she demanded again.

"The wolves of Ossory!"

"Why are we here?!"

"For the future of our people!"

"Who do we oppose?!"

"Abhartach!"

"Faoladh! Le chéile!"

The voices of the new wolves clad in red and black spoke together, as one unit, but in this moment, their posture shifted from being at attention, to fighting stances. "Search and destroy!"

The wolfwoman out front tightly gripped the handle of the sword on her hip and drew it, raising it high above her head. "Faugh a Ballagh!"

"Faugh a Ballagh!" howled the wolves of HELLSING as they charged the battlefield. Their guns were blazing, their swords were swinging, and their banners were flying as they attacked the remaining Philosophers from the rear.

The supernaturals on the roof watched them move forward, providing them with much needed relief as they began mowing down the already exhausted Philosophers. None of them knew what convinced the group to help out, but they were glad that they did. Claire's faoladh forces were still on unsteady ground with the organisation and still needed to prove where their loyalty now rested. Furthermore, in the eye of their new leader, it was the very least they could do after the havoc they had wrought previously. It was simply the honourable thing to do.

Audrey sighed with relief at his and his friends' saviours. The supernaturals on the roof were now free to protect themselves and guard the door, while Elizabeth gained the assistance needed to keep fighting onward. Onward and forward, they all advanced. Even Audrey, having found a second wind, was determined to help. As he was still unsteady on his feet, he crawled over to the rifle that he had brought with him. Once he was there, he stood up on his knees and picked it up, trying to get himself in a semi-steady stance to fire in. Pulling the trigger, he shot in the general direction of the attackers, hoping to at least slow them down until one of the others could make a killing blow. His aim was completely imprecise, but the enemy was grouped together tight enough that he was able to hit a few of them.

That was when the faoladh climbed up. Their brown cape blew in the breeze, taking bullets as they ducked. Werewolves were fast, after all, and werewolves with any kind of training in combat were much faster. After a second, they moved forward, zig-zagging while the HELLSING group tried to strike them down, only for the werewolf to wind up in the middle of the group. They stood in front of Charlotte and before she could even blink, they swung at her, sending her flying backwards and skidding across the roof. She wasn't anywhere near a ledge, thank God, but Audrey's position was noticeably precarious. Before the enemy could advance further, however, Charlotte's wife spun around and took aim, blasting off their head in a gory fashion. Flesh and bone hit the ground as blood vessels in the neck and what remained of the head pulsated and twitched. They fell forward with a loud thud as Amelie called out to her spouse. Audrey could see her lips moving and guessed what she was calling for. Whipping his head around, he could see Charlotte getting up, appearing to be unharmed, save for a few scrapes, but in that quick movement, Audrey became immediately dizzy. Instinctively, he repositioned his footing, but because his balance was off, he stumbled and the last thing he saw while on the roof was Charlotte trying to get to her feet to rush toward him before the feeling of weightlessness overtook him.

Audrey fell three stories, including the ground floor, but only registered that fact for a moment before hitting the concrete. His comrades called out to him, but he couldn't see them. For that matter, he couldn't see them, either, even though his eyes were wide open. A puddle of blood collected underneath his head as chaos continued around him. Red capes fought alongside HELLSING operatives just like him and chipped away at the remaining enemy forces until they were naught, but Audrey didn't get to see that victory.


A/N: I have tests next week, so I'm not sure if it won't be another two week wait until the next chapter... I'll work as fast as I can, as always, but just a heads' up.

Dunno why I started with that. I think it's because it's like, the only thing newsworthy going on behind the scenes lmao

Anyway, I had a lot of trouble writing for the faoladh in this chapter... Their battlecry of "Faugh a Ballagh" sounds odd, but I literally could find nothing on Irish battlecries. Initially, I wanted to use "gaogogae" because it's supposed to sound like dogs, but that's old English, and it doesn't make sense for them to use it because reasons idk I'm very tired...

Uh... Uh... What else? I can't really think of anything else in particular to talk about...

Whatever. I'm gonna work on some essays and get started on the next chapter tomorrow.

Until the next chapter, my duckies~!