Wings of The Damned

Sapphirewyren

Chapter 7: Consequences

Disclaimer: I do not own Hellsing

Author's Notes: I got some not so good news, I will not be updating the "Alucard Discovers" and the "Enrico" series, so I can focus on the rest of this story and part 3 of the "Winds of Change" series. However, I am also working on two new series "The Diary of a Hellsing Butler" and "The (Mis)Adventures of Doggycard", so the news is not all bad. Okay on to the story.

Charlotte sat in her chair with her knees up to her chin, while hugging her legs. She couldn't stop the tears no matter how hard she tried and no matter how many times she tried to blink them back. The monarch looked at what used to be a pristine room was now filled with bodies, blood, and bullet casings. It had happened so fast, Charlotte was still trying to comprehend what had happened. The first thing she had heard was yelling and gunfire outside her room and then at least five men dressed in black military armor burst into her room while tossing the bodies of her guards at her feet. At the same moment, several more men crashed through the windows. They had come to kidnap her and had expected it to be a simple job, but they met an unexpected variable: Integra Hellsing. With the protectiveness of a mother grizzly bear, she had placed herself in front of the Queen and without preamble started firing her Beretta at the men who had come through the door and a Sig Sauer sent the intruders who had come through the window, back through the same windows. The commander's aim had been deadly; there were no survivors among the would-be kidnappers. During the long silence that followed, Charlotte had prayed someone heard the commotion and called the police. Then the sound of a ringing cell phone shattered the silence, like icicles falling to the pavement. Integra fished the cell phone out of one of the dead men's pockets and put it on speaker. Iris's voice could be heard, "Duncan, did you secure the package? Duncan?"

"Package? Is that any way to refer to Her Majesty? Do try to show some respect!" Iris' face must have been one of utter shock when she realized who it was that answered Duncan's phone.

"Integra Hellsing, to what do I owe the pleasure?"

"That's Sir Hellsing to you, garbage. Your little plan to abduct the Queen has failed, quite miserably."

"Where's Duncan and the team?" Iris now sounded a little frantic, which made Integra smirk.

"Have you ever shot a ghoul?"

"What does that have to do with anything? Where's Duncan?"

"I assure you, it has everything to do with this situation. Have you ever shot a ghoul?"

There was a pause before the Iron Grin leader answered, "Yes, I have once. So where is the team?"

"And where would you aim to kill a ghoul?"

"What is this '20 Questions'? Where is Duncan's team!?"

"Answer my question."

"You'd aim for the head to a kill a ghoul! There I answered your fucking question!"

"Now you know where Duncan is."

With that Integra dropped the phone on the floor and stomped on it.

"What the bloody hell happened in here!?" came the booming voice of the chief of the Scotland Yard, Goddard Pemberton.

"Those Iron Grin idiots tried to kidnap Her Majesty-and failed."

"I can't believe those wankers would go so far! How do you know they were the Iron Grin?"

"I just had a pleasant chat with their leader, who seemed to be very concerned about the whereabouts of the team."

Integra and Goddard turned both turned to the stunned queen who was still in the same position since the incident.

"Poor lass, she must be shocked completely," Chief Pemberton said softly. A female officer approached the queen and tapped her gently on the shoulder. The Queen jumped a mile high before realizing that she was merely being escorted from the ghastly scene. As Integra gazed around the room, she couldn't comprehend what would induce the Iron Grin to go to such extremes. It seemed most likely their reason was to force her to have Parliament give citizen vampires more rights and freedom from the 'extermination law'. Integra shook her head, these idealistic fools had no idea what they were messing with. Even if they were weaker than the average vampire, these 'citizen vampires' were still stronger than humans and were still monsters. Giving them rights was the same as giving a rabid dog free reign over a local dog park, only bad things could happen.

Iron Grin Headquarters

Iris stared at the phone in her hand; she had tried to get in touch with Duncan and the team, to start the next phase of the plan, only to get the Hellsing commander on the phone instead. She knew that could not be possibly good, Duncan always answered his phone. This concerned Iris very much and she got the bad news about the team after answering a bunch of annoying questions. That woman was such a bitch! Why couldn't she just tell Iris straight what had happened? The young Irish woman grabbed her helmet and jumping on her scooter sped towards Buckingham Palace.

When she reached her destination, the scene was chaotic. Police cars, SWAT trucks and news vans were everywhere, parked haphazardly. Officers ran back and forth trying to keep the media and curious onlookers from crossing the bright yellow tape strewn across the gates. Iris could see several coroner vans and remembering what Integra had told her previously made her heart sink. She saw several men wheeling out body bags on gurneys. Iris turned to a short woman next to her and asked, "What's going on?" The woman looked at her with askance before answering, "A group of idiots attacked the Palace."

A man overhearing the question stated, "That's not all, they say they tried to kidnap Her Majesty!"

The woman gasped, "How dare they!"

Iris queried, "Do they know who it was?" Both the man and the woman shook their heads. A teen chomping on a large wad of bubblegum supplied the answer, "It was that group of vampire humpers, the Iron Grin." Iris ground her teeth at the derisive term used to describe her group. The teen continued, "Who else could it be? They've been harassing the Queen and Parliament to let the CVs have rights or some crap like that."

"CVs?" the woman asked.

"Yeah citizen vampires, even though I don't consider them citizens."

The man interjected, "Damn look at all those body bags. What the hell happened?"

What indeed had happened? The guards that were usually stationed at the gates of Buckingham Palace were not around, meaning that the team had taken them out. Iris tried to hold out some tiny part of hope that maybe even some members of the team survived. Just then Chief Pemberton and Integra exited the building. While the mob of people pressed even closer shouting questions and taking pictures, Iris stood rooted to the spot as she gazed at the Hellsing leader for the first time. Like everyone else that met Integra, the first thing they noticed was the indomitable, commanding aura that she had. As Iris stood staring at this imposing woman in the elegant grey and black suit, it took her minutes to realize that she was staring in the commander's icy sapphire eyes. "Oh crap! She saw me!" thought Iris. The thought of running came to Iris's mind, but that would probably be a bad idea. Integra glared at her for a couple of minutes but then continued walking as if nothing happened and for all the crowd knew, nothing did. Iris breathed a sigh of relief; she NEVER wanted to do that again. The rumors about that Hellsing woman did NOT do her justice. The gates were opened by the SWAT officers, to let Integra get to a nearby waiting car. Even with the mob clambering about her, the director walked on as if no one was there, ignoring all questions. She got into the car without a backward glance and left.

Chief Pemberton said; "Tonight Her Majesty, the Queen was attacked by several members of the terrorist group known as the Iron Grin. Fortunately, their plan failed and the Queen is safe. At this moment, Her Majesty is in shock from the ordeal, but otherwise, she is unhurt. The cause of this heinous attack is unknown and I am very sure that the Hellsing Organization is on the hunt for the leader of this group. Information to the press will be released as Hellsing sees fit. That is all." Pemberton also ignored all questions shouted at him as he retreated behind the gate. Leaving Hellsing to decide whether to release information to the press meant that there wouldn't be any such thing. As Iris made her way back to where she parked her scooter, she knew that even if the Hellsing director knew what she looked like, she would have her revenge for the team's deaths.

Vatican City

The attempted abduction of the Queen of England made news worldwide. Enrico laughed at the group's failure. He did not feel sorry for that Hellsing whore. Dealing with those Iron Grin degenerates would keep her too busy to stick her nose in his business. Some people sympathized with the citizen vampires in Italy, but not on the crazy scale that Britain had. But Enrico had bigger things to worry about. He had fired more than three-quarters of the botched group that the fool Father Castenello had hired. Those who had criminal backgrounds, he sent to prison and the rest were told to leave. Enrico decided that those who signed up to join the Swiss Guard and did not make it would join the Iscariot Organization and over the last five months, the barracks were filled with Catholic, disciplined young men. Enrico didn't see a reason to pay them, as they would be housed, fed, and clothed. They would always have a full armory, so there was no need for paychecks. Their pay would be the glory of entering the kingdom of God. On their time off there was training and prayers. Card playing, gambling, and drinking were found to be unnecessary and were therefore forbidden. The soldiers had to sign a ten-year contract and of course, Father Castenello objected to this loudly and rather vulgarly for a priest. So, Enrico had him transferred to a church in a distant village in the countryside of Italy, he would spend the rest of his life there.

But the newly hired troops had to deal with a steady rise in 'citizen vampire' attacks. Whether they were frustrated with their conditions or their true nature finally awoken, it didn't matter to Enrico, they were to be exterminated. The Italian government had essentially given up on hunting vampires due to the lack of knowledge or ineptitude long before Enrico became Pope and this frustrated the people. They felt that those who were running the country were not fit to lead and they were looking for a new leader. Of course, Enrico would not nominate himself outright, instead of in his homilies, he preached against citizen vampires, sympathized with the people, and their problems with the current government, meanwhile reminding the people who were truly protecting them. The result was exactly what Enrico expected, first, there were whispering in houses, then talk on the internet blogs and soon protests in the streets. The people were soon screaming for a change in government. Government officials couldn't go anywhere without being mobbed, having foodstuffs thrown at them, assaulted, and even having their houses broken into. Soon it became so bad that the government decided to give Enrico an advisory role with some power. They were not willing to step down just yet. But any 'advice' given by Enrico was put on the back burner and this angered the Pope. The people were also angry when they learned what was happening and the riots began all over again. The people were demanding that the young Pope become the leader of the country. And while Enrico in all his 'humility' declined, he did however say he was willing to do anything to maintain peace and security among the people of Italy. However, others argued that to give that much power to the Catholic church was going backward and those of different religions would be shoved out of Italy. It would also mean losing tourism and businesses. But another argument was that with citizen vampires going wild, the country was already losing business. It seemed like a battle that was stuck at a stalemate. People around the world had their eyes on Italy to see the outcome of what would happen if the country would remain as it was or become a theocracy.

Chapter End

Author's Note: So, what do you think would happen? And if that could happen in Italy, would it happen everywhere? How will others take it? Will Enrico get what he wants? Will the chapters be longer? Find out in the next chapter. Hope you enjoyed it!