A/N: Hello, hey, hi, goodbye. The answer to your cliffhanger awaits. But DO NOT skip the beginning part which you are about to read.

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!

Both Friend and Foe

Integra relaxed comfortably in her chair as General Walsh eased into his chair. They both grinned at one another, their expressions reflecting years of working side-by-side together in the worst of times, and in the best of times. Both had unbelievable trust in the other, and both had tremendous respect for the other. The two took a short moment to see the years and memories they'd shared in the form of generous smiles. The Hellsing Director broke the bond and cleared her throat as she lit a fresh cigar.

"General," she started out, "I'm glad you came."

"Upon your request," he said in a hoarse voice, "I had to."

She nodded, "I know you are retired, and I know that the Convention of Twelve is no longer a part of your line of work."

He chuckled, "Integra, the least I could do is come and give some guidance, some support. I heard whispers of this new organization; The Equilibrium of Humanity, as it were. They seem to be in dire need of vampires extinguished, judging by their name. But what I do not understand is why they would recruit Lord Ethridge to do grunt work, why they would choose someone from Hellsing."

"The idea confuses me as well," Integra nodded, taking in a full inhale of carcinogenic air, "Which is why I sent for you…" she paused.

General Walsh's expression turned to smug satisfaction, "I never believed you would ever ask for help; I know subtlety is not your strong suit."

She managed a half-smile, "Nor did I ever believe you would bask in my asking for it."

He coughed a raspy tone and cupped his throat, "Apologies, Sir." She nodded curtly, aware that he was humbled.

Integra placed her cigar in between her thumb and index finger, "It's an organization that has men everywhere, I assume. And judging by the time and effort on the chip and secrecy of it, the covering of tracks, Equilibrium has probably been under our noses for years."

"Indeed," he added, "Here is an organization that does so much, and has hidden it from us for so long. They're no half-baked lot, that much is for certain.* And yet what we truly know is so little."

"On top of that, nothing has been unearthed, and there have been no leads for weeks. All that has seemed to increase is the number of vampire incidents," she stood up and paced to the darkened window.

General Walsh remained seated and pulled out a cigarette of his own, "Hence, why you asked for me."

Integra turned around to face him, though her eyes would not look into his, "…Yes."

He nodded and lit the cigarette, leaning back in to the comfortable chair, "Well, I see a few things here."

Integra's face grew strained and her eyes weary, "Lord Ethridge was our lead...or so I thought. Which brings us to our problem: dead ends," she said with outward frustration.

"Right, and back to the few things I see. I see, objectively, an organization determined to defeat all vampires, I see trails leading to dead ends, and I see a Section XIII agent dropping you hints along the way…" he dragged the ending suspiciously.

Integra turned to him swiftly, "You're not suggesting that I stoop so low as to ask for Heinkel's help."

General Walsh shifted in his seat, "Well, under normal circumstances, I'd say no. But this situation is anything but normal, and since she already did you the favor of tipping you off, you may need to seek her out. She knows more answers, and she could be willing to give them."

Integra sighed, "Yes, I know. I was hoping I would make it easier on the both of us by not working with each other. However, recent events have deemed it...almost logical to find her. After a stunt like that, I'm sure Section XIII is out to kill her, especially after she murdered Chief Makube."

"Have you looked into the reasons for his death?" General Walsh tried.

"Yes," The director answered, "Suspicious though they are, our attaché has been next to useless, and Iscariot has almost entirely shut us out. It seems as if they are having internal problems as well."

He chuckled, "The idea amuses me that you would need one another. Iscariot and Hellsing working together. Or, rather, just Heinkel and Hellsing working together."

Integra narrowed her eyes, "They wouldn't hesitate to double cross me as they did thirty years ago. Remember Maxwell?"

The general smiled, "Remember Anderson?"

The Iron Maiden paused, recalling the priest's words of disproval toward Maxwell's thirst for power and hiding behind God for it, as well as his chivalry towards bringing her home. A soft inward sigh fell upon those memories as she almost wished for him to return somehow, or at least the feelings of simplicity back in the good-old-days. But the feeling was fleeting as she shook her head and concentrated on the present.

"I do."

"And do you remember how he killed his boss, as Heinkel is doing now? Do you remember how Anderson disagreed with Maxwell and believed in something greater than the fate Maxwell brought to Iscariot?" he pointed out.

"What are you suggesting? That Heinkel learned something from Anderson? That she's following in his footsteps?"

General Walsh paused to cough off to the side, "I'm saying that Heinkel did learn something from Anderson, as all servants learn from their masters. She is following in Anderson's footsteps to achieve the ideals he stood for, whatever those may be."

Integra nodded slowly, letting his words thaw, "Yes, yes you're right."

"By the end, Anderson had gone rogue. He refused to follow Maxwell's orders of putting you under his custody, and he ordered his own men to take their lives for you. He helped you, Integra, he protected you, if only for a time," Walsh emphasized the last sentence.

"I know that," Integra stated tightly, "Now can we focus on matters more present?"

General Walsh eased back into his seat and grew quieter, "Of course."

Feeling slightly guilty, she added, "I will keep that in the back of my mind, General." ...not that she had ever forgotten.

He nodded politely, "I would hope. Now, returning to matters more present."

"Master..." a deep voice called.

Integra slid back into her chair and gripped at her cigar. Alucard always interrupted her whenever it suited him, but his tone made her soon realize that there was grave news. She quickly mentally prepared herself for what was to come, "Enter, servant."

A cloud of darkness appeared, forming into a familiar figure of deep red and glowing eyes, "I have come to inform you of the mission."

Integra frowned, "I thought SAS would inform me."

Alucard, completely forgetting his master's comment, looked down at the guest chair and smiled, "General Walsh," he said with great weight, though it was coated with mockery.

The general grunted, standing slowly to his feet, "So you are back. The nightmare returns, and Hell with it."

The vampire grinned, "Glad to see you too."

"Servant," Integra cut in, "What do I need to know?"

Alucard walked closer to his master and stopped right before her desk, "There was a…shall we say…manufacturing component to the vampires on this mission."

Integra stood up instantly and stared into goading eyes, "You will tell me exactly what you mean, slave," she threatened.

Alucard, loving that particular derogatory word she seldom used, leaned in to meet her and placed his hands daringly close to hers atop the table, "Of course, my master," he seductively purred and turned swiftly around to pace as Integra's face colored in different shades of many emotions , "I tasted one of the vampires' blood, and came to the realization with Seras that it had been manufactured, along with the others SAS and I attacked tonight."

"Manufactured," Integra whispered, as if she hadn't heard the word in years, "How…how bad?"

Alucard lifted his glasses from his pocket and toyed with them, "Enough from one specimen, which made me start to wonder how anyone could get a copy pure enough to begin manufacturing. One can't just use any vampire on the street. The only vampire closest to me was Mina, having shared my blood and I hers."

"She was destroyed in the bombings," Integra stated quickly for an answer.

"Yes, yes she was," Alucard reaffirmed, "But not all of the bodies were found after the explosion."

General Walsh looked between Integra and Alucard, "What are you suggesting? That one of the Nazi bodies was found and used to replicate more hastily prepared vampires?"

Alucard stopped pacing, "No. All of them were deployed onto the battlefield and were on the ground. The only ones left that I didn't consume were the ones Integra was specifically fighting in the Zeppelin."

"The only ones left on the Zeppelin were the Major, the Captain, Dok, and…" Integra turned around slowly with wide eyes filled with renewed pain.

Alucard grinned madly, wanting her to say it, "And?"

"And Walter," she whispered, not believing her own words, "But he was a copy of a copy! He was defective!"

"And all things defective die easily, too easily, just as the vampires did tonight. I recognize traces of Walter's blood in that vampire girl that I drained."

"So he's being used as a template to create more vampires," Integra stated with disgust, "Who would want to do that? Another party with similar wishes to create an army?"

"It could be anyone," Alucard reckoned.

"This could make for an entirely new problem that Hellsing has to deal with," General Walsh suddenly became more animated, either at the idea of this next journey being more exciting than he had originally thought, or that he might have to come out of retirement to help.

"I don't want to speculate," Integra stood up and headed for the door, "For those lacking actual business to perform…" she scrutinized Alucard and General Walsh for blithely throwing around unfounded ideas, "…might I suggest a visit to the Armory to help Albert with the investigation. We will not get answers mulling over the vague."

Albert shuffled the stack of papers that claimed his desk. He took a moment to rub his strained eyes as he dug further and further into his Quantum Physics book. It had taken years to understand that there is still much to understand about the subject matter, and that didn't help when Alucard's question from weeks ago was still plaguing him.

"…but what do they intend to use to exterminate vampires?" Alucard grinned, "That's the real mystery."

Albert groaned as his head pounded with every beat of his heart, "I don't know. I haven't the slightest idea of what they'd use to kill vampires. They're easy enough to kill with just a stake, a silver bullet, fire, decapitation; the choices are almost endless."

A thought occurred to him, the choices are endless, which makes it more time and management to deal with than they want. They want to kill the vampire completely from this earth and restore peace and balance for humanity. But how can you possibly exterminate all vampires from this earth other than what Hellsing is doing? There can't be a faster way.

A ding from the computer sent Albert back to reality as he glanced up at the old cracked screen. He'd run the name Clarissa Boyd through the database of missing persons and got a hit. The butler zoomed in on the screen at the details of her police report.

"Missing a month ago, last seen leaving work, but neighbors confirmed she made it back to her loft…the next morning she didn't appear for work," Albert muttered the report aloud and the rest in his head.

He pulled up an email from a police officer, a friend, and read that these types of investigations increased tenfold in the past few weeks. The friend also sent similar reports as attached files to Albert. He paused as a thought struck him. The reports had increased tenfold in the past weeks. The past weeks in Hellsing had been heated, from investigating Convention members to SAS and to anyone else working with Hellsing. Albertglanced from the picture of Clarissa Boyd to the Quantum Physics book to the burnt note Heinkel 'dropped' at the pub.

Shaking off a rather disturbing thought, he hit the print button and cracked his neck. "Tonight's going to be a long one, Albert," he muttered.

"Not if I can help," Seras phased into the room, rueful smile and all.

Albert jolted forward and ruined his neatly stacked papers with a light gasp. He quickly tried to save them as they tilted and swayed, forgetting about preserving his dignity altogether. Clearing his throat, Albert slowly turned around and smiled. Both stared at the other for quite some time, drinking in the other's appearance. Seras was happy to see him smile, even though she knew it was forced.

"I feel like I haven't seen you in ages," she tried.

He broke the gaze and turned his head around to face the computer, "Yes, well, work does that. You have your orders and I have mine."

Seras's smile fell, "Yes, I know…Is there anything I can do to help?"

Albert stood for a moment and considered saying something. Instead, he shook his head and sat back down at his Quantum Physics book, frowning at the ear-marked pages, flipping back and forth between chapters. Seras stood there, hopeless and feeling guilty about the last time he'd seen her and Alucard…

"I brought food, drinks for the both of us, and aspirin," she opened up bags that were secretively behind her back. A smile crept up her lips as she watched Albert's head snap back and stare at the sustenance. His stomach growled loudly.

She plopped down in the seat and spread out the food before him, "I made you two huge turkey sandwiches, brought you a coke, and tea for chasers. Now, what needs to be done?"

The butler couldn't help but smile back as a certain warmness entered his eyes again. He helped clear the chair and a space for her, "You always know what I need," he glanced back at the book, "Well, to be honest, I have a few things that need answering. I know that it would be cruel of me to ask this of you, but I have to contact a friend in the police department. Would you mind taking over this book for me?" he held up the physics book.

Seras stared at it like it had sprouted eyes and legs, "Uhh…"

"I've ear-marked everything that I've found useful. Just…" he sighed, "Just try to find anything in there that would suggest it could permanently kill Alucard."

She turned her confused stare to him and waited for his elaboration. He broke off a piece of the huge sandwich and fed it into his mouth, instantly feeling energy radiate through his body as he inhaled the next piece and took a swig of his coke can.

"Killing Alucard is just about as hard as killing every single damn vampire on the planet, which is the goal of the E.O.H," he explained, pausing to swallow another mouthful, "So, I'm trying to find what could possibly kill Alucard."

Seras took the book from him and opened it to the first page, "He is the exception; he's the one outlier that won't die by conventional vampire standards," Seras reminded him.

"I know. He can't be staked, burned, decapitated, scattered at a crossroads, shot with silver, or even drained. You see, he has passed immortality and arrived at invincibility. Being immortal just means that you don't manifest characteristics of aging; but one still can be killed. Invincibility means that you cannot be killed, that you are indestructable."

"I see," Seras nodded slowly and smiled, "Then if Alucard is invincible, why are you even looking for something that could kill him?"

Albert sighed in exasperation. He searched the room, as if trusting that the words would find him, "Out of hope. For this world and for him. I know it's like trying to, as they say, find a needle in a haystack; but I have to believe that there is something that can destroy him. The Equilibrium knows of Alucard's existence, and you can be sure that they'll find a–"

"But how do you know that?" Seras objected.

Albert lifted his eyebrows and measured her intellectual powers, "Because they had Lord Ethridge as an informant, their knowledge of Alucard's existence is highly likely, if not a complete reality, since Sir Integra organized a huge meeting informing them of Alucard's existence," he paused, giving the obvious implication time to ripen in her mind.

"I see," Seras felt a light bulb switch turn on inside of her head, "So the Equilibrium has to worry about the entire race of vampires, but, more importantly, they have to figure out how to kill Alucard as well."

The butler nodded, gathering his thoughts, and began to pace around, talking to his library of book shelves as he passed them, "As I said to you earlier, he is quantum entangled with the rest of this world. In order to kill him, you'd probably have to destroy –" he abruptly stopped and his jaw dropped as he turned to her.

"You'd have to destroy the entire world," Seras stated quickly, already seeing the wheels turn in his mind.

"But," Albert shook his head and stopped himself short, "But even if the Equilibrium had nukes, they still would not do the trick! It may reduce Alucard to particles and sure it would kill thousands of vampires, but Alucard would still live on. He would still regenerate back so long as he chose to have his atoms in more than one place. Hell, part of him could be in Transylvania for all I know, and he could re-grow from there. All he needs is one."

Seras stared down at the book and began to flip through its pages. Albert, sensing no wind left in his wings, grounded himself by sitting back down at his seat and scooting forward to his computer, "The answer still eludes me…"

"You just need more time to think on it," Seras reassured him, her voice coated with confidence that sweetened to honey, "Eat some more," she pushed the forgotten food toward him again and began reading the book.

He took the rest of it and munched while he sent more emails, occasionally glancing back at Seras, secretly glad she was there.

*That was Walter's line in the 3rd Manga volume talking to Alucard.*

O.O

Whaat? Destroying the world? An apocalyptic cult that's worse than Section XIII? Vampires on the rise? What fresh Hell is this? ...my mind at work, perhaps :)