Hellsing - Blood Heritage

Unbeknownst to the people of London, a private plane - owned by a reputable group of smugglers - was flying overhead with some rather interesting cargo. You see, rather than boxes or crates of illegal materials, 'this' plane was carrying a large group of men. A large group of mercenaries to be exact.

There were about fifty of them in all - bundled up in coats and blankets against the cold air inside the aircraft. After eight months of fighting in desert terrain, the change of temperature was a shock. The fact that they were at an extremely high altitude wasn't much help either. For some reason, once they had adjusted to the dry heat of a desert country, anything below 80 degrees sent them into violent shivering fits.

"London eh?" One of them commented, hoping to take their mind off the cold with a bit of conversation. "What kind of job have you got for us in 'London'?"

A shorter man with stubble on his face and a bandanna wrapped around his head looked up with interest. "Yeah, what's this about Captain? You sign us up to be some rich bloke's personal army or something?"

The man who had been addressed as the 'Captain' stretched his long legs out into the aisle. He was an unusual looking character, especially for a soldier. He wore a military styled uniform, similar to what the other men wore - but with a cowboy hat perched on top of his head. His long reddish brown hair was braided and flipped around his neck like a makeshift scarf. He looked over his men with a single green eye. The left had been lost in some long past battle, and was covered by a black leather eye patch.

"Nah, nothing like zhat." he replied in a distinctly French accent. "You'll all find out soon enough." His good eye glinted with mischief. "I don't want you getting spooked."

"Spooked?" they scoffed. "What, you get us a job hunting ghosts or something?"

The captain smiled to himself. "Not exactly... Don't worry boys. Zhe next job iz going to be very 'interesting'."

They landed on a private airfield just outside of London. As soon as they got off the plane the men all scattered - each heading off to different places to spent the last night of freedom they would have for a while. Tomorrow they had to report in for the new assignment. Their captain remained behind to secure their cargo before leaving himself.

" 'ey, Eugene!" he called out to the man unloading boxes from the plane. "We'll send for zhe cargo once we meet zhe new boss."

The man waved at him. "Not a problem sir! We'll keep an eye on everything Captain Bernadette."

He seemed satisfied with that, and left the man and his team to unload the rest of their gear. Bernadette hadn't been in London for a while, and he was interested in seeing whether an old haunt of his was still open.

He found what he was looking for on Verbie Road. It was an small, dingy looking cafe set amongst a whole host of other businesses. He slipped inside to find the place looking almost exactly like it had the last time he had come. A couple of older men sat at the bar, but other than them it was empty. He slid into one of the battered booths and took off his hat. A small smile crossed his face when he saw a woman with graying hair stick her head out of the kitchens and gape at him.

"Well I'll be!" she exclaimed happily. "If it isn't Pip Bernadette himself come to pay me a visit!"

She grabbed a towel to wipe her hands, then sauntered over to the booth. "You haven't been here in forever young man." she accused, crossing her arms over her generous bosom. "You haven't been getting into trouble again, have you?"

Pip blinked innocently. "Why Miss Mary, you know I would 'never' do a zhing like zhat..."

She narrowed her eyes in mock suspicion. "I suppose you think that mysterious routine of yours will have the young women fawning all over you..."

He grinned. "Eet hasn't failed yet."

She batted his shoulder playfully. "I'll bring you your usual."

"Don't forget zhe special sauce!!!" he called after her as she disappeared into the kitchens.

Pip waited patiently for the same meal he always received here. The first time he had set foot into the cafe, Mary had fallen in love with his accent and refused to let him leave until he tried her 'famous' fish and chips. It was supposedly a national delicacy, and no foreigner could visit without sampling it.

The food she had given him was so greasy it was all he could do not to gag.

The woman's buoyant attitude and witty conversation more than made up for it though. He quickly discovered that if he bathed the food in Mary's 'special sauce' (a concoction that he didn't dare ask the ingredients to) it wasn't so bad. He shook himself out of the memory as the waitress returned with a basket for him.

"So," she began conversationally. "Will you be in town long? I can never keep track of where that awful business of yours takes you."

Mary had no idea what Pip did for a living, but from the way he was dressed it wasn't difficult to tell it was 'military' in nature. He shot her a friendly smile. "I zhink we'll be around for a while." he replied. "My boys and I have a new assignment 'ere."

The woman's face lit up. "Wonderful! Then you'll have to come around more often! It's been so slow lately, and none of the other customers are half as interesting..." she gazed off toward the door as a pair of tourists walked in. "Oh dear, more people... You enjoy your fish, and try to say goodbye before you disappear again!"

Pip watched in veiled amusement as she trotted off to greet her newest unsuspecting 'victims'. From the looks on their faces, they had no idea what they were in for. He grabbed the cup of sauce and drizzled it over the contents of the basket before daring to take a bite. It cut the taste of the grease just enough to make it bearable. If it had been any other place, he wouldn't have bothered touching it - but Miss Mary was such a nice woman, he didn't have the heart to tell her how awful her cooking was. From the looks of the place, the few people who ventured inside never came back, and those that did weren't coming for the food.

He choked down his meal, then left a tip on the table before getting up to thank her for the food.

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"What time did they say they would be arriving?" Integra asked, looking out toward the back gates of the manor.

Walter checked his pocket watch. "2:00 Sir. It's still early yet. Mr. Stryker is never late."

Of course he wouldn't be late. Syn was never late with anything either. It seemed to be a family trait - right along with doing what should have been impossible.

Integra was pleasantly surprised when she found out that the two of them had completed the order in record time. Of course, it shouldn't have been surprising at all. She couldn't think of one instance when Stryker Corp. hadn't delivered their ammunition requests early. Even when the requests bordered on the outrageous. And nothing was more outrageous than expecting a full set of custom weaponry built and delivered within a fortnight.

Her attention was brought back to the gates when she noticed a large armored truck approach. It pulled past the entranceway, then stopped to allow the familiar form of Syn hop out to direct the driver as they backed up. Even from this far away, the red hair was unmistakable.

"All right, bring it on back!" the girl shouted.

With her guidance, they got the truck pulled back against the the doors and ready to unload. Once it was in position, the driver turned off the engine and climbed out of the cab. Walter looked slightly taken aback at the man's appearance.

"Mr. Stryker?" he asked incredulously. "This is a surprise. You've never delivered orders personally..."

"I gave my guys some time off." the man replied, pulling the back doors of the truck open.

Integra arched a brow. There weren't many men in charge of businesses who took over the duties of their staff for the sake of giving them a break. She took no time in pointing out the oddness of it.

"You made the delivery yourself so your men could have a 'break'?" she questioned, looking at him with what appeared to be a stern expression.

Stryker paused, studying her carefully. "I don't ask any of my people to do something I wouldn't do myself." he replied in a serious tone. He considered her quietly before holding out his hand. "I don't believe we've been formally introduced. Edmund Stryker."

Integra took the hand he offered, noticing the firmness of his grip. "Sir Integral Hellsing." She nodded toward the truck. "You can bring those in to the storage area. It's just inside. We'll move them to the armory later."

"Yes sir."

Edmund and Syn got all the crates unloaded from the truck, then opened them up to let her see the finished products. Integra immediately noticed that only half of the boxes contained guns. The rest of them lay unopened on the opposite side of the room. Ed noticed her look and explained.

"The rest of the crates are ammunition." he told her. "From what I understand, your supplies were exhausted during the attack. That should be enough to keep you up and running for a while. I've got a whole new set in production at the factory, so there shouldn't be any trouble with you running out before more are made."

"And we've got a couple of new things for you to look at." Syn piped up. "Right now they're only sized for the side-arms, but if you like them, we can make them in bigger calibers for the rifles..."

It was a new type of round for the guns with a mercury/silver nitrate mix in the center of the slug. The metal casing protected the liquid metal during firing, but once the slug made contact with a target, it collapsed and released the mixture. Syn explained that the liquefied silver mix would enter the vampire's bloodstream and thereby travel throughout the target's body, doing damage to multiple areas at once. They theorized this would reduce the need for accurate head or heart shots in close combat - when a vampire's speed made it much more difficult to aim properly.

"I must say I'm impressed." Integra commented, looking over the new rounds with a keen curiosity. "And you say these can be made as a higher caliber?"

"Yes sir. I've already put together the appropriate mixtures. All we would have to do is...." Edmund trailed off, straightening suddenly. Without giving any warning as to what he was doing, he reached into his coat and withdrew a pistol that looked rather like a handgun version of a double-barreled shotgun. He whipped around and fired a single shot into the wall behind him.

To everyone's surprise, a disgruntled looking Alucard fell to the ground with a large bullet hole right between his eyes.

"Nice shot!" Syn said with a whistle.

Integra glared down at the vampire bleeding all over the floor. "Alucard, what the bloody hell are you doing?" She looked up at Edmund in suspicion. "And how did you know he was there? 'I' didn't notice his presence."

Ed shrugged. "I don't like being watched over my shoulder." he said, as if it explained everything.

Down on the floor, Alucard was slowly regenerating himself. His dark shadows pooled around his body and grew bigger - completing the task in the most intimidating manner possible. They swirled and twisted up to the ceiling, revealing hundreds of glowing red eyes and mouths full of sharpened teeth. Some of the shadows shot out toward Edmund as if intending to attack.

Ed raised his gun and put his finger on the trigger. "Oh my, how scary." he commented dryly. "Are you finished yet? Because if you aren't, I have no problem with shooting you again."

The shadows halted, then withdrew, twisting back into Alucard's usual form. He and Edmund proceeded to take part in a staring competition - which was obviously meant to be one of those 'pissing contests' that men tended to do when they were sizing each other up. It would have gone forever had Syn not gotten in the middle of it.

"Oh come off it you two!" she shouted, stepping in-between the two men with an irritated look on her face. "You're acting like bloody two year olds!" She pointed at Edmund. "Put Nyx down right now."

Ed frowned at her, obviously not liking that she had gotten in the way. "Syn..." he started.

"Don't you 'Syn...' me. Put the gun down. NOW." She waited until he dropped his arm to face Alucard. "And 'you' quit trying to scare my family! It's not funny, and it doesn't work, so just stop trying."

Integra and Walter stood back from the scene, watching with interest. The old butler looked like he was trying not to laugh, while Integra had a ghost of a smirk on her lips. If you took away the fact that the two men looked more than willing to kill each other, it was quite comical. The knight was impressed that Stryker had enough presence of mind not to faint when Alucard took on a more 'inhuman' form. When Syn finally managed to get them both to stand down, Integra cleared her throat.

"Mr Stryker, would you like to stay for dinner?" she offered, shooting an amused look at her pet vampire. "Anyone who can stand up to Alucard like that on the first meeting is most welcome in my home..."

Ed straightened his shoulders, then smiled. "It would be an honor Sir Integra."

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In a low voice, so the others couldn't hear, Syn said, "You are such an ass."

Alucard chuckled at her. "You would berate me for being curious?" He turned his eyes to where Integra and Edmund were talking. "It appears that my master approves of this boy of yours..."

Edmund swung around and glared at him. "Who are you calling a 'boy' you cantankerous old man!?"

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yeah... I wrote most of this while I was out at my grandfather's house babysitting his new puppy. It's a little feist terrier named J.J. It was quite amusing because every time I asked him how he thought Alucard should react to something, he would start chewing on my hand. I'm just trying to figure out how a DOG learned so much about Alucard.... .

And I wasn't quite ready for the Geese to get introduced yet, but I really wanted to get Pip into London. Underneath the perverted mercenary is a genuinely nice guy - which is why I think so many people like him. That and the eye patch. Guys with eye patches are instantly awesome. ^.^