Little note: the "day" at the beginning of the last chapter, was supposed to be "Order"...It was late.
Order 1.2: Diagnosis
Seras didn't believe she had ever heard Integra scream that loud. As she laid in her coffin, trying to sleep, snippets of the "conversation" between her and Alucard echoed in her head.
"JUST WHAT DID YOU THINK WOULD HAPPEN!" Integra screamed at the crimson-eyed man before her.
"DON'T YOU YELL AT ME! YOU'RE THE AIRHEAD BLONDE WHO TOLD ME TO GIVE IT A SHOT!"
"DO NOT GIVE ME THAT EXCUSE! YOU KNEW DAMN WELL WHAT I MEANT WHEN I SAID IT!"
Alucard laughed at her. "HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO KNOW WHAT YOU MEANT IF YOU DIDN'T SAY WHAT YOU MEAN!"
"If humans can understand Alucard, then you can understand! And humans can't even read minds!" Integra shouted, lowering the level of her voice slightly. It was a good thing too, she was using more air yelling than she had in her lungs. Too much longer and she would've passed out.
"I serve the Head of the Hellsing family and estate. Their unfortunate wishes are my commands. And YOU, TOLD ME to shoot your useless toilet!"
Integra let loose a scream of rage that seemed to echo through the entire mansion. "GET OUT! GET OUT OF MY ROOM!" she yelled, seizing her sword off its mount on the wall.
"As you WISH, MASTER!" Alucard fazed through the wall just as Integra's blade sliced the air where his neck had been. The main reason this conversation was so strange to Seras however, is that she had never heard Alucard talk back to Sir Integra, ever. Not to mention yell at her. The other reason was that this shouting match had taken place while the ruined toilet was still gushing water onto their heads.
Seras checked her watch, (it glowed in the dark….obviously) 4:30 a.m. and nearing daybreak. It was late, but she still could not get to sleep. Eventually, she sighed and pushed against the lid of her coffin.
She sat up wearily and jolted in fright when she saw a man-shaped shadow move toward her. She scrambled out of her coffin, tripped over the lip and ended up sprawled over the cold stone floor.
"Pathetic, Police Girl. I don't know what I was thinking when I turned you." Seras looked up at her Master who was leaning casually against the wall. "Night vision is something that even a freshly turned vampire can master."
"I forgot." Seras said, blushing. Alucard gave her an incredulous look. "You forgot? How can you forget how to see!"
Seras didn't answer the question. "Well you shouldn't scare people like that anyway." She told him. "I was trying to sleep." Alucard laughed. "Oh, I see." He said. "That would explain why you got out of your coffin. You were trying to sleep. That makes perfect sense." He said sarcastically.
"I was having trouble getting to sleep. I thought perhaps some warm milk would help." Seras explained. Alucard snorted.
"That milk will only scorch your throat Police Girl. Along with all other forms of food and drink, until you drink blood regularly. So go heat some medical blood instead."
Seras ignored this fact as well. "What about you Master? You can't sleep either?"
"I sleep whenever I feel like it!" Alucard snapped at her suddenly. "I can go weeks without sleep and not feel a thing. The only reason I sleep is because its boring in-between nights."
Seras wasn't quiet sure what to say in response to this, so she just kept quiet. Eventually, she spoke again, feeling that it must be better to sit there, unable to sleep and talk, than to sit there, unable to sleep and have the most dangerous person she knew stare at you for no reason.
"So…did you know what Sir Integra meant?" Seras asked her Master.
"Of course I did. She wanted me to fix that damn machine of hers. As if I would stoop that low, even for my Master."
"But, aren't you bound to her orders?" Seras asked him, trying to understand. "To some degree, Police Girl. Like you are bound to me. However, the difference is, that the bindings that hold me are man-made, and though clever, powerful, and complex, they are imperfect, and fade slightly as every generation passes. And the spellcasters that captured me hadn't included the major variable in their calculations.
"What would that be Master?" Seras asked, her interest aroused.
"Pride, Police Girl. The vampiric pride that courses through every true vampires' veins. These new Freaks could never compare to the ancient power that their human masters had hoped to harness. And that Police Girl is the same power that stopped me from accepting that ridiculous order. 'Fix the toilet…' Woman must be smoking something…."
"Are you sure that was it?" Seras asked timidly. "I mean, you've been acting rather strange recently Master. Rather irritable really."
"Who's irritable? Alucard asked angrily.
"No one, Master. You must have been hearing things."
Alucard nodded. "Right, right…hearing things. Must be." Alucard's face twisted into a puzzled frown. "Are you alright, Master?"
"Yes, Police Girl….It's just when I usually hear things, they tell me to burn or destroy…I wonder why they would change their mind? They've never let me down before…." Seras was slowly making her way to the door, frightened. "Tell me, Police Girl, do you think I'm irritable?" Alucard asked her, puzzled expression still apparent.
"N, never, Master…."
Alucard looked at her, eyebrow raised. "You look frightened Police Girl. Did something scare you?" Seras vigorously shook her head, not trusting her voice. Alucard shrugged, and ended their conversation by turning and walking through the wall.
Seras noticed that her eye was beginning to twitch.
Seras did not manage to get to sleep all night, but at 2:00 p.m. she was just beginning to doze off when her troop was summoned by Integra. 'That woman has got some of the worst timing…!' Seras thought bitterly.
She changed into her uniform and strapped the Harkonnen to her back. The team assembled before Sir Hellsing within 2 minutes. She began the debriefing. "A local high school has been taken captured by a large group of Millennium's Freak vampires. The school was hit before the students were let out, so Millennium has plenty of hostages to hold over our heads.
"We have yet to understand why they would choose such a meaningless target, and they have yet to ask for any ransom, but it matters not." Integra's eyes narrowed. "We do not negotiate with terrorists. A massive thunderstorm has been predicted and cloud cover is dense. This is the reason the Freaks can move during these daylight hours. The objective is to clear the school of all the Freaks with as little human casualties as possible. If the sky gets dark, and the storm takes place before the mission is complete, then the Freaks will have a much easier time escaping. Don't allow this to happen. Understood?"
Seras' troop saluted. "Sir, yes sir!" Integra nodded. "In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, Amen. Move out!"
The troop filed past Seras and out to the assault vehicles. Seras paused by Integra. "What of Master Alucard?" Seras asked. "We'll discuss him later, Seras, but at the moment, it doesn't look as if we'll need Alucard for this job. Go join your troop Seras, they will need you."
The ride from Hellsing headquarters to the school didn't take long. They formed ranks outside the school's front doors. There were a collection of 60 men, not including the three squad leaders, commander Pip Bernadette, and Seras. The leaders took their positions at the front of their respective squads and Pip (holding a flyer for the school) began issuing orders. "Al'ight zen," Pip began in his implacable accent, (most times it was French, mixed with a little Australian occasionally, and he still managed to have some British underlying it all.)
"'Elcome mates, to ze Winchester Regional High. Ery'ody make sure zat you're radio frequencies are set. After securing your assigned area, report back and hold your position…… Am I forgetting anyzing…? Oh! Right, does everyone have zeir flyers?"
There was a great deal of ruffling as everyone checked their equipment for their flyers. "Uh, sir!" Came a voice in the middle row. "I lost my flyer!" Pip slapped his forehead. "Where in ze hell were you zuring ze briefing!" Pip yelled at the soldier. "I made sure they were handed out! You, what is you're name!"
"Its Johnny, sir!"
"Johnny! You are now in Squad 4! Got zat!"
"Yessir! But the flyer…?"
"Ah, right. Er…Just look off of someone else's for now!" Pip shook his head and rubbed at his eye-patch.
" We'll be dividing into four main groups." Pip continued, "Squadron numero un (one) shall be taking le 'est wing. Twenty men." Squad 1 (each man with a school flyer as to not get lost) entered the building.
"Squad deux (two) shall be taking the East wing. Twenty men." The second squad mimicked the first, however they entered and went the opposite way. "Squad three, check the basements, the least amount of ground to cover, so take ten men."
"The rest o' you lot! Squad 4! You're with me and Agent Seras! We take the second floor. Let's move!"
Pip, Seras, the rest of squad four and Johnny slowly crept into the building. Already they could hear gunfire from one or more of the other squads, but they ignored them, found a staircase and made their way to the second floor. "Agent Seras," Pip whispered, "Do you want ze 'est wing or ze East?"
"You're sending me alone?" Seras asked.
"You're ze Alucard's fledgeling are you not? You'll be fine. I'll take these ten and secure the other end." Seras reluctantly nodded.
Seras chose the East wing and watched squad 4 as they left her, Johnny taking up the rear. She sighed and her ears picked up the deep rumbling of a far-off thunderclap. The storm was making its way toward them.
Seras took her Harkonnen from her back and slowly made her way down the East wing corridor. The first several classrooms were empty, although there were signs of struggle. But before long three Freaks tried to ambush her by sneaking in from behind.
Seras had sensed their movements for some time, and they did not catch her off guard. She spun on her heel, swinging her cannon into the jaw of one of the Freaks. It smashed into the wall, and laid still, blood trickling from its head. The other two now kept their distance, guns raised.
Seras did a one-handed cartwheel to dodge the first stream of bullets the Freaks released. In the middle of the cartwheel, while she was still upside down, she fired the Harkonnen.
She didn't need to see the bullet connect, she knew that her aim had been true. Seras could hear her Master's voice in her head from his training; 'Visualize the target, know where the bullet will enter, and where it will exit. You are a vampire now Seras , the most powerful creature on this planet. You shouldn't ever miss again. Especially not with that big-ass thing you carry around….'
One Freak down, two to go. A bullet grazed her thigh and she looked behind her. Make that five to go. Three more Freaks had appeared behind her, in a diagonal line. Seras was now caught in a crossfire with no cover. She felt another two bullets slam into her back, and one from the front into the fleshy part of her upper-arm.
As the tension mounted, Seras felt her conscious pull away, and the beast within surfaced. Seras' pupils narrowed, and a deep guttural growl grew in her throat. She was no longer in control. As though watching a movie, she watched herself pull the survival knife from its sheath on her belt.
With her left hand, she flicked it toward the original Freak she had hit with her Harkonnen. The knife caught it between the eyes. At the same time, she blasted the other Freak from the original group with the cannon.
Seras turned, and began to reload the Harkonnen. The remaining Freaks were scared now, their accuracy was lowered, their training soon meant nothing in Seras' wake. She snapped the Harkonnen closed, reload complete. The Freaks turned tail and ran, but she wasn't going to let them escape.
She analyzed the variables and degrees in the split-second it took for her to raise her anti-tank rifle. She fired, knowing without a doubt as to what the outcome would be. The bullet ricocheted twice, once off a wall and another off the floor. In the rebound up, it got all three Freaks, two in the chest and still had enough momentum to blow the skull off the last one.
Seras regained some control over herself and inspected her injuries. Her body had pushed the bullets out and already had the wounds scabbed over. "Looks like our data was incomplete, you are much stronger than I had expected."
Seras looked up, a lone Millennium operative stood in the hallway before her, holding a crying teenage girl as a human shield. And even though it wasn't transformed, Seras could tell it was another werewolf. (I'm telling you...its the ears!)
She leveled the Harkonnen, at its heart. It just gripped the girl harder by the throat and moved her over its heart in protection. "You Millennium people make me sick, all you care about is destruction. You fight for no reason at all!"
"So does your Master!" The werewolf shot back.
"Yeah, but at least he doesn't hide behind little girls!" Seras yelled.
"Doesn't he? Why are you here instead of he? Didn't want to get his hands dirty I suppose?" The werewolf gave a barking laugh, but stopped short as the air grew suddenly colder.
"She's here because my Master ordered it." Alucard said, walking slowly toward the werewolf. "And I'm here because an annoying mutt won't shut its mouth." He raised his guns. "You can drop the girl, mutt. Now that you're caught on both sides, there's no way you're going to make it out alive. And I'd just like you to know," Alucard brought the cocked the hammer on each gun. "You caught me on a really bad day."
The werewolf roared, suddenly in true form and tossed the girl aside, instead lunging for Seras. She fired off two shots from the Harkonnen, but they seemed to just glance off the werewolf's skin, leaving only small drops of dark blood on the floor. It leapt, and came down on its stomach, dead.
"Silver bullets Police girl," Alucard said, smoke rising from the ends of the Casull and Jackal, "Only when you're a full-fledged vampire will you be able to handle werewolves without them."
"What about the other Freaks?"
"I wouldn't worry about them."
Seras entered the study of Integra Fairbrook Wingates Hellsing at 10:00 p.m.. Pip and Walter were already seated and Integra was looking outside as the rain lashed at the windows, the storm had arrived an hour ago.
"Seras Victoria. I have summoned you here today to help me come to a conclusion."
"Anyway I can help." Seras said nervously.
"It's about your Master, Alucard. Seras tell me, has he been acting strange recently?" At first, Seras thought this was a trick question, but they were all looking at her expectantly. "Stranger than normal? Well, he's stopped smiling like he used to, though I'm not sure that's a bad thing. And he seems to be very easily irritated nowadays. He'll get angry at you suddenly, even if he was talking normally a second before."
"Hmm….Walter, go get the notes filed under Code Red Period." Integra ordered. Walter grew rather pale. "Miss Integra, you don't think…!" Integra nodded. "I fear so Walter. Go retrieve the files."
"I don't get it, sir Integra, what are you and Walter so worried about?" Seras asked. "Yes, I would much like to know zis myself." Pip seconded.
"I'll explain when Walter returns." After a few minutes, the butler did just that, and placed a slim folder filled with parchment and paper of varying ages on Integra's desk. She opened it, the writing looked like notes. She flipped a few pages, then snapped the folder shut.
"I'm sure of it now, Walter, Alucard's behavior, is a direct result from PMS!
Thunder boomed and lightning streaked across the sky.
Guys, trust me for one more chapter, and I swear all will be made clear.
Review.