Wings of the Damned

Sapphirewyren

Chapter 8: With Great Power….

Streets of Rome

The young woman ran down the street looking back now and then, to see if the men were still chasing her. She could hear their shouts as they clumsily bumped into other pedestrians. The woman on the other hand gracefully dodged obstacles, keeping her paces ahead in front of her pursuers, but they were a resilient bunch. The woman's name was Elsa and she was a 'citizen vampire' or daywalker. Ever since Enrico Maxwell was elected Pope, she started to notice some strange things going on. But that was the least of her problems right now. Her problem right now was that she had caught her pursuers in her apartment when she had come home from work. They must have gone there to kidnap her, but their timing was off. She had run out of the building with the men hot on her tail. As Elsa ran, she thought back on the last couple of months, tolerance for her kind had sunk to an all-time low. Why should a vampire run from humans? Even one as weak as she was still stronger than a human. But fear of being exterminated caused her to keep running instead of standing her ground and fighting. As Elsa turned a corner, she looked despairingly at the huge brick wall that indicated a dead end. She could now see the men that were chasing her. Seeing the manhole, Elsa lifted the cover off and jumped down into the stinking sewers. When the men reached the spot, they saw her last, there was nobody there. "Where the hell did that skank go?" asked one man.

"How am I supposed to know? I was behind you" a second man snapped.

A third man knelt down near the manhole and pointed "She probably jumped down there. I'm not going in there." The others agreed with nods of their heads.

"I told you that we were too early, but you said…." stated the first man.

"Shut up! He's gonna be pissed!"

"Just tell him, she never came home, that's all it's not like he's gonna know."

"Yeah what he doesn't know won't hurt him."

Hellsing Manor- Early Morning

Integra was in the middle of dreamless sleep, her idea of a perfect sleep, it was disturbed when a super excitable draculina burst into the bedroom and plopped onto the bed, all the while shouting, "Sir! Wake up! Wake up!" Integra tried to ignore her, but that became impossible when Seras started to shake her. Why didn't Sam tell her to go away? Integra sat up groggily, "I'm up, I'm up. The house had better be on fire." Holding up the morning newspaper an inch away from her boss' face, Seras said, "It's much worse."

What could be worse than her mansion burning down? "Seras, the newspaper is too close to my face" sighed Integra.

"Sorry Sir. I thought, well you know, since you wear glasses…."

Integra took the newspaper from Seras and read the article. She reread it again to make sure that she wasn't reading it wrong. Then she gave the paperback to Seras without a word.

"What did it say?" asked Sam "Let me see" Seras laid the newspaper down on the bed in front of the tigress and tried not to giggle at the sight of a big cat reading a newspaper.

"Sir, what are we going to do?"

"There's nothing to do, I just hope I don't get any bloody phone calls about it."

"Pope Enrico Maxwell becomes the new leader of the Republic of Italy. Official title: Holy Father of Italy…"

Integra sighed, who the heck thought that making Enrico a leader of a country was a good idea? She had a feeling that some sort of manipulation played a role in this 'election'. As well as he stayed in his pathetic little country and didn't cross over into Great Britain, Integra could care less. He would probably do something ridiculous that would get him killed anyway. Integra smirked as she got out of bed, today probably wouldn't be so much of a nightmare after all. Seeing her boss smile, Seras was not sure she liked that. Turning to the tigress who was still reading, Seras said, "Sam, how do you turn the pages with your….um…"

"You mean these?" Sam asked lifting a large white paw. "That's easy. Like this." The paw then shifted into a human hand. Seras looked surprised, "I should have known."

Rome

Like every leader, Maxwell was experiencing problems in his regime, mostly because of his super strict rules. Some which consisted of a 10:00 pm curfew, no one could be out after said time, unless they had official permission to do so. Only people such as firefighters and police officers were exempt and had a special pass that stated so. Another one of his not so popular rules were the mandatory mass at 9:00 am every day. This was Enrico's way of solving the attendance problem. Every Catholic family was entered in an online registry and secret cameras were placed in houses made sure that people were not playing hooky from church. And since it was mentioned in the Bible that one-third of one's income must be given to the church; a mandatory donation among working people was also enforced. Enrico despised drinking and so bars, clubs, and any businesses that served alcoholic beverages were shut down. Restaurants were the only places allowed to serve alcohol and then it was only wine made in Italy. Customers were only allowed two glasses of wine. If someone somehow managed to get drunk, they had their tongues removed. Some people tried to have parties and clubbing in their basements, they were arrested and tossed into jail. Speaking of entertainment, the only music that was allowed was classical music and solemn religious music, none of that Kirk Franklin or Mary Mary.

If these rules were not bad enough, citizens were not allowed to leave the country. Sure, they could go on vacation, but no longer than 2 weeks, for fear they would not come back. And if they did stay for an unpermitted amount of time, special forces were sent to bring them back. Trying to leave, sedition, or rebellion in any way was punishable by death by firing squad which was televised publicly. You could be watching a TV show and it would be interrupted by some sod being executed for 'treason'. Most of the time, though the people didn't know it, was that most of the 'traitors' simply complained about the rules of what was called the 'Maxwell Regime', Just like the people in the U.S. would complain about the government. So how did Enrico know who was complaining? Secret police. These people were everywhere, listening in on conversations, making sure that these complaints didn't turn into plans to overrun the new thearchy government. The secret police took it a step further, by casually starting conversations and tricking people into complaining until people became smart enough not to grumble out loud. Soon people couldn't trust even their friends for fear that they were secret police.

In a small town, outside of Rome, a large silver van with Iscariot Organization written on it pulled up to one of the houses. Several men jumped out and went to houses' front door and their leader pounded on the door, "Open this door immediately!" after several minutes, the door was opened by a small woman. "We are here for Enzo Capelli!" barked the leader. "He's…he's not here" the woman stuttered.

"We know he is here, you can either send him out now or we will drag him out!"

"Please! Please don't! He's my only son! He's just a boy!"

"You know the law! The eldest male of every Catholic family is required to give their life to God by serving in the Iscariot Organization."

"He's so young! He's only 17!"

Several soldiers pushed past the woman and stormed into her house. Minutes later they were dragging a youth out of the door. "Mama! Help! I don't want to go!" wailed Enzo. When the mother reached for her son, the leader hit the woman on her head with the butt of his rifle. "Mama!" Enzo struggled harder until he too received a blow to the gut with a rifle. "It's no use struggling boy. You should be glad to be serving as God's weapon." The woman wept as her son was thrown into the van and taken away. Not everyone was dragged kicking and screaming, some joined voluntarily out of fear, and some parents even alerted the Iscariot Organization of the eligible sons for fear that withholding them would bring about some severe punishment.

Several days later in Verona, there was a horrible vampire attack. As Teodora's mother was tucking her into bed, a berserk day walker crashed through the window of her room. The woman grabbed her daughter and threw her out the door. With one prey gone, the monster lunged for the mother and tore her throat out. The little girl didn't look back as she ran towards her parents' bedroom, but could hear her mother's screams as she died. "Papa! Mommy's hurt!" When Teodora reached the bedroom, she saw two more day walkers feasting on what was left of her father. She screamed and ran towards the stairs. The monsters seemed to be everywhere, the little girl turned. Suddenly the front door was knocked off its hinges and men wearing black swarmed the house, dropping the monsters left and right. Teodora could only sit on the floor and wail miserably at the horrendous destruction around her. One of the men picked her up and speaking in a gentle voice said, "Don't cry little one. All the nasty monsters are gone now."

"What about mama and papa?"

The man shook his head, "They are with God now." This was of no comfort to the little girl and she started crying again. The man placed Teodora in a van with other crying children, more casualties of the attacks. They would be placed with relatives, those without would go to the orphanage.

Later at the Vatican, Bishop Andreas Salvaggio, the man to replace Father Castenello, made his report to Enrico and his council. "Earlier tonight would count as a failure. There were numerous casualties."

"The whole point of this was to prevent that!" roared Enrico.

"The serum makes these monsters too unpredictable to control. The men don't even want to go near them. Perhaps a lower dosage would…."

"No! These monsters should have no memories at all of what they have done!" exclaimed Ricci. "The last thing we need is one to escape and blab to anyone."

"This is not right! Talks are going around the barracks of leaving!"

Enrico glared at the man and sneered, "Perhaps you should remind them that such talks are considered treason." The other cardinals nodded their heads and Bianchi said, "Also remind them what happens to traitors."

A couple of days previously a man Bartolomeo had been lamenting the new laws of Italy, saying how Enrico had fooled the people and was a wolf in sheep's clothing. He also mentioned that he thought that the new "Holy Father of Italy" was a fishy person, who was not trustworthy. Of course after saying that, Bartolomeo went missing. His friends asked about and didn't want to believe that the secret police would arrest a half-drunk man. But the next time anyone saw Bartolomeo, it was on television live. He was chained to a wall that had bullet holes and large blood stains from previous use. It made matters worse when people saw that his entire household alongside him, including his six-year-old daughter. A narrator speaking in a monotone voice said; "…. This man Bartolomeo Casala and his family have been caught in the act of treason. Listen citizens of Italy acts of treason, betrayal, and sedition are prohibited and is punishable by death." And when the signal was given, the firing squad turned Bartolomeo and his family into swiss cheese. Though this terrible scene frightened many people into paralysis, except one man. Through the shadows of the late night, the man moved like a cat with a mission. His destination: the Vatican City. He made it over the walls and headed towards the renovated Papal Palace. The man wanted one thing; the one thing the people couldn't obtain: the truth. He was sure something was going on and he would get to the bottom of it. He came to a room with a door labeled "Archives", this was a good place to start if any and he smiled at how primitive the lock was. Once inside he hacked into one of the computers and an image of a cardinal popped up on the screen, his name was revealed; Giovanni Piero and next to his name, in big bold letters was the word; "traitor". Enrico had found out that he was an inside man for none other than his hated enemy, Hellsing. As much as Enrico wanted to have the man put to death, he was still wary of her warning. Of course, now it would be even harder for Integra to convince anyone that Enrico was undead, but she already knew this and she didn't care about convincing people. Enrico was glad he caught Piero before all the new law changes, so he had nothing to tell Hellsing. The spy was sent back to England with Enrico's warning that if any more spies were found, he would not be so lenient the next time, to this which Integra laughed.

Though this was good information, it was not what the man was looking for. He sifted through many meaningless data until he found something. It was about the newly executed Bartolomeo and his family. After the execution, the next day newspapers had 'evidence' that Bartolomeo was a traitor; from excerpts of secret phone calls, suspicious emails, and even pictures with unknown people to plot against the regime. Of course, all this was a bunch of bollocks and Bartolomeo's friends knew he was not that type of man. But the rest of the country believed what the newspaper said. Sure, Enrico had some strange laws but he would never lie to them. Right? What was in Bartolomeo's file was his real history and after copying the file to a portable drive, the man left a present of his own: another portable drive into one of the main servers so that he could have remote access to the Vatican information. He also left a silver business card that said: THE SILVER MASK.

The next day, the better part of Italy woke up to what they thought was snow. Upon closer investigation, they realized that the white stuff on the ground were pamphlets. On the pamphlets at the very top in blood black letters it read: THE TRUTH and it told the story Bartolomeo Casala as a loving father of four, a devoted husband, who went to church every day before it was mandatory and a hard worker at a small business. This paper told the story of his wife and their children and their hopes and dreams. And how some crazy lunatic decided that they could no longer live because they did not agree with a couple of rules. There was no talk of devious plots and suspicious behavior of sedition. With this new information bought to light, many people were torn. Who was right?

One of the guards found the calling card and with the pamphlet gave it to Maxwell, and boy he was livid. "How did an intruder get in here without anyone knowing!?" The people around him couldn't answer that question, so they stared in another direction or shuffled their feet. "If this 'Silver Mask' person was able to get this information, imagine what else he stole!" The enraged Enrico paced back and forth, this was something he feared. This Silver Mask character could ruin everything. He turned to the guard and yelled, "I want you to find this Silver Mask and bring them to me!" As the guard left, he sighed that was easier said than done. Anyone could be the vigilante, even someone inside the Vatican. The Swiss Guard and the police were unsuccessful in finding the masked man, so they offered a hefty reward for any information that would lead to his capture. Over the next couple of weeks, this Silver Mask would be the bane to Enrico. People would call in to say saw a person wearing a silver mask, but once they looked away, he disappeared. More pamphlets appeared every time there was an execution. Enrico didn't care about the pamphlets until they started to reveal information about the citizen vampires and other recent monster attacks. Soon anyone caught with one was arrested and cleanup crews worked overtime to make sure none of these pamphlets got into the hands of citizens.

"It had to be that Protestant whore!" raged Enrico. "Who else would it be?"

Bianchi scratched his chin, "Are you sure?"

"OF COURSE, I'M SURE!"

"If this was Hellsing's doing, don't you think she would be kicking down the front door?"
"Well, I haven't thought about that…."

"I have an idea" Romano declared "Why don't we throw the people of Italy a party?"

Enrico stared at the man as if he went off the deep end. "A what?"

"A party. Get out there and meet the people. Show the people that all of the things this Silver Mask is spouting are untruths."

"Great idea, Stefano!" said Ricci happily "Right now the people are only getting this Silver Mask's side of things." Enrico thought about it, even though he wasn't one for carousing, this seemed like a solid idea. This could counteract all the lies this Silver Mask was spreading and could boost the morale of the country. With the people's morale boosted, he wouldn't have to worry about treason and secret plots. And he could remind them of who was protecting the country. So, Enrico finally agreed to it. This would be the biggest party that Italy has ever seen.

Meanwhile in London, the members of the Iron Grin were done lying low and were ready to strike, but who and where would be their first target? Iris wanted to make sure that Duncan and his team were properly avenged.

Chapter End

Author's Notes: Wow these chapters are pretty short, but I guess that makes it less daunting to read. Who knew Enrico knew how to throw a party? What will the Iron Grin plan and will it succeed this time? Join us next time for another awesome chapter.