Schraubenförmig

Disclaimer: I do not own Hellsing. I do not own the stuffs I'll be using in the future. I do not own very much at all except for these ideas. And I do not like eggs whether yellow or green (well, not really. If I have ketchup I don't mind too much), Sam, I am.

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Chapter Eight: die Rahmenerzählung

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Integra watched the top of her desk that had been vacant from files and paper work for the past hour or so, leaving the rich wood to be exposed. She hadn't taken her gaze from there since then, but wasn't examining it or paying it any attention. Her mind was in deep thought, going over and over again on just one thing: Seras Victoria, Alucard's former fledgling, and all situations that were tied to her.

The Hellsing manor and grounds was quiet. There was a break in Freak activities for the past several days, so not much had been going on and the soldiers welcomed it, allowing them to spend a little more time with families. Occasionally there would be trouble with new recruits, but they were small. Currently all of the Organization was on standby. Usually in times like these when it was slow, the monster of monsters, the No Life King named Alucard would pull something due to a boredom that takes a hold of his senses quickly, but nothing had came from him.

Integra knew he wasn't deviously scheming or planning anything either to spring on her or to scare the pants off the soldiers. He had been like this since the incident with Seras.

The days had turned into weeks and soon a month will come to pass with all of them giving no signs or trace that the draculina still existed despite all that they could do. Even Walter's connections turned up with nothing but tiny scant rumors and fabrications that led them to a dead end or no where at all. The people who knew about Seras had suddenly disappeared as well, and it also included Dr. Barnet; Seras' psychiatric therapist.

She curled her fingers that were resting on the arms of the chair inwardly, '...what's more is that Alucard can't seem to find her either, which is what I would be counting on.' Integra then scoffed, 'Amazing. A master can't find his own fledgling that he turned himself, and he's the Count at that.'

The woman paused and then sighed, leaning to one side of her chair, crossing her legs and put her cheek to a fist, '...but, maybe the reason why he can't do it is because he's frustrated...'

A knock came on the door. It echoed through the office like an empty and a ghostly calling weaving through every molecule that made up the air but Integra sat up straight in her chair, "Come in."

The door swung open and Walter came in but halted in his steps to give a slight bow, "Am I disturbing you, Sir Integra?"

"No." She replied, "I was just sitting here is all."

Walter closed the door behind him and came over leisurely to stand in front of her desk, "And you have been up the whole time? My word, it's almost dawn. I think it's best if you get some sleep."

"...'if you want to get somewhere, you must let yourself go'..." Integra spoke softly in a wistful whisper, putting her curled hand that she was leaning on to her mouth.

The elder man blinked at her, "I'm sorry?"

The head of the Hellsing Organization looked up at him, seeming to come out of thought, "Confucius; a Chinese philosopher. That was one of his many quotes: 'if you want to get somewhere, you must let yourself go'."

"May I inquire as to how that came up for you to say?"

"I was thinking about Alucard. He's been quiet more than what I feel comfortable about nowadays. Whenever I do see him, there's always this certain look set deep in his eyes that tells me a lot of things. He's frustrated and getting caught up with himself."

"Ah...you mean him being like that over Miss Victoria." Walter said.

Integra nodded, "Right. He would probably catch a hint or more, being that I believe that his connection with Seras isn't really broken, if he would just ease those feelings, or at least 'let yourself go' as Confucius says."

She then put her hands back down on the arms of the chair again, "How are your injuries, Walter?"

He blinked then smiled a little, idly touching lightly upon his left side where there were numerous bandages underneath his butler uniform, "However slow it may be it is healing well. There is no doubt I will make a full recovery."

"That's good to hear." Integra then put her feet flat on the floor, rising to a stand, stretching her limbs to get at the aches and tenseness of her bodily muscles, "I know information on Seras' whereabouts appear imaginary, but what about her therapist, Dr. Barnet? Did you find anything about him?"

Walter shook his head once from side to side, "None at all, Sir. But, I did find something strange. All the information about Dr. Barnet on record here at Hellsing or anywhere else, even in writing or certification had suddenly been deleted."

She looked up at him, "Deleted? You mean someone has penetrated our technical network system and defenses and encryption? There's nothing even in print about Dr. Barnet?"

"Yes. That includes his history from his birthing to schooling to the present, and even his works can't be found. It's all gone. Even the people listed that he supposedly knew or had associated with whether acquaintance or friend don't seem to be found or exist."

Integra's hand formed a fist, "In other words, we were harboring and sheltering a fraud and a deceiver; a fake."

"My thoughts exactly."

"But whatever information you have put into memory was falsified, correct?"

"Yes." Then the butler tipped his body from the waist up downwards in a bow, "My apologies, Sir Integra. It's not like me to overlook something as this."

Integra waved a hand, "Don't worry about it. It's been years since those records have been in our data base on Dr. Barnet. Even I had somewhat neglected to do my part." She stood straight and put her arms bent at the elbows behind her back, "I'm sure that some of the information was true, considering I have met with a couple of his friends, but since you weren't able to find them I'm thinking that they were either killed or they had something to do with all of this. I feel the second one is the right answer."

She then looked up at Walter, taking out a cigar, "Has anything else been tampered with?"

"Nothing except our historical data base was searched through."

"How so?"

"Apparently they seem to be looking for specific information dating back to the 12th century and later dates. I'm not sure why, but it seems that they were looking at regions in the northern parts of London. They've also skimmed through a portion of our other data, but the foot prints leading into there have been corrupted since that data is rather old and I didn't have a chance to protect them with modernization technology."

Integra had fallen quiet, half-listening to what he said. Her mind was particular focused on one part of his report, '...12th century...regions that dated back to the 12th century...'

Walter glanced up, "Sir Integra?"

"Hm?" She came back into the conversation, putting a curled finger against her lips, "No...it's nothing, Walter. So their path in the system had been corrupted beyond the region viewing. Has anything shown up in the history records? The one that records a person's activities, I mean."

He nodded, "There are two histories: one that can be accessed and one that is invisible without the proper combination of passwords and the order that they're used. The first history had been deleted, but should one try to erase their activities in the second, a trap is all that they'll find after an encryption barrier."

Walter then smiled faintly, "The trap is very complicated, though I believe I shouldn't keep you for very long. Sir Integra needs her rest."

Integra shook her head and waved a hand, "I have time for a short story. Do go on, Walter."

He nodded and continued, "I can't say that this is only of my works. I borrowed previous computer viral aspects from the Bacterium Virus and the Love worm with a tracer. From the Bacterium, I enabled the key board usage to be disabled, over 270 cylinders of the hard drive to be corrupted. I also kept the secondary virus from the original program that allows the Bacterium in my trap to remain undetected."

"From the Love worm, I kept its ability to overwrite all the files in the invader's system. The tracer would be alerted to me and we would know the location. I've also modified all these combinations and made them into a polymorphic virus, which allows the viruses to change physical forms but still keep their objection. That is my trap should anyone try and attempt to touch the second history." Walter said with a little more smile to his lips of both satisfaction and glee.

She raised a brow at him before showing a tiny smirk, "That's quite a story indeed, Walter. So was there an attempt?"

"Yes. The trap had been triggered. However, the tracer had picked up thousands of possible locations not only here in England, but around the world. I, along with a few others, am narrowing them down as quickly as possible."

"How long has it been since you've started this?"

"We've begun to work on it just a few hours ago, Sir Integra."

"Good." Integra walked forward and went to the door, pausing after she opened the door, "I'll head to bed as soon as I have a word with Alucard. Don't work yourself too hard, but make this as quickly as possible. It may have been a week since Seras' disappearance, the mysterious kidnapper, and some other suspicious things...but this is all very upsetting, and it's not just because the Iscariot is close to declaring war with us over the fact that Alexander Anderson is missing as well."

The head of the Hellsing Organization looked back at him, "That will be all, Walter."

Walter stood at attention and bent his body at the waist in respect at her retreating form, "Sir."

-l-

The metal door creaked open and the steel blue eyed woman walked through. Even though it's been a while since she's visited down in the bottom realm of the mansion, Integra could still remember unconsciously just where to go.

Light down here was about as foreign an object as oil to water, yet it was there just for safety purposes when the soldiers had to jog through this dank area numerous times as punishment for anything wrong that they did. With the fear of knowing that one of the most feared monsters dwelled within the Hellsing Organization was suppose to be enough, but being on the same floor and having the highest chances of coming face to face with that monster would put any of the cocky men into line. In the past, a few occasions Walter had to be called on clean-up duty whenever accidents happened where there was suddenly a bowl movement of such kind to what ever troublemaker had the unfortunate chance to run into Alucard himself.

Integra passed by a certain room and then paused in her step, her foot in the air before she brought it down. She turned her head to look at the slightly rusting door. Her hand reached out and touched it after Integra realized her fingers were in the position of knocking against the metal. The look of slight confusion and disappointment settled in her gaze, knowing full well now that no one was on the other side.

'...even though it's only been almost a month since she was taken...it looks as if she's managed to become a large part of our lives before we knew it...now everything seems...completely dismal.' She thought as she stepped back and continued on her way.

After another flight of steps, without hesitating she pushed open the door that revealed the chambers of the monster she knew all too well and walked normally through the darkness. There was only a few dying candles to see by but she knew where Alucard was located.

The Count clad in flamboyant red and black sat on his throne chair, leg crossed over the other with elbows at rest on the arms and fingers twined with each other and hat at rest on the table not far off accompanied with his glasses. His weapons remained with him and all would be their normal selves if it wasn't for the distinct trademark of a smirk and air about him. Alucard's eyes were closed and he didn't make any sort of physical acknowledgement that his master was in the room.

"Alucard, I want you to tell me a story, or maybe several if I'm in a spirit to stay long." Integra spoke, cutting through the stale gloominess effortlessly.

"What would you have me tell you, my master?" He asked, but his deep voice had a hint of flatness that gave an impression that he was in no mood to talk, "Although I must warn you that I'm not very good at giving bedtime stories; only nightmares and terrors."

She ignored the indication, crossing her arms, "I want you to tell me of a story that dates back to the 12th century. Does anything come to mind?"

"You do realize that I am less than 600 years old."

"Yes, I know that. But I still want you to tell me a story."

"Why not use your technology to bring you stories and tales from that century?" Alucard continued to keep his tone but now had begun to have bits of irritation, "It's not like I have the best of memory recalls."

"That's not like you, Alucard. Make all the excuses you want, but I will have you tell me a story whether you dislike it or detest it."

"Hmph...fine." Alucard went silent for a few moments then he opened his crimson eyes slowly, "The 12th century...the first, second, and third Crusades of the west Europe took place against Islam...Pope Adrian IV gives over lordship of Ireland to King Henry II of England...Thomas Becket, the archbishop of Canterbury and foster-father to Henry the Young King, the son of King Henry II, is murdered..."

He then gave a pause, leaning back a little in his chair, thinking, "King Henry II...there was his cousin, King Stephen, before him. King Stephen was weak and caused The Anarchy in his later years of reigning..."

Integra raised a brow when Alucard suddenly made a slight face, "What's the matter?"

"You'll have me trace a family line? What's your reason to make me do this? I see no point and it's tiring. So many humans of the same family...squabbling over a measly throne and at each others throats majority of their short pathetic lives...amazing how England wasn't reduced to rubble."

"Your insults are ruining a good story." She said, "I'm getting bored."

"Anyone would be bored if they're made to cite members of a family line after 500 years since they've been educated. Not to mention you should know your royal history." Alucard retorted back in a monotone, "But very well...Henry I, Lion of Justice, was the father of Henry II and overshadowed the comings of the Magna Carta. He fought with his brother, Robert, for control over England and Normandy at the start of his reign. Henry I was the fourth son of William the Conqueror, Duke of Normandy, or King William I. William came from Normandy and invaded England in which he won the Battle of Hastings. He also ended the Saxon age, brought his home country's culture in to mix with England, and did several other things along with building the Tower of London...which isn't the least interesting."

Integra was quiet now, her fingers curled under her chin, thinking, "Is that all you can remember from the 12th century?"

Alucard raised a brow at her, "I grow weary of this, my master."

She smirked at that then, "Don't worry. That's all I wanted to know. Now I'll go to bed like a good little girl."

"Hardly." He scoffed, closing his eyes again, "There's no one good in this place anymore."

"Indeed. The sun is rising, Alucard. Get some rest."

And with that, Integra turned and left his room, not bothering to close the door as Alucard did it for her with a slam. She then paused as she started to pass by the door she stopped at before, something wandering through her mind.

"...'I have come for my servant...and I will take back what is mine'...it's a long shot, but I think I know who might have taken you, Seras...either that, or it's a ghost."

-l-

Alucard quietly snarled under his breath after he used his powers to forcefully close the door behind his master, knowing that let on just how much frustration was curling inside of him. His fingers tightened together on themselves and the candles in the room flickered out before the last of their fuel was spent, letting the area become plunged in the black of darkness with his crimson eyes smoldering sharply where he sat.

He wasn't at all pleased. With each day adding to the mark of his former fledgling's disappearance caused him mounting anger. How dare someone even have the guts to take away what was his and his alone. The No Life King shares with no one. Yet, that wasn't all. Alucard had no points or clues as to where Seras was, but he knew that she wouldn't die so easily, not while he was still undead to see to it. Her missing presence and fractured link with one another was getting to him. Taking down Freaks and ghouls wasn't so thrilling anymore either.

Suddenly his head snapped up, staring at nothing at all when he felt an intense scorch run through his mind and a flash of a broken scene where he saw machines, systematic programs, and surgical tools along with blood tainting every one of them. There was fear and pain mixed with the burning sensation. One last picture sped through where he heard a voice that was barely noticeable, but with the one word it said, he knew.

'...M...Ma...ster...'

Alucard's will immediately began to boil and his powers grew to match what he was feeling inside. He lowered his hands to the armrests and curled his white gloves viciously around the wood which made loud snaps as they started to crack from his inhuman strength, "...you are mine, Policegirl...you will return to me!"

-l-

The drone and humming was deafening and made no stop; eternally going on and on like its sole life depended on it. It mingled with the noise of running water dribbling from slit openings where the walls met the ceiling.

Sounds of dripping randomly pattered and echoed like hallow haunting spirit tied without chance for redemption and passing. Blood coated heavily along a sizeable platform with more to join the growing lakes among the ice cold tiles lining as a thick path of scarlet led to a circle of several white pipes that were suspended in the air by cables from the ceiling and the floor. They widely surrounded a large ivory cross that was erected in the middle. On it a body was bound like one condemned to be crucified with their hands nailed brutally on either side of them with thick silver bands twining around the arms all the way up to the elbows, and this condition was repeated at the feet and legs. The pale neck remained an exception with only a large nail imbedded right through, over the scar.

Seras Victoria remained still, thoroughly exhausted and weak, and despite the open wounds at her hands, feet, legs and neck that continuously bled, she was numb against the pain. Every so often she would feel the intense sizzling and scalding from the effects of her undead body towards silver since they were constantly blessed with holy water. The clothes on her body were in shreds, barely covering her waist and torso, still the color of dark maroon when she turned into a full vampire. Whatever exposed skin there was were covered with cuts and other vicious wounds from surgical alterations and her form struggled to heal them.

Her breathing was shallow and the insides of her wind pipe and lungs felt they were on fire as the air was saturated with moisture. The moisture was made up of molecules that mingled in the air from the floor, which was flowing with not plain water, but holy water. It lapped gently at the sides of the platform she was on, pulsating serenely, but to Seras' standards, it was to be feared. Whatever water that got evaporated took its blessings with it and scattered with the oxygen particles that seeped into her externals and caused harm.

On her head was a headgear that curled at her chin of technology with tubes, cords and wires connected to it that dropped from above where a light shined down. It, too, was tainted with her blood outside when it was forced on her and she tried to fight it off. The inside would be filled with very little blood at rare times; just barely enough to keep her alive, more or less, but not enough to give her a feeding that would lead to her strength returning and then eventually escape.

Seras kept her head bowed and found herself fading in and out of consciousness. Suddenly through another tube in her headgear came holy water and she screamed in pain, pulling against her tight restraints as she arched her back outward.

"You're being a naughty little girl today, aren't you, my dear Seras?" A haughty and light male voice called out from high up in the large room, which was the size of an aircraft hanger, "I saw what you did. I saw you send out that signal to your former master. Now what did I say about doing something like that, hmm?"

Another trickle of holy water, making her burst out another screech from her damaged throat.

"But at least you didn't give away too much of where you are, or this room for that matter, from what you remember. Why must you be so difficult? You wouldn't have to be put through so much if you would just cooperate with me."

A window from the wall appeared and opened up where a tall man could be seen with his arms folded behind his back. He wore only white: a white suit with white pants and a white long sleeve underneath completed with a white tie. With skin fair and smooth, long blonde hair that reached his shoulder pulled back in a ponytail, his piercing blue eyes were what stood out. The shade of color seemed to be out of place and the impression it gave off glimmered with vengeance and ill intentions behind the lens of glasses that he wore. There were a group of people standing behind him, all wearing glasses themselves with medical masks over their mouths and wearing white lab coats.

He panted a sickeningly innocent, gentle smile on his thin lips as he looked down at the draculina from his place, "But don't worry. It won't be too long. We're almost there. I have no doubts that your friends will find out who I am and where I'm headed, but no matter.

"You seem to adore your former master so much. Or should I say...Vlad Ţepeş?"

Seras snapped her head up, cracking her neck a little from the sudden movement that her body wasn't ready to handle yet, her muscles straining but she was at full attention now, her head spinning. She started to feel herself loose a grip on what she was, the other personality once again rearing its evil head in a stir at the state of her mind.

"That's right, my dear Seras, I know all about your beloved Alucard. It wasn't that hard to figure out. But I digress...again, since you adore him so much, I've decided you will follow in his footsteps."

Despite how it caused discomfort, her throat and vocal chords began to work as she hoarsely used her once temporarily abandoned voice, "...wh...what...what...do...you...do you...m...mean..."

His smile suddenly did betrayal to the kindness it was initially impersonating to that of a happy lunacy, matching with the look in his eyes, "Oh...nothing. Nothing at all, my dear Seras. You will know eventually, so there's no need for me to spoil the surprise for you just yet right now. A little more, my dear Seras...just a little more...we're almost there...yes...almost there and we'll be ready...and then I'll have my revenge..."

The man threw his head back and laughed, the window slamming shut as he did so, leaving Seras all alone, shaken and full of fear, feeling her other self clawing at her mind, making her tremble.

'...M...Master...!'

-l-

Chapter Eight: Stories within a story

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I apologize for getting this chapter out so...so very late...erk...being a senior sometimes makes you lazy in about all areas. :-P That's about my only reason for not working on my fic was because my ass was lazy. Sorry! Okay! Now we have a visual on our Seras-napper, but alas...no name!

Now many of you might have notice the viruses and worms that Walter was talking about. I've taken real computer viruses and worms that have been a problem for us in real life, but I've altered the names as I didn't want complete plagiarism in here. The "Bacterium Virus" was from the Pathogen Virus that was created back in 1994 and was released in the United Kingdom. It wasn't in the media, so some might not know about it. One person suffered over half a million pounds in damage, which was about $800,000 at the time.

The "Love worm" is from the ILOVEYOU worm/virus that caused a world-wide panic back in 2000 and had infected over half of the companies here in the US and more than 10 to the 5th power of mail servers in Europe. Internal emails at the House of Senate and Britain's House of Commons were shut down. How much damage the ILOVEYOU did 9 x 10 to the 9th power in US dollars.

As to what these virus/worms did to cause havoc, maybe you want to do a little research yourselves. I can't give the complete diagnostics here right now.

Questions, stuffs, answers, replies:

To Bubbly-san: from what I know, and from what Wiki said, where Anderson was from is unknown. And then there's this comment in the article where it says that the translator or director didn't seem to know the difference between Scottish and Irish, or something like that...I had to choose something, so I apologize.

To Emerald-san: I'll look over Anderson's dialogue again and maybe make a separate section somewhere where I'll translate Anderson-ish to English, lol. Pardon the made up word.

To Ludifer-san: I read the volume, well, skimmed, and it was pretty brutal the way Seras got her opponent back (forgot the name too, heh). But she deserved it.

To Sacred-san: oi oi. I hardly think your story is stupid. Each person has their own way of doing things, so don't worry. )

To Tri-san: lol. I'm not going to give away a lot of info, but we'll see if I'll indulge the readers on more than snippets of romance (maybe I should change the genre for now...)

To Verona-san: yeah, lots of people are asking me that, but it'll be revealed when I'm done with the story. I purposely hold the answer back because I know I'm really lazy, and answering that question at the end will help me continue the story. So...sorry, no can say right now!

Mm'kay! All done here! Please review. Thank you, and have a nice day!

PS – thanks, Lillia (my best friend)! Thank you for helping me with my music choice to carry me through this chapter! 'Tourniquet' by Evanescene made it easier to do this last scene. Thank you!!