A/N: Wow…UK and France in 3 and ½ weeks. In one word to sum up my trip: Marathon. Oh, and I can't forget this one: Time Zones. Yeah, side effects may include jet lag, or as I like to call it: Zombification!

To the story. (which I hope will ease some of your nerves now that there is an update) hehe

Disclaimer: I do NOT, in any way, own Hellsing or the characters in it. It is owned by Kohta Hirano, Dark Horse Manga, and any other business or people who assisted in creating these fascinating characters!

A Forced Execution

Integra gasped as she suddenly realized that someone had stepped in front of her. Alucard pushed her away with one hand gripping her arm a second before the shot was fired; but what confused them both was the fact that Lord Ethridge did not aim at Sir Integra. He fired at his own head. And just as the realization had overcome them and seeped in, the lord's head exploded to the side as brain matter splattered the carpet.

"Lord Ethridge!" Integra shouted, though somehow she knew no one heard her outcry.

She watched the lord's lifeless face fall to the ground with a thud. His muscles had relaxed, and his body followed. The gun also fell to the floor with a metallic clank. Looking down, she felt herself shaking slightly with wide eyes and taking in deep breaths. She didn't think her pistol would ever be used against the lord, though it was brought just in case. Shaking his head, Alucard whispered something inaudible as he slowly turned around and gripped her by the shoulders, trying to awaken her from the shock. His red eyes, a deeper maroon, indicated his imminent thirst bubbling just underneath the surface.

"Integra…" he murmured, lightly squeezing her arms.

The director swallowed and tried to find her voice, "No, you're faster than this. Why didn't you save him?"

Alucard's eyes betrayed his facial expression of indignation. "I thought he was coming after you," he stated so softly it made her almost shiver, "He reached for your pistol. I blocked him from reaching you. I could never let any harm come to you, my master. Forgive my instinct of protecting my liberator first," his voice was coated in fanatical loyalty.

"I…" Integra stammered, desperately grasping for words to form. Her chest felt as though a tight steel band was crushing it.

"It reminded me of a certain police officer from South America in 1999 who had collapsed, watching me suck the life from his comrades. I motioned to eat him next when he turned the gun on himself after calling me a freak. It was the strangest thing I had ever seen…" Alucard scowled, blinking away the memory.

Integra grew silent. She wanted to reach out and touch him, to make sure that he was really still there, and that he really did, without even thinking, step in front of her to take the bullet…just like he did when Lord Richard shot at her when she was barely twelve. It was strange to feel a sudden and familiar warmness seep inside of her. She exhaled abruptly and pushed aside her thoughts, focusing back on the present.

Alucard turned back to the corpse now lying peacefully on the floor, "In all honesty, I haven't thought of protecting anyone in thirty years. This is the first time I've ever tried to save someone other than myself. And my knee-jerk reaction was to protect you first by blocking you from him."

"You mean to say that you're…rusty? That you couldn't sense anything of what he was about to do?" Integra gave him a dubious look.

Her servant sighed, letting go of her shoulders, "That was the intriguing part: I couldn't sense anything after he stopped talking. I can sense emotions and can read suspicious faces, but without a person's blood, I cannot give you a definite answer. The same rules applied when I defeated Dandy. I sucked his blood, and was then able to tell you everything he knew. Before that, it was speculation as to who we were up against."

Integra motioned to the body, "Sample it. Do not destroy the body; we need to bring him back to the Hellsing Manor and prepare an autopsy for the man in order to figure out what the hell just happened."

Alucard nodded and strode over to the lord. He crouched down and gently took a swab from his finger, watching the liquid absorb into his skin. The vampire immediately retracted himself away from the corpse with such swiftness that it startled Integra. His scowl deepened as lines creased his forehead and as his lips curled over to expose white razors.

"No, that's not right," he muttered, sampling the blood once more.

Integra looked on impatiently, "Well?"

"Everything is gone. His entire memory has been wiped clean. Nothing but a husk is here. Nothing but blood is here," he balled his hand into a fist and rose slowly.

Integra exhaled and closed her eyes. The mess was turning into a puzzle: what she had feared most. The Hellsing Director knew that answers needed to surface, and quickly. "We will not obtain any more answers without help. It's time to call upon our coroner."

"Yes, master," Alucard obeyed.

"COLONEL VOSS!" Seras screamed and tackled a huge scruffy man, "You're home!"

The bald man embraced her back with a laugh. His strong arms squeezed the young vampire with all of their might. He didn't care; he knew that it didn't hurt her…couldn't hurt her. He could never hurt her with his strength. They parted, and a huge smile accompanied his happy face.

Seras looked the man over with probing eyes. Sadness was behind the veil of happiness, and she knew it was because the team had failed. A beard threatened his unshaven face and unkempt clothes. Dirt was smudged in between the bags of his eyes and in the crevices of the corner of his nose. The man looked like he had aged another five years since she last saw him.

"Seras, I haven't seen you for too long. I notice you've taken care of the manor while we were away," Colonel Voss glanced back at his arriving team.

She smiled, "I have."

Seras saw Rex, their Executive Officer, enter the room along with the team's best sniper, Baako Amadi. Rex reminded Seras of Pip with his longer hair, though not braided, and winning charm to flirt with her. Baako, on the other hand, no one bothered. He had fled from his people in Africa to fight in the battles between vampire and human after a herd of them wiped out his family and friends. He was recruited into SAS shortly after, and had been a soldier for Britain ever since.

Baako scanned the room silently and sat in a chair where he could see every exit. After another moment, he then hoisted up his gun and began to carve symbols into the barrel. His eyes rested watchfully on Seras's every move.

The young Draculina turned back to Voss, "Your men should rest for a while after what you've all been through."

Voss chuckled and stretched out his arms, "We've already caught some sleep on the plane ride back. My men are ready for the next mission."

"But you must have some short holiday or a small vacation," Seras argued and looked around the room for support.

"Well! SAS is finally back, and your next mission may be sooner than you think," Albert clapped his hands together and motioned for the door, "I'd like to show Colonel Voss, Rex, and Baako a few things that I've made for them in the armory please…"

"Certainly," Voss grunted and dropped his duffel bags where he stood, whistling for the two other men to follow before Seras could object.

Seras sighed and decided to follow the men across the Hellsing mansion and down into the armory, Albert's sanctuary. She phased through the walls quickly and found herself almost immediately in the room. Taking a seat in the broken wheeling chair, she paused, feeling someone else's presence. She nearly fell off of the chair when she heard the voice.

Police Girl, tell Albert that he needs to come to the Ethridge estate immediately.

Master?" Seras asked to the air. There's never a break, is there?...

Do this now, there has been another death, Alucard stated, trying to repress his annoyance.

Whose? His fledgling asked.

The lord's.

Seras started but quickly regained her composure. He's just about to introduce the suits to SAS. The team just arrived on Hellsing Manor.

There isn't much time and we need an autopsy report as soon as possible, Alucard said with more weight, dismissing what she had said. By Integra's orders, he must come out here now.

Seras sighed, knowing she shouldn't cross Sir Integra. Albert had been waiting years of preparation for this moment, and this time he had to pause it to assist Integra. But no sooner was she about to answer when the group of men entered into the armory. Wasting no time, Seras shot up from her seat, startling Albert and Voss of her existence in the room. It made Baako flinch.

"Albert, Integra needs you to drive to Lord Ethridge's estate right now. I just spoke with Alucard and –"

"Alucard?" Rex exclaimed, "Alucard? The Nosferatu? What? He's back?"

"I don't have time to explain it to you," she turned to Albert's pleading face, "Please, you must go. The lord is dead and they need an autopsy report right away."

The butler's face changed from begging Seras to let him stay to sorrow and remorse. "Oh God. What happened?"

Seras exhaled impatiently, "I don't know yet. All I know is that he's dead and you need to bring him back here to inspect the body. Something is missing, and Integra intends to find out just what the hell is going on."

Albert paused and looked back at the SAS men. He then turned to the vampire and smiled politely, "Before I leave, the team's next mission is to kill a group of vampires I've located with the police in downtown London. We believe they are somewhere in Russell Square. The details of it are on my desk in reports. Tell Integra I'm on my way."

"I will," Seras nodded, mentally reaching her master. Albert sighed, but started to walk out of the room.

"Oh, and Seras? I will call you from my headset in the car to explain the suits. I have a screen in the car connected to my computer," Albert smiled.

She'd remembered a few things from what Albert discussed with her, but by no means did she know the ins and outs of the suits he'd been working on for months at a time. She laughed nervously at being put on the spot and only grew more anxious as she felt the expectant stares of three other men focus on her. Her nerves were calmed once she knew that Albert would actually be present with them.

"Of course," she answered and watched him leave.

"Seras?" a mechanical voice asked.

The Draculina turned around to face the butler's laptop and smiled when she saw his face on the screen. "Yes, Albert?"

"Can you unplug me and walk me over to the suits? As of right now, I'm in the car. I've punched in the address, so it's on autopilot," the voice answered.

Unplugging it, Seras picked up the laptop and walked over to the suits. Rex, Baako, and Voss gravitated toward the first one. Albert cleared his throat, though Seras could almost feel his anticipation emanating from the screen.

"Behold," a dramatic voice introduced, "The first of its kind. The H-1 Suit! I will go from the inside out in explaining these. If you look to your left, gentlemen, you shall see a closet. Within it are, what I like to call, skin suits. These are commonly worn by astronauts; so I've decided to use my own created skin suits for you. Attached inside are sensors that read heart rate, blood pressure and pulse, blood oxygen content, respiration rate, blood sugar level, hemoglobin levels, and cytokine and histamine levels."

Rex murmured, "They have those in space suits too."

"Indeed," Albert's voice agreed, "And just like the space suits, the skin suits have ribbon-like flexible tubes filled with saline solution that bring warmth or cold to the body. There are thicker hoses between the shoulder blades that can attach to the air scrubber which is the main filter."

Seras grabbed the blueprint of the skin suit and placed it on a lighted table from underneath. She flipped the switch on and watched the papers highlight the contours and outline the magnificent drawings of the suit.

"Now, the exterior systems of the suit include the air scrubber, the heating and cooling systems depending on where you are in the world, (for example, fighting in the jungle would require the suit to cool your body instead of heat it), and then there are the drug injection systems."

"Drug injection systems?" Colonel Voss raised an eyebrow.

"You heard me correctly, Colonel. They are placed in the middle of the back, where there is less body movement. There are two main injections: a powerful anesthetic that causes numbing, and the other is an artificial adrenaline that will help prevent shock from occurring."

Rex scratched his head in befuddlement, "I used to see this in the U.S. after the Recovery Period and then with us as well. But they came in kits that were attached to your pants. I can't believe you've managed to place this into a suit."

Albert laughed, "I'm just getting started. Seras, would you place the blueprint of the gel on top of the skin suit?"

Seras rummaged around his papers until she found a piece of paper with drawings of gelatinous bags sewn together. Placing it on top of the skin suit, she then waited for the men to understand its purpose. When they looked back at Albert, he smiled.

"This is an oxygen reactant gel. It is liquid in form, but, when the bag is penetrated with a bullet, it reacts to the oxygen now inside of it, as well as the oxygen from your blood, and forms into a hard gelatinous plug around the wound to clog it up. Suspended within the gel are coagulants laced with antibiotics to prevent infection."

"Jesus," Rex whispered. Seras smiled.

"Seras," Albert looked up at her picture from his own screen in the car, "Could you please now place the blueprint of the frame on top of the oxygen reactant gel? And then the armor too."

Seras found the papers and straightened the others on the lighted table.

"Thank you. Now, there is the frame of the suit and the armor. This, in short, contains the motors and servos which are basically the parts of the suits that let your joints move. It is made of aluminum but is reinforced titanium in case any vampire gets a little too excited. Outside of that is the Kevlar armor that is welded and rivetted to the suit. It, believe it or not, is an ablative reactive non-Newtonian armor."

"What does that mean?" Seras asked, finally lost within the words.

Voss grunted, "It outdates carbon fiber ceramic plating. This non-Newtonian substance probably bends under pressure, but does not crack when hit. It probably then returns to its original form and bends again when hit."

"W-what? So…you mean it's like jell-o?" Rex asked.

Albert laughed, "If jell-o was ten times the strength of steel and thicker…yes. Do not mistake, however, the integrity of the armor. If hit enough times, it will eventually crack. What makes this type so unique is the fact that the bullet is stopped from ever entering the suit. It hits, and then fall to the ground completely flattened out like a pancake."

"Oh..my..God," Rex grinned, "So when can–"

"I'm not quite finished," Albert cleared his throat, "Next is the helmet. It is made of the same polymer armor as the suit with a wire system that hooks to the heating and cooling systems. There are three cameras, one on each side of the head and one on the forehead. The lenses are the size of pencil erasers, so they will be very hard to shoot, and they are fully embedded into the helmet with no exposed parts. They have x-ray vision as well as infrared vision and are capable of zooming in twenty times what an eye is capable of. I figure this way anyone can become a sniper with their gun."

"Even though vampires don't give off heat, that's still a good idea since they are colder than their environment. The infrared can still pick that up," Voss nodded.

"And…the helmets each have a heads-up display with features showing and updating the state of the suit. Lastly, a computer that assists the operator was placed in the back of the helmet. It should be well protected since the suit has a raised collar shielding the neck from most damage."

There was a pause when the men breathed in, and their gazes turned from the lighted table to the actual suits with awe. Seras looked at the laptop's screen and smiled at Albert. He had made them speechless. A smile returned hers, though she could hear the car slowing down on his approach to the Ethridge estate.

"Gentlemen, I do not want those suits being touched until I arrive back at Hellsing Manor. I shall return soon but I have arrived at the estate. Goodbye, Seras, and thank you for your help," he stated.

Seras waved and then shut the computer off, watching the SAS men and rounding them up to leave the room. This was not for Colonel Voss's sake, or for Baako's sake. Rather, for Rex's. His mouth dropped once more, but she quickly took his arm and guided him out of the room, silently tuning out his murmurs of confessed love for the machine.

"Wow," Colonel Voss stated, shaking his head.

"You ever play Halo, Seras? It's a really old game now," Rex asked.

"Ancient for some," Voss chuckled.

"…A couple of times. Some of my officer friends I would visit, on occasion, would have tournaments when they were on leave…why?"

"One word, my dear: Master Chief. Albert created the Master Chief…only…it's a little bigger and bulkier than that…But it's like a dream come true!" Rex's eyes sparkled with anticipation.

Integra lit another cigar and shifted her weight in the lord's leather chair. Both people seemed bored of guessing the possibilities of how lord Ethridge turned against himself. And the more both waited, the more Integra could see Alucard's hunger rise. The last time she was aware of it being dangerously high was when Seras reported to her that Alucard forgot who he truly was and believed his identity was Count Dracula. During their wait, her servant slurped on a few blood packets, but he hadn't obtained a full meal since his first night upon returning to Hellsing. A worried frown adorned the director's face as she watched Alucard ignore the urges to drink from the drying blood on the floor.

"This is a crime scene, and you mustn't touch it. I need it to be exactly in the same position when Albert arrives. He can put this body on the stretcher and begin to examine what caused this…fiasco," Integra waved a hand at the mess of broken glass, splintered wood, bullet casings, and dead body.

"Indeed," Alucard muttered, his thoughts elsewhere.

Integra sensed this by his expression and tapped at her cigar, "What's on your mind, my servant?"

He blinked, trying quickly to think of something else, and focused his eyes on his master. "I must feed soon. The only blood I can consume is back at Hellsing."

Integra nodded, "As soon as Albert arrives, I shall no longer need your services. You will be free to leave as you so wish."

Alucard bowed his head, "Thank you, master."

"I am reluctant to say this, but the more I think about this situation, the more I realize it resembles…" her voice trailed off.

Alucard paused, considering what she said, "I understand. Before, we were dealing with two rogue vampires. Now, we're dealing with something entirely different."

Integra ceased tapping her cigar and looked up at him. "The way his head jerked back, the way he executed himself, and the way you cannot absorb any information from the body…"

"Yes," Alucard turned around to face the drying bloodied body, "But he is neither a manufactured vampire nor a soldier. And he did not burst into flame either."

Integra sighed, "Yes, I know. However, that has never stopped…dedicated followers. Fanatics who are determined to continue his manifesto."

"The Major's only mission was to destroy me. His entire life was meant to destroy mine. However, it is possible for him to have an entourage even after his death," Alucard pictured the small, pudgy man once more with droves of soldiers and scientists behind him.

"And yet," Integra paused from her guessing, "The more we assume, the more we make snap judgments, the more our imaginations run wild, the worse this will get. We must stick to hard facts, evidence."

Albert bowed graciously, "I've come on hearing your orders, Sir, to eventually bring you said evidence. I have with me a body bag and a stretcher with a van waiting out front. And before I forget, SAS has arrived safely to the mansion."

"Albert," Integra's eyes widened, and slight relief washed over her face as she stood without hesitation, "Thank you. I am glad they are back. Is there any way you could examine him here and find out what caused this?"

Albert shook his head as he motioned to approach the cadaver, "I'm afraid not. In my haste to arrive here, I only brought a few supplies; just enough to get him back to Hellsing. I have the proper tools for a medical examination there."

"Of course," the director's crestfallen voice filled the silent room, "You may begin in his transport."

"Master," Alucard interrupted, "May I leave you now?"

"…Please," She nodded and opened her hand as a gesture to the door. Her servant bowed and slowly faded into the darkness of the room.

So what have we learned about Albert in this chapter? I swear, I just keep adding on things because his character is so expandable, not expendable, expandable.

He's
1. A butler
2. A scientist
3. A weapon's dealer
4. A mechanic
5. And now…a coroner.

…yummy :P what else will we find out about him? I love this guy.

OK next chapter: More Seras and Alucard reactions…I think…