The Banana Slug: I really hope that this is the last chapter of this Arc, I keep on extending it and extending it and extending it. We'll just see, we'll just see.
Hellsing's League of Extraordinary Gentlemen
By The Banana Slug
CHAPTER 12: The House of Pain
"Wake up, my Seras."
She grunts as she slowly opens her eye, then the other. Seras Victoria, the woman beaten by the Detective, awakens to find herself staring up at a bright light as a hand drips blood onto her lips from a pack in its grip. She moans as she drinks it up, holding her mouth open wider as she extends her tongue out, closing her red eyes as she drinks the blood so weakly.
"Yes, Seras…that's a good girl…"
She kept hearing this nasally and whispering voice call to her, but she was so hungry that she focused on the blood that was being fed to her. It finally stopped, and she could breath and see the pain is gone and her ribs have healed.
"The blood…it helps, I am glad you are alright…my pretty Seras…"
Seras opens her eyes again, blue once more as she sees the hand go from the light and disappear from her sight. She tilts her head down, looking forward to see a man walk away from her.
He was a rotund man, obese and round, and almost as tall as she was. He wore a grey outfit with stitches and buttons and dark grey patches adorned all over the strange wear that looked akin to long johns or pajamas. The fat man also had long black sheen gloves that squeaked with every move of the finger. The pale feet were covered by black galoshes that also squeaked whenever he walked, and she'd hear that squeak as he got closer to the window that overlooked the twilight sky of the rain as thunder broke not too far away.
It was a large oval window that looked like a spider's web, and she'd spy a figure close to the man that was very familiar.
It was Cesare, the man who stole the Notes she destroyed, standing like a statue as the fat little doctor walked to a stool in front of the window and faced Seras Victoria.
His face was pale grey, round like an orange, and on the top of it was bald with a long wavy scar stitched up so badly. His nose was beak-like, underneath was a pencil-thin moustache black as oil, which was atop a wide and incredibly horrid smile with little lips and small yet incredibly white teeth underneath his black gums.
His eyes were sunken with only a black dot seen as a pupil, grey with tire as they scanned her so invitingly. His ears looked as if they were stapled against his head, so tucked close as he watched her so calmly.
"Allow me to introduce myself, Seras Victoria," he said in his nasally whisper, "my name is Doctor Hanko Caligari, I am the Doctor of the Island…Master of the House of Pain. I help those who need to control themselves…by letting me take control."
She looks around as he introduces himself, finding that she has been put on a large wooden chair with her wrists and ankles tightly restrained by large grey shackles. Seras also notices that she is not wearing her uniform, but instead a light blue hospital gown that cuts down to the end of her thighs.
The dark grey room was a contorted mess, the angles of the room uneven and sometimes arching. The floor was a black and white swirl that ended at the chair she sat on, which was a tall grey wooden abomination that made her feel so small and so much like a child when she acknowledged her existence on it.
There were no windows, save for the one in front of her, and there was only a small black stool that Caligari sat on and a tall black coffin-like cabinet pressed against the wall. She had a feeling it was for her…
"Where…where are my clothes!?" she calls out to him in shock.
"Oh…well, they were dirty and needed to be cleaned," confessed Caligari calmly, "but don't you worry, after our session…they will be returned to you."
"Session, what the hell are you talking about!?" shouted Seras angrily, disgusted and enraged, "I don't need therapy! Let me go! Now!"
"I'm afraid not, my Seras Victoria," he hissed out with a smile, "you are still too weak to escape, my Seras Victoria."
She frowned angrily and sat there, keeping her legs together tightly as she looks at him with blazing red eyes, which seemed to make Hanko grin wider as he showed off his many small teeth.
"Don't worry, my Seras," he hissed happily, "this won't hurt at all."
The Detective slammed the doors to his office right open, standing there with both hands on them as he gazed at Gin and Moreau standing in the middle of the room looking right at him in shock.
His office was well-groomed, with stacks of books on a walls of shelves and a large black desk with a black computer atop it next to a small black case snuggled close to the monitor.
"Detective, you're back!" exclaimed Gin.
"And irate, to be precise," he growled, walking to his desk and gathering notes up into a file as Moreau walked over and pressed her hands on his shoulders.
"My love, what happened?" she begged of him, "Please, tell me."
He snarled and slammed his hands on the desk, cracking it as she wisely backed away. He then turned to her and said as calm as he could in his excited state, "…The Notes…have been destroyed."
"What!?" growled out Moreau, just as angry as her love.
"That little harlot of Alucard's…stole it back and burned them," he explained angrily, "I sent her to Caligari…hopefully he can devise a way to make her and England suffer for this act of poor sportsmanship."
He sighed and walked to the chair of his desk, sitting down as Gin walked over and asked him, "So…what do we do now?"
The Detective sighed again as he rubbed his pale temple, saying to him, "…we go back to the rendezvous. That is our only hope, that is Millennium's only hope."
"I…I see," sighed Gin, turning his gaze slightly, "so, its come to that, hm?"
"Diving into enemy territory, I'm afraid, I just hope those pagan bastards haven't beat us to it," sighed the Detective in annoyance. His concentration was suddenly broken by the sound of gunfire, a noise that alerted everyone in the room. He thrusted up from his chair and walked over to the door to the balcony in a stride of irritation, slamming it open and being hit by a stray bullet for all his troubles.
As the bullet ricochet off his metallic cranium, he would see an immense army of pirates wildly shooting their automatics as they began kicking down the chain gates of the compound and killed every single guard that fought back. They would shout out in their tongue's battlecries, wildly shooting their guns as they killed the coat-clad soldiers as they'd spit blood from their lips and die in a puddle of their liquefied innards.
The screams and rambled orders of his slaughtered soldiers were mixed with the shouts and blood-crazed laughter of Nemo's men, who killed indiscreetly as the would knock the gate down.
"Bloody hell," snarled the Detective, then turning to his two associates calmly as the gunfire continued from outside and saying, "get to the escape pod and wait for me…I'll only be a moment, I need to get the files from the computer."
"But what if-" growled out Gin in slight defiance.
"Do as the Detective says," urged Moreau quickly, then nodding quickly to her love before leading Gin out the office, down the hall as the Detective walked to his desk. He looked over at the wall behind his desk as he rests his hands on his chair, looking at the picture of a large red V with a black and white hand shaking hands…the symbol of Ingsoc, the new ideal of the New Millennium.
As he sat down in front of his black sleek computer, he reached for his radio and said to it, "Colonel Jordan, make sure no one goes over the bridge that isn't of Millennium, anyone else, be it man or animal, kill it. Over."
As he opened his files and inserted a disc into the computer, the Detective noticed he wasn't getting a single word from his Colonel. He looked at it again and said sternly, "Colonel Jordan, kill anyone not a part of the New Millennium, protect the bloody bridge. Over!"
He continued to receive no answer from his men, and as he began loading files into the disc he grabbed the radio violently and shouted angrily, "I just left there not five minutes ago, dammit! Answer the bloody radio! Over!"
On the bridge, the black stone bridge between the island of Man-Animals and the Island of Dr. Moreau, there laid ten dead soldiers as the black asphalt was covered with their blood. They had only a single bullet hole in the back of them, sometimes on the head and sometimes to the literal back, but all everyone was a single quick kill.
"Bloody hell!" snarled a voice, coming from the radios on each of the dead guard's coats, "Pick up the damn radio! I just left from the bridge five minutes! Is everyone just dropping like bloody flies!? OVER!"
As the angry voice of the Detective rang out, the sound of small footsteps mixed with the distant sounds of gunfire as Jimmy Kudo ran out to the bridge, seeing all the dead soldiers in both relief and horror. He grunted and froze as he stepped over every single one out of sheer disgust as he looked to see in the distance the compound being attacked by an opposing force, knowing it could be no one but Nemo's men as he watched helplessly.
However, Conan would shake his head and take a deep breath, running through the bridge to find the rest of the League, maybe Nemo or Alucard if he could find them…he just hoped her men wouldn't forget about the young shrunken detective and shoot him.
"You are relaxed…you are well…you are calm…you are collected…you are safe…"
Seras' head would bob lightly as she stared at Hanko Caligari, sitting there staring as a giant pendulum swung back and forth behind him, clicking with every stop.
Cesare was beside her, looking down at her without a word as he stared at her with his doll-like eyes and that dead frown. Caligari smiled calmly as he stared at the dazed Seras Victoria, wiping the sweat from his brow as he quivered with excitement.
"We are not going to hurt you," he said to her, "We are your friends. We care about you, Seras Victoria. We understand your pain. No need to fear us, no need to hate us. Millennium is bad, and you know it. There is no proof to say otherwise, for they harmed you. They killed him, and that makes us the enemy."
He continued to say calmly to her as she slowly bobbed her head with the pendulum, "You must destroy the enemy. The enemy is here, and there. Now, walking amongst you. The enemy will destroy the world. And the enemy is someone close. The enemy is someone you know. Can you understand that?"
"The enemy…is…someone…I know…" she breathed out, looking and sounding like she is almost ready to fall asleep.
"Good Seras Victoria, such a pretty girl, such a smart beautiful little flower…" Caligari coughed loudly and then continued with his hypnotic speech with, "Now…now you understand? The enemy will turn everyone against you, for the enemy has power over them. The enemy is close, so close to you. You will deny it, but you know that if the enemy is to live…all of England will die. The enemy must die. She must die. Integra Van Helsing must die."
He urged deeper and said to her, "Listen to your mind, for it knows you best. Sir Integra Fairbrook Wingates Van Helsing is a traitor. She has been a traitor this entire time. She will destroy the League, she will destroy England, and she will destroy your master. She will destroy you. You cannot allow that to happen. So, you will kill her. Kill her in the name of England, in the name of your master, and in the name…of Pip…"
"Integra…must…kill…what? Wait, no!" she snapped out of his trance, shaking her head violently before she began to struggle with the bonds, screaming out, "You won't do this to me! Stop it! I won't kill Sir Integra! I won't let it!"
Caligari laughed and said, "Ohohoho! So naughty, so aggressive. It makes me find you so sensually interesting, Seras Victoria. But you will kill her, you will stop her from destroying-"
"Stop it! STOP IT!" she screamed again, "I am not going to kill Sir Integra! Shut up! Shut up, you slime!"
"Now, now…" he said as he stood up from his chair, "we will not have such beastly nature to such a beautiful vampiress." He then walked over to the table and grabbed a syringe, breathing out in regret, "I wish we had more time…you are so beautiful, and I hope the Detective will forgive me."
"Let me go, you beast!" growled Seras, "What are you doing!?"
"I have to sedate you, Seras," he stated, squeezing out liquid from a small bottle and filling the syringe with the clear liquid, "I will take you with me, you and me…together."
His plans with being with this beautiful undead woman was interrupted by the speeding bullet swiftly crashing through the front window, quickly sliding through the forehead of Cesare's head as blood splattered out in a torrent of gore mixed with hair and pink flesh.
Seras watched with shock as the once-powerful Cesare fell like a limp doll by something as simple as a bullet to the head, with his master watching in utter surprise and terror, shaking heavily as he backed away slowly.
He'd then see Seras growl as she uses all her strength to pull the shackle from her left bandaged arm. As she lifted it in the air, it turned into the mass of red shadowy tendrils that it is accustomed to and ripped each other shackle off her wrist and ankles.
Caligari shivered and inched to the door as she got up and staggered from her seat, and then Hanko yelled out in terror as he slammed through the doors and ran down the hallways, screaming loudly, "Help! Help! She's free! Help meeeee!"
The hall was just a straight line to the front door, which was a double-sided thing about seventeen feet tall. The corners of the ceiling was strange and jagged, contorted and a dark grey coloring. There were no doors to any other part of the House of Pain, all there were was the room that held Seras and two barracks at the side of the front hall.
He looked behind him to see Seras running quickly towards him, causing the man to scream louder and run quickly to the front gate as he saw the trench coat wearing soldiers as they ran to the door to guard it and notices Seras running after the Doctor Caligari.
As this happened, H-2020 was dragging the corpse of the dead White Rabbit-Man that accosted her group not some time ago, with the top of his head sawed off as the inside was as hollow as the House. The Tiger-Man looked up and winced at the chase and the guards reacting to it, dropping the corpse and backing away to the corner of the room in terror.
The fat deformed Doctor hid behind his armed guards as he said in terror and concern, "Shoot her! But don't kill her! I need her!"
"For what!?" growled a guard.
"JUST LEAVE HER ALIVE, DAMMIT!" he whined angrily. With that, Seras stopped as she was faced with the armed guards aiming their semi-automatics right at her with deadly glares. All she did was growl and bare her vampiric teeth as her left arm swirled like a vortex.
"It didn't have to be like this!" snarled Hanko madly, "Now I need to harm you! I didn't want this! Just give up, my Seras! Give-"
He was suddenly interrupted by the large doors caving down on him and the guards, Caligari looked in terror before screaming and running away. He fell on his stomach as the door crushed his screaming guards underneath it, writhing in agony as they spat out blood from the door crushing their bones and insides.
Another force caused them to scream in pain as the door would squish down harder on them from the footsteps of the juggernaut that destroyed the door.
Seras sighed and walked past Caligari, who cradled himself on the floor and whimpered as she ignored this strange little man. She said to the juggernaut, covered in the water of the seas as he stood there calmly with a machete in hand, "…I can say I'm glad to see you for once."
Jason simply looked down at her as she said, "We have to go now, I destroyed the Notes…they can't get to them now."
Caligari watched as Jason turned around and followed Seras as she ran away from the House of Pain. As he watched her gracefully rush down the bridge, he looked down and clenched his fists together.
As his men begged for his help, Tony inched from the corner and spied them fleeing from the building. The Tiger-Man turned his head as a hissing noise that made him flinch every time it was heard from the teeth of Dr. Hanko Caligari. In his face he sported a smile, a grinding of teeth with that smile as he did his best to hide in his laughter…
The Compound was a grisly scene, with the rampaging pirates rushing abound with guns blazing in mid-air as they wooted and laughed, with the chain fences decorated with the dismembered heads of the New Millennium's men as their fear of death was frozen in their faces.
As one of the Millennium Guards was held up by two of the pirates, screaming for mercy before splattering blood from his lips after he is executed by an AK-47 spraying bullets into his chest, their fearless Captain walked around with a proud swagger as she kept her hat on her head with a single pinch of the visor and let her long blue coat sway in the wind as it hung to her shoulders.
She watched the carnage she brought to her enemies with proud accomplishment, looking around with her shark-like eyes with a smirk as she saw more brutality her men would commit.
Nemo would witness them force to kneel and execute them with a swift bullet to the head, watching as their lifeless bodies drop to the muddy ground as the rain thrashed down upon her blood-thirsty army and washed away the blood from the mud.
Her men would enter the buildings, tearing up everything inside looking for their master's goal. Guards would be flung from the windows, screaming before they'd die either from the fall or the pirates below shooting them down like birds.
One of her men would then run up to her, and by his hand was the Boy Detective himself, tugged by the arm as he tried to keep up with the rushed dark pirate as he ran to her, bowing in respect with an AK-47 in hand.
"Captain," he greeted, then saying to her, "Kudo is here, he needs to speak to you!"
She nodded to him sternly, with the pirate bowing again before running to revel in the chaos of it all.
"Kudo, what is the meaning of all this?" she asked them as the two stood in the middle of the riot, "Have you acquired the Notes? I hope you are well-versed that Millennium has our Notes now."
"It's Seras," he breathed out, looking around in disgust, "she's been captured by the Detective…I need help getting her back."
"Quatermain's got that taken care of…" hissed a voice that shook the bones of even the evilest creatures. They both looked to see a very familiar red coat-wearing demon that moved to them as if he was floating to them.
He stopped in front of them with a devious smile, and Alucard stood like a titan, proudly as he straightened his tie. "And the Notes that were stolen? Destroyed…Seras made sure Millennium would not ever get them."
"That's a relief," sighed Conan, then saying to him, "I just wish you picked someone more level-headed than-"
"Not another word, Jimmy Kudo," hissed Alucard calmly, shaking his finger down at him, "Quatermain saved my un-life, I would never have defeated Gwynplaine without him."
"Him? Saved you?" scoffed Nemo, then shaking her head and saying, "…Well, be that as it may, we may have use of you Alucard." She then walked to a large building with the doors currently being slammed at by machetes and the butts of guns, with Conan and Alucard following the dreaded Sea Captain.
The Science-Pirate turned to the two and pointed at the building, "My men have found absolutely nothing in the other buildings, all of them except this one. The one we cannot seem to enter." She chuckled and said to Alucard, "Now…seeing how you are the most powerful of the League, might I be so shrewd and ask if you can-"
"Say no more, oh captain, my captain," sighed Alucard with a humor to the bloodlust around him, "I will see if I can find you the Notes the shining New Millennium has absconded from our grasp. The Notes are as good as yours."
With that, Alucard walked past the intimidated pirates as he simply strolls calmly and phases through the main door, much to the shock of many who watched him enter the building like a phantom in the raining night.
Alucard phased through the steel wall that barricaded the door behind him, calm he was as he was face-to-face with twenty of Millennium's half-rate human guards as they pointed their black semi-automatics at the Vampire King.
"Intruder! Alucard has entered the Main building!" screamed the head guard in a terrified anger, "We can't let him get to the Detective! Shoot him! SHOOT HIM! SHOOT HIM!"
With that order, bullets zipped from the guns as they tore Alucard bit by bit, which simply phased through him as he slowly drew his guns before the horde of guards shooting at him desperately.
"So…he's here?" he growled out in sadistic joy, "The Detective is here? Trapped like a rat? All mine? At last!?" With that, he laughed madly as he fired madly at the guards as they were killed by swift shots to the heads as he killed them like the rats he knew they were.
As he walked up the stairs, more slid from the hallways and blasted their guns at him in desperation to hold the No-Life King back. But all they did was ensure their own demise as he blew them all to Hell, calmly getting to the hallway and seeing a door at the end of it with two more frightened guards in front of it.
"Only two?" he growled as he stomped slowly to the trembling rats, "Only two to keep me from the Detective!? Does he fear me so little to properly guard himself!? HA! I'd be insulted if I wasn't so…excited."
The guards screamed as they shot him to ribbons, watching as he'd stand there and take the shots to him as his body would be tattered from the blasts, only to shoot out tendrils out from the wounds and rip the throats of his enemies from their necks, watching as they choke from the blood and lay whimpering on the floor as the blood splatters out the mouths and open wounds.
Alucard steps over the dying men and stands before the doors, with him almost laughing from the excitement. A member of Millennium he has been wishing to face now finally able to meet after all these years.
He slowly opens the doors, looking at the office with the symbol of Ingsoc over the desk, with the chair facing away from him as he could see a figure there sitting there so calmly. The Vampire sighs darkly as he walks in, looking at the symbol and saying, "Insgoc…so that is where your true allegiances lie, Detective? To Big Brother?"
The chair slowly swung around, with the Detective clasping his hands together as he stares at Alucard with those pale red eyes from his blank barn owl face. "I'm afraid my allegiances are to the New Millennium, Alucard. Big Brother is long since dead, as you already know."
He gets up from his chair so calmly, picking up a wooden cane from the side of his desk as Alucard smiles with the doors closing behind him. "My allegiances are to myself really, where they always have been," continued the Detective, "and don't bother with the Notes, they're gone. Taken. But I will be off to retrieve them…"
The Detective chuckles and says to Alucard, "So…in all fairness, you came here for nothing, correct?"
"Wrong," hissed Alucard darkly, "since the Notes are gone…long gone, I guess all I can do is kill you." He chuckles darkly as the Detective simply stands there, looking at Alucard without a shred of emotion.
"Hm, you truly are a Romanian," scoffed the Detective, "Blood-thirsty, barbaric, and uneducated." He sighs and adds, "However, I had hoped that…we could discuss our situation like proper gentlemen. Unlike the foolish Major before me, I am not after you. Rather, my target is England, actually."
"Really?" laughed Alucard, tilting his head and asking him, "Why is that?"
"To reclaim it as my own," answered the Detective, "and to enact my revenge against the British Government for their transgressions."
"For what? Overthrowing a fictitious dictator?" teased the No-Life King as he looked to his right, smiling wider for a brief second and turning back to the Detective as he opened a case on his desk.
"No…" growled the Detective coldly, "…I was betrayed by them, long before Big Brother and long before Millennium, Alucard. All because I tried to eliminate the very thing that would destroy England."
He pulled from the small black case a black wooden pipe, which he gazed at with an aura of nostalgia as Alucard stood there and listened, intrigued by the new side of the man he had hunted for some time.
"You see, Alucard, I am not a terrible person, I just want what is fair," stated the Detective as he slid the pipe into his coat pocket, "I want what was stolen from me. My pride, my reputation, and my status. And in the end, I will make "M" crawl like the dog he is."
"I'm afraid that day will never come, Detective," said Alucard, the grin showing off his numerous sharp teeth, "for when I am done with you, you will beg me to spare your life like the dog you truly are."
"Oh?" replied the Detective, almost amused by the No-Life King, "Are you that chained that you have turned from a vampiric rapist of no decency to a hypocritical and hopelessly heroic hound?"
Alucard's grin descended at the Detective words, then growling out, "…What did you say to me?"
"…What? Hypocritical?" egged the Detective, "Yes, you claim only a man can kill a monster, but you seem to be doing so well in that department for a-"
"No…before that," hissed an offended Alucard, clenching his fists in rage.
"…Oh? That?" chuckled the Detective as he walked closer to the vampire, "Well, we all heard what happened to Mrs. Mina Harker…oh, forgive me, Miss Mina Murray, correct?"
Alucard snarled angrily as he rushes at the Detective, who dispenses a gun from his coat pocket connected to his wrist as it fits on his hand and presses it against the forehead of Alucard. The Count stopped and glared at the Detective as he stood there, cocky and proud.
"Would you like to know what is in this revolver?" he asked him, and after a click from the gun, the Detective said, "…Thirty pieces of silver."
A loud bang and a spray of blood, Alucard fell to the floor with a gaping hole in his head as the beast fell to the floor, blood seeping out as he laid there with his mouth hung open.
"…You may thank the Iscariot Organization for them, Alucard," stated the Detective as the gun slide back into his wrist.
He then walked past the laying corpse of Alucard with a calm step, closing the doors behind him as the Detective walked past the dead corpses of his soldiers.
Alucard laid on the floor, in his own puddle of blood and gore as his eyes were still a blazing red. His left hand twitched, and it slowly reached up and slammed his hand on the floor…
The rain covered the forests as Seras ran through them, panting heavily as she stops and rests against a tree. She was still tired, still weak with the little blood she was given hardly enough to keep her fully strong.
She looked to see Jason slowly walking to her, staring at her as she sighs and says, "Well, I'm glad you can keep up…I feel like I'mma 'bout to collapse."
Her eyes turned blood-red as she heard the rustling of bushes, and instinctually she growled and faced the target with the swirling red shadows swirling around like a twister.
"Hold on! Hold on!" snarled the intruder like a gruff dog, "I just saved your life and you repay me like that!?"
She stopped as her blue eyes returned to her, seeing Leonard Quatermain holding his arms up in defense, annoyed and intimidated by her. Seras sighed and fell down on the tree, panting tiredly as he ran over and helped her stand up.
"My god…what have they done to you?" he asked her with worry.
"They…put me in the House of Pain," she groaned out, "tried to control my mind…they failed, I refused to obey them. The blood…he gave me…wasn't enough…I…I am so tired."
Leonard helped her to her back, laying her down as she yawned as she looked up at the sky as it rained lightly on her, with the storm slowly dying down. He then looks up at the masked giant and says, "Thank you…I had you all figured wrong…Jason…"
Jason simply looked down at him, sliding his machete back to the strap tightened around his leg. Leonard didn't expect an answer, but turned back to Seras and asked, "Just hold on, what do you need?"
"…I'm so thirsty," she breathed out, "I feel so…drained…"
"Yes, yes, I'm sure you are," sighed Quatermain, resting her on the grass as he lifted his sleeve up to show off his scarred forearm, then pulling out a knife from his belt with a bit of a sweat.
"Eh, might not be tasty, me being an ex-addict and all," he said nervously, pressing the knife against his forearm and making a horizontal cut. He growled in pain as he felt the pain cut him as it began seeping out blood.
"Just don't bite, I heard what happens to the spoiled," he grunted out, holding the arm out to Seras as she looked weakly at him. She waits for some time, before groaning out as she grabs his arm and presses it close to her. He grunts as he instinctually tries to pull it back, but her strength was still great as she kept it close to her, with Quatermain afraid what a hungry vampire will do to his arm.
However, all she did was lick it from the side as he watches carefully as she laps the blood from his arm with a long lick of her tongue, grunting nervously as she breaths calmly with every lap.
In the town of Elwood, Bugs stood in the middle of the street as he watched the rain slowly die in the night sky, watching with a blank face as the cloud of red fire ascended from the distance. The sound of bullets crying out as the Rabbit-Man stood there with his arms hanging and his face pale.
As he stood there in epiphany, more of the Beast-Men trudged from their homes to see the cloud of fire in the distance. All of them, all the many varieties as they gazed at awe and shock at the destruction from so far away.
Even his own family walked out to join him, with Lola pressing the children close to her as she walked close to Bugs in fear.
"Bugs…what is going on?" she breathed to him.
"…I think…we're free, kid," he said to her calmly, "I think…the Detective is gone…him and all his demons. All gone."
"What about the Mother?" she asked him nervously.
"…Honey," he breathed out to her, "…I don't think we need the Mother anymore." And so, they watched as the crackling flames from afar mix with the screams and gunshots in the distance as it slowly dies down.
From the church, in front of the doors, The Sayer of the Law stands there with a smile as he sees the very place were all of the Beasts, even he, feared with great reason, burning to the ground and bringing a new era to their home.
"…I think we're good on our own…"
In a rage, the doors were blasted open as Alucard roared angrily, his eyes blazing red as he stomps through the hallway, shouting, "DETECTIVE! Show yourself, you slime! I am not done with you!"
He growled as he ran on all fours, snarling like a beast as he runs down the other hall searching for his prey. "Detective! Detective!" he snarled, "You coward! Coward! COWARD!"
Alucard would finally find him at the end of the hall, standing there calmly in a small bullet-shaped room with a window as Moreau and Gin sat at opposite sides on leather seats. The Detective stood in the middle of it, with a panel behind him covered in buttons, switches, and a wheel.
"You dare flee from me!? After you dare call me a rapist!? Using her as an example of all things!?" growled Alucard, drawing his guns and pointing them directly at the Detective with an immense hate, "And you run away from me! Like a little child, teasing the wolf from the other side of the cage!? Are you that pathetic, Detective!?"
"Hmhmhm, not at all, Alucard," growled the Detective heartlessly, "it's called strategic retreat, a good general knows the difference between the two…besides, in the end, you'll find my actions are justifiable."
Before Alucard could shot at him, a steel door quickly closed in front of the smug Detective with a loud clang. In an instant, he would see the door shrink as it was blasted into the outside with the pod. He ran to the edge of the broken wood hallway to see the sleek black pod dive into the water and disappear, looking to the distance in a large black crooked building another pod shoot out with it.
Alucard slams his fist onto the wall, breathing heavily as he watches the night sky form from the dissipating clouds. The gunfire begins to calm down, the crackling flames dying out as all that was left were cheer and laughter.
From his lips, he begins to snicker, before it grew to a boisterous laugh. He stares at the black ocean with a dark laugh with his rows of jagged whites shown with pride.
"I was wrong about you, Detective, so wrong," he growls out with a grin, "you are turning out to be quite the challenging foe. And when the day comes where I make you beg for your life, I will remind you of the brave-hearted automaton you once were before sending you to the deepest pits of Hell, Detective! Just you wait, Detective, just you wait!"
The island base was a cinder with the exception of one building, with it standing with bullet wounds and broken windows. The black wood mixed with broken glass as the cinders grew dim from the attack. Blood was fresh on the ground, blood from the soldiers of Millennium.
Nemo stood at the end of the complex as she watched the waters move and hear the tide in the distance, she turned her gaze to see three individuals walk down the bride. She would see Seras Victoria, Leonard Quatermain, and Jason Voorhees walk down the bridge as she was approached by Conan, who looked around in utter shock. Seeing the dead eyes of the many killed men, including her own as the stench of blood was a constant one.
"…All these people are dead," he breathed out, "…how did I…become a part of this…slaughter."
"You must see dead bodies constantly, for a homicide detective," said Nemo without a gaze to him.
"Not like this," groaned Conan, cleaning his glasses as he shook his head, "this is another reason…why I think they chose poorly in my…part in this League. I am not a reveler in blood and carnage like you, Alucard, Jason, Griffin, or even Seras."
"I believe Seras has a lot in common with your values of human life, Detective Kudo," Nemo said to him with a glance, "but do not mourn for them, they are enemies of Nemo…and the enemies of Nemo beg for life when I come to them."
Conan sighed and looked down, pressing his glasses back on his head and saying, "I know, but all this death, all this blood…was it, in the end, worth it."
"I am not the one for that question, Kudo," she stated coldly, "it is Millennium for sending these men to suicide, for persisting on when they have already lost. This…Detective is the one you should be asking."
"Yes…him," said Conan with a hint of hatred, "he didn't seem to care for me, he said I was a mockery of Sherlock Holmes…perhaps he's right, but what would he know of him?"
Footsteps were heard as they saw the three members walk up to Conan and Nemo. Conan looked at Seras with regret, "Seras…"
"Conan, I'm alright," she said to him calmly, "don't feel bad…this ol' girls tougher than she looks."
"But…" he breathed out.
"No more, sir, I won't allow it," she said with a smile, pressing her hand on his head as he looked up at her, shocked at how forgiving she was for him when he felt so guilty for running away.
Suddenly, their attention was to the doors of the main building, which opened up to reveal Alucard strolling out from it and standing in the middle of the complex with a curious gander.
"Master!" called out Seras happily, rushing to her masters side with a great smile. It was then Conan noticed something from his friend that he really wished he hadn't (or maybe he did) seen: Seras' Rump.
The blue hospital gown, with straps from top to bottom, stopped right above her rear-end as it was in plain-view without her complete knowledge.
Conan was frozen with a great flush and a shivering embarrassment, holding his nose as it slowly began to bleed. Nemo however watched with a twitch of the eye and a frown that could break islands, sweating lightly as she slowly and heavily shook her head. Jason, however, just watched with annoyance.
Quatermain coughed and looked overall queasy, saying, "Urhm…I, well, neglected to…erm, tell her…that her backside was…bare…"
"Choice words, Quatermain," grumbles Conan, sweating nervously as he averted his gaze.
Alucard looked down at Seras with a smile, saying like a proud father, "Ah, police girl, you are alive, I knew I could count on Quatermain."
Conan inched to the two vampires, along with Quatermain as they averted their gaze as they sweated heavily. "Now, I take it that the Notes aren't here?" asked Alucard.
"Afraid not, Master," she said nervously, then looking back to see the two nervous men as the looked away. As she turned around to face them, Alucard was able to see what was making them so nervous. He grunted lightly, before sighing in annoyance as he rubs his temple.
"Are you two alright?" she asked the two.
"Uhm, Quatermain, tell her…" grunted Conan, nudging the leg of Leonard over and over as he lowered his hat nervously.
"What is it?" asked Seras, then nervously asking him, "Please don't tell me they put a device in my head or something! Am I alright!?"
"Urhm, well," coughed out Quatermain frightfully, "…you ever wonder, well, feel…a draft on your…uhm…"
"Police Girl," grunted Alucard in frustration, "…your backside is showing."
As soon as she heard her master reveal the truth, she yelped frightfully and quickly tugged her dress down nervously, glaring in embarrassment at Quatermain and yelling with a bright red blush, "Why didn't you tell me my ass was out in the open for everyone!"
Looking around, she quickly swiped Alucard's coat and placed it over her shoulders. He stood there for a moment, looking at his shoulders then at his fledgling. Alucard would simply shake his head at the situation as Quatermain himself was jumpy and heavily annoyed.
"What!? I was about to tell you!" he snarled out at her, "I just…I just…I just had a hard time putting it together!"
"Jog on!" snapped Seras, mortified as she growled angrily, "I bet you've been watching my arse throughout the whole thing!"
"Blast it all!" growled back Quatermain like an angry dog, "How dare you make me into a pervert, you beastly tomboy!"
As the two argued, Nemo simply watched as she reached into her coat pocket and pulled out a flask. She then opened it and took a good drink from it as she had a look of pure irritation.
"Silence!" ordered Alucard, with everyone looking at him as he continued, "…Now that I have your attention, I have someone who can enlighten us more about our dear Detective…" He turns to his right and says with a smile, "Right, Griffin?"
"Aheheh, gotta say…nice ass, Seras."
She yelped and jumped back, looking around nervously with a shiver as she growled in disgust, "You low-life!"
"Griffin, if you will," said Alucard, "tell us what the good Detective has been doing without his knowledge of your…hmhm, existence."
"Aheheh, I'd love to!" hissed Griffin, "Well, I'll tell ya that the Detective got real mad when Seras burned the Notes up, took a real beatin' she did. Popped her eye right out from one good whack."
Seras closed her eyes, saying with a spiteful scowl, "Yeah…he did." Conan would scowl and shake his head, sharing a hatred with the Invisible Man's callous disregard for her.
"He also said many times that he'd be headin' off to some rendezvous point the says it, he seemed to be quite…pissed off," he continued, "it was like he-"
"Didn't have the Notes," stated Conan.
"Yeah…I just said that, yeh little freak," growled Griffin.
"No, Dexter's Notes, he doesn't have them," explained Conan, "I have seen the Detective, overall, despite his temper problems, he is a very intelligent and calculated individual. I doubt the Detective would be so enraged if he lost Notes he already had, I would think that would be a boon for him in case we attempted to combat him with Cavorite."
"But wasn't the Black Organization the ones who stole them for him?" Seras asked the young detective.
"Yes, so it logically means there really is a third-party in this whole ordeal," stated Conan, "this third-party must have stolen the Cavorite Notes from him. That is the only reasonable explanation for his behavior with Seras and his enraged attitude towards the burnt notes, all we need to know who and where and why."
There was a slight pause, with Alucard turning to his left and saying, "Griffin, he did say something about…pagans, correct?"
"Eh…uhm," released a voice nervously, apparently Alucard had a perfect view of Griffin as the Invisible Man coughed loudly before saying, "and he did say they were…taken, so, aheh, eh-"
Nemo was walking to them as they spoke, in deep thought before facing them all and saying, "That means the Great Boy Detective's assumption is most likely. We have a third-party to contend with. We must return to England at once, and see if Bond could actually be of some help for once in his false life."
"I concur, but first, we have to stop at a location…" added Quatermain, pausing a bit as he then says, "…that holds importance to me, Alucard-"
"This isn't a road trip, hunter," snarled Nemo spitefully, "whatever it is, its not important to-"
"Hold, Captain," interrupted Alucard, holding his hand out, "Quatermain aided me in killing my foe, and seeing how he helped save my fledgling, I have to honor his request."
Nemo glared at the vampire, who simply replied with a warm smile. The Captain groaned and took her hat off to scratch her head as she said to him, "…Alright, alright…for his and your honor…I'll allow this…but no longer than a day, understood? This is a matter of your country's national security."
"Really should not concern you, Captain," chuckled Alucard heartfully with a wave of his hand, "besides, a call to Sir Integra will start the investigation almost instantly."
"Alright, but…eh, sir?" let out Seras, removing Alucard's coat from her shoulders as her old clothes had reformed without one's notice, "Conan, Jason, and I found a village of Beast-People. Friendly folks. I just wanna say goodbye and see if they're alright."
"How sentimental, Police Girl," groaned Alucard with a sigh, picking his coat up and saying as he puts it back on, "Alright, but don't take too long…we're leaving in five."
She nods quickly and runs towards the bridge, stopping and turning to Conan and asking, "You coming?"
"Oh…I couldn't, not after what happened," sighed Conan shamefully, watching as Jason turns and begins walking to the bridge himself as Conan watches as Seras nods and follows Jason before running past the slow-moving revenant.
"So…Quatermain," asked Alucard as he patted his back roughly, causing the hunter to grunt and flinch lightly, "where shall we stop off at, hm?"
"…Isla Sorna," he replied reluctantly, "…I…I want to go to Isla Sorna."
Alucard nodded, tilting his head and saying to Quatermain, "…Hm, I see…Yes, I understand, hunter."
"So…what will you all do now?"
Seras stood before the crowd of decent beasts as they stood before her curiously as she was before the Sayer of the Law and H-22-D. Jason was beside her, who stood there as Max rushed to him with a happy smile and hugged his leg. He simply watched him as he giggled out happily, not saying anything as he simply stood there.
"There are some boats Millennium kept that could traverse the seas," explained Old Doc Yak, "some of my people wish to see the world the Detective has sheltered from us. Some, like myself, wish to stay and try to make a society that works just on our own."
"Are you sure that people will be so…acceptin' of animal-people running around?" asked Seras with worry.
"From what I heard, there have been animal people walkin' round humans for yea's," explained Bugs calmly with a shrug, "I doubt we'd get too much'a trouble from most'a society."
"Where will you be heading, Bugs?" she asked him.
"The United States, I 'eard an ancestor 'a mine was real popular there," replied Bugs with a smug smile, then saying, "I just hope ya kick them Millennium boys' asses real bad."
"Don't worry," finished Seras with a nod, "I will. I wish you the best, I really do."
She turned around, waving back as Max waved at Jason as the lumbering undead hulk followed her down the road as the entirety of the town watched these unstoppable revenants leave them. They watched as they ran to join their League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, off to an uncharted island at the request of one aged hunter…
The Banana Slug: Ugh, I am not going to lie, I am not liking how this chapter turned out. But an ending's an ending, might as well take it, right? At least it ended on the Twelve Chapter like I wanted. Eh?
Also, given how I described Caligari, I can imagine The Detective's conversations with him like this:
"MAN! You got tiny teeth, Caligari!"
Haha, Portal reference.