Renegade

by SilverSatori

Being the head of a military organization is not easy. Whether it's stubborn vampires or chaotic paladins - Caitlyn Hellsing and Enrico Maxwell know anything out of the ordinary means trouble. When an enemy long thought dead resurfaces, Hellsing and Iscariot seem to have no choice but to join forces. But is there anyone they can trust? [AU]

3. Born to be Wild

Chapter 2: Born to be wild

Ferdinant Luke's, orphanage outside of Rome, August 18th, 2016

"You let your guard down." The girl snarled and lunged, throwing rapid punches. Heinkel blocked every single one of them with until her opponent retreated, out of breath and frustrated. She charged in, just as the girl tried a high kick. Heinkel caught the foot just centimetres from her head and spun her around. The girl followed the movement instead of fighting it and kicked Heinkel in the solar plexus. The paladin stumbled back, pain shooting through her body, and gasped.

The girl cartwheeled and landed on her feet. The dark hair fell in her face. She glared at Heinkel when the paladin laughed. "Not bad."

The girl faked an attack at her face, then swooped low and tried to get her off balance. Heinkel dodged, caught her in the process and flipped her over the hip. The next moment the girl lay on the ground, face in the dirt. "I told you you let your guard down."

The ankles of the girl locked around hers and Heinkel fell, crashing down. Before she could think of a reaction, she had a knife pointed at her throat. "And now?", the girl asked.

"Not bad," Heinkel repeated, smiling. The girl let go of her and they stood up. She put the blade back in its sheath and crossed her arms in front of her chest. "Not bad? That's all you ever say. Don't I get better at all?"

Heinkel wiped sweat off her brow. "Of course you get better. Look at what you can do now. We started from scratch."

"Yeah, but I was twelve!", she complained. "So what?"
"'So what?' When you turn eighteen you can be a paladin."

"But you were-"

Heinkel cut her off. "As good as eighteen when I started my training. The rules aren't for fun." The girl didn't reply. She was an angry child, Renaldo had told Heinkel four years ago. And angry she was. A troublemaker. Just like the Chaos Girls.

"We better go back now," she decided. The girl didn't argue, even though she looked horribly disappointed. She knew better than that. Anderson would be furious having one of his precious orphans dragged into all this. They had to train in secrecy and had for four years now. The times where Anderson got the recruits from the orphanage children were long over.

They packed their stuff and Heinkel put on her coat again. That was actually too warm for now, but the sun was setting and she couldn't afford a cold. Something was coming, she felt it. That sounded like out of a bad novel, but she had learned to trust her instincts. It wasn't just all those weird vampire attacks. There was more to it. Better to prepare everyone as good as possible.

Four years ago

Heinkel enjoyed the last rays of the summer sun on her face. Somebody was probably missing her already and Anderson wouldn't take long to figure out where she was. Heinkel could do without another scolding. She was a twenty-two year old paladin, for God's sake!

Below her feet, about five or six metres down was the yard of the orphanage. She just loved being up here, the silence in the evening, but also watching the kids from up high. Few ever noticed her. But what she liked best was the freedom of the open sky. Balancing over the rooftop. She had tried cartwheels and handstands – it was just wonderful. The dangerous things she only tried when no one was around of course.

Anderson might have a point, though. She was setting a bad example for the kids. Up till now nobody had tried to get up here yet. She had covered up her routes and tricks how to get on the roof and the most dangerous spots were lined off. But if she could do it, one of the kids might, too. There was a first time for everything.

So she should probably get down. Not that she wanted to. She loved being up high. Whenever they had to take a plane she wished the flight would never end. She was just starting to get up when a car pulled up on the street. It was the only car the orphanage had, an old, black Fiat. Father Renaldo got out and opened the rear door.

The girl was about twelve years old and had short, dark hair. It looked like an attempt to fix a ruined haircut. Heinkel knew her fair share about that. From here, also the girl's eyes seemed to be dark, even though she was very pale. There were bruises on her slender arms, even visible from a distance. She shook off Father Renaldo's helping hands and waited in stubborn silence while he got a small blue suit case from the trunk. She took it and they went up the path to the orphanage. Then she looked Heinkel straight in the eyes.

The paladin froze in surprise. The girl's eyes were hard. She looked like someone who had experienced something terrible and was shutting it out by being ruthless and cold and... well, bitchy. Heinkel wondered if she was overinterpreting it. That seemed too close to her own life to be true.

The girl looked away before Renaldo realized Heinkel was there. They entered the orphanage. Heinkel got up and went over the roof to the backside of the building. From there she jumped on the flat side wing and used the ledges on the old building to climb to the ground. It was quite easy, if you knew where to go.

When she went inside, Anderson was waiting. Somehow, she still tensed inside, as if she had been caught doing something bad. Even after all those years. But Anderson didn't seem to have noticed her absence. "Ah, perfect timing. Marco wants tae see ye."

Heinkel nodded and Anderson pointed at the door to the huge dining room. The orphanage took care of about one hundred boys and girls up to the age of sixteen. By then the few that stayed in the orphanage up to that age were independent enough to get a head-start in life. It was a good place.

The room was empty and all the chairs neatly pushed to the tables. Well, except for one, where the girl from before was sitting. She stared at her feet.

"Heinkel, good to see you so fast." Heinkel walked up to them and wondered what this all was about. "This is Victoria Caine. Or Vittoria, which it says on her passport."

"My name's Victoria!", the girl growled. She spoke fluent English without an accent.

"Her parents... just disappeared. We don't know anything about their whereabouts."

"They're dead," Victoria hissed. She was crying and didn't look up.

"She's half Italian, half American, but the court issued her to stay here."

Heinkel looked from Marco to Victoria. "I'm with you so far. So...?"

Renaldo didn't immediately answer. He turned to the girl. "Victoria, this is Heinkel Wolfe. She is a part-time employee." He smiled when he said that. Part-time employee. Nails it, Heinkel thought.

Victoria didn't look up. "Uh-huh," she murmured.

"She will show you around tomorrow and will be your mentor as long as you get used to your new home."

Wait... what?! Heinkel wanted to object, but she couldn't do that in front of the girl. She just frowned. Renaldo gave a knowing smile and went on. "Now be a good girl and go to bed. Father Anderson is waiting outside." Victoria flashed at him, but obeyed. The door swung shut behind her.

Heinkel put her hands on the holsters. "Mentor, huh? When did you want to tell me this?"

"I did just now," Renaldo said. "To be honest, she is right: Her parents are dead. They were killed by Iscariot after they were turned into vampires. The child needs someone to lead her. She's stubborn and wild. Just like some others I used to know."
"So I should... what? Train her?"

"If you think it to be necessary, yes. She needs to get rid of her aggressions. But much more she needs someone who understands. Who listens and is her friend. You think you can do that?"

Heinkel thought of those hard eyes and the hidden pain in them. "I guess."

Renaldo nodded. He wasn't surprised. "Then have fun. I won't say it will be easy." If she is like me, it won't. "What about my paladin duties?"

"You go on like always. It's not really a secret, right?" Heinkel shrugged her shoulders. Of course not. Maybe Yumie and her shouldn't have started telling the children wild stories about their hunts. They loved it – the two paladins and the children alike. Everybody else – not really. But now it was too late. Kids could be pests if they wanted something. Renaldo turned to go. "Although Alexander would not at all be happy about one of his proteges getting involved with actual fighting." With that, he left her to figure out what to to now. All of a sudden she was a mentor. A teacher, like Anderson. She wasn't exactly sure if she liked that. But that was irrelevant now, it seemed. Damn it.

Despite the risk of Anderson getting angry with her, Heinkel climbed on the roof once again, now in almost perfect darkness. She needed to think. To come up with some kind of plan.

The gable was narrow, but she walked like it was even ground, lost in her own thoughts. What the hell could she do? To raise a child, even an older one like Victoria, she needed a plan. If she was honest, she wasn't exactly good with stubborn people.

She stopped, then bowed, grabbed the gable and performed a handstand. It was easy, actually. She just needed to keep her balance. Her coat turned itself inside out and she felt her guns weighing down in their holsters. She actually preferred the version strapped to the thighs, but they were hard to conceal. After a while, she became bored and lowered her feet until she could stand up again.

Overhead, the dark blue sky blinked with countless stars.

"Can you teach me that?" Heinkel spun, her hand already on its way to her weapons. Victoria was slightly out of breath, but her stand was more or less secure, considering the steep roof on both sides of them.

"What the hell are you doing up here?", Heinkel snapped. Anderson would kill her if he found out. The new girl – her protegee – up on the roof with her in the middle of the night. Not good.

"I figured I'd find you here." She walked a few steps, then stumbled. Heinkel caught her hand and steadied her. "You're my mentor, right? So I can ask you everything."

"You should be in bed right now," Heinkel growled. She couldn't believe a little girl had been able to sneak up on her. This was the first time she ever met anyone up here.

"I'm not tired."

"Good for you."

Victoria sat down and placed her feet on the tiles. "My parents are dead, right? Your people killed them."

Heinkel sighed. This could take a while. "Yes. They were vampires."

"Like in the movies?"

"Quite. Not Twilight, though."

"Those aren't real vampires."

Heinkel laughed. "Right. Real vampires are much more scary. They absorb the souls of their victims and access their memories. The more they drink, the less you can kill them. At least that's what our records say."

"You never met a real vampire?", Victoria asked. "What kind of hunter are you?"

Heinkel glared at her. Who the hell did that kid think she was? "I'm not a hunter, I'm a paladin. And real vampires are rare. We normally deal with all that low-level stuff. Freshly turned monsters, terrorists..."

Victoria's jaw dropped. "Terrorists? You... you kill people?"

"Iscariot is there to protect Catholicism. We go up against all threats, everything vile and unholy." Heinkel blinked. That was more of a school book sample. Victoria was staring at the holsters on her hips. "Iscariot, huh? Never heard of it."

"It's secret." She stopped. What the hell was she talking to a mere girl? The orphanage kids thought they were some kind of monster hunters in the name of Catholicism. Iscariot had never been specifically mentioned. It wasn't a secret agency out of fun. When – if – the public ever found out about that...
"You don't act like it's secret, running around like that."

Heinkel had to admit that was right. Anderson would be so pissed about this. "Keep it to yourself, okay?"

"Only if you teach me."

"Teach you what?"

"To fight. I want to hunt monsters and heathens like you."

"No way." Victoria scowled and got up. "I guess then I'll just ask Father Anderson. He's part of this Iscariot, too, right? He looks like a fighter."

Shit. Shit, shit, shit. "Fine." Victoria kept on walking, carefully holding her balance. Heinkel gritted her teeth and followed. Outmanoeuvred by a twelve-year old. What the hell was wrong with her today? "I said fine. I'll teach you."

Victoria stopped. It was easy to imagine her grin. "So I can be... what did you call it? A Paladin? You've got to tell me about Iscariot."

Heinkel shrugged. She had gotten herself into one hell of a mess there. "Yeah. Just keep this between us, okay?"

Victoria beamed. "Great, can we start tomorrow?"

"I'm going on a mission. First you got to get used to the orphanage. Maybe find a few friends."

Victoria shrugged, like an annoyed adult. Five minutes and that girl made Heinkel want to strangle her already. This would be fun in the future. "Fine. Whatever. Let's go," Victoria said. She jumped down on the roof of the side wing. Heinkel followed to make sure she didn't fall. The steps of the girl were a bit too shaky for her taste. Now she had not even that kid to take care of – they were accomplices in hiding something from Alexander Anderson. This got to end bad.

Fucking hell.

present time

"Teacher? How is it to be a paladin? To go on missions. And hunt monsters. Shouldn't I try that before I become a paladin?"

"You will when you start your official training," Heinkel sighed. She knew where this was going.

Vicky growled. "But that means I'm going to get another teacher. I don't want that."

Heinkel smiled to herself. "I'm honoured."

"I want to go hunting."

"No."

"Why?"

"You're too young."

Victoria walked faster, passed by and started walking backwards. "You were twelve when you took out those gangsters!"

"That was hardly my choice. And you see what happened." She made an angry gesture to her face. Those scars. Those goddamn fucking scars. It had been thirteen years now. She needed to do something about that. Maybe she should give Brenda a call. She had said she'd tell Heinkel immediately if anything new occurred, but... just to be sure. They could have a nice little chat.

"I can fight."

"I know. But the answer is still No."

"Why?"

Heinkel was tired of thinking up new arguments. "Because I say so! Now stop bugging me!" The orphanage came into sight, with the paved yard and nice bushes and lawns. It was almost dark now. They would need to slip in while everybody else was eating.

"Well, then can we go shooting tomorrow?", Victoria asked unhappily.

"No. When I come back."

"When will that be?"

"No idea."

Victoria hissed. It was a noise between a disparaging Tss and an angry cat. "What am I training for if I can't use it?"

Heinkel ignored her words. "I'll ask Marco to keep an eye on you. Continue your training. What did I hear about that Maths Exam?"

Victoria glowered. "Who needs Maths, anyway? Or physics?"

"What would you do to get on the other side of an abyss if you only have a few rolls, a rope, the ceiling and a weight? How much can you stretch it?"

The girl didn't even consider it. "You made that up!", Victoria accused her teacher. "No one ever needs that!"

"Don't be too sure. Besides, how about planes? You know how flying works, right? Electrical currents? You never know what can save your life."

"Stop lecturing me," Victoria murmured. Heinkel smiled to herself. She had won that round.

Four years ago

Victoria crashed to the ground. She stayed down for a few moments, then scrambled up. Her clothes were dirty and she was sweating and bruised. Her hair had grown a little and hung in her face. "How am I supposed to hit anyone if you don't stop kicking me?!", she complained.

Heinkel sat on the ground, her legs crossed. "I showed you how blocking works. Besides, you're too angry and too slow. Either you hit your enemy first or you dodge."

Victoria let herself fall to the ground. "That's not fair! You're much bigger and stronger!"

"That happens. You're a girl. It's like that most of the time."

"Oh great," Victoria growled.

"It's just the way it is. That doesn't mean women can't kick ass."

"But this isn't, say, like in a movie where I only realize later what you really taught me, right?"

Heinkel grinned. "Nah. Just old fashioned combat training. You're not karate kid."
Vicky jumped to her feet. "Then let's get going." Heinkel was barely able to get to her feet before Victoria was upon her, throwing all the attacks she already knew. They were pretty good – the girl had talent – but her moves were uncoordinated and way too aggressive. Still, after three months she was already surprisingly good.

Heinkel could have ended the fight right away, but what would that accomplish? The girl needed to practise. So she simply dodged and blocked every punch or kick going her way. Vicky needed to be faster to win a real fight. Take it slow, wolf girl, she heard her old trainer say. That had been when she herself had tried being a teacher for the younger kids in her sports club back in Germany. They're still at the beginning. You were there once, too.

"Damn it!" Heinkel was startled out of her thoughts, her body had continued fighting, while she was already planning the future. Victoria moved even more furious now. Something was wrong. The girl tried to fake a low kick. Heinkel took it instead of dodging. Ouch. The girl was strong for somebody of her physique. Victoria didn't expect this. She lost her balance and landed on her butt.

"Damn!" She was crying.

Heinkel hunkered down beside her. "Something wrong?"

Victoria gritted her teeth and shook her head. "More." With out standing up, she tried to get the paladin off balance. Heinkel dodged it, a reflex that was almost a second nature to her now, and put distance between them. Vicky scrambled up and attacked. She faked a kick and tried one of the power-slaps she had just learned today. It was pretty much the same as a punch, but without the risk of breaking your hand. A face could be surprisingly hard.

Heinkel caught the hand less than an inch away from her face. "I have no idea why you're so angry, but that's no way of fighting. Being so impulsive gets people killed."

"Not now. I want to learn fighting."

"That's what we're doing. But there are a few basic rules. No charging in without thinking."

"After all your nice little stories that's exactly what you people do. Do you want to die?", Vicky snarled. Heinkel dragged her forward and flipped her over the hip. Victoria crashed to the ground and laid on her back, coughing. "That was a mean trick!"

"Tell you what. Yumie and I are trained paladins. There's this little thing called experience that you'll still lack for quite a while."

Vicky wiped her face angrily. "I remember you saying that doesn't make anyone invincible."

Heinkel sighed and helped Victoria up. What was wrong with her today? "Of course not."

"So you're going in there anyway. Doing all that risky stuff."

Damn that girl. Damn this whole business. "That's not the point. You're inexperienced and just because this is training it doesn't change anything. I've seen too many newbies get killed by being too motivated."
"If you saw it, the why didn't you interfere?"

"That was a metaphor!" Heinkel could barely control herself. To hell with being a teacher. How had Anderson been able to cope with her, Yumie and Enrico? "I can ask Renaldo for the statistics if you want."

"Forget about it." Victoria turned to go.

Heinkel grabbed her arm. She was so done with all of this. "What's the fucking problem? You're already getting a head-start on all the others." Victoria looked at her with those dark eyes full of hate and anger. God, had she always looked like that? It was scary, seeing a child like that. Not too scary, maybe. Not for Heinkel Wolfe. Not with her life story. "Listen," she sighed. "I understand you're angry-"

Victoria broke free, staggered. "You have no idea!", she screamed. "Nobody has!" She turned around and ran, leaving behind a completely flustered Heinkel. How the hell had that happened?

She sighed and gathered her stuff. The belt with her holsters and her coat lay under a tree nearby. Heinkel hated being unarmed. She needed to have her guns around to feel completely secure.

The woods outside the orphanage were surprisingly vast, a little spot of peace outside the mega-city Rome. Almost nobody ever came here and what happened couldn't be heard at the orphanage. The perfect place for a secret training. Near it was a tiny arm of the Tiber gurgling softly in summer.

Time to go back and stop Vicky before she ran into Anderson. He wouldn't need long to figure everything out. It was a miracle they had been able to cover it up until now.

She quickly walked back to the orphanage. The sun was setting. She heard the rattling of dishes and laughter from the dining hall. Vicky, mad or not, wasn't stupid enough to charge in. At least Heinkel hoped so. She was probably in the shower.

Heinkel checked her clothes. She wasn't dirty. How long would it take Vicky to become good enough to actually make training exhausting also for her teacher? Quite a while, she figured. Still... She missed real fights much less than expected.

Heinkel decided to join the children and their protectors in the dining hall. She was hungry anyway. The only free space with the adults was next to Anderson. Heinkel didn't pay attention what they ate. She felt like a little girl on the verge of being caught with her hand in the cookie jar. She always had been a horrible actor.

"Something wrong?", Anderson asked her.

Heinkel was professional enough not to wince or anything that stupid. She smiled. "No, Father. It's just... kinda boring here. Did you hear anything new about Enrico or Yumiko?"

"Enrico is still in Rome. Yumiko... well, trying tae... cope." Heinkel nodded. Director Kerr had ordered her to "get herself together". Not considering they didn't want that. Yumie and Yumiko were separate persons. They couldn't be fused just like that. "Ye ken, the chief isnae young anymore."

"You think Enrico will succeed him?"

Anderson shrugged. "Dinnae want tae lie – such a rise to power's no guid for yin. He's too young. The youngest in centuries." He shook his head. "Monsignore Enrico. Hard tae believe he made it." Heinkel didn't answer. Maybe it was true. She sometimes wondered what it would be to have a guy like him as Pope. That was his goal. Becoming one of the most powerful people on earth. And he could do it. If he didn't snap before. That wasn't as uncommon as they would like in Section Thirteen. Enrico might try to look dominant, but he was unstable. Everybody knew. They just pretended they didn't see.

Dinner time was over. The kids were well behaved for such a mixed bunch. They cleaned up the room, pushed the chairs in a neat row and left. They had still half an hour left before they had to go to bed. Anderson accompanied him. Only Renaldo and Heinkel stayed. Nobody seemed to pay attention to them.

"Victoria and you were away quite a long time." Heinkel kept quiet. There it was. Her cover was blown. It was a miracle her "plan" had worked for a full four months. "You need to be more careful," Renaldo said.

When Vicky arrived, the bruises on her arms were had been from struggling against the police. Since then they had faded only to be replaced by new ones. Fighting was not a delicate thing.

"You told me she needed training." Hell, she sounded like trying to justify her actions.

Renaldo didn't show any disapproval. "She is just a child."

"Tell that her. She's tough for a kid."

Renaldo looked at her with those unreadable eyes of his behind the glasses. Sometimes she wondered how much power the chief really had. Why did Renaldo stand in the shadows while he was running half of Iscariot and the orphanage? She could never really tell what he was thinking. Despite his friendliness, as a child that had creeped her out. "Anderson will never approve of this."

She nodded. An unapproved combat training was one thing – the Hellsing organization had just been revived and they were short on personnel anyway. But Anderson would never allow his precious orphans to be involved in this. Those times were long over. They had ended with Enrico, Yumie and Heinkel joining Section Thirteen.

None of these kids should go to hell like them.

"The girl's a time bomb. If I don't train her, I'm afraid of what she might do." Heinkel hadn't even planned on saying that, despite believing in it just as much as she believed in God. Renaldo nodded. "She is an angry child."

"She's a freakin' blockhead," Heinkel growled.

Renaldo smiled. "I know another one of those." Heinkel decided to ignore the direction he was pointing with this. "Alexander will be worried if she is not in bed."

Heinkel surrendered. "I'm already going," she sighed.

"You know where she is?"

"I have a vague idea."

She took the back door. The garden was by far not as big as the yard out front and there were no tiles on the ground. Just grass and vegetable beds. Right on the edge of the central building there was an old rain pipe. It marked the spot where climbing up was easiest. Heinkel would never rely on the pipe itself of course. It had been there when she was a child. Not really trustworthy. But here, between main building and side wing, the ledges were easiest to grip and nobody could see you from the windows. She briefly wondered if that was the same way Vicky used and if Anderson knew about it.

She only needed a minute to reach the tiled roof of the side wing. Somewhere under her feet, children were playing or getting ready for bed. From here she could – theoretically – access every part of the orphanage itself and the Iscariot quarters that took up the rear part of the structure. Weaponry, a shooting range, communications. The quarters were soundproof and partially underground with a few entrances only insiders knew. The children didn't even guess what was so close to them. The HQ in Rome was little more than an office. And despite all the conspiracy theories running around in the world – Iscariot had been secret for hundreds of years. And now that the world suspected something, nobody could find any proof. It was exactly the kind of plot a good thriller had.

The sun was almost down and it grew colder. The street lamps were already on and cast orange light on the pavement. A figure sat on the edge of the roof out front, directly under the cross, her legs swinging rhythmically. One-two. One-two.

Heinkel took a run-up and jumped on the main roof. Her boots gave her enough grip to walk instead of scramble. The tiles weren't too slick, but in trainers this might pose a problem. Under this roof was the attic. Nobody would hear them. The insulation was helpful too. Energy saving was the new concept. Also making the roof a good hiding spot.

The figure got up and walked towards her. In the orange glow her face was in shadows and the sun cast a halo around her body. Then she flipped over. For a moment Heinkel was worried she might have fallen, but then Victoria pushed her body upright, only upside down now. Her body was a straight line. She was a strong girl and trained hard. But she started losing her balance and wavered. Heinkel quickened her steps and caught her feet in the air, pushing the girl upright again.

"You promised to teach me." Heinkel could hear the smile in The girl's voice.

"Actually, I never said anything about this specifically. But let's not split hairs."

"You're doing it just now."

"I'm preventing you from accidentally killing yourself." Victoria was trembling badly now. She was tired from the daily hard training and probably a bit dizzy from standing upside down. She tried to put her feet back on the ground, but Heinkel held her in place. Just so Vicky had to support her own weight. "Teacher?" Her voice was strained.

"That was your idea. Last lesson for today."

"Teacher, I'll fall."

"Bullshit." Heinkel smiled to herself. That would teach her a lesson. Victoria complained all the way, but Heinkel didn't listen. Only when she thought the girl would really break down, she let go. Victoria crashed on all fours, panting. "What the hell was that?", she finally managed.

"No idea what you mean. You asked me to teach you."

"I don't think that really helped!", she spat.

"Want to have another go?"

Victoria looked at her with big eyes and shook her head. "No!" Heinkel smiled and turned to go. She was already half the way back when Victoria asked: "How do you do that?"

Heinkel stopped. She didn't bother to turn around. "Do what?"

"Walk like that." The paladin looked down. Her feet in heavy protective boots on the gable of the orphanage. Nothing unusual. Still, Victoria sounded like she thought her teacher was from Mars. "This is a gable that's like, seven inches wide? We're about ten meters up? And you look like... like you're taking a walk in the park!"

"Oh. That." Heinkel thought about it for a moment. The girl was right. It should be unusual. Just... it wasn't. "Well, it feels like that to me."

"The height isn't bothering you at all?"

"Nope." And, just to provoke the kid, she cartwheeled, her fingers closing around the point of the roof. She felt the weight of her guns pressing on the straps holding them in place. Air rushed under her coat. Then she landed on her feet again, easily balancing her weight. The coat fell back in place. That's what it was made for. Fighting.

Killing. The thought wiped the grin off her face.

Victoria had sat down, her feet on the descending tiles. She had gotten her breath back.

"Do you want to tell me what's going on?", Heinkel asked. Victoria didn't answer. The paladin shrugged her shoulders and turned to go. "Fine. Either way, you've got to pull yourself together. Now let's go before Father Anderson gets suspicious."

"You have no idea!", Victoria growled, her voice wavering. Ah, crap. I'm a paladin, not a psychologist. Still, Heinkel returned and sat down beside her protegee. She lit a cigarette and automatically offered her partner the package. Victoria looked from it to her and back. "I'm thirteen," she said. She hesitated, then extended her hand to take one anyway. That moment, Heinkel drew back the package. "Right. What was I thinking? I forgot you're still a kid."

Vicky glared at her. "You're making fun of me again."

"Paladins shouldn't be pussies. Deal with it."

"Yeah. Whatever." She looked away. A gust of wind blew her smoke in the face. Which was weird, since it wasn't windy at all. The smell made her eyes water. Victoria started coughing. "Jesus Christ, and you do that for fun?"

"See, I just spared you a bad habit." Victoria didn't smile like she had hoped. God, this was so annoying. Hunting terrorists was so much more fun than dealing with a kid. "Okay, I get it. You're pissed. Get over it."

Victoria turned her head away. She was probably crying and Heinkel suddenly regretted her harsh words. She was just a young girl. She deserved a childhood. "What do you know?", Victoria hissed. "You're not an orphan! You didn't see your parents turned into monsters and then killed by people bringing you wherever afterwards!"

Heinkel remembered the feeling of steel in her hand, the weight of the gun, the stench of blood. Noise and screams. But maybe she was confusing it with what came later. Dozens of missions with all of this. But what she knew exactly was the fear, the confusion, the helplessness. "You're right." She inhaled again, blew the smoke to the stars and looked after the smoke painting patterns against the darkness and orange light of the street lamps far away. The taste wasn't very good, of course not. Who ever said that was a liar. But everybody needed something like that. To cope with all the pressure. To go on. "Of course I don't know how that might be. The vampires didn't bother turning my parents. They just killed them." Victoria stared at her, open-mouthed, the tears still on her cheeks. Heinkel looked at the sky. Mostly void, partially stars. "And when they went after me, I shot them."

Victoria suddenly was very pale in the orange glow. "Shot them?Howold were you?"

"Six. The gun belonged to my parents. They gave it to me as protection."

"But- But you have parents! You talked about them! They're in Germany," Vicky stuttered.

Heinkel didn't pay attention to her. "Paladin Francesca Bellini was in the vicinity. She saved me. Brought me here so Father Anderson could watch over me. A year later, my foster parents brought me back home. Home like the country I was born in. They're not bad people. Really. They were good parents and I have a super-cool little sister. They just don't understand why I chose this path. Truth is, I didn't. The vampires did."

"Oh," Vicky whispered.

They were silent for a while. Then, Heinkel shrugged. "Damn. Don't ever make me go all chick flick again, okay? Point is, you're not the only one who lost somebody. You're pissed. I understand that. I was. Still am sometimes. But tell you what – and this sounds like a bad movie quote – if you don't control your anger, you will die in your first real battle."

"When will that be?" Was she even listening to what Heinkel said?

The paladin got up. "Hopefully far in the future. I should never have dragged you into this in the first place, but too late is too late. Let's go."

They went back to the descent. Victoria was visibly shaking and almost slipped a few times. Heinkel went first, her half-smoked cigarette still between the lips. She jumped more than climbed and landed softly on her feet on the grass. It was very dark here. The street lights were blocked off by the building. Victoria looked down and hesitated. "I'm not sure if I can do that," she whispered.

"Then I guess you'll have to sleep up there. Goodnight." Heinkel turned and walked away.

Not very far, though. She sat on the fringe of a vegetable bed and finished her cigarette while watching Victoria shakily climb down. The girl fell the last half meter and collapsed on the ground. Heinkel smiled to herself. The girl would feel stiff and aching for days, giving Heinkel enough time to go on a little hunt. Yumie was probably going crazy with boredom. Getting her shouldn't be a problem. Everybody knew Director Kerr was too ill to really lead Iscariot. A lot of people – also from the other sections - had been speculating on his successor for half a year now.

Victoria got to her feet again. Heinkel stomped out the cigarette and put it in a trash can standing near the back door. She wasn't even allowed to smoke on the orphanage grounds. The least she could do was being orderly. But on the other hand she wasn't even allowed to wear her guns and look how that worked out.

Victoria caught up to her. "Teacher?" They stopped. It was pitch black here, except for the sky lit up by stars and the far away lights of the city. Victoria hugged her. "Thank you." Heinkel was too flustered to react. "Uhm... No problem, I guess." The girl had stopped crying. She was strong-willed and talented. The perfect paladin. And just as difficult and unstable.

"You'll go to hell," Heinkel stated. "We all do. That's the great mystery nobody talks about. But we know. We know."

Victoria shook her head, her face still buried in Heinkel's shirt. "I don't care. I can't think of anything else I could do."

"Fair enough."

Victoria let go. In the same movement, she tried to pull one of the guns from its holster. It didn't work. She just pulled at the straps holding it in place. Heinkel grinned and opened the safety clip. Victoria made an adorable little noise of surprise when she felt the weight of this deadly piece of technology in her hands. She raised it in the air and pulled the trigger.

Nothing happened.

Heinkel sighed and took the gun out of her hand again. "Why am I not surprised?"

"I don't know," Vicky growled.

"Never do that again without my permission, get it?" Victoria growled something. "Good. When I come back, I'll teach you – if Father Anderson isn't here. I'm warning you now, we'll start small, okay? And the first part is always theory."
"Theory is boring!", Vicky complained.

"You never know-"

"- what can save your life. Yeah." Victoria shrugged. "Whatever." Something growled in the darkness. "Oh hell, I'm hungry."

"That's your own fault. You didn't have to sit on the room half the night. Now let's go." They slipped into the orphanage with Heinkel's key and the paladin brought her student to her room. She was currently alone there because they didn't have so many children just now. If that changed, they would have a problem. "Night." Without waiting for an answer, Victoria closed her door.

present time

"Teacher?"

"What?"

"When can we go hunting?"

Heinkel shrugged. That girl would never stop bugging her. "When I find a fitting opportunity."

She had expected another complaint because of the vague promise, but Victoria beamed. "Okay."

Four years. Four years of secret training. That Enrico was chief now had helped her a lot. So had Father Renaldo. And as annoying as Victoria Caine might be, Heinkel just couldn't dislike her.

Would it have felt like this to have a child of her own?