A/N: AT LONG LAST, I LIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIVE! AFTER OVER A WHOLE YEAR OF SILENCE, AND TWO YEARS WITHOUT UPDATING THIS STORY, I HAVE RETURNED AT LAST! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

...ahem, sorry. Just really wanted to get back into this. But with my new school semesters, leaving Office Depot for FedEx, and a level of family drama that would make any TV dysfunctional family blush (except for Family Guy, but fuck them), this whole fanfic thing kinda got left behind in the dust.

But I am making New Years resolutions and here is one fulfilled!Hope you enjoyed this and please look forward for more!

Code Lyoko is owned by MoonScoop and licensed by France 3, Canal J, and Cartoon Network.

Hellsing Ultimate is owned by Koura Hirano and Studio Madhouse, and licensed by Geneon, Madman Entertainment, Manga Entertainment, and Funimation.

Please support the official release! (And Team Four Star, if the disclaimer didn't show it enough!)

Chapter VII: Death of a Goose, Birth of a Vampire

Aelita and I were staring out of the gaping hole in the wall of the room that once was the office of Sir Integra Fairbrook Wingates Hellsing, as well as the meeting room for the Round Table, but was now disheveled and looking half-destroyed. Right after Seras broke off with us to take on the enemy head-on, we were attacked by a troop of Millennium's goons on our way to the inner parts of the mansion. We were able to kill them all off, but the office was half destroyed by gunfire and a bomb that nearly blew us away if not for Aelita's quick sight and energy shields.

Speaking of soldiers, our powers managed to keep most of the Wild Geese from becoming vampire food, but due to the sheer number of them and their size, there was little we could do to prevent heavy casualties from happening. Not to mention the mansion was too big for us to help all of the men scattered everywhere, and Pip told us they knew what they were getting into and were ready to die for their post if they had to.

While we were catching our breath, Pip lit a cigarette (with permission from Aelita and myself), and told us about his childhood. I had a stinging sensation in my heart that told me this was the only chance we would hear it, so we listened. Apparently, he was bullied a lot in his past because his father, and every member of his entire family, was a mercenary and his grandfather even admitted it to his grandson's heartbroken face. Pip admitted he found it horrible at first, but later learned there was truth in his grandfather's words about how mercenaries have many different reasons for fighting besides money.

As Pip took a big puff he smiled. "Ze old man was right all along, though." He gave a soft chuckle as he stared out at the full moon. "It's never been about ze money. It's always been about ze fun."

I stared out at the moon, wondering how much different my life could have been if I had joined the French army at a young an age like my father and his friends did. Maybe I would have ended up in Pip's boots and become a mercenary instead of a computer engineer. Bullets for bots, guns for gadgets…

Just then, Pip's radio crackled to life and we could all hear it. "Captain, this is Squad Two! We're in the shit down here! We're not gonna be able to make it back, you guys!"

"Listen, asshole!" Pip barked, getting to his feet and dropping his accent, "I don't care if you have to crawl! Fall back to the Round Table Room! That's an order! This is the easiest spot to reinforce; we can hold out for a while. You have to retreat! You're a sitting suck out there! We're not going to close the barricade until you're back!"

"Negative Captain, no can do!" came the reply. "They've torn us all to hell, myself included. We'll hold them off for as long as we can, but you gotta close that barricade now! Good hunting Captain."

Pip growled, but then smiled and chuckled. "Be that way, brave bastard. If you're ready to die, go for it! I guess this is adieu."

"Been a hell of a ride Captain," he said, his tone very proud. "I don't regret a thing. Goodbye." His link then went dead.

Pip clenched his fist, and then made a gesture with his fist. "Let's close up the barricade. Get this huge fucking table and add it to the pile! Seal that Goddamned hole already!" He patted the Round Table's meeting table while seven men, myself included, went to pick it up.

"But sir," one of the men said, "what about the others?"

Pip dropped his head for a moment and I saw his face grow cold. "All KIA."

The soldier's eyes widened, but nodded with a grunt. "Understood, sir. They'll be missed."

Pip grunted and turned to us. "How are ze two of you holding up?"

"Better than you think," I replied. "We've had a few wars on our hands, and I'm not talking about the virtual kind. We may not have had vampire Nazis, but killer robots and ninjas being controlled by a mad scientist named Tyrone is pretty normal in your average sci-fi thriller."

"I may not be used to this much gore since James Finson's latest horror flick," Aelita said, "but I've always kept my head and stayed calm. We're not fans of the gruesomeness of war, but we're pretty well used to it."

Pip chuckled to himself while lighting a cigarette. "So, what was it like in zat place, Lyoko? No blood or gore, but just as deadly, from what I heard from ze newspapers."

"Looking back, I can't believe we went into it as much as we did," I admitted, folding my arms in thought. "I can't count how many times X.A.N.A. nearly killed all or just one of us. But we felt that somebody had to, if no one else did."

"And if it wasn't for your discovery, zen you and your girlfriend over zere would never have met, nor would any of your ozer friends, no?"

Aelita and I made a slight smile. "You got a point there, captain." Aelita nodded.

"What's it matter? We're all gonna die tonight!"

"Shut the fuck up!"

We turned to see what was going on, and saw two soldiers fighting. The one who spoke up first – Jaffe, according to his patch – had large goggles over his shaggy blonde hair, while the one who had told him to – well, shut the fuck up – had a ski cap over his bald and dark brown head. His patch listed his name as Herbert.

"How are we supposed to fight Nazi vampires!?" Jaffe shouted again, now cowering in a huddled-up ball. "It's bullshit! Integra and Alucard sold us out! I'm done! I'm fucking done!"

Pip scowled and walked over to the man. "What are you yelling about? Zhere's nowhere to go, not zhat I'm letting you leave."

"The hell you aren't!" Jaffe barked. "I'm out of here!"

I could sympathize with Jaffe wanting to leave, but I knew that there was no escape from this hellhole. At the same time, he was much like my friends when our mission in Lyoko started. Ulrich in particular didn't want anything to do with it, but as he fought, he said to me that it gave him a purpose to go on, since his family situation – his unpleasable father and enabling mother – wasn't a big incentive.

Pip smirked and took out his cigarette and held it in his two index fingers, pointing it at the cowering mercenary. "Face the facts: zis place will be our grave; zis mansion our tombstone; our gravekeeper zat cast-iron bitch Integra. And our epitaph? 'Here lies ze badass Wild Geese. Zhey kicked beaucoup Nazi ass for queen and crumpets.'"

He then pointed his cigarette in between Jaffe's wide and fear-stricken eyes "But zhey won't write any of that," Pip continued. "Thanks to you, it's going to read: 'Here lies zose gutless pussies who died pissing themselves and crying like schoolgirls.'"

He then crushed his cigarette in his hand and grabbed the merc by the collar of his jacket. "Man the fuck up, bitch!" he hollered. "You'll die with honor if I have to tie you to your damn post! You take the money because you like it, and you fight because you like it and now... you're going to die like a merc and like it!"

Pip then pushed Jaffe backwards, where he fell into a bookcase and fell to the ground "YES, SIR! YEAH!" he shouted, but still shivering. "Fuck. Fuck."

"Come on," Pip grumbled, "no one ever said dying tonight was a sure thing. We've got a nice big barricade. Now, get up and come lend a hand, just in case ma chere leaves us any of them." And so saying, he lit another cigarette and grinned smugly, like he knew what was going to happen. Sighing and puffing, he then turned to us. "You kids had better make yourselves useful or else we may be in even more trouble zan we are now."

We nodded and used our powers to generate an electrical field to vibrate our molecules, which let us phase through the back wall. To Pip, it looked like the two of us had become a rapidly moving blur, just barely perceptible, as if we had no solid mass. While the other men in the barricade looked shocked or astonished, he simply took another puff from his cigarette. "Zhose kids are just full of surprises, no?" he chuckled to himself, before his face hardened. "Don't go and die on me, you two. I'll be damned if zhe last thoughts I have left are the mangled bodies of two kids with zheir whole lives ahead of zhem. Zhis is no horror film, no is it any of their virtual reality nightmares."

He sighed deeply, looking at the barricade. "Zhis is hell on Earth."

[+]

Splintered squads of the Wild Geese were holding up a truly noble attempt to keep the invaders at bay, but despite the anti-vampire weaponry provided by Integra, the opposition didn't slow down a bit. Bullets flew from both sides and rockets blew the mansion apart, including Integra's office, which we took notice of as we dashed through the halls, cloaking ourselves for the time being. We caught glimpses of Seras tearing through as many vampires as she could as she also ran down the passageways of the mansion, looking more ferocious than we had ever seen her look, but not even she could stop them all by herself.

The end of one hallway we saw had two soldiers shooting at Nazi vampires that wouldn't slow down, no matter how many bullets went into them.

"Just keep shooting!" the first one barked at his partner.

"Why can't we hit these assholes!?" the second growled as he fired more rounds.

As the rounds kept coming, the enemy didn't move back at all. If anything, they only got faster. None of us knew how that was even possible, and none of us could stop it from happening.

"Fuck!" the first soldier cursed, dumbstruck.

"These sons of bitches aren't slowing down any!" his partner cried as he reloaded his rifle.

Before anyone of us could make a move, the two soldiers were swiftly cut apart and eaten by the cannibalistic freaks. As we kept running, we saw more and more of Pip's men fall prey to the paranormally-empowered monsters, either by their bullets or by their vampiric hunger. My nerve struck and I lunged out before Aelita could interject, and took the saber Ulrich had given me as a birthday present, well prior to this entire ordeal, and I charged it full of static electricity, slicing their bodies in half and causing an explosion that hid us from view as I managed to save a few of the men.

"You kids gotta leave us," one soldier groaned in pain. "We're all done for."

"A good soldier never leaves a man behind!" I barked, channeling my inner film lover, as I retreated with the soldier under my arm.

I left him with Aelita, and went back for another round of heroism. After a while, our rescued group numbered to just over a dozen injured men. None too serious, but this situation was getting deadlier by the nanosecond. One of the men, a man with red hair and glasses who had not been injured at all, gulped in fear as he looked around the corner. "Kids, I think it's the leader."

I used my new X-ray glasses to see through the wall, and saw that woman with the scythe from before casually strutting down the hallway, her scythe hefted on her right shoulder as he men devoured the corpses of our fallen men.

"Zat's it, burn it down!" she cried, a cruel grin on her face. "Kill every bastard you find! This is the best fight Hellsing can put up? Zese sad meat sacks are you combat elite!? God, what a joke."

"Zhat's the UK for you, Commander Zorin Blitz," one Nazi laughed as he chomped on a dead soldier's leg. "All they know is how to make tea and crumpets, not how to fight like we do."

Aelita caught me growl under my breath and placed her hand on my shoulder. I looked at her and nodded with her; we were gonna kill that bitch and her whole "meat sack" army if it took us all night. I turned to the red-haired soldier and made combat motions with my hands. He nodded, knowing the plan that I was setting up. He charged in, guns blazing, while Aelita and I managed to fly up and around Zorin, while still invisible.

I knew that if we were going to win, we needed to disable Zorin's illusionary powers. From what I could tell, they were generated by the weird tattoos on her face and right arm. As long as that particular arm didn't touch anyone, she couldn't make direct contact and invade their minds. But she could also create an illusion if her arm touched the ground, so we had to cover her arm up somehow to keep her powers form working.

At least, that's what we wanted her to believe.

Zorin grinned at the former leader of Squad Two charge at her, and she simply reached out and grabbed his face with her tattooed arm, projecting a vision in his mind. By using our own powers, we could see that Zorin had tricked him into thinking that he was back at his home with his daughter. Just as he hugged the illusion of the small girl, Zorin raised her scythe, ready to slice him in two.

"Too bad, daddy," Zorin taunted, grinning maniacally. "She's worm meat and so are you!"

Now! I telepathed to Aelita, and we leaped from the high ceiling and Aelita tackled Zorin, trying to restrain her, whilst I took down her nearby guard force with a wide array of lightning blasts. Zorin barely turned her head around before I charged my fist with electricity and punched Zorin in her face where her tattoos were.

"Vhat ze hell!?" one of the vampire soldiers cried who started shooting.

"Who ze fuck are they!?" another hissed as he loaded a rocket launcher.

"We're your worst fucking nightmare, assholes!" I roared, using dreadful language I had never used before, as I slammed my still-sparking fist into the ground.

The ground shook and heaved upwards, electrical cables and metal piping coming out of the ground like snakes from a pit and split the walls apart, sending wood, brick, and concrete flying everywhere. The masonry, electric, and metal components combined to form loose replicas of Bloks, Tarantulas, and Krabes, monsters that me and my friends fought on Lyoko. Bloks were monsters that looked like…well, giant blocks, but with eyes on each of its four faces that could shoot a different kind of weapon, which it unleashed upon the unprepared Nazi vampire army. A standard laser, a ring of fire, an ice spray, or a new one that I added after I took control of X.A.N.A.'s army: a huge bolt of lightning. While Krabes could only fire lasers, their sharp legs could break through solid steel and their shells were now a lot tougher thank to my designs. While Tarantulas only had four legs, each one could shoot rapid fire lasers and they were now capable of walking on walls and using their blasters as rocket boosters thanks to my redesigns.

While the monsters laid waste to Zorin's army – the Krabes blasting and stabbing, while the Bloks zapped, froze, and barbequed others – the demented vampire herself slowly got to her feet and threw Aelita to the ground. I quickly rushed to her side, taking the commander – who I saw was named Miller by his jacket patch – and a few of his still-living men with me, and the Bloks formed a barricade around us with Tarantulas sniping from above the barricade while I got on the communicator with Pip.

"Pip, I managed to save Miller and a few of his men," I hoarsely reported, "but we just met their mind-fucking tattooed bitch of a boss!"

"Damn, you kids don't know when to go small, do you?" Pip hissed, but with a hint of pride. "Fine, just get back here on ze double!"

"Roger that," I nodded, and shut off the communicator. I grabbed Commander Miller and nodded to Aelita, who grabbed some of his men.

"How dare you maggots insult me!" Zorin howled. "Is this your idea of a joke, you Hellsing dogs? You send zhese goddamn children to fight me because you are too much of a group of cowards to fight yourself?"

As soon as the words left her mouth, a shadow crept up behind her and towered over her. Before Zorin could turn around, a Blok froze her tattooed arm in ice and Krabe lunged forward with its leg and sliced it clean off. It sickens me to say that Zorin screaming in agony was music to our ears, but given the situation, I chose to ignore that bad feeling for now.

"How's this for a coward!?" Aelita shrieked as she took a gun and shot Zorin's cheek where her tattoos were. The bullet then exploded in her face, sending her to the ground.

"Now, let's go!" I cried, and we hauled Miller, as well as the other wounded but still alive men onto the Tarantulas' strong backs and bolted back to the Round Table room.

But if I turned back just a bit, I would have seen Zorin rising slowly, her arm regenerating and her wound vanishing. Her eyes gleamed emerald with bloodlust and her face now bore a gruesome grin.

"Now I know where you are, mein kinder…" Zorin grinned. "Zhe big bad wolf is coming to get you…and she'll gobble you and your granny right up."

[+]

The monsters followed Aelita and me through the hallway back to the Round Table room, which the Tarantulas easily pushed open with their strong forelegs. Upon the doors opening, I heard guns being primed, but I saw the Geese lowering their weapons when they noticed us riding atop these strange creatures. Pip seemed the most surprised of all, as his jaw was hanging open and he nearly fell over from shock.

"What ze hell are zose things?" Pip gawked.

"My take on X.A.N.A.'s creations," I explained in a hurry as Aelita and I dismounted and took Miller and his men to the back of the room. I nodded to the monsters, and the Tarantulas rebuilt the barricade while the Bloks stood by the doors to reinforce it.

"Jeremy made them from the rubble and ruins of the house," Aelita explained as we stepped back. "They're programmed to obey us and won't move unless we say so. They sure gave that crazy Nazi bitch a run for her money."

Pip sighed and walked up to Miller and placed his hand on his underling's shoulder. "Next time, you wait for backup before saying your goodbyes, oui?"

Miller slowly opened his eyes and forced a rough chuckle. "Yeah, sorry for the insubordination, captain. It won't happen again."

Just as we all calmed down enough, our world was literally blown away when the top of the barricade exploded into millions of pieces, along with a couple of Bloks. I had barely enough time to sense it coming and throw up a shield around as many people as I could. I saw out of the corner of my eye that Aelita saved Pip and Miller and several others, but one unfortunate soldier was too close to the barricade and got chucks of wood lodged in his eyes sockets, blinding him as he lay crumpled on the ground, saying "Fuck, fuck!" over and over.

"Sons of bitches," Pip hissed as he ran up to the soldier, "zhey got us good!" He quickly assessed his fallen comrade. "We're losing him! Come on!"

"Damn it!" another soldier called out. "Throw chairs onto the pile! All of them!"

"Hurry up guys!" yet another solider groaned, throwing more wood against the pile. "Barricade's not gonna hold for long!"

A third soldier suddenly jumped up and fired his assault rifle over the barricade. "You want some, assholes!?"

"You idiot!" Pip barked. "Get down from there!"

As soon as the words left Pip's mouth, one of my Tarantulas knocked the foolish man aside to blast at the enemy line by itself, but its head got blown to pieces and the rest of the body fell backwards, falling apart upon impact.

"You see why I tell you assholes to stay the fuck down?" Pip hissed as he shot some of his own rounds over the barricade.

One man in a Hellsing beret cowered on the floor, holding his head with his eyes wide with terror. "God…we're all gonna die here!"

"Shut up!" Herbert shouted at the scared man. "Keep that shit to yourself!"

"Even if we surrender, they're gonna torture the shit out of us!" the goggled one from before – Jaffe, his patch read – whimpered as he too succumbed to fear. "Then they're gonna eat us alive! It's fucking over!"

Pip growled as he shouldered his rifle. "Whatever ammo is left, hand it out!"

"Here, captain, this is it," Pip's second in command – a stern fellow named Willingham – said as he handed Pip a few magazines. "We're out of silver bullets. Damn near out of regular ones too."

The blinded, wounded man cried out in agony. "Come on, kill me! I can't even shoot a gun anymore, they blew out my fucking eyes!"

"I take it back, sir, I didn't mean it!" Jaffe cried out again. "I don't wanna die!"

"Good, we are in agreement," Pip grumbled as he took the rounds and fired more shots over the barricade. "Now stop yelling in my damn ear!"

"Reminds me of that one big mission in Jang Wijde around this time last year," Willingham smirked as he laid against the barricade next to Pip and I. "Remember that time? That airfield in Uganda? Fuckers had us pinned down, thought our asses were done for. And then the cavalry came riding in." He then frowned, looking grimly at the wounded men filling the room. "Somehow, I don't see that happening this time."

The Krabes and Tarantulas blasted the enemy line, while the Bloks defended the barricade from the front and fired a few round themselves.

"Don't give up just yet," Pip chastised. "Seras is coming! I'm sure of it! Bet my life on it! Not to mention, zhose kids are gonna give zhose Nazi bastards a run for zheir money as well! Jeremy's little toys are doing a pretty good job right now, if you want proof."

"I may not be this accustomed to this level of real warfare," I said, rather hoarsely, "but I'm not letting those goddamn freaks get through this wall!"

As soon as the words left my mouth, I felt a screaming noise behind us, and I had barely enough time to throw up a shield before a Panzerfaust missile blew the barricade apart. The blast sent millions of chunks of wood and mortar flying, obliterating almost all of the monsters I had created. When the smoke cleared, I got to my feet and saw Aelita managed to save half of the wounded, but the rest were brutally ripped to shreds by the debris. I looked to my side and saw that I had managed to save Pip, Willingham, and Commander Miller, but I looked over my shoulder and resisted the urge to throw up as I saw Willingham's own second, Scott, torn in half, his guts spilled out on the floor and him struggling to stay alive.

"Damn it," I hissed to myself. "Never saw it coming."

"I'm getting damn sick of those rockets," Pip snarled. "How many more until they run out, eh!?" He then gasped when he saw Scott's condition and closed his eyes in reverence. "Go on, rest. You've earned it. I'll see you soon." Scott wore a forced smile and then his eyes closed. He was gone.

I saw the condition of the room, half of the wounded now dead, and heard the faint sound of a rocket reloading. Something then snapped inside of me, and I decided that enough was enough. I felt the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end as lightning danced all over my body, and I made a fist so tight that I could have drawn blood if I wasn't wearing gloves. "No more," I boomed, my voice echoing through the room. "NO FUCKING MORE!"

I pounded on the ground, and lightning filled the room, causing the metal artifacts on the walls of the room to get ripped off and fall to the floor. Soon, they were lifted up and moved around the fallen monsters, which were then transmogrified into a pair of what used to be my worst nightmare but were now my best friends: Megatanks. The metallic spherical robots came to life around me and I turned to face the enemy line. I fiercely pointed at Zorin and her army. The one who fired the rocket was now sweating bullets, and his eyes were wide with shock. The first Megatank opened up and charged its mega-laser, ready to fire.

"Everyone shoot the damn thing!" Zorin called, and the other vampires shot the Megatank, but its new and improved shell protected it as it charged its laser and fired. They still fired a huge wave that cut down the enemy, but thankfully it didn't hit us. The downside was that it didn't have as large a radius as before, and didn't make it to the Panzerfaust launcher. Zorin grinned when she realized this, and made a motion to the launcher. He nodded and blasted another rocket before the Megatank could close itself to protect itself and blew it up. I hissed and called the other one back to what was left of the Round Table room.

"A direct hit, lieutenant," one of her soldiers stated. "Do we advance?"

"Not yet," Zorin grinned sadistically. "Let's soften zhem up a bit more…time for zhat little boy to pee his pants."

The soldier looked up at his commander in confusion. "This is our last Panzerfaust, Lieutenant. It's our trump card!"

"I couldn't care less!" Zorin roared. "You take zhat Panzerfaust, and you launch it straight up zheir mercenary asses! And crush zhose little brats into meat pies while you're at it!"

The soldier stiffened, but nodded and loaded the rocket. "Jawohl."

But before he could launch the rocket, his head was blown to bits by a familiar 30 millimeter piercing armor round. I smiled as I saw several other vampires get blown up by similar rounds, and knew that the cavalry did arrive, just as Pip had said. I looked through the new hole in the wall and saw Seras Victora striding in, her twin Harkennon II guns smoking but at the ready. As I took a quick drink from my canteen, I looked and saw that Zorin's army had been completely annihilated by Seras' guns, so Zorin could more easily be dealt with.

"It's zhe bitch who downed my zeppelin," Zorin growled. "You're dead!"

Pip slowly rose to his feet and lit a cigarette, smiling. "Of course she's here. I told you she'd come. Ma chère is reporting for duty. Might as well smoke zem if you've got zem ladies, time for ze main event." He chuckled as Seras approached the enemy line. "God, she's perfect isn't she? I should have kissed her when I had ze chance. You're a damn fool, Pip Bernadette."

Aelita and I smiled as Pip's flirting cut through the bleak scenario, and we joined Seras for the beatdown to come. Seras soon noticed she was out of rounds, and unhooked the guns from her body, still wearing the same determined scowl. Aelita and I drew our guns and swords as well, flanking Seras on each side.

"Out of bullets, or are you surrendering?" Zorin grinned. "Or are you just letting zhose little kids do your dirty work for you?"

"Tough talk rom the only Nazi left," Seras growled.

"Not to mention one who's about to get her last arm ripped off and shoved up her ass," I added, spitting on the floor.

Just then, Zorin grinned and showed off the left arm I had sliced off. "Remember chopping zhis off, little boy?" Just then, she stuck it back into place and the tattoos on her severed arm glowed brightly and her arm reattached itself, with even the slice mark healing like it had never been cut off in the first place! She moved her arm and fingers and even twirled her scythe to show that the damage had been undone! "Too bad it was all for nothing!"

"Oh, baise-moi!" I swore in my native tongue, not expecting this. "These freaks can really do that?"

"Oh, trust me," Zorin smiled wickedly as she lit up her arm, "YOU'LL LOVE THIS!"

She slammed her hand onto the ground, and more of those strange symbols swarmed all over the walls. Seras, Aelita, and I shut our eyes and tried to block the noise and tricks out, but we could still see the hazy purple writing even through our eyelids! If Zorin could put her arm back after I cut it off effortlessly, what else could she do?

"This…it isn't real, it's just an illusion," Seras whimpered, saying the words over like a mantra. "It isn't real!" Seras was trying to keep from seeing what Zorin was forcing us to see. "IT'S NOT REEEAAALLLL!"

But both her screams and Aelita's whimpering faded as I slowly opened my eyes and adjusted to my illusory surroundings. I saw myself in Principal Delmas' office and he was looking at me rather sternly. I saw my father next to me, and he was also stern, but at Mr. Delmas. I knew that this was a memory of when I first went to Kadic Academy, and it wasn't a pleasant one.

"I understand you got in a fight during gym class, Jeremy?" Mr. Delmas inquired.

"My son told me that one of the boys beat him up and broke his glasses!" Dad barked. "Why aren't you punishing them?"

"I was asking your son, Michael, not you," Mr. Delmas snapped. "Jeremy, if there is a problem, you can tell me. I'm your principal, my job is to keep gifted kids like you safe."

I felt my 10-year old self sniffle and nod, showing off my broken glasses and bruises. "Nikolas Poliakoff pushed me to the ground and Herve Pichon stole my glasses and broke them. They said it was for not doing their homework."

Mr. Delmas frowned and leaned back in his chair. "I'll deal with this situation, Jeremy, but no more outbursts from you, either. You must not escalate a problem, no matter what."

Just then, the scene shifted to me being seated at the supercomputer, watching the time when X.A.N.A. had purged my friends from Lyoko and had no one to stop him from using the Scyphozoa to kill Aelita to get the Keys to Lyoko and free himself from the supercomputer. It agonized me to watch that monster drain her life from her, but I knew that Franz Hopper – or rather, Waldo Schaeffer – had saved his daughter and Lyoko.

But when the light came and went again, I felt a different kind of pain. I could see my parents in the car as we were driving along the road. I was 7 years old and going to my first junior robotics competition in downtown Paris. My younger brother and baby sister were in the back seat next to me, and I heard him giggle as the car went over some speed bumps.

"Here's to a new generation of Belpois, my dear!" Dad smiled.

"Hear, hear!" Mom added.

I wanted to smile, but I knew all too well what was coming. As we went through an intersection, someone ran the red light and slammed right into our car, sending it spiraling out of control and into a building. I looked around when we stopped, and could see that my parents were okay –covered in glass and quite a bit of bleeding, but not dead – but my brother and sister had been hurled out of the broken windows and into the street.

"Oh my God!" a woman cried.

"Someone call the paramedics!" a man cried, going for his cell phone.

The scene shifted to a hospital where I sat alone, waiting for news about my parents and siblings. Just then, a doctor came out and took me into the room, where I saw my parents in hospital beds, injured but alive. My brother looked like he nearly died, with a thick neck brace and bandages all over his small body.

"I'm sorry, Mr. and Mme. Belpois," the doctor said, bowing his head, "but your baby girl's seat flew out of the car and landed on the ground with her on the bottom. I'm afraid…we lost her."

My eyes welled up with tears, as did my parents, and I backed away. As soon as I did, the "doctor" shapeshifted into Zorin Blitz and smiled evilly at me.

"Oh, such a bright, young talent, you are…" she grinned as she brought her scythe to my arms. "But what good is a robot making man…without his good hand!?"

I screamed as Zorin's scythe chopped my right hand off and I tumbled backwards, wailing in pain unimaginable. Zorin then crept up and took out a knife and jammed it into my right eye, crying out in even more unbearable agony. My body fell to the ground, curled up in a torrent of pain and torment beyond compare. I could barely even comprehend what was happening around me due to the immense levels of pain I was now in.

"Poor pathetic baby boy…miss your little sister?" Zorin teased sadistically. My remaining eye went wide with fear, and I could feel Death's hand on my shoulder as she raised her scythe, ready to finish me off. "If you vant to see her so badly…I'll send you to join her!"

"You first, bitch!" a voice called out, and Zorin was shot in the face, freeing me from her grip and shattering the illusion.

I screamed as I collapsed to the ground and looked around me. I could see Aelita wide eyed with fury as she shot at Zorin, and Pip had Seras slung over his shoulder. I then gasped in horror, for now Seras was missing her left arm and her eyes looked like they had been sliced out. I realized that Zorin had done that to her while I was in my own trance and cursed myself for being unable to help her.

"Jeremy, hurry!" Aelita cried as she took out a grenade and threw it at Zorin. It instantly blew up and we used the smoke for cover. Several of the recovered Wild Geese threw more smoke grenades to cover our trail. I slowly stumbled to my feet, grabbing my severed right hand with my left, and made a tourniquet on my right hand's stump to stop the bleeding. It was hard without my depth perception, but I made it work, and fashioned an eyepatch out of my torn shirt.

"Captain, hurry it up!" Jaffe cried out.

"The mansion's a bust, let's go!" Herbert added, waving his arms.

As we trudged through the halls of the ruins of Hellsing manor, Aaelita noticed my hand and eyepatch and gasped. "Oh my God, did she do that to you!?"

I grunted in pain and nodded, gritting my teeth as I tried to not focus on the fact that I was now one hand short. I felt a Tarantula come and Aelita put me on its strong back as we trudged through the halls, the Megatank behind us as a shield and backup fire.

"Better losing just a hand zan your arm, I guess," Pip mused, his face scowling. "Sorry I didn't make it in time, Jeremy."

"Ugh, don't mention it," I moaned. "Look at it this way, I kinda look like you now."

"Heh, well, I wouldn't exactly call myself an ideal role model," Pip chuckled softly.

I could hear Seras as she moaned from Pip's shoulder. "Captain Bernadotte…kids…please…run away…save yourself…just leave me behind…"

"I'm being a gentleman," he snipped. "Don't talk back."

Just then, one of the Nazi vampires twitched alive and shot multiple rounds into Pip. I tried to stop it, but my shield was shattered instantly.

"Shit, we got a live one!" Miller called out.

"You asshole!" Herbert cried, shooting and killing the vampire.

I turned to face Pip, and he was still moving forward, carrying Seras. I breathed a sigh of relief.

But that sigh was quickly replaced by a cry of horror. I heard a loud squishy sound, and saw Pip fall to the ground, Zorin's scythe going right through his body.

"Bullseye," she grinned evilly. "Who's laughing now, hero?"

The Wild Geese, Aelita, and myself could only watch in horror as Pip pulled the scythe from his back and laid against the wall. Seras could hear the whole thing as she fell of and crawled on the ground. "Captain Bernadotte?! Say something!"

Pip straightened himself up and pulled out a cigarette, smoking it while chuckling to himself. I could see it in his eye. He knew that he was dying. "Jesus. What a bloody pair. You come charging in to save me, and now…I have to save…you. What the hell."

Seras soon reached Pip and clumsily grabbed onto his shirt. "Why didn't you run away!?" she gasped.

Pip's reply was completely unexpected, as he gently took Seras' head in his hand and brought her up to his face. Her grip loosened as his lips touched hers, and they locked in a surprisingly tender kiss for a full minute. Pip smiled as he pulled himself away. "Finally stole that kiss! Took you being blind to do it, but I got it."

Seras looked both excited, confused, and heartbroken as she slowly realized what was happening. She futilely reached out for Pip, but she missed each time. He gave a soft chuckle, and then glanced up at me and shook his head.

"Sorry about your dad's toys, Jeremy," he said, coughing. "I'll just have to pay him back another day."

I shook my head, starting to cry. "L'eau sous le pont, mon ami. He'll understand when I tell him what you did for me and Aelita."

Pip smiled tenderly and then looked back at his wounded and crying dame. "Hey now, what's with the tears? I had a damn good run Seras," Pip smirked, his eye closed in a strange sort of happiness. "Now… suck my blood. Take me… into yourself so we… can win… this fight…"

I watched with horror and sadness as Pip's last words trailed off and he fell to the ground, his cigarette smoking out as I felt his heartbeat stop. Seras finally reached him and felt his life fade out and howled in pure misery. Aelita and I bowed our heads and signed ourselves.

"Oh God…" Jaffe shook with dread. "The captain…is dead?"

I saw the light of the moon bathe the mansion in its unforgivingly gloomy pall, and I felt the tears flow from my face as well, even from my gouged out eye. I could make out Jaffe, Herbert, Miller, Willingham, Mercer. Erholtz, Andy, and Tony, all with looks of horror and despair at the sight of their fallen leader.

"Just breaks your heart, doesn't it?" Zorin grinned, stepping forward again. "He was a bug, buzzing around my face. Zhat's why I had to swat him down, like a gnat!"

I hissed as I clenched my fist and teeth in anger. I also saw that Seras suddenly tensed as she heard Zorin's words and held Pip's lifeless body in her arm.

"By zhe way, if you thought you killed all of my soldiers in the mansion, you were right. But, we've had some… late arrivals."

I took another look at the heartless vampire, and saw that she was now flanked by several dozen new vampires, all of them armed to the teeth.

"Fuck…more of them!?" Mercer gasped.

"Putain de merde," I swore, coughing up a spot of blood. Fucking Hell, indeed.

"Let's take these bugs, and crush them between our fingers! Such is the death they deserve! The death of an insect!" Zorin smiled as she slammed her tattooed arm on the ground, covering the wall in the strange markings again.

"No, not again…" Miller shuddered, remembering how he was almost killed last time Zorin toyed with his mind.

"Not again!" Herbert hollered. "Enough with this mind-fucking!"

I clutched my head with my one hand and shut my one eye in fear, and I could feel Aelita's hand hold my arm tightly.

"…you called him a gnat, didn't you?" a deep female voice said with rising anger. "YOU CALLED HIM A GNAT."

Suddenly, I felt the air in the room get colder and I saw Seras clutching Pip's body and crying tears of blood. I realized that she spoke up, and looked ready to snap. "You'll pay for this! You'll pay!"

Zorin grinned, but then blinked in surprise as Seras gritted her teeth, and the whole room seemed to stop.

"You're going to pay!" Seras said, raising her head back for a yell. "YOU'LL PAY!"

Baring her vampiric fangs, she bit into Pip's neck and started to suck his blood. I remembered that Pip's last request was for Seras to suck his blood, and I could see that the effects were instant. All of the blood in the whole room oozed towards the young Draculina, and her entire body glowed with an aura of pure and utter darkness. So much of the blood went into and around her, that her torn honey mustard yellow uniform now was repaired and dyed a dark crimson. I could see that Zorin's army looked very unnerved by this, and the rest of us – Aelita, the Wild Geese, and myself – were a bit scared as well. None of us had ever seena true vampire feed before. Sure, we saw Millennium's soldiers eat almost all of the Wild Geese, but this was the real deal, the apprentice of Alucard himself.

After what seemed like forever, Seras stopped drinking and stood up. From the stump of her left arm, a massive tendril of dark energy swirled into life, reminiscent of Alucard's energy when we saw him taking down Rip van Winkle on the battleship. Bu the really scary part was when her eyes opened.

I didn't make a mistake.

Her eyes had suddenly reformed, but instead of their old sky blue color, they were now a gleaming dull red, matching her uniform. Zorin recoiled in horror, and I could see the illusion walls around us shattering like glass, the shards falling on the floor, breaking apart and disappearing altogether. Seras then looked at Pip's body on the ground and narrowed her eyes in determination.

"Thank you, Captain," she said, her voice sounding like multiple Serases speaking at once. "Rest in peace…but not yet! Not yet!" She whipped her energy tentacle arm and glared at Zorin and her army.

"Vhat's going on?" one of the Nazi vampires gasped. "She broke Zorin's spell!"

"I did what you told me," Seras growled, "and in return you're going to help me…send these Nazis to hell!"

I took a moment to observe the ranks of Zorin – who charged through grenades and gunfire without hesitation – all starting to sweat and look ready to soil themselves at the sight of Seras' transformation. "So this is how a vampire is born," I mused to myself. "Born in blood and fury."

Seras screamed like…well, like a monster as she charged at the enemy.

"Open fire! EVERYONE SHOOT!" the Millennium soldiers cried, but dozen by dozen they were slaughtered by the new and improved Seras Victoria, much to the shock and horror of their previously unfettered commander. Eventually, she reached Zorin herself, who tried to use her scythe, but it was knocked out of her hands and fell to the ground. They tussled for a long time, and Zorin tried punching Seras, but she bit Zorin's fingers off – not her tattooed hand, but the same hand of mine she cut off, I noticed – and spat the fingers out.

"Even if I were about to die, I wouldn't drink a single goddamn drop of your evil blood!" Seras hissed. "I DON'T WANT YOU INSIDE OF ME!"

Zorin roared in defiance and grabbed Seras' head with her tattooed hand, grinning. "Hehe, that's it! Let's go deeper! Even deeper!" Zorin pushed Seras' head back as she tried to invade her mind. "Yes, take it! Show me your pain!"

But suddenly, Zorin stopped, her face looking shocked. "What's happening? Why can't I go deeper in her head? These aren't her memories! Everything's all scattered and disarrayed! It's like these other fucking memories are protecting her!"

I was confused for a moment, but I soon saw an image in Seras' new appendage: the face of Pip Bernadotte, smiling as he gave Zorin the middle finger.

"It's him!" Zorin realized. "That arrogant mercenary! That goddamn gnat!"

As soon as she said, this Zorin quickly lost her grip, allowing Seras to grab Zorin's head, slam it against the wall and grind it all the way against the hall wall.

"How does it feel having someone fuck with your head!?" Seras roared. "HOW DOES IT FEEL, YOU BITCH!?"

I had to fight the urge to vomit at this gruesome display. Zorin's head gradually grinded away to nothing, chunks of skin flying off and blood spreading all over the walls. The animosity and ferocity were both extremely cathartic for what Zorin did, and also haunting that it was coming from someone as normally mild-mannered as Seras.

"How can that be…the same sweet girl we knew before?" Jaffe gasped.

"It's like…she's a raging monster that went on its first rampage," Miller added.

As Zorin's headless body tumbled to the ground, her arm suddenly shot of and grabbed my face, much to everyone's shock. I had no time to even gasp as her tattooed hand covered my face, blinding my last eye. I could feel Zorin's voice in my mind, trying to break me further.

"Jeremy, no!" I heard Aelita cry, but her and other cries of the Wild Geese soon faded away.

I blinked and I found myself floating in a huge empty void with windows everywhere showing a part of my life. Zorin was in front of me, looking like she had never been injured. I knew that it was just an illusion, but it was still more than enough to scare me.

"I'm not done yet, little boy!" her voice echoed as she stretched her arms out. "Now show me your pain!"

All of a sudden, new images flashed in my mindspace. I could see a machine assembly plant, some tall and very vicious-looking robots being built, images of me and my friends, my old friend William looking tortured and in extreme pain, and finally, an icon I knew all too well.

"That's my mind you're messing with, freak," a voice called out. "And I want you out."

Zorin gasped in surprise and I turned around to see a face I saw in my nightmares for years. He was a boy about my age, with shaggy grey hair and a fairly muscular build. He had almost an exact copy of my face, but without my glasses. Visually, he looked like he had my face, my friend William's body, and Aelita's father's hairstyle and color. But his eyes were the most distinguishing part. His pupils had four lash-like markings in them: one on the top of his pupil, and three on the bottom.

"X.A.N.A." I hissed, not wanting to see the malevolent AI in my mind again. I detested the fact that he was now a part of me, but I knew I had to do it to save Aelita.

"What zhe hell are you?" Zorin gawked, clearly confused.

"Blood may be the currency of the soul for vampires," X.A.N.A. began, "but for an artificial intelligence like myself, I prefer to attach myself to a more…sensitive system. You see, I am a computer virus trapped in this boy's mind, and thus I need his mind alive to survive. You wish to terminate him, so for the purpose of my said survival, it is only logical that I terminate you. I find it amazing that Seras Victoria was unable to do it herself, but I underestimated your durability." X.A.N.A. then turned to me and saw me holding my severed right hand in my left hand. "Looks like you've seen better days."

"Don't start with me," I warned, narrowing my only eye.

"I'm not here to snark," X.A.N.A. shook his head. "I'm here to help. I share this body with you, so it's my job to keep it at optimal condition." He then cracked his knuckles and took my chopped off hand. "Now, watch this."

What happened next was hard to describe. X.A.N.A. walked right into me, and his whole body seemed to merge with mine, turning me into a convulsing mess of living static before Zorin's shocked face. But when the static went away, I stood before her, X.A.N.A.'s eyes in both of mine, and my hand restored to my arm.

I then spoke, with X.A.N.A.'s voice as well as mine: "Va te faire foutre."

The mind space shattered, and Zorin's real body flew backwards, bursting into flames as it hit the ground like all of Millennium's other soldiers. "It's French for 'fuck off'," I spat at Zorin's burning corpse.

I breathed a sigh of relief and turned around and looked at Aelita.

"Jeremy, you're all better!" she cried and ran forward, seeing my fixed hand and eye and flinging her arms around me.

"Well, I guess X.A.N.A. couldn't afford his precious body to lose anything," I admitted.

We then looked at Sers, who stood over Pip's body, a somber look on her face before she turned to the window. "I'm heading out."

"Heading out? But where is there to go?" Jaffe gulped, still stunned.

Seras paused, but replied, "He told me…to drink him in, so we could win this fight." She then turned around and gave a soft smile which reminded me of Pip. "And now, I think the Captain and I are only getting started."

"Inside?" Jaffe repeated, stunned, but then looked at Pip's body. Slowly, his face showed that he understood what was happening.

Seras then looked at Aelita and me, seeing the change in me. "Looks like I'm not the only one who got a boost today."

"Well, I guess vampires aren't the only ones who can regrow limbs and eyes," I shrugged. "I guess there's a lot more to learn about X.A.N.A. than I thought."

Seras gave a small laugh and we nodded to each other, preparing to leave the mansion.

"One last thing," Jaffe said, and we turned to see the eight surviving members of the Wild Geese stand straight and salute us all. "Thanks, sirs."

"Sirs," Herbert nodded.

"We owe you our lives," Miller added.

"And we would lay them down for you again in a heartbeat," Willingham saluted.

"Thank you for your service," Tony, Andy, and Mercer all said in unison. Erholtz nodded as well.

Seras, Aelita, and I nodded, and I saluted them. "We're the ones who should thank you."

We all turned to face the hole in the wall where a window was, and I smiled, gazing into the oncoming sunrise. I looked at my two friends and smiled. "Let's give them Hell."

We dashed forward and leaped out the hole, Seras using her energy tentacle to fly herself in a zig-zag direction, while Aelita and I called on our powers from X.A.N.A. Aelita's dark pink energy wings sprouted and carried her at light speed, while my own wings, which were almost black, shot me close behind her. Like a bow drawn taught, we sped back to England, for a raid upon the morn. The sun was coming to slay the night, and so did we fly, to slay the nightmare.

A/N: As you could probably guess, I decided to take a page or three from Team Four Star with the names of the WG, and a few of the lines too, just to enhance the original. But I do like that fact that my characters can save a few of the WG and still not be total Sues. Sorry to all Jeremy fans like me if I went crazy with Jeremy's mutilation and his nightmare of having his baby sister bite the dust, but I had to give Zorin something to munch on and for Jeremy to call on X.A.N.A.

The next part is coming...soon-ish...I hope.

Please support me on Facebook, Twitter, and !

-Francis Xavyer logging off!