Neither I nor Higitsune own Vampire Knight or Hellsing. Thank you to Higitsune for continuing to edit my work even during her final exams. Good luck!
It was still dark when Zero woke up. He was about forty-five minutes away from headquarters, so he'd gotten up at five. By the time he'd made his way into the building and walked up to the president's office, it was around twenty minutes past six in the morning. Yagari could be heard lecturing in the meeting room below, so he was fairly sure Cross would be ready to brief him on the hunt.
The door to Cross's office opened, and Zero entered the room and slouched against the wall. Cross returned to his desk, carefully avoiding stacks of paper work. Once he'd sat down, he dug out a folder that he place on the edge of the desk and began his briefing.
"Good morning, Zero. The hunt is for a group of Level E's that are believed to be aboard a container ship travelling between Japan and England. According to the documents we've found, the ship is scheduled to arrive at the city docks at 1300, but I'd prefer it if you had everyone in position by 0930. The ship has been showing up early or late for the last few stops, so it may be early here as well." Cross paused for a moment, glancing away from the papers in his hands.
"If we don't catch it at this stop, its next destination is England, and our breed of Vampire has yet to set foot on that continent. There's another organisation over there, but… well, if you run into them, I wouldn't recommend mentioning our association. Pretend you're a freelancer, or perhaps an innocent bystander. They don't like other organisations on their territory. If you hear someone say that they are from the Vatican section XIII, or refer to themselves as paladin, retreat immediately. There is a reason why we only hunt within our borders – most countries have their own organisation and none of them get along." He adjusted his glasses and glanced nervously at the rubbish bin beside the desk, which contained a black envelope and several sheets of shredded paper.
"If you can kill the whole group here that would be the best outcome we can hope for. It's suspected that they may have someone in charge, but it's uncertain as to how many there are or if the entire crew are vampires. Some may be completely unaware of the threat travelling with them. As such, be as discrete as possible. The more people's memories we erase, the more likely someone is to notice something." He shuffled through some of the papers in front of him before adding a form to the folder in front of him.
"Sign out a silencer from the armoury before you pick up the rookies. You've got a squadron of seven with you, but they should be able to work in pairs or small groups attacking any stragglers while you handle the main group. The ship will be in port for around a day, as it's only here to refuel and replenish supplies. After that, it'll be about a month long trip to England. Don't let any of the vampire reach England, especially if there is an Aristocrat or Common vampire with them." He looked at Zero for a few seconds, gauging his reaction to the situation so far.
"...It's unlikely to be a pureblood, but this seems a little subtle for Level E's to be the only ones involved." He grabbed another form and signed it before it joined the others in the folder.
"The rookies are, I'm assured, competent enough to mostly function on their own with minimal supervision. So long as they are in a group of three or four, they should be able to handle one or two Level E's by themselves. I wouldn't put too much faith in that assessment though, seeing as it's their first time in the field. Try to bring them back alive. Some of their parents have a decent amount of influence here, and I'd rather not deal with them if they try to cause trouble over one of their children dying on a hunt." Cross sighed wearily, before he stood and walked over to Zero and handed him the folder.
"Good luck. Remember to take your phone with you. If you need back-up, call. Yagari should have his phone on him as well, but I'll be in meetings and doing paperwork so my phone may be on silent."
Zero nodded and walked out of the room. Cross was... unusually stressed, likely due to the paperwork that seemed to be required for everything now. Even signing out a weapon for a hunt took about five minute of paperwork. Thankfully, it wasn't his responsibility.
He wandered down to the armoury, picked up a silencer and handed the form that Cross had given him over to sign it out.
Now, how to introduce himself to the rookies?
Chapter four is on its way, but Alucard's had to shuffle back a little. He'll arrive around Chapter Seven, sorry. Higitsune scolded me for trying to work all of that into one chapter before she divided it into three chapters.
