A/N: Well, it's been a while, hasn't it? I hope you all were still expecting an ending to this :P because it's coming. The climax, the finale, the coup de grace, if you will. It's all planned out. I just need to find the time to write it…eh…heh heh…but it's chronologically finished. Has been for a while.
To be completely frank, it took me a while to get back interested in it because my reviews have been decreasing on this story. So sad :( what am I to do
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!
The First Attack: Waterborne
"How hmany hminutes?" Heinkel asked in her tight space as she fidgeted with the laser cutter.
Mark gave her a disgruntled look, "Geez, Heinkel. We've only been down here for half of an hour."
Heinkel swiftly turned to Mark in what uncomfortable space they had, "hThe hSeahawk's hengines hare hfaster hthan hthis hlittle hunk hof hmetal," She glanced out at the small trail of bubbles flowing up to the surface meters above them, "Hat hthis hpoint, hwe're hchasing her, hand hshe's hgot hthe hupper hand."
"No, and first of all, it's a DSRV-2 Avalon mini sub, and be thankful we have connections in the United States," Mark disagreed as he watched the screen of their craft and lowered the mini sub a few degrees, "The Seahawk contains more engines, but she's carrying special cargo, and the captain doesn't wish to look suspicious moving at 75 knots. We'll catch up to them."
"HI hswear hif hthey hmake hit hto hthe hSheet…" Heinkel started and gazed out at the deepening water.
"They won't," Mark reassured her as he tapped on the sonar screen and watched the green blip slowly move, "We won't let them get that far. I say another ten minutes and we'll see her back propellers. Then, we strike."
Heinkel's eyes darkened with murderous anticipation, "Hyes, hindeed."
Alucard sat in his throne chair in the deepest pit of his dungeon. His hands were gently folded in his lap, his chin resting gently on his chest, and his shoulders slouching gently into his high chair. His eyes occasionally fluttered open, but the NoLife King was finding it hard to stay awake, despite the fact that it was nighttime. He mused and mulled quietly, the only sound dripping water within cracking rocks from the incoming summer rains and the dew that had begun collecting on the leaves of trees outside. The peaceful trickling sound almost lulled him into a sleep, but a rattling from beyond the door caused him to rouse and blink.
"Come in, Police Girl," He need not even think of who it was.
A quiet groan from the door and the girl was inside swiftly closing it as fast as she had arrived. He turned his head away from trying to moon-gaze in what little light the cracked rock wall could spare for him until his eyes rested comfortably on her. Curious that she would still open doors when she could just as easily, no, more easily phase through them. But he gave up on even debating with her why she would continuously perform useless tasks that only remotely reminded her of what it was like to be human. Instead, the elder made a tired effort to smile.
"Master," Seras stated quietly, but not shyly to his surprise. The tone was more of worry.
This interested him enough for his eyes to fix on hers more, "What is it, little one?"
She fidgeted with her bangs and walked up silently to him, pulling up another abandoned chair, "Albert and I, well we've discovered what we think to be the Equilibrium's goal."
Alucard, now half-interested at hearing that name, nodded, already felt his thoughts wander elsewhere, "…Go on."
Seras sighed, sensing she no longer had his undivided attention, "They mean to kill every vampire on the planet, but they also have to find a way to kill you."
"I know this. Integra made it obvious that they wished to do this," He stated with some impatience.
"Yes…but the only way to kill you is to…well, probably destroy the world…is what we're guessing," She paused, watching Alucard's reaction.
"…Destroying the world to destroy me?" Alucard asked at a whisper.
His dull mahogany eyes awoke from their slumber as they began to glow warmer and warmer with an orange tint, hotter and hotter. His smile spread into a leer across his face and his lips parted, exposing rigid white fangs as a low chuckle rose from within his chest. It grew and grew, louder and louder until Seras could feel her own chest vibrate from his growing laughter. She could even feel the stone beneath her and the walls reverberate back and forth at his now maniacal cackling. He threw his head back as waves of them fell upon him, and he soon gripped at his stomach as it constricted him from breathing in to laugh once more. Fear would have overcome her entirely at this sight, had she been thirty years younger; but she would, on occasion, get a relatively similar response from Integra when an incompetent group attempted to end her life in the most ridiculous ways such as this. The two were more similar than they knew.
Alucard's eyes slowly softened and his laughter dulled to episodes of chuckles as Seras waited for the best moment to speak once more, or perhaps he'd speak and save her the trouble. She looked his insane facial expression over: the widened eyes, the leer deepening into malicious intent, the way his hair excitedly whipped around his head, and his jaw-line working. She was shocked to feel that it was almost…attractive to her…
"Surely, you jest, Police Girl," Alucard wiped at his eyes as one last chuckle escaped his lips, "I cannot be the main event of this match, not again."
Seras frowned, "I'm completely honest with you. They mean to kill every vampire, and the only way they're going to be able to do that is if they destroy the world. The way Hellsing is doing it is apparently too slow."
He stopped laughing entirely and his face went blank, revealing no hint as to what he was thinking.
"Master?" Seras felt herself become more and more uneasy.
"Come," He said with force, "Walk with me," He rose from his throne and, without pausing, phased through the rock wall to the outside.
Seras, without much choice, followed.
Mark steadied the joystick as he leveled it with the bottom of the hull of the ship. Flipping on a few switches, he wiped away a bead of sweat falling down his face.
"Hwould you hurry!" Heinkel pressed.
"In case you haven't noticed, our sub and their ship are MOVING! One misalignment with the controls and we crash into them or are sucked into their massive propellers that are RIGHT BEHIND US! It's even more risky than trying to land a Boeing 747 with one active engine on water, ok?" He shook angrily in his seat, "Just get ready to breach the hull and pray that the training I had in the US of mystic class deep submergence rescue has not been for nothing. I've a map of the inside, so we should be able to find The Chamber It is in and be able to deactivate It."
"Hgot it!" She shouted back as the noise from the ship grew immensely.
She packed her bag filled with low-grade explosives and held onto the laser cutter as they approached even closer. Mark inhaled slow and in deep breaths as he prepared the sub for boarding. He pulled up gently on the joystick and felt the machine respond as it shifted up. He pulled on it again and heard a thud on top of the roof of it.
"Dispatching Grappling hooks!" Mark yelled as he flipped another switch.
The screen panned out to a blueprint of the mini sub activating her hooks as they used a suction cup in its palm and magnets for its fingers. Four long arms attached themselves to the underbelly of the ship, but it wasn't until Mark received a green light on his monitor that everything had performed at optimal levels and had not malfunctioned that he sighed in relief and collapsed in his chair.
"That…" He wiped the rest of the sweat off of his face, "Was too cumbersome."
Heinkel threw a glock his way and nodded to the opening hatch, "Hlet's hgo hmake hourselves ha hlittle hatch hof hour hown hmaking, hshall hwe?"
Mark grinned as he turned on the laser cutter and watched his superior open the hatch. The paint of a partial number in green on the ship showed through as the water on the metal side began to drip down. Mark pulled the massive cutter up and forward in a circular motion, until the flame singed and began to melt away at the metal. Sparks from it glinted in Heinkel's eyes as she gazed at its power.
The sub groaned and creaked for a moment, swaying in the process, and Mark paused; but everything evened out and steadied just as quickly. He continued forward when the younger agent noticed that the metal was beginning to sag under gravity. He ceased with the laser cutter and handed it carefully to Heinkel. Looking back up vertically at the nice circular scar, he mentally patted himself on the back and prodded the metal. It gave almost instantly as a rush of air from the inside of the ship blew past his face. Heinkel anxiously pushed through to pass him and peek out.
Her eyes were level with the ground floor as she inspected the area. Coming to the conclusion that no one was present, she noticed the fortuitous place in which they were instantly. The engine room.
Grinning, she climbed out of the hole and onto the ground, shifting her guns and her sack comfortably around her waist. Mark, shortly after, joined her. He looked baffled as he took in his surroundings and perused his map.
"I don't understand. According to my blueprint of the ship," Mark scratched his head confusingly, "The Chamber should be through that door, but instead we have the engine room? What is this madness?"
"Hon hthe hcountrary, hMark," Heinkel began strapping C-4 to various parts of the room, "Hthis his ha hmost hfavorable hplace hto hstart hand hfinish hat hthe hsame htime."
"What, on this green earth, do you possibly mean?" Mark quietly started to despair.
"Hwe hcould hdisable hthe hengine hroom, hthus hoverheating hThe hChamber holding hIt hin, hand hexploding hIt hithout heven having hto hnow hgo hout hand hsearch hfor hwhere hthey hare hiding hIt."
"Plant explosives in the engine room to deactivate the super cooling-conducting liquid helium that is fed to It through tubes, and thereby destroying the magnetic containment field of The Chamber as it overheats and self-destructs? That's brilliant!" Mark picked up his share of C-4 and started the timers.
Heinkel set the timers as well and kissed each one, "Hyou are hdoing hgreat hthings, hmy hfriends."
"What is your timer set for?" Mark asked as he fiddled with the wires.
"6 minutes," She answered him and reached for her gun as a man entered the room.
Firing the trigger without even glancing up, the man instantly fell to the floor, dead. Mark flinched, but continued his work. Heinkel kicked the door closed once more and jammed it.
"Hno hone hill hstop hmy hplans hfrom hgoing hforward," She murmured and continued to set the timers.
With one switch in her pocket, she activated the timers and watched them 'green light' on. Chuckling, the agent began flipping switches within the engine room frantically, and in the process messing up its controls. The room almost immediately began flashing red lights and flaring alarms which only confused them further in figuring out which order needed to be executed first. Turning the dials on maximum on each of the separate panels caused the entire ship to come to a dead halt. The abrupt cessation of propeller movement threw Heinkel and Mark forward and to the ground a few feet away.
"Heinkel! That's enough! I think every passenger on here now knows that something has taken a drastic turn for the worse and is now probably headed our way," Mark rubbed a growing bump on his forehead as he picked himself up.
She giggled as she concealed the switch-button that had activated the timers within the folds of her cloak and brushed her hair aside, "Hlet's hget hout hof here."
No sooner had those words been spoken when they both heard slamming on the door and shouts beyond it. Heinkel gathered up her possessions and hopped back down the hole. Mark took one last look around the room and hopped back into the mini sub as well. As he climbed down the stairs, he noticed Heinkel already making the preparations to depart.
"Heinkel, I have to close the hatch first," Mark frantically gripped the top of it and swung it down tightly, sealing it in the process.
"Hwe hare hon ha htime hlimit," Heinkel rushed as she activated the propellers of the mini sub and detached the grappling hooks.
The machine instantly floated in the water and sped to the side away from the ship. She controlled the joystick and cranked it to the side. The mini sub barrel-rolled horizontally and threw Mark against the walls. Once they were free of the hull, Heinkel pressed the detonator and heard a loud rumble, the sound of multiple bombs setting off vibrated the very water they were in as a flash of white and red erupted in the water; the ship slowly sunk back on its side and groaned. Mark turned around and looked out of the small window provided and smiled at the gaping hole they had created.
"You do realize that if we had just used the laser cutter and then left, the ship would be sinking anyway," Mark reminded her.
"Hyes," She nodded and pressed the joystick forward, "Hbut hwe hcouldn't hafford hto have hthem hhget hany hcloser hto htheir hdestination. Hwe had hto hstop hthem here. Hbesides, Hi hwanted hto hmake ha hstatement."
"Uh…" Mark noticed lights from within the ship malfunctioning, "Heinkel, they are using every current of electricity from within the ship to power The Chamber."
"Hthe hengine hroom has hno hdoubt hgone hto hshit, hand hthe hemergency hbulkheads hare hnow hactivating hto hmake hsure hthat hno one hcan henter hthe hroom has hit hfloods hover."
Mark scoffed, "You don't think they're sending an SOS, or could possibly survive this…?"
Heinkel was about to answer that she actually did not know when she noticed that the entire ship started to sink at a faster rate. One-man pods shot out from her sides as crew members tried to flee. Heinkel pressed the joystick down until it was completely flat against the counter-top and felt the mini sub dive down.
"Hi hthink hwe have hour hanswer!" She braced herself as the machine lunged vertically straight down.
"Heinkel? How far down can this DSRV-2 take us?" Mark bent down on his knees as he could feel the floor slide from underneath his feet.
"Hit hcan htake hus down hto 1500 meters, or 5000 feet," She concentrated, "Hbut hit's hnot hthe hdepth hwe hshould hconcern hourselves hwith. Hit's hwhether hor hnot hwe'll hget hto hthat hdepth hin htime."
"Yes, I've been meaning to ask you. When The Chamber finally loses control of the super coolant and shuts down, how fast until the explosion?" He asked nervously.
"Hwithin hmilliseconds," Heinkel answered as the mini sub began to shake from the quickening pressure increase, "hSo hif hwe haren't hfar henough hdown, hwe'll hknow hbecause hwe'll hget hvaporized hinstantly."
A sharp breeze whisked her molecules in a frenzy as they tried to solidify into her figure. She hastily tightened them to help and soon felt herself forming properly. The breeze continued to slap at her face when Seras suddenly felt instantly comfortable. Taking in the beautiful surroundings, she felt her power strengthen at the sight of the moon right above her head. She inhaled the crisp air and sensed her master beside her, his warm connection to her mind ever sweetening her mood.
"High moon; it's at its peak," He murmured, "This is when we are strongest."
Seras nodded in agreement, already feeling more energized now that they were out of the cobwebs of the mansion. It was upon this moment that Seras remembered the long strolls she would take at night long after Albert and Integra were fast asleep. It was a moment out of her day where she could reflect in peace and solitude, away from the happenings of Hellsing. One of those nights was the time that Alucard had broken through her shadows, and the fond memory crept back into her mind as they began to walk.
"You were elated to see me," He remembered as well, already grinning at her betrayed look as he had violated her privacy by entering and reading her mind. But in truth, he needed only to look at her face.
Seras sighed, "I don't miss many things, among them being turned into a vampire, but…" She hesitated, "I did miss being a vampire with you."
Alucard smiled, "Whether it was because of my predacious nature or of the fact that I was such a better example of a monster that you did not need to feel nearly as bad for your own situation?"
Seras stifled a laugh by coughing, "You were worse than I was, and I cannot deny that that made me feel less of a monster."
His expression changed once more from one of egotistical confidence to one of hurt, "You don't miss being turned into a vampire?" He suddenly remembered the first half of her statement.
"No."
"Did my immortal kiss not suffice in awakening your deepest desires locked away in that pretty little head of yours?" He asked with tainted humor.
Seras, in that statement, felt herself go from allured to repulsed by his ending sarcasm and sardonicism. "A condescending tone suits you, master, don't get me wrong, but not when you're attempting to get me to agree with you."
"Hence the sarcasm," He dully replied.
"You're incorrigible!" She spat and began to walk away, now noticing the softness of the grass beneath her boots.
He grinned, though it had a sad hint to it, "I suppose you'll walk out on your master when he wishes solely to walk with you."
Seras paused and cursed at herself and the way his voice always manipulated her feelings, turning around and staring back into his hypnotic eyes, "I see fit to it when the conversation loses its meaning."
"Careful," He mockingly warned, "Any more bitterness to that comment and you will begin to sound like me."
"According to Integra, I already act like you," She growled with accusing eyes. But instead of his eyes lighting up in glee, his face stayed expressionless.
"I wish only to walk with you," He stressed, "Is that too much of a burden?"
Seras double took at his answer. No retort? No mocking snort? Not even a predacious wink? He just stood there motionless and wanting to walk with her? She began to wonder if something was wrong with him, or that he had not drunk anything in a long while. Seras felt her face lower into a concerned frown as she probed his stance. Nothing looked particularly wrong or out of place, and his face looked rather calm. But Seras wasn't about to give into his will. She stood her ground, cueing him to walk over to her. It was a dominance thing, and surprisingly, he did meander her way. Both paused to look at the other and then continued on their stroll. His fledgling bounced around ideas in her head to keep him talking. Hearing him berate her was tolerable, but walking next to him in utter silence was unbearable. At least when he spoke she could get a peek into what his mind was churning up. Only one topic remained, and she knew he probably wouldn't answer her.
"I can only imagine what you think of the Equilibrium, but I would very much like to know what you think of what they're going to do to stop you," Seras glanced at him for a moment. He looked elusive.
"That organization means nothing more to me than what Millennium meant to me, but I cannot settle a struggle that is now growing inside of me," He added in an almost inaudible voice, to her surprise.
"A struggle?" She asked, hoping this train of thought would reach its destination before Alucard derailed it.
He stopped and gazed at the edge of the gate and to the woods to the north. Looking to the horizon, he seemed wise as the wind gently picked up his locks, "There have been many things Hellsing has faced over the course of its existence, but I have lived centuries before Hellsing, and what is about to happen is beyond anything that we both have ever had to face and conquer before. The Major wanted to destroy me, but not the world. This time, the Equilibrium does not even care if it kills the entire planet. Do you even know what they are doing?"
Seras looked at him in confusion, "Of course I know what they are doing."
"They are curing the disease by killing the patient. The world is the infected patient, the infection vampires, and the cure whatever it is that they plan on using against us to rid us of existence, Police Girl," He hatefully spat.
"And?" She pressed.
"And that is something that I will not allow to have happen," Alucard stated with finality.
Seras blinked in confusion once more, "What? I mean, you seem so vehement, so zealous about this…you never cared this much before…" Since when did he struggle with himself? Since when did he trouble himself with getting tangled up in morals?
"I cannot let him destroy all humanity," The elder shook his head, "Vampires, I can understand, that's normal; but humans? You destroy too many of those and vampires won't exist at all. It would discontinue the perpetual warring between the two species. Everything glorious about war and conflict would end. They are a valuable resource and there is..." He stopped.
"There is hope for them," Seras finished and turned her gaze from the forest to his eyes. They looked stricken, as if torn from feeling too many emotions that were rising up that he had not dealt with in centuries.
"There is always hope for humans. There always has been. I may be insane and want to watch the world burn, but the extinction of the human race in order to kill vampires goes too far," He dared to bare his teeth at his mistress: the moon.
"Careful," Seras mockingly warned, "Anymore heart-felt feeling to that comment and you will begin to sound like me."
"Do not mistake ardor for caring. I merely disagree with their execution of their choice," He said with indifference, but Seras could have sworn that his eyes betrayed him for a moment.
"Of course," She tried to sound convincing, and sensed that the conversation was beginning its end, "Well I'm always here if you need to get anything off of your chest," She said with alacrity.
He scoffed, "Implying that I needed help with something in the first place."
"Master," She put one arm on his shoulder, "Even you have needs that are long overdue," She paused as she realized the hidden meaning of her sentence. Slapping her forehead in a face-palm, Seras watched him instantly take advantage.
His eyes radiated an orange glow at her words, "Indeed," He stated in a deep voice accompanied with a sly grin.
"Ugh," She shook her head shamefully, "Forget I ever said that. I must be feeling the full moon tonight."
"A vampire's senses and…desires…are elevated on a full moon to the highest extent," Alucard said and nodded to her, "I have…an inclination to do something tonight."
Seras cocked her head to the side in confusion, "What do you mean?"
He turned to her and grinned in disbelief, "You're telling me that you never, in all of your years in defending Hellsing, never once ventured off the premises? Not even for one night?"
Seras averted her eyes, "I did once, but that was on a follow-up investigation that we thought would lead to a possible assassin years ago. And we got him."
"No, no," He waved a disappointing hand at her, "I'm talking about leaving the premises for a whole night to explore and hunt."
Her eyes widened, "Never! Did you ever do such a thing?"
Alucard's smile widened, "It took them years to figure it out, but Integra already had an inkling. I would sneak out at night on the full moon to explore London at night. I would oft lay on someone's roof and night-dream about what it would have been like, had I conquered all of London...Envisioning my dominion and all of its wonders...controlling this entire country...Oh, the memories…" He sighed as his eyes unfocused on a point in the distance.
Seras began to silently tip-toe away from him when his eyes snapped to her.
"Suit yourself," He vanished.
She blinked and spun wildly around only to find him halfway across the field on his way to the Hellsing Manor gates. She gasped angrily and raced off to catch up with him, unsure whether or not to be angry or to laugh hysterically.
"M-master!" She shouted as he disappeared around a corner, "Oh, that man!"
"Our descent is too fast!" Mark yelled to her as he saw the windows begin to crack, "Pull UP!"
"No!" Heinkel refused, "HIf hwe hdon't hdive hfast henough, hwe hdie. hIf hwe hdo hdive hfast henough hwe hdie htoo. hBut hthere his ha hchance hthat hshe hwill hpressurize! hWe hmust hrisk hit!"
Outside of the submarine, the ship groaned as all systems began to malfunction. Men and women shouted orders into the intercom, ordering the remaining crew to abandon ship. Officers and scientists raced around The Chamber frantically as the sphere that was suspended in scaffolding began to sway back and forth. The magnets on every crosshatch contained the particles within it, but as the liquid helium tubes ceased distributing the necessary coolant, the magnets started to shut down one by one.
Individual deadly particles that maintained themselves within a spherical ball began to bounce freely around the failing Chamber. As soon as they touched something, it was destroyed. As more magnets turned off, scientists began to scream in horror as more particles released out into the room, completely swallowing up control panels and walls of the room.
"System failure, system failure. Malfunction, malfunction," The computer reiterated, "Recommending evacuation, recommending evacuation."
"Noo!" One scientist shouted.
"Power levels at 50%...power levels at 45%...power levels now dropping to 30%...power levels at 25%...recommend immediate evacuation…"
"Everyone get off the ship! She's gonna explode!" Another shouted.
The room rapidly increased temperature to a scalding degree as the remaining magnets failed and the containment field broke completely free, exposing the deadly particles to matter outside. They instantly reacted and exploded within the ship, causing a chain reaction.
And suddenly, the ship exploded in a blinding fury of white light in a mile in all directions. Everything was vaporized within a second, including the water beneath the ship as well, and anything containing matter within that radius was instantly gone. The blinding light arced upward and into the atmosphere like a white inferno as a massive swath in the form of a bowl was carved in the sea. But now with the ocean vaporized in all directions for a mile, the water rushed in to fill the void. Unfortunately, a small mini sub was caught in the crossfire.
"HEINKEL!" Mark screamed as his hands burned from touching the metal of the DSRV. Its outsides had superheated to the explosion and he watched the paint literally lift off of the machine.
"HANG HON!" Heinkel yelled over her shoulder, noticing that there was air now beneath them.
The sub then began to drop the last hundred feet back into the water as gravity pulled it back to the earth. It plummeted into the liquid and steadied itself abruptly, but threw its passengers around the hold.
Mark rubbed another bump forming on his forehead but wanted to kiss the DSRV for keeping him alive, "Oh my GOD! We caught air! The explosion was over a mile in radius! The sub only went to 5000 feet, so we caught air as it caught up with us! Did you see it? It vaporized the paint off of the mini sub! Had we not been in water which absorbed most of the wave, or been any closer, it would have destroyed the metal!"
"Hnow his hnot hthe htime hto hcelebrate!" Heinkel slammed the controller forward once more as she dove violently down again.
Just before Mark asked why, he saw the now massive tidal waves rushing in from every direction to fill in the absence of the water.
"AHHH! HEINKEL!"
AAAHHHH We're all gonna die!...or, maybe just them two.
Okay, for all who are a little confused: the explosion was 1mi in radius, which includes up into the air and down into the water, thus creating a massive bowl of air as it vaporized the water completely off of the ocean. As a result, the water then would come rushing in to fill the void of empty space.
The mini sub goes only to 5000 ft, but a mi is 5280 feet, so the explosion would have actually hit them, causing the water underneath the sub to vaporize still, and consequently them catching air as they fell the last hundred to two hundred feet down to where the water now started.
However, there are also massive tidal waves closing in in all directions as well as the water itself being lifted up since water is denser than air and all that.
Hopefully that cleared things up; it's actually really hard to write this and try to make sense at the same time, so I hope that made it a little better.
And this chapter is subject to change a little if I can.
And I think it's high time that someone in that mini sub started to pray…