The Lost Priest
Chapter 28
Raid, Ruins, and Redemption
(A/N If I play my cards right this may be the final chapter! No grantees on this but let's just see how every thing turns out.)
SOUNDS/sounds
Thoughts
Telepathy
(Last Time)
Isaak quickly wrote down everything thing William was telling him into the computer; from where the other 2 devices were located in Albion and Rome and the time and coordinates for the time machine in the lab. Once he pressed the "enter key" the machine lit up, ready to begin transport through time.
"Everything's looking good, sir," a tech spoke up, looking at Isaak.
"Then let us begin," Isaak said, putting on his helmet as his long black hair fell out of it. "Those select few remaining here in the lab get the word out to Albion and Rome of where the enemy devices are so they can join us in the fray."
"Yes, of course," the tech nodded. "Best of luck to all of you."
"Let's go people," Ion called out to the Empire's warriors. "Let's move, move, move!"
The large throng started towards the device. Leading them up front was Vigil, Ion, and Esther. Isaak, Mirka, and Maxwell broke to the ranks a little farther back. Isaak had made Maxwell a hover chair with a shield around it and some guns built in considering Maxwell's state. They had wanted to leave him behind but he was determined to come as well. This was going to be interesting.
(Present Time Millennium HQ)
"Everyzing is going so splendidly," a chubby man grinned look at all the monitors that flash images of destruction and dead. "I'm positively giddy. Vhat fun, vhat fun!"
"Yes, yes, und to zink vithin only few more days its vill be ze whole vorld under your control, Herr Major," the Doctor grinned, standing beside his lord. "Und once ve get our hands on some more of ze future's veapons no one vill be able to stop—"
BEEEEP!! BEEEEP! BEEEEP!! BEEEEP!! BEEEEP!!
"VHAT VAS ZAT?!" the doctor asked as an alarm went off and the people in the control room scrambled to get cameras up around one of their bases. "Hurry und gets zose cameras up!"
"Ze home base is under attack!" an underling reported. "It looks like Imperial soldiers from vhat ve can make outs!"
"Vhat?! Zats can't be," the Doctor shouted at him. "How did zey gets here?! Damn, zey must have gotten control of ze computer on zeir side of zese time stream! Major, vhat should ve—huh?"
CLAAP… CLAAP… CLAAP… CLAAP… CLAAP… CLAAP…
"Bravo, bravo! Excellent, excellent! I must give ze devil his dues on zis one," the Major clapped with a wide grin of his chubby face. "I must say even I didn't see zese one coming. HA! So, zey broughts ze var to us instead, hmm?! All ze better I say! Ve'll crush zem all! All zose not out in ze field should velcome our guests, don't you zink, Doctor?"
"Oh, uh, yes, of course, Mien Herr," the Doctor nodded looking at the Major oddly before putting his demented grin back on his face. "Vell, you heard ze man! Get everyone down zere for ze velcome party. Bring all ze goodies you can!"
"Oh, Captain, zere you are. Nice timing," The Major grinned, turning to see the silent man off in the corner. "Vhy not greet our guests as vell. Play vith zem a little. Zey are bound to be back in London soon enough."
The silent captain nodded before disappearing as another explosion accrued. The Major felt he was safe enough where he was. After all he was up in the air inside the Hindenburg II, while everyone else was on the ground. He would literally have a bird's eye view of everything.
The Imperial forces knew they had caught Millennium off guard but it didn't take them long to send in the welcome wagon. Despite their initial place Abel realized he needed to get Seras and Integra back in England including Maxwell. He had no doubt that the Pope of this era had sent men to take down Millennium in England. He quickly turned to William. The Professor was rather busy with a nasty looking ghoul.
"William, I need you over here," Abel yelled as William pushed back the ghoul.
"I'm busy, Abel, what is it?!" William snapped, finally cutting the ghoul's head off.
"I need to get Sera, Integra, and Maxwell to England. I need instructions on how to use this," Abel yelled over another bomb.
"Dammit, Abel, this really isn't a good time," William said, hurrying over and started typing in everything.
"You didn't have to come over here. You could have just told me what to do!" Abel huffed as William gave him a dirty look.
"Too late now, this device is set to send you to the center of Londinium," William said.
"It's called London here, William."
"Don't correct me! Just do what you have to do!"
"All right, all right," Abel groaned, before looking for the rest of the members that would make up his group.Seras, Integra, and Maxwell. William as set us up with a portal that will take us straight to London. Hurry over here!
Understood, Abel, Seras replied. We'll be there in a jiffy.
Abel kept an eye out for them as he fought back the enemy from the console. Hopefully everything would go according to plan. But there was always room for error. Finally Abel stopped Seras followed by Integra. That only left Maxwell. Where was that git at?!
Maxwell, I need you over at the portals ASAP! We don't have time for you to dawdle, Abel snapped at the man as the women quickly greeted him.
"Don't order me around! And stay out of my head, heathen," Maxwell snapped back over the radio.
"Yeah, I love you too, dick-head! Just get over here," Abel snapped back into the mike. "Oh, that man pisses me off."
"Join the club," Integra sighed. "Is it just going to be us going?"
"For now, yes. The Albion forces are probably going to be there later on," Abel said confidently as Maxwell finally showed up. "Took you long enough to get here."
"Shut-up! Let's just get this whole mess over with," Maxwell barked at Abel.
"After you then," Abel grinned stepping aside and Maxwell muttered something negative under his breath. "I heard that."
Maxwell soon vanished into the portal as did Integra, and Seras soon followed after. Abel was about to enter only to have someone run past him and stop in front of the portal. Abel recognized those long golden curls sticking out the back of the helmet and paused.
"Milady, what are you to doing?" Abel asked, looking at the woman before him.
"I'm going with you, Abel," Caterina replied.
"But we will be low on head figures if you go with us," Abel stated but Caterina held her ground.
"I'm coming with you on this, Abel. Isaak and his party are already here," the Cardinal stated, grabbing Abel's hand. "Don't worry about me. Trust in my abilities. I am not without my wiles."
"Very well," Abel sighed, gripping her hand a little tighter. "Then let's go, Caterina."
(Hellsing HQ)
"Captain, what do we do?" one of the soldiers yelled as a bomb went off. "We're losing men faster than I shake a stick!"
"Vill you let me think," Pip barked back at the man. Damn it to hell! Where is everybody?! I can't believe this shit! Big red and the manic priest are gone! There is no boss lady Hellsing and my precious Seras is missing too! Shit! Shit! SHIT!!
"Well, start thinking faster, Captain," another soldier snapped, opening fire on a group of FREAK vampire and ghouls. "We're surrounded! We couldn't retreat even if we wanted to!"
"I know, I know! FUCKING VAMPIRES," Pip yelled, opening fire along with the rest of his remaining men. "There's too many of them?! Vhere are zey coming from?!"
"CAPTAIN, LOOK OUT," a solider shouted as a ghoul took a leap at Pip.
Pip had no time to move as the gruesome ghoul, with its mouth wide open took a dive at him. This was it! He and his men were going to die here!
BAAAAANG!!
A spit second later a blast of light struck the ghoul in the head and continued through the right side of the enemy throng before exploding farthing down the corridor. The soldiers quickly turned around to see a dark form of a woman in a black body suit with silver plated armor and a helmet, walking towards them with one hell of a firearm; a cannon to be more precise.
"Impure souls of the living dead shall be banished into eternal damnation. Amen," the woman chanted, loading more ammo into the cannon. "Hellsing will not go down without a fight, gentlemen. Sorry for the delay in arriving."
"Seras?! Seras, zat is you, isn't it?!" Pip asked, looking awestruck as he pointed at her. What is she wearing?! Hot damn! I wouldn't mind seeing her in that outfit without the helmet and the armor!
"Who else?! Now let's get these sons of bitches outta here," Seras said, pushing up the visor on her helmet and took aim with her cannon again at the enemy.
"Right you are! All right, men, you heard ze lady," Pip said, turning back around.
"Vell, vell, vell. I had no idea zats ze little bitch vas back," an unfamiliar female voice said as the crowd of ghouls separated to let the person through. "Nice gets up. Playing dress up, are ve?"
Seras stared down this woman that controlled these monsters. She got a bad vide from her. Her appearance was little disturbing with all those tattoos and too many muscles for an average woman. She must be a boss of some kind. Seras bared her fangs as the woman only grinned a devilish grin.
"My name Zorin Blitz."
(Somewhere inside London)
"Anderson, vhere have you been?" Hinkle growled at the priest. "Vhere is Maxvell?"
"Tis a bit of ae long story," Anderson answered, the cross dressing woman. "And Ah ain't got nae time tae explain it."
"Well, can you explain this much to us?" Yumie asked, hooking a thumb at Alucard, who was a ways off, gunning down every FREAK vampire and ghoul. "When did we start working with his kind, huh?"
"Tha' be another part of the really long story," Anderson answered her. "Let's just sae we came tae ae small agreement for the time bein'."
The two women looked oddly at him. An agreement? Just what kind of an agreement? They really didn't have much time to think on that as another group of Millennium soldiers came at them. Yumie and Anderson drew their blades as Hinkle cocked back her gun.
KAA-BOOOOMMMM!!
A bolt of lightning struck in the middle of the enemy throng sending FREAK vampires and ghouls sailing through the air.
"Vhat the devil vas that?!" Hinkle barked, looking up into the smoke filled sky followed by Yumie and Anderson.
They spotted a dark shadow flying over head. It was humanoid in shape and size with a large scythe and a set of massive wings; devilish looking wings. They quickly turned to look at Alucard and saw him looking up through the smoke filled sky as well. A grin of delight planted deeply in his face as the figure passed over his head. They looked back to see another massive bolt of lightning shrike another massive group of enemy solder as the same demonic dark shadow passed over head again. They had forgotten to look around them and didn't notice the FREAK vampire coming up from behind.
BAAAANG!! TH-THUMP!!
They slowly turned around to see a destroyed vampire and a woman in a tight dark red body suit adorned with elaborate silver armor with matching helmet, and long golden, curly, locks of hair sticking out the back. She was holding a smoking gun in both hands. It was amazing enough that she actually hit the vampire considering she was shaking so hard. They could visibly see her knees knocking.
"I-I hit it?" she asked in a shaky voice as her gun slowly lowered. "I-I actually h-hit it?"
"Yeah, good for you," Hinkle said, now pointing her gun at the woman in the red and silver armor.
"Why do you raise your gun to me?" the woman asked, bring her own gun back up. "What did I do to warrant this? Anderson, what's going on?"
Anderson reached out and pushed Hinkle's gun down. Hinkle looked at him in surprise. What was going on indeed? Why was Anderson acting like this and who was this woman?
"Anderson, vhat are you doing?" Hinkle gasped.
"Explain yourself," Yumie barked.
"Yer Eminence, wha' are ye doin' 'ere?" Anderson asked, walking up to her. "Lower tha' before ye hit somethin' yer not suppose tae."
"'Eminence?'" the women said unison.
As Anderson neared her the dark figure that had be circling about the sky started to descend not far behind her Eminence. Before Anderson even reached the woman the dark figure moved to stand beside her. He was wearing a royal blue body suit with fancy silver armor and matching helmet with long silver hair protruding out the back. A set large of demonic like wings were folded nicely to conserve space.
"Well, well, if it isn't Anderson, Hinkle, and Samurai Girl," the man spoke through his helmet with an almost cheerful tone.
"Ah see ye made it through all right," Anderson grinned, finally closing the gap between them. "Any yin else wit' ye lot?"
"Integra's over there and Maxwell…" the man said, pointing at the armored woman over by Alucard before he shrugged. "Well, he… Left our group some time ago. I'm not too sure where he is to be honest with you."
"Well, at least we know he's in the city," Anderson snorted.
"HOLD ON JUST A MINUTE! JUST WHO ARE THESE PEOPLE?!" Yumie barked, pointing her katana at the new comers. "Why are you so friendly with them?! They are the enemy, are they not?! A that monster over there is clearly a median! We want some answers!"
"Nay, they are not our enemy," Anderson replied, shaking his head. "This 'median' is Father Abel Nightroad. Ye remember him right? And this woman is the Duchess of Milan, Cardinal Caterina Sforza."
There was a long pause as they stared at him.
"Come again," they said in unison.
Alucard watched as his master approached him. She looked as dignified as ever even more so it seemed dressed in a black body suit and elaborate silver armor and matching helmet. She had a gun on her hip and a blade on another. As she neared him, however, he sensed a change in her. He frowned as drew slower.
Irregardless of his warnings while he was away it was obvious that the mice had played. If General Heling and Cardinal Caterina were any indication of things to come he should have foreseen it would be that priest that would take his Integra. He finally put back on a smile as she stopped before him.
"Alucard, what has happened while I was away?" Integra asked, removing her helmet. "You seem pleased about something. What is it?"
"My Master, give me the commands so that I may vanquish the land of this putrid filth," Alucard leered with a low bow.
Integra smiled at her most prized nosferatu. To release the final seal was truly their only option. They couldn't keep waiting for the Albion forces to arrive. Her lips moved and out came the incantation to remove the final seal. The seal that held Alucard's full power at bay was broken.
A smile split her face watching her servant release his raw power into the streets. Phantom familiars on horse back filled the streets. They were going to take back England and destroy Millennium no matter what it took.
(German Millennium Base)
Back at the enemy base it looked as though the Imperial forces were finally getting a strong foothold. By using automation they reduced the amount of ghouls and also automation would continue fighting from something that would severely injure a human or a Methuselah.
Virgil and Esther both waited to see when the Albion forces would contact them once they went through the portal in London. So far no communication had come through on the com-links. Not even Abel's party was making any contact with them. They had no idea of the status in London.
The Vatican wasn't making any contact either. If they could capture this base they would have made a major step in winning this war. But the odds could still change at any given moment. So the sooner contact was made with the Albion forces and the Vatican forces the better the chances of winning would become.
Virgil had been trying to keep as close to Esther as possible among all the bodies, smoke, and gunfire. After all she was the Queen and he had an obligation to protect her. However, no matter how hard he tried to stay in close range to her he did loose sight of her. He looked around franticly for her. He quickly put a finger to his com-link, that rested on his ear.
"Queen Esther, where is your location?" he asked but got not response. "Queen Esther, please verify your location."
All he was picking up was static over the com-link. He growled in frustration. Where was she? He couldn't see her and her already short stature was not helping him. He kept taking down any enemy forces that came at him as he searched for the Albion Queen. He was beginning to panic. There were no signs of her and no one had seen her.
In his panic he began to get careless. An earlier explosion had made locations in the base unstable. Walls and ceilings were beginning to crumble. He feared that part of the building had given way or the enemy had gotten her. He was more concerned about her than himself and forgot to pay closer attention to his surroundings.
There was a lurch in the ceiling above his head but the sound was muffled from the screaming and gunfire. Another bomb went off somewhere within the complex. Parts of ceiling began to fall around him. He barely had enough time to move as large chunk fell just missing him. He tried to get of there before more fell as did the allied and enemy forces.
Virgil stumbled over a body in his rush to get out of that area. He didn't even have enough time to push himself up as another large chunk of ceiling broke free and was heading towards him.
"VIRGIL!!" a woman shouted as he felt something grab him, pulling from the floor and quickly move out of the way.
He was pretty much on his feet at that time now. He turned to look at the woman that had saved him. He had a look of surprise on his eyes before he frowned at her. Just was she thinking?
"Astheroshe, what are you doing here?!" He snapped at her. "You should be back at the palace!"
"Don't order me around! I'm fine, I can handle this," Asta retorted back at him. "I'm not a child so do not treat me as such! I'm staying and I'm fighting this war!"
Virgil bit his tongue. If she wanted to only make things worse for herself he wasn't going to try at stop her. She obvious had a stubborn streak in her and it wasn't going to break anytime soon. But she had a fighting spirit as well he had to give her credit there.
"Have you seen Queen Esther?" He asked as Asta turned to look at him. "I've lost sight of her and I can't pick her up on the radio."
"I haven't seen her," Asta replied, pulling out her spear.
Esther and Seth had met up somewhere along the way and were working together. Esther was running out ammunition for her gun. They manage to find themselves in an area that empty. An eerie sort of silence with muffled gunfire at the back of them. This could be an ambush of some sort.
"Seth, where do you think we are?" Esther asked in a low voice.
"Stay quiet," Seth said, putting a clawed finger to her black lips. "We're being followed."
Esther swallowed a knot in her throat. The earpiece to her com-link had fallen out some time ago and Seth's com-link had been damaged when a FREAK vampire slammed her in the side of the head with the stock of a gun. So, calling for back up was not an option and this of course left the fledging queen and experienced empress on their own.
The sounds of gunfire were slowly tapering off at they continued on. They hadn't the slightest clue as to where they were. They just continued to move forward. After awhile even Esther begin to get the feeling someone watching them. She put her finger around the trigger of her gun.
"My, my, my! Two little girls all by zemselves," a young voice sounded from around a corner. "Vhat am I to do vith such lovely little insects?"
"Come out!" Seth ordered ready to materialize her tridents.
A small figure appeared around the corner and their eyes narrowed. It was the little cat/dog boy. The warrant officer that all ways dropped off the Major's oh-so charming messages. He had a grin on his face as he waved with a metallic hand.
"It's you," Esther said bitterly, taking aim at him. "You have another message I take it."
"Ah, Queen Esther, how nice to see you here," Schrödinger smiled, moving towards them with one hand behind his back. "Zis message is quite simple zat I don'ts need a recorder."
He pulled out a riffle, took aim at Esther, and pulled the trigger before the queen could react. With the Queen of Albion out of the way the Albion forces would at a lost of what to do. Next he would deal with little sprite next to the Queen.
However, no sooner had the bullet left the barrel of the gun did begin to turn to dust. It looked like a comet streaking through the air. The bullet never even reached Esther before it became fine powder.
"Vhat ze hell?!" the warrant officer said, taking a step back.
"BASTARD," Esther yelled as she pulled the trigger on her own gun.
Schrödinger dodged the silver bullet and quickly took aim at Esther again only to have the barrel of the shotgun disintegrate. How was this possible? Of course! That was the power of the Empress. Then that would mean that little girl was her Imperial majesty. Now that he really looked at her she most certainly wasn't human.
"So, zis entire time it vas you controlling ze wampire's in your era," Schrödinger barked at the young girl. "A lowly little child!"
"I am well over 900 years old!" Seth growled at him as she got right in face in a split second. "And never refer to my children as vampires, you lowlife dog!"
The Warrant officer didn't have anytime to dodge the next attack as a set of long lethal talons tore into his middle. Schrödinger stumbled backwards holding his exposed inners. If a pointblank shot to the head didn't kill him he knew this wouldn't either. He just smiled at her.
"What are smiling at?!" Seth growled as two tridents appeared in her hands.
"You zink I vill die from somezing so minor?" Schrödinger laughed at her. "I'm already healing!"
BAAAANG! BAAAANG! BAAAANG!
Esther fired three rounds into him. It was enough to knock him to knees. They really meant business. That could blow his fucking head to pieces but he would always come back. He wasn't going to go down anytime soon. He swiped a foot under Seth's feet sending her to the ground where he quickly grabbed her throat. Seth had to admit this cat/dog guy was quite strong as she tried to pull his fingers from her neck.
"GET OFF OF AUGUSTA!" Esther shouted, shooting Schrödinger in the shoulder but he didn't budge. "DAMN YOU!"
Esther came at him ready to use her gun as a bat. When she swung the warrant officer ducked again. Damn it to hell and back! Seth looked up at Esther and she went to take another swing. Seth shook her head and Esther stopped in mid-swing.
"I-I've had enough," Seth gasped, gripping her weapons.
That awful whine in Schrödinger's ears returned. No, she couldn't be! He watched as his mechanical fingers turned to dust as the designation slowly crept up his arms straight to his elbows. The warrant officer was then sent sailing through the air and hit a wall. He slid to the ground landing on his ass.
We he looked back up at the Empress he gasped with fear and surprise. The child empress was flying; hovering. She had the most striking wings he had ever seen. They looked like fair wings. They also hummed and made a high pitch whine.
"This is our final message to your fucking Major," Augusta shouted as she came at him full force. "So, LISTEN well to what I have to say!"
"NNEEEEEEEIIIIIIIINNNNN!!"
(Hindenburg II)
"Zings aren'ts looking so good, Herr Major," the doctor said, studying the monitors.
"Now, now, let's not vorry. Zere is still more to come, Doctor," the Major grinned, folding his hands and placed them in his lap. "So far only ze Imperial forces have attacked us. Zere are no signs of ze Albion or ze Watican soldiers from ze future. Zis var is still far from over."
The Doctor nodded as they heard a door open. He looked to see who it was. It was Schrödinger or rather what was left of him. All the color in him was washed out to dull ashen grey. He was literally turning to dust with every step he took. His face was almost unrecognizable, his hair was falling out, his ears weren't even there any more nor were his arms, and his crumbling legs could barely hold him up.
Everyone in the room was now fixated on him as he stumbled and slowly moved towards the Major. With every step he took more and more of him was falling to the ground and turned to piles of dust.
"H-help me…" He choked out before his jaw fell off and fell apart when it hit ground.
His free hanging tongue broke off soon after, followed closely by his right eye. The Major looked on in shock as Schrödinger collapsed on him an instantly crumbled to fine powder in his lap. Nothing was left not even the warrant officer's clothes just ash colored dust.
However, peeking up through some the dust was a piece of paper. The Major shook the dust from it before opening it. His face started to turn red and his eyebrow's grew close together as he looked at the paper in his hand.
"Herr Major, vhat is its?" the Doctor asked as the Major tore it up in a fit of rage.
"Sir, ve believe enemy forces are coming through ze London portals! Ve believe zem to be Albion forces," one the staff spoke up. "Ve are still vaiting for conformation on ze matter."
"Perhaps, Doctor, you are rights about zings nots looking so good," the Major grumbled. "As for your previous question. Its vas ze Empress's calling card. It seems even ze bigvigs are getting in on zis var. I vhat zem all destroyed! Even if you have to blowup ze base und ze ozer portals to do so!"
(Millennium Base, London)
"Calling Raid! Calling Raid, this is Ruins! We are now taking over the London Millennium base. Please come in. What is your status?" Mary said into her radio.
"This is Raid. It's a little rough but we are winning against the German base. However, I have lost sight of her Majesty Queen Esther," Virgil said over the radio. "I have tried to contact her over the radio and have lost all communication with her."
"Find her quickly, Virgil," Mary bit at him. "We can't afford to lose her!"
"I hope I'm not breaking into anything," Abel's voice sounded over the air waves. "Colonel Mary, I am already here in London along with Sir Hellsing, Seras Victoria, Alucard, Father Anderson, Lady Caterina, and Archbishop Maxwell. I would like to know when you can meet up with us. We could REALLY use the extra firepower."
"We'll meet up with you as soon as we deal with this Millennium base. I'll try to sneak out some troops to meet with you," Mary said before turned to look at Vanessa. "Vanessa Walsh, you will be in charge of the group that will rendezvous with Hellsing and her party. Is that understood?"
"It would be an honor, Colonel," Vanessa bowed. "Where do we meet?"
"I need landmarks, Abel. Ones that exist in our time as well as this era," Mary said into the mike. "We'll look for you."
"I'm near The Tower of London. I don't know where the enemy base is located but look for my signal. Look for any large amount of electricity shooting downwards or upwards," Abel replied.
"Understood," Mary answered.
"Calling Raid and Ruins. Calling Raid and Ruins, this is Redemption. We are at the Rome Millennium base. How are you fairing on your end?" Brother Petro's voice sounded off.
"The Berlin base is almost under Allied control," Virgil replied. "The situation is in our favor."
"We have only just arrived ourselves," Mary answered. "Situation still unknown."
"Part of the Raid party is currently in London but it is only a handful of us. Things on our end look quite grim until we get some backup from Ruins," Abel cut in.
"Vanessa Walsh is already on her with a relief party," Mary said. "So hold on tight."
(A/N Well, I was hoping to finish this in this chapter but I didn't I'll get to it next chapter! Sorry for the long wait.)
Millie M. Banshee