OOO
Alucard, disguised as a Mr. Brenner, signed the guest registry right below a 'Mr. M. MacManus' as he checked into the hotel, cool as ice, not worried for a moment even when the attendant tried to question the coffin. The mercenary was somewhat freaked out, but the vampire shrugged it off. Perhaps things were going too well, but he wasn't about to let anybody else know if he was worried.
Besides - the air smelled of death and battle and that was always a thrill.
OOO
"He's in," Remy said softly, lifting his head suddenly from the cards he was shuffling. "So now what?"
"You know what, mate" St. John replied, flipping the cap to his lighter up and down. "Same thing we do every time. Prep and follow Matthew's orders. All we're supposed tah do is prevent them from killin' the men or the bystanders. Those were our orders. We don't go after either vampire. We're not even suppos'd t' go after the men who are behind it, though I think Matt might let that slide."
"Does dat Maxwell creature know 'bout all dis?"
"Hell no," he laughed, allowing the lighter to ignite and let the flame spike upwards. "He might find out after but we're not saying anythin' before hand. Matt didn't say much but what he did say makes me think the Europeans have a few screws loose. Real loose. As in, I could live, die, never meet Anderson an' be very satisfied with that situation."
"Dat bad?"
"I hope never to find out."
"I'm sho' we're gonna before all dis is over," Remy grumbled. "Lighter?"
"Here," he tossed him the lighter he'd been playing with, then shortly produced another from the folds of his cloak. "Oh - and I saw how you signed that guest book. Nice."
"Our little joke, mon ami, no?" Remy grinned as he lit up then offered one to St. John.
"No thanks. Not right now. There'll be enough smoke later on. And as for this situation, well... nothing to be done about it," Allerdyce shrugged. "I'm going down for a drink. You want t' come with?"
"Nah, I ain't as prepared as you are. I gotta get ready fo' tonight," he said, puffing smoke out with a grin.
"Suit yourself," he said with a shrug.
OOO
Pietro was settling himself on the table, readying himself for another treatment, when he heard Maxwell gasp.
"Father?" His voice cracked with uncertainty. "Father, are you OK?"
"I'm fine, Pietro," he said, turning around with the syringe in hand and sucking on his forefinger. "I just pricked my finger, that's all. Nothing to worry about. Here, let me see your arm."
The speedster held it out willingly and when the complete dose had been injected into his veins he shuddered and leaned against Maxwell. For the first few minutes he sweat profusely, but soon the reaction began to die down. He wasn't even passing out anymore and the speeds he was reaching thrilled even him.
"Are you all right now?" Maxwell asked after his body seemed to stop.
"I think so," he nodded, jumping down off the table.
"Good. Because I have a bit of a job for you."
"Anything you need, Father."
"Do you think you can cross the Atlantic without getting into trouble?"
"Heh. Is His Holiness Catholic?"
"Exactly what I wanted to hear."
OOO
Pip was embarrassed when the man caught him staring at his hand and nearly spilled his drink when the man addressed him.
"It means 'Truth' in Latin," the man said before draining his glass.
"What?" Pip looked up, startled that the man had replied - and replied in French, even if it was mangled by what seemed to be an Australian accent.
"My hand. You were starin' at it. And I'm tellin' you - it means Truth," he said as he extended a bill over to tip the bar tender.
"Oh."
The red-headed man stood and gave Pip a wink.
"I'll see you later."
OOO
Stephen Strange opened his eyes from the vision and considered it; it had been uncharacteristically vague. Three demons will be needed to seal one. That was what he had heard, and besides a glimpse he had caught of a figure in red, that was all.
Frowning, he lowered himself to the ground from his levitation and stood, then went to get a cup of tea. Evil was afoot; not that it wasn't always afoot, because it was, and he with the knowledge he had knew this more than most. But this seemed worse somehow. More than standard megalomaniac acts, more than run-of-the-mill violence, more than even many supernatural threats.
This was not a storm to be weathered; this was a whirlpool that, unless resisted or averted, might swallow everything whole like the monstrous Charybdis. He did not, however, know how to avoid it; nor even if it could be avoided, at this late hour.
That thought more than any other made the sorcerer's heart grow cold.
OOO
"It's almost time," Remy said looking into the hallway. "Shall we git into position den?"
"Let's pray first," St. John suggested with a wry smile.
They each crossed themselves.
"And Shepherds we shall be for thee, my Lord, for thee," Remy spoke as he bent on one knee, placing a deck of cards in front of him as his eyes lit up.
"Power hath descended forth from Thy hand; our feet may swiftly carry out Thy commands," Allerdyce continued as he faced Remy and mimicked his actions with a lighter.
"So we shall flow a river forth to Thee..." Remy sprinkled holy water over the two items.
"And teeming with souls shall it ever be," Allerdyce used a second lighter to burn incense and puffed the smoke over them.
"In nomine Patri..." Remy spoke as he made a sign of the cross over the cards and lighter.
"Et Fili..." Allerdyce made a cross as well.
"Et Spiritus Sancti," they chanted in unison, crossed themselves, picked the objects back up and then stood.
Allerdyce spoke first.
"We are so makin' Lorna watch that when we get back."
Remy laughed.
"Let's go, mon ami. We wouldn't wan' to be late to de party."
OOO
The bed creaked beneath Anderson as he watched the scene in Brazil unfolding. It barely registered when Wanda came in, telling him that dinner was about to be served.
He told her that he would be down soon, but didn't take his eyes off of the television. Then she surprised him.
"Father? Might I watch with you?"
His eyes widened for a moment, then he moved over and smiled.
"Coom, lass, an' yeh'll see wha' a real moonster can dooh."
She sat beside him, watching intently, her heart beating inside of her chest so loud she thought he must have heard it.
"Show me Hell, yeh freaks..." Anderson growled beside her.
Hell. What hell would be like. She wondered...
OOO
"Fuck! We're too late!" Allerdyce growled, adjusting the device connected to his ear.
"What?" Remy looked at him through the darkness.
"They sent in a group already. He ate most of them then... yeah."
"Might be good, act'ally. Dat gives us a reason. He made de first move, so we kin act wit'out concern. And now dey know what he can do. So what happens after? Where're we at?"
"According to HQ, a transmission went through afta t' his master. Prob'ly gettin' orders from 'er. He's coming out into the hall now... get ready..."
Alucard lifted his gun to shoot at the men when, from around a corner at the end of the hall, a card sizzling with energy flew at the gen and hit it, causing an explosion. Then the hall was filled with a storm of fire that came raging, out of nowhere, across the walls and through the air. The heat was scorching but, Alucard noted, it seemed to surround only him; the men weren't getting burnt much, not nearly what they should have been.
"RUN!"
A path opened up through the flames near the men and as Alucard lifted to fire a second card came. He began to run in the direction it was coming from when a sudden billow of smoke hit in him the face and filled his vision for a moment.
"He's a fucking monster you idiots, get the hell out of here!"
The smoke smelt of myrrh and spices and burnt his lungs, refusing to clear though it should have. Incense, he thought in a rage. Fucking Vatican!
The fire raged brighter around him and more smoke poured forth. Every time he lifted his gun, the cards came and and growled in frustration. Finally, he rushed forward and caught sight of a man with glowing eyes and another with a thurible, each dressed in identical black Roman cassocks and wearing large rosaries with thick crosses around their necks.
He lifted his gun to shoot them when the eyes of the one man grew briefly brighter and the wall behind him exploded. He shook off the rubble in seconds but the men were gone by then, so Alucard made for the elevator, only to find a wall of flame and smoke in his way. There was a 'ding' as the door closed but the two agents were still there and he aimed for them.
Then the ground beneath him gave way in another explosion and his shot went wild, failing to hit either of them. Remy through a card through a nearby window and they ran to it.
"Get the rope," Allerydice said with a grin. "If we hurry, we'll get down there before he does.
OOO
"This was... unexpected..." The major mused.
"Did that boy send them?" The Doc asked.
"I doubt it. And if he didn't, that means there are more players whom we should be watching. Interesting..."
OOO
"Get Maxwell on the phone!" Integra screamed at Walter. "Now! That snake has some explaining to do!"
"Are you entirely sure it was him, my lord? It hardly seems like the sort of way in which his agents behave."
"They're Catholic; that makes them his! And I gave an order so don't delay!"
"Of course, sir."
OOO
The salt water that just barely splashed his feet was cool and the sky above him seemed endless. He was communicating with Rome so that he knew which direction to go, but apart from that he was alone in the midst of a vast expanse of blue.
And it felt wonderful, like he could run forever.
OOO
CC: The 'crazy geneticist' Frank talks about in Chapter 11 is an off-screen cameo of Michael Morbius, the Living Vampire, a character tied into Spiderman normally, though sometimes dealing with Blade and others.
CC2: The Samaritan reference from that same chapter to a one-off mention of the Dark Horse comic Hellboy; thats the gun he uses that come with bullets known as Creature Killers. While no Hellboy characters will appear, the gun might show up again.
CC3: St. John Allerdyce, an Australian with fire powers, makes his first on-screen appearance; he is Pyro in the Marvel continuity and is tenuously suggested to be a lapsed Catholic. In this continuity, he was lapsed and joined Magneto's brotherhood when he was younger but was found by Murdock and drawn away.
CC4: A note on Remy/Gambit's powers in this fiction: like many of the characters, he has an alternate background. Before Mr. Sinister operated on Remy, he could charge things by looking at them, not just touching them - which, of course, led to a lot of unintentional, out of control explosion incidents. Here, it was Section XIII who got to him first and worked on him; they did not remove this ability or reduce his power, however, but instead helped him to control it.
And yes, Remy and St. John are particularly big fans of a certain 'violent Irish Catholics' movie; I know Hellsing takes place in 1999, a few months too early, but we'll just say Iscariot got a special sneak preview. ;) Seems like it would be right up their alley.